IMS Data Entry Personnel Meeting Notes – 8/25/09 10:00 A.M. – 11:10 A.M.

 

 

Agenda

 

1.              Introductions

2.              Special Education Child Count

3.              In 2009-2010

4.              Networking and Sharing

 

Announcements

1.    Governance

2.    Support Service Code TC

3.    Old Race/Ethnicity Field in Required Data Report

 

 

Introductions

 

The sites checked in.

 

 

Special Education Child Count

 

 

John reviewed the Count Documents which are posted at www.iowaidea.org; Section: IMS; subsection Count, Special Education.

 

·          Regarding the checklist he noted that the dates for the creation of the data file of students exiting special education from 2008-09 was incorrect. 

o         These data will be as of the end of the day on Monday August 31st

o         The Bureau will pull the data the morning of Tuesday September 1st

o         Exit records must be done by Monday, September 14th

o         Clean up must be complete no later than Monday 21st

 

Post-meeting note:  The Checklist has been updated to reflect the Exit Dates communicated in John Lee’s August 19 e-mail.

 

·          John reviewed the State Weighted Enrollment Count Informational Bulletin, especially the Eligibility for Weighting information on page 3-4.  He noted that only local host districts, not AEAs, not DHS etc. can file a claim for foster care -9889 and district courts -9888 students.

 

·          On the IMS Coding section of the bulletin (page 4), John reviewed the full or part time status.  He requested that care be taken to review the weighted enrollment report.  The summary will show how many part-time students there are; the details (accuracy) can be checked by referring to the detailed section. 

 

·          All Count documents are posted at www.iowaidea.org

 

·          The data are very high stakes and has an impact at the local, AEA, Department of Education and Federal levels.  You play a very important part in the process.

 

 

In 2009-2010

 

 

Michelle explained what is ahead for the Iowa IDEA applications and services from the CPC this year.

 

·          web IEP

o         In the past new releases were referred to as version numbers.  Releases will now be referred to by the year in which the major release occurred.  On July 1, 2009, web IEP 2009 was released, not web IEP Version 6.

o         The Governance Committee approved a practice that will allow the major release on July 1 of any given year.  This July 1 release will remain as the release date for changes related to the collection of required data. The July release will focus on data that has to be collected from July 1 – June 30 in order to fulfill a state or federal reporting requirement. Items for which service providers will need training will be most likely in the July release.  In addition, there will be interim releases for the web IEP.  Items for interim releases will be determined by importance and need.  These may be items that are related to improving the user interface and tools for the web IEP administrators.  There will likely be multiple interim releases throughout the year, the number will depend on how quickly items can be programmed and what other priorities come in.  Information regarding an interim release for the Meeting Notice and Consent was sent on Thursday.  The next interim release is estimated to be November 1st.  There will be communication prior to the release as to its contents.  There should be no training required.

 

·          web IFSP

o         The web IFSP has gone through the paces of pre-alpha testing and alpha testing.

o         On September 8 – 11, training at the pilot site, Region 8, will occur.  Training sessions are divided into:

Ø        Create and Maintain Accounts and Assignments, Add Offices, Assign Staff to Offices (Experienced with IMS)

Ø        Create and Initially Set-Up Staff, Add Offices, Assign Staff to Offices (Inexperienced with IMS)

Ø        Assign Service Coordinators

Ø        Service Coordinators

Ø        Service Providers

o         80-90 different people are going to be trained at one or more sessions.

o         This training and the pilot will provide us with a great deal of information about how this application can be rolled out across the state.

o         Rollouts are scheduled to start after count; most likely in January 2010.  (May bring a couple on in December.)

o         We anticipate that we will be having a conversion with each AEA to discuss the rollout.  This will help identify any variations in the Early ACCESS system within that AEA.  It will also be a time when some specifics will be discussed (e.g. training) and other decisions that need to be made so the rollout will go as smoothly as possible. 

o         At least until June 30, 2010 data entry personnel will continue to enter IFSPs into IMS, no matter when the IFSP is rolled out in your AEA.

 

·          IMS

o         IMS will be rewritten starting this year, in the next month or two. It is not known how long it will take to rewrite the application.

o         Once IMS is rewritten, it will be part of the same database as web IEP and web IFSP.

o         For the most part, IMS will be rewritten as is with a few changes that have been identified by the DE and the Center. For example, one change that will be included is to change the system so that there will be no down-time during count.  The system will be more date driven.

o         If your AEA has a customized module that the data entry personnel indicated in 2007 that you wanted to maintain, Michelle sent an e-mail to the appropriate directors asking if the AEA still wanted the module to be rewritten.

Ø        Some have responded so far with: must maintain, don’t need anymore, and need more information before making a decision

 

·          iowaidea.org

·          The Center is relying more and more on iowaidea.org to post materials and time sensitive information.

·          Based on some questions that have been received in recent weeks, Michelle reviewed some of the information that is posted in the IMS section of www.iowaidea.org. 

·          On the Calendar, dates related to Medicaid uploads, the Count, and State ID are maintained.

·          To receive reminders for events, sign up for the Calendar Reminder.

·          To receive e-mails on special announcements and updates, sign up for News Update.

·          In the IMS Section, the following subsections are available:

o         the questions and answers for Ask the Bureau,

o         Meeting notes from these meetings

o         Contacts List

o         Count Documents

o         The Uniform Data Entry Practices

o         Miscellaneous Resources

o         Manual for IMS.

·          There is a SEARCH tool on iowaidea.org.  If you enter the text you are searching for it will bring up all the articles that include that text.  An example of its use would be if you did not know if the article was stored in IMS or Web IEP or in what sub-section.

 

·          Staff

o         An e-mail was sent to data entry personnel with information about the Center’s staff’s phone numbers.   Grant Wood AEA now has a new IP phone system with many advanced features.  Clients can now dial the Center staff at their extension and the staff person will get the call, even if they are working off-site.

§         Brandon will continue to support IMS, state ID and the nightly. 

§         Direct questions about Medicaid to Abbie.

§         If you have questions about the web IFSP or IEP contact your AEA’s web IEP or web IFSP administrator.  If you are the web IEP or web IFSP administrator and have questions, please contact Kirby.

§         If you need to have an ICN site changed or a site removed, please contact Mary Cummings.  There are many new people, Michelle requested:  that you let Mary know at least 72 hours prior to the meeting if you will not need a site.  There are times this is not possible due to illnesses, weather, emergencies, etc. but as often as you can, it is appreciated.  Costs for unused sites can add up rather quickly as we are charged $7.18 per hour per site.

 

 

Networking and Sharing

 

 

Question:  After all AEAs are on board with the new release of IFSP, will we still need to enter the IFSP into IMS?

Answer:  Yes, for now you do still need to enter them into IMS.  Eventually, that will not be necessary as we coordinate that with the IMS rewrite.

 

Question:  The Ethnicity in IMS, for an IFSP does not show on the right side of the screen. 

Answer:  The Ethnicity that used to show on the right side of the screen is the old data field.  (On the Child Demographic screen) It is a read-only field.  You will be entering data into the new ethnicity field.  To do that you open up the window and enter it.  Future screens do not display it unless you open the window.  This was a screen-space optimizing feature that was requested. 

 

Question:  Will the new race/ethnicity field show on the reports?

Answer:  This field will show on the new reports as the full rewrite of reports takes place.  The Operations Work Group will be working on the outputs related to Count later this week.

 

Question:  Will the table part C that is sent to John include race/ethnicity data?

Answer:  The Count reports will be revised.  During the interim John will work around the lack of race/ethnicity in the data.

 

Question:  When Project EASIER downloads race/ethnicity data into IMS, will it override any data if it exists?

Answer:  This could be done so that data will or will not overwrite data.  The current thinking is to have the import overwrite existing Race/Ethnicity data. That should be accurate since the data should be the same.

 

Question:  Why do we need to enter race/ethnicity into IMS?  Why not let Project EASIER feed the data.

Answer:  You need to enter it, because children birth thru 5 years of age are not in Project EASIER data.

 

Question:  When will the new rates for Medicaid be ready?

Answer:  The new rates should be ready soon.

 

 

Announcements

 

 

1.       Governance

Effective July 1, 2009, the Governance of IMS, web IEP and web IFSP are divided into two groups:  Governance and the Operations Work Group.  Go to www.iowaidea.org, Section: Governance to learn more about these two groups as well as the members who currently serve on these committees.

 

The Operations Work Group will typically meet monthly.  Their meeting notes are posted also on www.iowaidea.org, Section: Governance, Meeting Minutes or Notes.  You are encouraged to review the meeting notes from their meetings as their work will focus primarily on data collection and data reporting.

 

 

2.       Support Service Code TC

The Operations Work Group reviewed some of the Support Service Codes to ensure alignment between IMS, web IEP and web IFSP.  Review these changes at www.iowaidea.org, Section: Governance, Meeting Minutes or Notes (July 23, 2009).

 

 

3.       Old Race/Ethnicity Field in Required Data Report

The old Race/Ethnicity field is now removed from the Required Data Report.  When we get closer to importing the new Race/Ethnicity codes from Project EASIER, another data verification report will be created just for these new race/ethnicity codes.

 

 

Preview of Future Business

 

Next meeting will be Tuesday October  6th, 10:00 – 11:00, topics:

·          Count-related