PIC Headlines - 2004

Information by State  Print version

October 25, 2004: PIC was offline unexpectedly on Monday for more than 5 hours due to a hardware problem. The problem that was found has been resolved and no data was lost. PIC is running normally again.

Technical staff had installed new hardware during the weekend and it did not function properly. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

October 4, 2004: PIC was offline unexpectedly on Friday for about 40 minutes due to a hardware problem. The problem that was found has been resolved and no data was lost. PIC is running normally again.

Technical staff are investing the root cause of the problem in order to prevent a recurrence. We thank you for your patience.

September 22, 2004: Access to the PIC production system will be shut down at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (1:00 p.m. Pacific) on Friday, September 24, to permit installation and testing of PIC Release 5.5. All users must exit the system by that time. (Failure to do so may delay the release.) Please do not try to access the system during this weekend.

PIC will remain offline for the weekend to permit thorough testing of this large release in a production environment. We expect PIC to be back in operation sometime during the day on Monday, September 27, if not earlier.

We regret this inconvenience to our users but feel it is necessary. It should be noted that users will be able to submit month, quarter and FY-end reports for 9/30 until midnight on that date.

August 6, 2004: As part of Release 5.4, two new error codes were added to PIC Form 50058 Submission submodule. They are:

July 16, 2004: PIC suffered a major database system failure on Tuesday (7/13). The PIC system will not be available to users until the failure can be repaired. The system is being restored from the Monday night backup and will be available again at 5:00 pm (Eastern) today (Friday).

As part of the restoration, all Form 50058 uploads, online EOPs and Alt. ID creations received since 11:00 pm (Eastern) Monday are being restored into the database and users will not need to resubmit them. Except for Form 50058 uploads, online EOPs and Alt. ID creations, any other data entered into PIC submodules on Tuesday or Wednesday (including password and user access changes) will need to be re-entered.

We apologize for the inconvenience to our users and ask for your cooperation.

April 22, 2004: PIC SEMAP has not been accepting certifications from 3/31 FYE PHAs as it should since April 1. The PIC maintenance team has now corrected the problem and HAs are able to prepare and submit SEMAP certifications for FYE 3/31 at this time.

SEMAP certifications for FYE 3/31 PHAs being assessed must be submitted in PIC by Sunday, May 30, 2004.

For all Section 8 PHAs with FYE 3/31/2004 and with 250 or more vouchers under contract as well as smaller Section 8 PHAs that are designed "Troubled", your SEMAP certification must be submitted in PIC no later than Sunday, May 30, 2004. PHAs with less than 250 vouchers under contract who are not designated "Troubled" need not submit a certification this time but may do so if they so choose. If you submit a certification, it will be scored.

If you are not sure whether you are required to submit, call your local HUD Field Office. If you are having technical problems with PIC SEMAP, call PICHelp at 1-800-366-6827.

April 14, 2004: The data problems with the monthly Section 8 "Delinquency" and "RCR" reports previously reported here have been corrected. The data in the reports should now accurately reflect conditions at the end of March 2004.

Thank you for your patience.

April 5, 2004: Due to data calculation bug introduced inadvertently in the last PIC release, the values for "50058 Required" units were almost doubled for all Section 8 programs and, consequently, their reporting rates were halved. This data is erroneous.

We are working on an emergency release to correct the problem, which should be installed and tested by next week. We apologize for any worries this might have caused users.

March 29, 2004: PIC Demo-Dispo module, which was not properly processing removals from inventory where the original Demo-Dispo application number began with "IBS" is now processing them properly.

PHAs may now enter the actual removals in PIC Demo-Dispo as described in the Demo-Dispo User Manual for all application types

The PIC Demo-Dispo User Manual can be downloaded in "pdf" format from www.hud.gov/offices/pih/systems/pic/userguides.cfm

March 21, 2004: We are pleased to report that PIC Release 5.3 installation and testing was completed in record time. In addition, the problems with Viewer Reports and PIC Building & Unit Download requests have been corrected and they can once again be accessed.

Late Saturday night the system was brought back online for users. Go to the PIC Home Page for a link to the change in Release 5.3 under "What's New".

March 1, 2004: A "Page cannot be displayed" error cropped up in Viewer Reports and in Download due to a data mismatch caused by the Leap Day (2/29). The underlying data is not affected, merely the display of it. The resolution to the problem is being tested in PICTEST. Once testing is completed, the fix will be installed in PIC production as soon as it can be arranged. We apologize for the inconvenience.

February 26, 2004: Reminder - For all Section 8 PHAs with FYE of 12/31/2003 and with 250 or more vouchers under contract as well as smaller Section 8 PHAs that are designated "Troubled", your SEMAP certification must be submitted in PIC no later than Sunday, February 29, 2004 (3 days to go). PHAs with less than 250 vouchers under contract who are not designated "Troubled" need not submit a certification this time but may do so if they so choose. If you submit a certification, it will be scored. If you are not sure whether you are required to submit, call your local HUD Field Office. If you are having technical problems with PIC SEMAP, call PICHelp at 1-800-366-6827.

January 23, 2004: Indicators 11 (Pre-contract HQS inspections) and 12 (Annual HQS inspections) are turned off and not being used at all in SEMAP scoring. (Indicator 12 has been turned off since 2001. Indicator 11 was turned off in 2002 due to a data processing problem). Indicator 12 is scheduled to be turned on again effective for the 3/31/2004 FYE. However, Indicator 11 will remain turned off until a date to be determined (at least 12/31/2004 or later).

January 15, 2004: PIC Emergency Release 5.2.1 has been installed to resolve a JAVA processing problem that affected the efficiency of processing Form 50058. In addition, to serve PIC users better, the release added the capability to add a banner "ticker" announcement to the PIC Logon page to alert users to special conditions or schedules. We demonstrate it for this release but it will be reserved for special alerts and warnings in the future.

Year 2003 Headlines