Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
Preservation of scanned certification records, to ensure the authenticity, reliability and accessibility of records and uploaded into WISCCRS, is the responsibility of the certification worker / agency. All Department of Children and Families records related to certification of child care must be trustworthy, complete, accessible, legally admissible in court, and durable for the required record retention period. This includes records obtained by and stored by local certifying agencies.
Scanning changes the record from a paper format to an electronic format, thereby, making storage of records more efficient. Scanning also enables certification agencies to more easily share and access information. The process of scanning documents requires quality control to ensure that scanned documents are the same as the original paper document.
Functionality in WISCCRS enables certification agencies to upload and retain important documents perpetually. The WISCCRS User Guide - Documents provides guidance on scanning / uploading documents into WISCCRS, as well as outlines documents required to be scanned and retained electronically. These documents include:
W9 form or other tax payer Identification number document (prior to 1/1/21)
Sanction letters (Denial, Revocation, Suspension) and any subsequent hearing decisions
Correction plans
Compliance statements
Initial Background Check Request (BCR) forms
Electronic records, like those in WISCCRS, fall under the statutory definition of records. Scanning and uploading of the important documents, like those identified above, particularly sanction letters, will ensure these records are retained electronically, even after a paper / hard copy file is destroyed.
If the certification worker has scanned the original, as well as all subsequent documents received, hard / paper copies do not need to be maintained in the operator’s file. However, if the original and subsequent documents have not been scanned all of the documents must be maintained in the operator’s hard copy / paper file.
Once converted to an electronic format, the original paper copy may be destroyed after five (5) days if the certification worker has verified that the electronic record:
Was successfully uploaded to the correct operator record in WISCCRS in a readable format; and
Is an exact replica that contains all information included in the original paper copy, such as any writing and text in margins, footnotes, multiple ink colors, watermarks, notary seals.
Note: Operations Memo 12-72 previously required paper records to be retained for 30 days prior to disposing, however, a BECR policy change, effective June 2018, lessened the requirement to 5 days, as long as the worker has verified its accuracy.
If the scanned document or image is not legible and not identical in every way to the paper copy, the paper copy must also be retained in accordance with record retention requirements.
EXAMPLES:
If a Standards and Checklist form was filled out using different colored inks to signify different visits and was then scanned and retained in black and white, it would not comply with the requirements and, therefore, the paper copy would also need to be retained.
If a paper copy includes a watermark or raised seal but the watermark or seal is not visible in the scanned document a paper copy would also need to be retained.
If when using an automatic document feed, the resulting scanned document is crooked and cuts off information at the borders or corners, and the scanned document is not identical to the original, the original paper copy would need to be retained. Pay particular attention when verifying the accuracy of two-sided documents to ensure the scanned document captures both sides of the original.
WISCCRS limits the size of documents to 4 megabytes or smaller. If the user tries to upload a document larger than 4 megabytes the system will display a message “unable to process.” Although colored documents can be uploaded into WISCCRS, black and white scanning is recommended in order to limit the size of the document. In such cases, the hard copy document must also be retained if color signifies or conveys critical information.
When scanning documents in such a way that compresses or reduce document size or changes the resolution, the certification worker must ensure the scanned document is legible and conveys all of the same information the paper copy conveyed.
See the WISCCRS User Guide-Documents for more information regarding optimal scanning.
Certification agencies shall:
Scan and upload all mandatory documents into the correct operator record in WISCCRS as outlined in the WISCCRS User Guide - Documents.
Develop quality control procedures to ensure that all paper documents converted to electronic format are:
Identical in every way to the original paper copy.
Uploaded into the correct operator record; verified for accuracy; and, retained for at least five (5) days after conversion.
Retained and accessible in accordance with the requirements outlined above.
If the certification agency scans and stores records into systems other than WISCCRS, the agency must have disaster recovery procedures to ensure that the records are accessible for the appropriate retention periods in accordance with the requirements outlined above.
1.1.1 Which Documents are Required to be Uploaded in WISCCRS?
This page last updated 01/2021.