FAQs about using the Incoming Evidence timeline

Merative ™ Social Program Management is now Cúram ™ by Merative™

How To

Summary

Using four scenarios that are typically faced by caseworkers, this article explains the evidence sharing timeline of changes, how to use the evidence sharing timeline to resolve incoming evidence, and how to enter missing mandatory details starting in Social Program Management 7.0.11.

Steps

1. What is a timeline?

Scenario: A timeline represents the changes to evidence over time. The information that changed is effective from a specific date until it is changed again. Evidence that changes over time has timelines. Evidence that does not change does not have a timeline.

A client's circumstances typically change over time. A timeline represents the changes that are made to the evidence to reflect the client’s changes in circumstance. When caseworkers make updates to a client's evidence by using a timeline, caseworkers do not need to reenter all of the data that did not change. Instead, caseworkers simply enter the effective date of the change and the new values for only the changed information. Using this evidence entry method reduces the effort that is required of caseworkers compared to rekeying all of the evidence again.

In Figure 1, you can see three records that represent the client’s income evidence. John gets a new job that starts on 2 February 2020 for 200 per week. Later, John receives a pay raise. Starting on 4 April, John’s income changes to 225 per week. On 8 August, John receives a pay cut, and his income changes again, this time to 215 per week.

On the initial record, the initial date (or start date) of this income is 2 February 2020. The date represents when the evidence started. It is the earliest date of the set of evidence records that collectively represent John’s evidence of income of type Wages and Salaries for employer Midway DMV as it changes over time. There is no effective date of change because no change occurred. After the first change in April, there is now an effective date of change of 4 April 2020. After the second change, there is now a new effective date of change of 8 August 2020.

Figure 1: A representation of income evidence changes over time – the initial record and two updates.

The evidence workspace displays evidence that changes over time in a list format. Figure 2 shows how John’s income evidence appears in the evidence workspace.

Figure 2: A change in income over time based on the records in Figure 1 as shown in the evidence workspace.

2. How do the dates on the incoming evidence timeline relate to evidence that is displayed in the evidence workspace on the case?

**Scenario: **The evidence workspace contains the same evidence records that display in the incoming evidence timeline of changes when the evidence is shared. The format is displayed differently.

The evidence workspace displays individual evidence records and evidence that changes over time in a list format. The same evidence records and the evidence details are displayed on the incoming evidence timeline of changes in a graphical format when evidence is shared to another case.

When you view evidence within the evidence workspace, the following list outlines what you see:

When you expand the evidence record in the list, you see a further list of the changes that were made to the evidence over time.

When the evidence is shared between cases, if your agency requires manual intervention during sharing, you must process the shared evidence in the Incoming Evidence page. In the Incoming Evidence page, the view of the evidence as displayed on the Incoming Evidence side of the page contains the same information that is in the evidence workspace in the case from which it was shared. The same is true for the Existing Evidence side. The view of the evidence as displayed on the Existing Evidence side of the page contains the same information that is in the evidence workspace on the existing case.

If the incoming evidence timeline of changes displays only one date, it represents an evidence record that was entered on the evidence workspace to which no changes were made. If more than one date is displayed on a timeline, it represents the initial evidence record and the changes over time that were entered on the evidence workspace. The same is true for the Existing Evidence side. Both views display a timeline of changes where you can click a date to view the evidence as it existed from that point in time rather than viewing it in a list format as you can do in the evidence workspace.

For example, starting on 1 July 2018 you entered a benefit evidence of type Disability Insurance of $100 on an Income Support case. Then, on 1 July 2019, you updated the income to $105 due to an increase in income. You updated the income again on 1 July 2020 to $110 due to another increase in income. When you view the evidence in the evidence workspace, you see the client name, the evidence description that contains the most recent amount, and the period from 1 July 2020. When the evidence is expanded, you see the changes over time. See Figure 3 for benefit evidence that was entered on the evidence workspace.

Figure 3: Benefit evidence from the evidence workspace that starts on 1 July 2018, with two changes over time. The most recent evidence displays in the Description.

After the benefit evidence was entered, the client applied for extra benefits, and a new Income Support case was created. Then, the evidence was shared from the original Income Support case to the new case. In Figure 4, you can see the same record that is shown as Incoming Evidence on the new case with the changes over time for the dates 1 July 2018, 1 July 2019, and 1 July 2020. Notice in the timeline of changes that the 1 July 2020 date is highlighted, and you can see the income amount of $110 displayed at the end of the view.

Figure 4: In Incoming Evidence, you can see that the shared benefit evidence displays as entered on the evidence workspace on the incoming case. You can see the corresponding evidence on the evidence workspace in Figure 3 but in a different format.

Now, expand the earliest benefit evidence record in the evidence workspace. The amount was $100 for the period from 1 July 2018. See Figure 5.

Figure 5: Benefit evidence on the evidence workspace with the 1 July 2018 record expanded in the evidence workspace. This record displays an amount of $100 for the expanded period.

When you click the same date in the incoming evidence timeline of changes, you can see the same record on the incoming evidence list page. See Figure 6.

Figure 6: In Incoming Evidence, you can see the benefit timeline of changes. The 1 July 2018 record is highlighted and displays $100. This information is the same as Figure 5 in the evidence workspace but in a different format.

3. How do I use the timeline of changes to analyze how to resolve incoming evidence?

Scenario: The dates on the timeline of changes represent the initial evidence record and changes to the evidence over time. You can select dates on both the incoming evidence and the existing evidence timelines.

The incoming evidence page displays a comparison view of incoming and existing evidence when an incoming evidence record is expanded within the list. Preceding both the incoming and existing evidence, a timeline of changes is displayed.

The dates on the timeline represent the initial evidence record and the changes to the evidence over time. You can click the various dates to view the evidence for that point in time. In both the incoming evidence timeline of changes and the existing evidence timeline of changes, click the dates to see the changes over time. If the same date displays on both the incoming and the existing timelines, you can click the same date on each of the timelines to review what differences in the evidence might exist on the same date.

If the timeline of changes includes only one date, it represents an individual evidence record. If there is more than one date, it represents changes in evidence over time. The same principle applies to both the incoming and the existing evidence timelines.

In Figure 7, you can see income evidence of type **Wages and Salaries **on the timeline of changes for both the incoming and the existing cases. For the incoming evidence on the left, you can see the dates 3 March 2020 and 5 May 2020 that represent the client’s change of circumstances over time. For the existing evidence on the right, there are two records for income evidence with dates 5 May 2020 and 8 August 2020 that represent the client’s change of circumstances over time. The most recent evidence from each of the timelines is selected, and you can see the current amount of wages and salaries of 500 as of 5 May 2020 displayed for the incoming evidence and 600 as of 8 August 2020 displayed for the existing evidence.

Figure 7: For the incoming evidence on the left, you can see the dates 3 March 2020 and 5 May 2020 time on case 612. For the existing evidence on the right, two records exist for income evidence with dates 5 May 2020 and 8 August 2020. The amount is 600 for 8 August 2020. Conflicting information exists for 5 May.

By using the timeline of changes to review the evidence in both cases you can analyze how to resolve the incoming evidence. In this example, the evidence that is being shared includes an earlier date of 5 May 2020 and is historical. So, you can choose to add the history of the changes to the evidence to the beginning of the timeline on the existing case (that is, the 3 March 2020 evidence).

In Figure 8, notice that both timelines have the date 5 May 2020. If you click 5 May 2020 on both timelines at the same time, you see an amount of 500 for the incoming evidence and an amount of 575 for the existing evidence. When you click matching dates on both the incoming and the existing side, use the timeline of changes to view the data side by side to see whether there are discrepancies between the evidence on the same date. If the evidence does not match when you select the same date on both sides, this discrepancy indicates that you must decide whether the evidence that is being shared is correct or the existing evidence is correct.

Figure 8: For the 5 May 2020 date on both sides, the amount is different.

4. How do I enter missing mandatory details?

Scenario: When similar evidence with a different format is shared on the incoming evidence list, you might see missing mandatory evidence details. Use the Edit action to add the missing details.

Evidence can be shared between different types of cases. For example, sharing can occur between an Insurance Affordability case and an Income Support case. When this sharing occurs, similar evidence can have a different format between the cases. An example is benefit evidence that exists in both Insurance Affordability and in Income Support cases, where the information that is captured is slightly different between the two different cases.

When the evidence is different, you might see missing mandatory attributes that you must enter before you can add the incoming evidence to the existing case.

You can verify missing mandatory details when you see mandatory evidence details (marked with an asterisk *) and no evidence details are displayed. For example, see Figure 9. The benefit evidence from the Insurance Affordability case includes two records to share to your Income Support case. **Amount **and Delivery Type are missing and are required on your existing case.

To add the missing mandatory details, perform the following list of actions:
1. Review the incoming evidence records.
2. Click a date on the timeline to view the evidence for that time.
3. Note the missing mandatory attributes.
4. Click Edit. The related Edit Evidence modal is displayed.
5. On the evidence page, review the mandatory attributes and enter the appropriate information.
6. Repeat the steps for any remaining dates on the incoming evidence timeline.
7. Click Add to Case.

Figure 9: To add missing mandatory evidence, click **Edit **for each date on the timeline.

Document Information

More support for:
Merative Social Program Management

Software version:
All Version(s)

Modified date:
25 November 2021