HANDS Retirement/MOWINS Celebration

Bureau of WIC and Nutrition Services

WIC Program in MissouriWIC 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.

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WIC-EDP SystemPredecessor 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.

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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.

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HANDS Training

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HANDSHANDS 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.

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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.7

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.

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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.

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Missouri WIC SAM ApplicationCSC 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.

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Other SPIRIT StatesOther states that received the SAM grant

were Arkansas and Montana.

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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.

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MOWINS Steering CommitteeOversaw implementation of new data systemMembers

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 Shaul13

MOWINS TimeLineReleased 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.

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MOWINS Timeline (cont)Gap analysis and Joint Application Design

(JAD) sessions- May and June 2008.User Acceptance Testing (UAT)- September-

November 2008.

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UAT - September 2008

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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.

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Data ConversionConverted 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.

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MOWINS Training for Local AgenciesContracted 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.

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MOWINS Training

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MOWINS Roll Out SupportAt 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).

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LogisticsTraining 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!

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Ready to Drop Off Equipment

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On the Road Again

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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!

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Arranging MOWINS Travel

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MOWINS EquipmentMICR Printers- 449Signature Pads-665Scanners-565Computers-105Laptops-100Equipment 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.

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MOWINS Help DeskPrior 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.

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Help Desk Staff- Answering Calls

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Access to MOWINSAccess to MOWINS was given to 926 local

and state staff.

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Local AgenciesThe 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.

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MOWINSWhenever 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.

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WIC reportsSpeed issuesCheck issuesDown TimeDeadlocksSignature pad problems

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MOWINS “Bugs”

Team EffortInvolved state WIC office, local agency, ITSD, DHSS

Warehouse and CSC Covansys all working as team to make this happen.

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