P&P August 2015

efficiency, reduce complexity, and improve customer satisfaction with the monitoring process. The Checklist app addressed two of them: (1) provide licensing staff with mobile devices; and (2) reorganize the 45-page checklist, making it easier to document moni- toring results directly during the site visit. In late 2013 and early 2014, the department issued iPads with cellular data connectivity to all licensing staff. This provided access to WISCCRS outside of the office, as long as an Internet connection was available. Wisconsin has large rural areas and cellular voice or data coverage is not always available, so while the iPad helped improve the monitoring process a little bit, much of the paper process was still in place. To fully take advantage of the iPad investment and make substantial improvements in efficiency, stream- lining, and customer service, the department committed to developing an app to replace the paper checklist. The department selected a vendor to establish an overall department mobile strategy and co-develop the Checklist app with department IT staff. This effort resulted in an intuitive, easy-to-use iPad app licensing staff started using in late January 2015. Logging into the app requires an Internet connection in order to validate user credentials and download child care center information fromWISCCRS. The user remains logged in until they change their WISCCRS password or need to troubleshoot a technical issue, allowing the app to work with or without an Internet connection. The center information downloaded to the app is available on the public child care search web site and does not include any personal identifying information. Several key features of the Checklist app include: Š Š All assigned centers have the prior two years of monitoring history; Š Š Visits can be completed for any center in the user’s region, even if the facility is not assigned to the user; Š Š Progress bar provides visual indi- cator of rule areas monitored over the center’s current two-year

to conduct the background check and review the results to make an eligible or ineligible determination for child staff members or prospective staff members. The state is also required to notify the provider and the staff member (or prospective staff member) of the deter- mination within 45 days of the request. This provision ultimately shifts the review, approval, and decision notifica- tion for an estimated 25,000 criminal background checks from the child care provider to the state. The second substantial provision in the CCDBG Act requires that all child care providers and child care staff members have a criminal background check completed every five years that includes a fingerprint-based FBI check. This requirement supersedes the 2013 Wisconsin fingerprint law of a one-time fingerprint check and will significantly impact child care providers. Modernization of Monitoring Child Care Programs Another modernization effort Wisconsin implemented turned paper checklists of licensing rules into a custom iPad app. This effort started as part of Wisconsin’s Lean Government initiative to improve customer satis- faction by streamlining government processes and eliminating waste. Wisconsin’s child care monitoring process was in need of streamlining, standardizing, simplifying, and reducing waste, so it was identified as a Lean Government project in 2013. Prior to the Checklist app, licensing specialists used a 45-page paper form over a two-year period for each center. Different colors of ink pens were used to match visit results to the visit date. At the conclusion of the monitoring visit, staff used their paper notes or the paper checklist to discuss the results with the provider. Over the next 10 business days, the licensing staff would tran- scribe their notes to the paper checklist document and enter the results into Wisconsin Child Care Regulatory System (WISCCRS), our IT system. The results pre-filled into a form printed and mailed in duplicate to the provider. The Lean Government workgroup came up with several recommenda- tions on how to significantly increase

or wishes to receive child care subsidy payments. Successful implementation of this initiative required a significant amount of collaboration between multiple state agencies, certifying agencies, child care providers, the FBI, and the state- contracted fingerprint capture vendor Fieldprint. This collaborative effort led to obtaining the necessary approvals from the FBI for each entity to receive the criminal search results, developing interfaces between the child care IT system and Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and Fieldprint, and additional IT system enhancements to automate as much of the process as possible. Without the ability to add positions for this initiative, the IT auto- mation enhancements were critical to minimize the increased workload. The rollout of this fingerprint initiative began in May 2014 and provides currently regulated child care programs receiving or wishing to receive subsidized child care payments until December 31, 2015, to fully comply with the law. Licensed child care providers that were required to comply received automated notices containing detailed instructions, along with unique codes assigned to each individual, that connect the back- ground check results with the person’s record in the child care IT system. New providers receive the automated notice after submitting an application and must comply before receiving a license. Licensed child care centers have a Wisconsin DOJ account code assigned that the employee uses when sched- uling a fingerprint appointment. This connects the employee’s results with their employer and allows the provider to access and review the results. Each certifying agency independently decided how to ensure the certified providers they regulate are in compli- ance by the deadline. CCDBG Criminal Background Check Requirements The new CCDBG criminal back- ground check requirements have created an entirely new set of chal- lenges that Wisconsin is actively attempting to tackle. The provision with the largest impact requires the state

See Wisconsin on page 40

August 2015   Policy&Practice 29