HANDS Off To MOWINS

1. HANDS Off To MOWINS HANDS Retirement/ MOWINS Celebration Bureau of WIC and Nutrition Services

2. WIC Program in Missouri • WIC started in Missouri in 1974. • By 1976 there were 66 local agencies. • By 1977 it was realized that a computerized processing system was necessary. • This led to the WIC-EDP system that started in 1979 and lasted until 1990.

3. WIC-EDP System • Predecessor to HANDS. • Local agencies used paper forms. • Issued food vouchers to participants. • Local agency staff sent the forms to Jefferson City and state staff keyed the data into the system. • Delays occurred in processing due to the tremendous volume of paper.

4. Health Agency Network Data System (HANDS) • HANDS was piloted in 1990 and was completely rolled out by 1993. • It used the Department of Social Services mainframe. • HANDS was a big adjustment for local agencies. • Local agency staff did not use computers for WIC and likely did not use computers at all. • They had to learn how to use computers and HANDS to do the data entry for certification that was previously done by state staff. • Changed from vouchers to checks in 2000.

5. HANDS Training

6. HANDS • HANDS served WIC well from 1993-2009. • Over the years, changes in computer technology caused the State WIC Office to seriously consider getting a new data system. • In 2006 WIC applied to USDA to get a new data system.

7. State Agency Models (SAM) • “Build once, replicate many times”. • All USDA WIC SAMs have the following features: • Modern web technology- Windows features- drop down menus, etc. • Standard WIC data elements. • Open system architecture to make it able to use on multiple computer platforms. • Modular components to make it easy to add components. • Compliance with federal policy and regulations.

8. State Agency Models (SAM) • There are three SAMs • Mountain Plains States’ Consortium- Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. • Crossroads in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast Regions- North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia and West Virginia. • Successful Partners in Reaching Innovative Technology (Spirit)- 13 Indian Tribal Organizations in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

9. Missouri WIC SAM Grant Application • Planning document was approved by USDA in August 2006. • Missouri WIC learned of SAM grant for SPIRIT in early April 2007.

10. Missouri WIC SAM Application • CSC Covansys came to Jefferson City on April 13, 2007 to show demonstration of SPIRIT for steering committee and other state WIC and ITSD staff. • Submitted grant application on June 15, 2007. • Grant was approved on September 13, 2007.

11. Other SPIRIT States • Other states that received the SAM grant were Arkansas and Montana.

12. MOWINS (SPIRIT) • We named the system Missouri WIC Information Network Data System (MOWINS). • Contest was held with input from state and local staff. • Web-based system with Windows features. • Designed to use less paper-uses signature pads to capture signatures and scanners to scan documents into participant's folder. • Upgraded to MICR printers from the dot matrix printers that had been used to print WIC checks.

13. MOWINS Steering Committee • Oversaw implementation of new data system • Members • LWPs- Jim Wheaton, Truman Medical Center, Jan Glaze, Jefferson- Franklin Community Action Corp., Connie Agler, Randolph County Health Dept., Rhonda Breitenbecher, Johnson County Community Health Services • DHSS- Lyn Konstant, Mark Davis, Larry Rutledge, Perry Mathes and Les Hancock, Division of Community and Public Health, Linda Cade, Division of Administration, Paula Peters, ITSD • Missouri Grocers Association- Dan Shaul

14. MOWINS TimeLine • Released Request for Proposal (RFP) for implementation contractor on January 7, 2008. • Awarded contract to CSC Covansys on April 9, 2008. • Kick off of project to implement MOWINS statewide in Missouri was on May 1, 2008.

15. MOWINS Timeline (cont) • Gap analysis and Joint Application Design (JAD) sessions- May and June 2008. • User Acceptance Testing (UAT)- September-November 2008.

16. UAT - September 2008

17. MOWINS Timeline (cont) • Pilot started in December 2008 (six local agencies) and continued into January 2009. • Statewide roll out- February 2-July 14, 2009. • Six agencies a week rolled out on MOWINS.

18. Data Conversion • Converted HANDS data into MOWINS • Enabled data that was in HANDS to be available when agency rolled out on MOWINS. • ITSD programming staff provided 477 hours of work (beyond normal business hours) from November 2008-July 2009 to do the data conversion for local agencies that were transitioning to MOWINS (usually six local agencies) the following week. • On average, conversion took 4-5 hours to complete.

19. MOWINS Training for Local Agencies • Contracted with CSC Covansys to provide the MOWINS trainers. • State WIC staff facilitated the training. • 80 trainings at 40 locations • Most weeks there were four trainings going on concurrently so up to about 50 people a week could be trained. • Three days of training for all staff- one more day for administrative staff.

20. MOWINS Training

21. MOWINS Roll Out Support • At least one state WIC staff person attended the roll out of all 118 local agencies, including some satellite sites. • ITSD field staff person attended all roll outs including satellite sites (total of 248 sites).

22. Logistics • Training Equipment- 4 sets of equipment for training- each set had 16 laptops, 6 signature pads, 2 scanners, 1 switch, 1 printer, network cables and extension cords, training materials. • Van- Including pilot trainings- 80 trainings at 40 sites all over the state for 25 weeks, October 2008-July 2009. The equipment was dropped of at two sites every Monday and was picked up at two sites every Friday. Put over 17,000 miles on the van- coast to coast over 5 times!

23. Ready to Drop Off Equipment

24. On the Road Again

25. Logistics (cont) • Car and motel reservations- for WIC and ITSD staff to go to the training, rollouts and set up computer equipment- over 500 trips!

26. Arranging MOWINS Travel

27. MOWINS Equipment • MICR Printers- 449 • Signature Pads-665 • Scanners-565 • Computers-105 • Laptops-100 • Equipment had to be tagged and sent to local agencies, using DH-60- over 2000 items. • ITSD staff set up equipment at 118 agencies- 248 sites.

28. MOWINS Help Desk • Prior to MOWINS, answered about 100 calls a week. • During roll out, answered approximately 700 calls per week from December 2008-July 2009. • Help Desk staff were on front line for user frustrations as they learned a new system and adapted to new policies and procedures.

29. Help Desk Staff- Answering Calls

30. Access to MOWINS • Access to MOWINS was given to 926 local and state staff.

31. Local Agencies • The 118 local agencies had to make many changes to their workflow and adapt to many policy and procedure changes. • They had to adjust to the fact that MOWINS, because it has a more user friendly interface that requires much more data to flow back and forth from the agency to the server in Jefferson City, is not as fast as HANDS. • They also had to contend with “bugs” in the system that caused delays in serving participants.

32. MOWINS • Whenever you deploy a new data system there are going to be “bugs” that develop. • It happened with HANDS and with MOWINS. • We identified these “bugs” and worked together as a team to correct them.

33. MOWINS “Bugs” • WIC reports • Speed issues • Check issues • Down Time • Deadlocks • Signature pad problems

34. Team Effort • Involved state WIC office, local agency, ITSD, DHSS Warehouse and CSC Covansys all working as team to make this happen.