Benefit Management HuBERT Training Module 2
Benefit Issuance – Module 2
Slide Title
Slide Text
Introduction
This HuBERT on-demand training module is provided by the MN Department
of Health WIC Program.
Overview
In this module, we will take a look at how to print benefits, what to do if
mailing benefits, explain how we can cycle-adjust a participant’s issuance
cycle, review the messages that display in the Issue Benefits screen when
the system is unable to auto-suggest benefits, and take a look at the
household lock function and how to resolve it when necessary to do so.
Printing Benefits
<print1>
Let’s take a quick look at the process for printing benefits.
For this example, the date is 8/12/14 and we are ready to issue benefits to
the Showers family. Go ahead and do so.
Once the print button is clicked, the benefits are immediately sent to the
printer and the process for capturing the participant’s, or proxy’s, signature
is initiated.
<print2>
The Capture Electronic Signature screen displays and lists all the benefits
being issued, including the dates and benefit numbers that were printed on
the benefits.
Although there is a Cancel button on this screen, clicking it will not cancel
the print job or stop the benefits from printing.
Remember, they were printed as soon as the Issue Benefits to Selected
Members button was clicked (we will talk about voiding printed benefits in
a later module).
The only function the Cancel button has is to cancel out of this screen and
in general, we should never cancel out of this screen.
Once this screen displays, benefits have already been printed, and the
signature process should be completed regardless of whether an error was
made when the benefits were printed.
If the Cancel button were accidentally selected, or if the participant’s or
proxy’s signature was not obtained for any reason, we would be required
to complete a form called the WIC Household Food Instrument Register.
Form
This form is available on the MDH WIC website on the HuBERT Resources &
Forms page under the HuBERT Forms section.
Form1
The same form can be used for all household members.
Form2
Record each member’s ID; why the manual register was used, the date the
benefits were issued; the beginning and ending numbers of the benefits
issued to each participant, which we can find on the Benefits History tab;
and your initials.
Then have the participant or proxy sign and date the form.
Form3
However, we still aren’t done.
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Lastly, we will have to scan the manual register form so that a record of it is
in each member’s Participant Folder.
Ugh. That’s a lot of extra work.
To avoid feeling like this guy…here’s some sage advice: don’t click the
Cancel button and always obtain the participant’s signature after issuing
benefits.
<print3>
So, now we are ready to capture the participant’s or proxy’s signature.
What do you think we do next? Go ahead.
<print4>
<no script>
<print5>
The information that displays on the Signature Capture window also
displays on the signature pad.
<print6>
The information on the signature pad is for the participant or proxy and
they should press the Next button with the stylus.
Since this obviously isn’t the actual signature pad, we’ll just click on the
buttons on the following slides to move on. Click on the Next button.
<print7>
Our screen…
<print8>
...their screen. Click the Next button.
<print9>
Notice the Cancel button on the signature pad.
If the participant or proxy were to select this button, HuBERT would let us
know.
<print10>
If we were to click Yes, the process would be canceled and we would start
all over by clicking the Capture Electronic Signature button again.
We don’t want to start over, so let’s click No.
<print11>
Now we just need the participant or proxy to sign
<print12>
<no script>
<print13>
Their signature appears on our screen.
<print14>
Until they press the OK button with the stylus (click OK).
<print15>
Their signature now displays in the Signature box...
...which means we are ready to save the signature to HuBERT.
How do you think we do that? Go ahead.
<print16>
<pause for 4 seconds – animated text>
Benefit information for each participant is displayed in the Benefits History
tab. Let’s click on the tab.
<print17>
We will take a closer look at this screen a bit later.
For now, we can see that the benefit sets we just printed for Raine are listed
at the top of the screen in descending order by the Printed First Date to Use
(or PFDTU).
To view individual benefits, we need to go one level down in the tree view
so click the plus (+) next to the first set listed.
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Benefit Management HuBERT Training Module 2
<print18>
To view even more information, we need to enable the Show Details
button.
We do that by clicking on the benefit number that we want to see more
information for in order to highlight it.
Let’s just click on the first benefit listed.
<print19>
Notice the Show Details button is now enabled.
Go ahead and click it.
<print20>
We can see a lot of information about each benefit in the Benefit Details
window.
Including its status, the date it was issued, its FDTU, PFDTU and LDTU, who
issued it, what month it was issued for, and the signature of the participant
or proxy who signed for the benefits.
Mailing Benefits
Mailing
We can also indicate when benefits are going to be mailed.
Mailing benefits is addressed in MOM, Section 8.4 .
Mailing benefits may be necessary to accommodate specific participants’
and/or Local Agency hardships but is NOT INTENDED to be routine or
standard practice for providing benefits.
If benefits are mailed, the requirements detailed in MOM Section 8.4 policy
must be met.
<mailing>
Let’s go back and take a look at the Dog family for whom we haven’t yet
issued benefits.
The Mailing Benefits checkbox allows the system to document for us when
benefits have been mailed.
It is applied to all sets of benefits that are printed when the checkbox is
selected.
Go ahead and click the checkbox.
<mailing1>
When the checkbox is selected, the Generate Address Label checkbox
becomes enabled.
We can select this to let the system know that we also want to generate a
label for the household.
We don’t want a label so let’s just issue the benefits. Go ahead.
<mailing2>
So, what do we do now?
We know that we don’t cancel out of the Capture Electronic Signature
screen but since we’re mailing these benefits, odds are there isn’t anyone
from the household available to sign.
So, when mailing benefits, we write “MAILED” on the signature pad instead
of obtaining a signature.
What’s our first step? Go ahead.
<mailing3>
<no script>
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Benefit Management HuBERT Training Module 2
<mailing4>
<no script>
<mailng5>
<no script>
<mailing6>
<no script>
<mailing7>
And how do we save our “signature” to HuBERT? Go ahead.
<mailing8>
We indicated earlier that by selecting the Mailing Benefits checkbox, the
system would document that the benefits were mailed for us.
Let’s check out the notes in Harry’s participant folder and see what the
documentation looks like.
<mailing9>
The system-generated note has a subject of Benefits Mailed to Participant.
The issued date is the same as the Date Created since the note was autogenerated when the benefits were issued.
It also records the staff person who issued the benefits in the Staff Member
column.
The note text documents the benefit numbers of the benefits issued to
Harry.
Let’s verify that…
<pause for print screen to display>
Yep. The benefit numbers are the same on the note as on the Signature
Capture screen from earlier.
Let’s exit this screen.
<mailing10>
There is one last place where the system documents if benefits were
mailed.
Where do you think that would be? Go ahead.
<mailing11>
<Pause 3 seconds for text animation>
Now where do you think we would see whether a specific benefit was
mailed?
Are you thinking Show Details?
Good. Then do you think you can get us to the Show Details screen for
benefit #16174772, which was issued for July 2014?
To get to the details screen, we need to enable the Show Details button.
To that end, click on the plus (+) next to the first set of benefits listed.
<mailing12>
<no script>
<mailing13>
<no script>
<mailing14>
<pause 3 second for text animation>
Note that our signature of “MAILED” displays...
...and the fact that the benefits were mailed is further documented by the
checkmark in the Benefit Mailed checkbox.
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Cycle Adjust
CycleAdjust1
Now that we’ve seen some of the more basic functionality, it’s time to get
into the nitty-gritty of benefit issuance, starting with Cycle Adjust.
Cycle adjust is a process by which household members' benefit issuance
cycles are synced up so that they have the same Printed First Date to Use
and Last Date to Use.
HuBERT automatically attempts to cycle adjust all household members
when the Issue Benefits screen is first opened.
<systemca1>
Let’s take another look at the Lion family.
For this example, the current date is April 4, 2014.
We can see in the Household Member Information section that Momma
was just certified today.
We can also see that Leo already has an established cycle of the 17th to
the 16th from the Last Set PFDTU and Last Set LDTU.
Since Leo’s issuance cycle was already established, the system syncs
Momma’s cycle to Leo’s.
However, if Momma’s cycle started on the 17th with Leo’s, there would be
a gap between today and when her benefits start.
In order to close the gap between Mama's cycle that would have started
on the date of her certification and the household’s established cycle the
system creates a “syncing” or "partial package".
PartialPkg
Syncing or partial packages are a set of benefits with a shortened date
range.
Since they are closing the gap between two cycles, partial packages
maintain the household’s established cycle by creating a shortened
package with a PFDTU of the issuance date and an LDTU that matches the
established cycle.
As we discussed earlier, the food package may be prorated depending on
how many days the participant has to redeem the benefits.
HuBERT will always suggest both a partial package to close the gap until
the next PFDTU in the same month and then a full package.
We should note that although the participant is technically receiving two
sets of benefits, the system only counts the participant one time since
participation count is based on the month and year of the PFDTU.
Only set
This is very important. Partial packages should never be the only set issued.
The system will always suggest both a partial package and its
corresponding full package if they have a Printed First Date to Use in the
same month and they should BOTH be issued even when only issuing one
month of benefits.
System
Determined
There are two types of cycle adjust. So far, we’ve talked about the system
determined, which is the default issuance cycle auto-suggested by HuBERT
when the Issue Benefits screen is first opened.
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In most instances, we will continue to issue benefits based on the cycle that
HuBERT initially suggests.
Manual
However, the other type of cycle adjust is manual.
HuBERT has functionality that allows us to select the LDTU for the
household’s issuance cycle.
In general, we can adjust issuance cycles to help our local agency or clinic
manage its caseload by assigning issuance cycles that are in sync with the
weeks that our clinic is open for benefit pickup.
<SelectedLDTU1>
Let’s take a look at Allie Cat and the manual functionality.
For this example, the date is July 30, 2014, and we are issuing early for
August, September and October.
In the Cycle Adjustment Type section, we can see that right now the
issuance cycle of the 25th to the 24th is System Determined.
With this issuance cycle, Allie will typically be coming into clinic around the
fourth week of the month.
<SelectedLDTU2>
But what if Allie’s mom now needs a clinic day with later hours and our
clinic only has a late day on the first Wednesday of the month?
This would be an instance where the issuance cycle doesn’t coincide with
clinic availability and the option to cycle adjust to another date would be
appropriate.
When these situations occur we can cycle adjust to a different Last Date to
Use by clicking the Selected LDTU of radio button
Go ahead and click the radio button.
<SelectedLDTU3>
<no script>
<SelectedLDTU4>
The system default selects an LDTU by suggesting the first possible option for
the new Last Date to Use, which in this case is 8/25/2014, or the day after
the Last Set LDTU of 8/24/14.
Notice that it also suggested new sets of benefits with the 25th as the Last
Date to Use.
The drop-down calendar is enabled now that we’ve selected the radio
button.
Before we click the drop-down, we are going to need to pan down to be
able to view the entire calendar.
<SelectedLDTU5>
OK. Now click the drop-down arrow and we’ll see what other dates are
available for the LDTU.
<SelectedLDTU6>
The dates that can be selected for a different LDTU are enabled, or black.
In August, we can select any date from the 25th to the 31st as the new Last
Date to Use.
If there are more dates that can be selected the following month, the right
arrow icon at the top of the calendar is also enabled.
Admittedly, it’s kind of hard to tell but go ahead and click on it and we’ll
see that it actually is.
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<SelectedLDTU7>
The dates that are enabled, or black, are from September 1st to the 24th.
But, how did HuBERT decide that we could choose from August 25th to
September 24th?
Determine Dates
At a very high level, HuBERT determines the dates available for the Selected
LDTU of calendar by looking at all of the cycles in a household before any
system syncing or cycle-adjusting occurs.
It can only suggest today’s date and future dates; it will never suggest
dates that are already in the past.
It then takes the latest future LDTU of the last set of benefits and the earliest
future LDTU of the next set of benefits.
For most people that statement is REALLY confusing.
Suffice it to say, it’s OK if we don’t understand it completely because
HuBERT knows what it is doing and will suggest dates based on those
parameters.
However, we can understand it a little better by looking at two simples
examples.
<SelectedLDTU8>
It’s relatively easy to understand when there is only one cycle in the
household to be considered as is the case with Allie.
Keep in mind that HUBERT only looks at the issuance cycle before any
syncing or cycle-adjusting, which means it looks at the same information as
is displayed in the Household Member Information section.
OK. Let’s start with the first date: HuBERT takes the latest future LDTU of the
last set of benefits.
Since there is only one cycle for the household, the latest is moot.
So the LDTU of the last set of benefits is 8/24/14, which is in the future, and is
therefore our first available date.
For the last date: HuBERT takes the earliest future LDTU of the next set of
benefits.
Again, the earliest is moot in this scenario.
If our last set’s LDTU was 8/24/14 then we know our next set’s LDTU will be
9/24/14, which is again in the future, and is therefore the last date in our
range.
<SelectedLDTU9>
Let’s take a look at another single household cycle but this time, issuing late
(remember, the date is 7/30/14).
Coco’s usual cycle is the 9th to the 8th.
Again, starting with the first date: the latest future LDTU of the last set of
benefits.
Coco’s Last Set LDTU is 7/8/14 but that is NOT in the future.
Remember, it can only suggest current or future dates.
So, the available dates start with the current date of 7/30/14, which we can
see in the drop-down calendar below.
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OK, now the last date: HuBERT takes the earliest future LDTU of the next set
of benefits.
Based on that statement, can you now guess what dates we would be
able to select in August?
<SelectedLDTU10>
Did you guess the 1st through the 8th of August?
Since her last set of benefits had a Last Set LDTU of 7/8/14, the LDTU of her
next set of benefits would be 8/8/14.
We now have a rudimentary understanding, which is all we really need.
Just keep in mind that when there are multiple household cycles it isn’t
quite as simple but HuBERT always follows these same rules when
determining the available dates.
Messages
Messages1
Next, let’s take a few minutes to talk about the messages that display in the
Issue Benefits screen.
These messages inform us why the system isn’t suggesting benefits for one
or more of the household members.
In general, the messages tend to fall into two broad categories:
informational or update needed.
We will see some examples of both in the next few slides.
<Msgs1>
The messages display in red.
Terminated members still appear as part of the household but will have a
message indicating they have been terminated and the reason why.
For Mama, we can see that no benefits were suggested because she
doesn’t currently belong to the clinic we are working in.
<Msgs2>
Sometimes messages indicate that an action needs to be performed in
order to issue benefits.
For instance, Faith is currently breastfeeding and her message indicates
that we didn’t update the Date Breastfeeding Verified field prior to opening
the Issue Benefits tab.
<BFDate>
In order for the system to be able to suggest benefits for a breastfed infant,
the Date Breastfeeding Verified must be the current date.
<Msgs3>
For Grace and Joy, an identity, residency or income proof is pending and
they have already received the one set of benefits they are allowed
without verification of proof.
<Proof>
For pending proofs, the system provides an alert informing us of the
pending proof when we first open the Participant Folder.
We just need to verify and document the income proof before being able
to issue benefits.
<AllSuggested>
Once any necessary updates are made to the participant records, the
system auto-suggests the next sets of benefits.
Other Messages1
There are a number of different messages that may display.
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The following is a list.
Click the Next button when ready to go to the next slide.
Other Messages2
Again, click the Next button when ready to move on.
Household Lock
<Lock1>
Another function that is usually in the background is the temporary
household lock.
HuBERT has a temporary lock that ensures a second Issue Benefits screen
cannot be opened for the same household at the same time.
We opened the Issue Benefits screen via Hudson’s Participant Folder.
<Lock2>
Let’s see what happens if we try to open the Issue Benefits screen from
Madison’s folder also. Go ahead and click the icon.
<Lock3>
The system message informs us that the household is temporarily locked
because a user, specified by the username of the staff who opened the
Issue Benefits screen, is already in the process of issuing benefits to a
member of the household.
The State WIC ID listed belongs to Hudson since we initially opened the
Issue Benefits screen from his participant folder.
Other users on different computers will also receive this message if they try
to open the Issue Benefits screen for one of these same household
members once the screen is already open.
This function ensures that the same sets of suggested benefits cannot be
accidentally issued more than one time.
Clicking the Retry button will just result in the same message as long as the
initial Issue Benefits screen remains open.
Go ahead and click the Cancel button to cancel the attempt to open the
Issue Benefits screen and to close the message.
<Lock4>
Once the Issue Benefits screen that was initially opened is closed, the
temporary lock is automatically removed.
However, there may be occasions when the lock isn’t automatically
removed due to unforeseen circumstances, such as a workstation locking
up or loss of connectivity.
In these instances, we are able to manually remove the household lock
ourselves via the System Tools menu.
Click on the File menu.
<Lock5>
Select System Tools.
<Lock6>
Which one do you think we should select? Go ahead.
<Lock7>
<no script>
<Lock8>
A list of all currently locked households will display.
These are households for whom the Issue Benefits screen is currently open.
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We should never unlock the household unless we know for sure that no
other user has the Issue Benefits screen open for this household and we
receive the “Household Lock” message when trying to open the Issue
Benefits screen.
Before unlocking the household, we need to make sure we select the
correct row based on the Household or State WIC ID.
Go ahead and select the correct row and click the Unlock button.
<Lock9>
<no script>
<Lock8>
Go ahead and close the window.
<Lock10>
Since we unlocked the household, let’s see what happens when we try to
open the Issue Benefits screen again.
<Lock11>
We should also note that any households that are locked when the End-ofDay maintenance processes are run will be unlocked.
Again, the unlock mechanism is only to be used when an unforeseen
interruption occurs that results in the household remaining locked when the
Issue Benefits screen is no longer open and we need to open the Issue
Benefits screen again.
End Slide
We appreciate you taking the time to review this HuBERT on-demand
training module presented by the MN Department of Health WIC Program.
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