DCL-05-30, State Data Quality Profiles

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-05-30

SUPERSEDES: DCL-05-15

DATE: September 30, 2005

TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: State Data Quality Profiles

Dear Colleague:

This DCL supersedes DCL-05-15, dated May 27, 2005. DCL-05-15 did not have the State Data Quality Profiles attached so the DCL is being re-issued.

In a continuous effort to maintain the quality of child support data and to provide you with feedback, we have prepared the attached Data Quality Profiles for your state for the six-month period of April 1 through September 30, 2004 and October 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005. Our intent is to provide a comprehensive picture of the volume and quality of data your state submitted and received from the location and collection services provided by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). State child support workers have often requested feedback on the completeness and accuracy of the data. These profiles provide that information in a single report, separated into six Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) program areas: Federal Case Registry (FCR), National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), Federal Offset Program (FO), Passport Denial Program (PPD), Multistate Financial Institution Data Match (MSFIDM), and Child Support Enforcement Network (CSENet).

Changes have been made to the profiles to improve the usefulness of the report. One major change across all program areas is the addition of national statistics, which will allow the users to compare their state’s data to national totals. Additional graphs and methods of displaying the data have been added. A new section has been added to provide information about CSENet. Users will find information about the number of valid transactions sent, the number of exchange agreements, the number of partners with which their state exchanges data, and a list of the seven CSENet function codes.

To allow faster and easier propagation of information, OCSE is planning to change the distribution method of the reports. The profiles will be posted on the OCSE website. This profile is considered sensitive and will require a user id and password to gain access. Posting the profiles on the website will allow each state’s users to take advantage of the color and graphic changes to the profile, faster dissemination of data, and report comparison. OCSE will post the two most recently produced profiles. This will allow users to view the current and previous profiles for comparison purposes to determine if they have made improvements in their processing of FPLS data. Users will be allowed to view only the profiles for their state. They will not be able to see another state’s profile.

We would like you to identify a contact person for each of the six program areas within your state. The name, phone number and email address of the contacts should be provided to Angela Kasey, at (202) 205-3423 or akasey@acf.hhs.gov. OCSE will work with these contacts to provide users access to the posted state profiles.The first profile that will be posted on the IRG will cover the period of April 1 through September 30, 2005. An Eflash will be distributed to the FCR, NDNH, FO, PPD, MSFIDM and CSENet contacts and users to notify them that the profile has been posted and is available.

I hope that you find the information helpful. If you have any questions about the profile, please contact your State Technical Support Liaison or Ella Wood, FPLS Branch Chief, at (202) 401-4963 or ewood@acf.hhs.gov or Dennis Putze at (202) 401-4030 or dputze@acf.hhs.gov.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to improve the lives of America’s children.

Sincerely,

Margot Bean
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosure

cc: Regional Program Managers
ACF Regional Administrators
FIDM State Contacts
FCR Contacts
Federal Offset Contacts
New Hire Contacts
CSENet Contacts