EIGHT STATES RECEIVE SBR AWARDS FOR IV & V – OCTOBER 2009

As part of a Supplement Benefit Request (SBR) process for FY 2009, eight states received awards to have an outside organization conduct an Independent Validation and Verification of their DV extract files: Alabama; Arkansas; Maine; Mississippi; Nebraska; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; Puerto Rico. In addition, New York and South Dakota received SBR funds to correct reporting software that DV showed were producing erroneous counts. These funds must be obligated by September 30, 2011; funds must be expended by December 30, 2011 unless an extension has been granted.

NEW POSTINGS – AUGUST 2009

Posted for your information are DV results for VY 2009 and Validation Items Due for VY 2010. Also, we are in the process of revising and updating materials from the Benefits and Tax Handbooks. "In this section" now includes updated Appendix A (Subpopulation Specifications) tables for Benefits, and a revised guidance for building LADT records for Benefits Populations 1 and 3 and building CWC records for Benefits Populations 3 and 4.

TEMPORARY PROCEDURE TO AVOID LOSS OF SAMPLE INVESTIGATION WORK, July 2009

Users have occasionally contacted the DV Team or Hotline to report that the DV software had drawn a random sample with more than the allotted number of sample cases. Two different causes have been identified: (1) a malfunctioning sampling module, which displays each case twice; (2) an improperly built extract file that contains duplicate observation numbers (OBS). Problem (1), and often problem (2), can be corrected by reloading the population; however, if the problem is discovered after cases have been investigated, reloading causes all investigative work to be lost.

The new software release accompanying the Sun system upgrade will fix the sampling module. It will also check the extract file for duplicate OBS numbers on load and send duplicate records to the error table. When OBS duplicates are found, validators should fix the extract file by renumbering the records in the file so that it contains no duplicate OBS before reloading it. Until the new release is issued, users are strongly urged to open every sample before beginning any case investigations to ensure that the correct number of cases has been drawn to avoid losing work.

DUE DATE FOR SUBMITTING DV RESULTS CHANGED, APRIL 2009

Effective immediately, the due date for all DV submissions is changed from May 10 to June 10. Results for VY 2009 will be due June 10, 2009. Not only will this new date give validators more time to complete validations but because it is three weeks after the May 20 reporting date for the 1st quarter ETA 581 report, validators will now be able to validate tax results for the first calendar quarter if they so choose. The change increases the number of quarterly Tax reports that can be validated for Populations 1, 3, 4 and 5 from three to four, and the number of quarters that can be validated for Population 2 (Report Delinquency) from two to three.

VERSION 2.1.0 BUGS AND DESIGN ISSUES – MARCH, 2009

Users have called some minor software bugs and design limitations to our attention. See the link, Version 2.1.0 bugs under the "Bugs and Workarounds" header in "In this Section" for an explanation and workarounds. A release containing the bug fixes is expected in late spring or summer 2009, following the installation of an upgrade to the Sun's system operating system. The upgrade will require retesting of all Sun software, including DV WS Version 2.1.0.

Past updates can be read here.

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