Participation Calendar Participation tracking is a vital component of DCF programs to monitor progress and completion of activities for the participants. This is also a key step in ensuring that participants are receiving benefits correctly and on time. This section will cover W-2 Participation tracking only. Participation Tracking Basics Participation Tracking can occur on: W-2 individuals enrolled in WWP with open and assigned activities on an active Employability Plan including: Up front activities prior to placement Activities on both paid and unpaid placements Activities assigned to a non-placed parent in a 2-parent household performing volunteer hours Participation Tracking is REQUIRED when W-2 participants are placed in a full or prorated CSJ, or W-2 T placement. Participation Tracking is OPTIONAL for all other W-2 placements. Participation, Non-Participation, and Good Cause are all tracked from the Participation Tracking Menu option once a participant is selected. Recording Participation for W-2 Clicking the Participation Calendar menu item opens a screen where participation hours can be viewed and recorded. The Participation Calendar will be populated with activities one participation period at a time. REMEMBER, participation periods run from the 16th to the 15th so only the activities in that date range will display. Future periods are populated with activities automatically on at the beginning of each new period. Use the arrow buttons by the calendar title to navigate between available periods. Reading Participation on a Calendar Day Reading Participation on a Calendar Day Each day an activity is scheduled will display some information. If no detail is recorded for a given scheduled day, you will only see the Activity code and the scheduled hours. Current or past dates will display the activity code as BLUE. This indicates that you can interacts with that activity to record participation. Future dates with activity scheduled will display that activity code as BLACK to indicate you cannot record participation yet. Once participation hours information has been recorded on a given day, the calendar displays those hours, each with a color-coded indication to allow easy review of participation when viewing the full calendar. BLACK: Scheduled Participation hours; always appears for every activity GREEN: Actual Participation hours; only appears for an activity once any hours are recorded for the day RED: Non-Participation hours; only appears for an activity once any hours are recorded for the day PURPLE: Good Cause hours; only appears for an activity once Non-Participation hours are recorded for the day Recording Full Participation or Full Non-Participation for Multiple Days Click the Participation button at the beginning of the calendar week to bring up a quick way to enter Participation across multiple days. The Full and No buttons under the All Activities header will fill in all associated checkboxes for all activities that are available in the table. The Full and No Buttons listed next the activity abbreviations will fill in all associated checkboxes for that activity available in the table. Alternatively, each day per activity can be selected individually as needed. There is no requirement that all activities need to have detail recorded before saving. Click Save to complete this page and update the calendar view. This screen should not be used to record: Good Cause Hours Partial participation or partial non-participation Additional detail or notes needed for a given day Recording Good Cause for Multiple Days After any Non-participation is recorded for a given week and those hours do not have a Good Cause decision already recorded, the Good Cause button appears at the beginning of the calendar week to bring up a quick way to enter Good Cause details across multiple days. Note that this is only for assigning Good Cause to the full non-participation hours for a planned activity for that day and week. If only a portion of the hours from an activity should be assigned Good Cause, then those should be handled at the individual activity level. Clicking the Good Cause Button displays the multi-day entry tool for Good Cause. All Non-participation hours for activities that do not have a Good Cause determination will be available for entry. Each activity that you wish to display must be selected at the top. Once displayed, you can choose either All the activities to record against, or choose individual days for that particular entry. After the activity or activities have been selected, the good cause determination details are recorded. REMEMBER, the fields entered here will apply to all selected activity dates after you click Save. Participant’s reason Record one of the available reasons a participant may give for non-participation More detail can be recorded in the free text Details field Good Cause Granted For non-participation hours, the worker determines if Good Cause is granted for that time Choosing either Yes or No will display additional fields for information Worker’s Reason Record one of the available reasons a that the worker grants or denies good cause for the non-participation More detail can be recorded in the free text Details field Good Cause Hours If Good Cause is granted, all non participation hours for the activity will have good cause applied. Recording Participation and/or Good Cause Per Activity Per Day When participation cannot be easily entered into the multi-day entry, or if additional information should be recorded for the activity on a given day, the activity code on the calendar can be clicked for more detailed entry. The activity is available for this kind of entry when it is displayed in blue, or it is on or past the date of the activity. The detailed entry view for the activity is pre-populated with the activity title, participation date, and scheduled hours. The system will dynamically reveal fields as needed and hours are entered and calculated. Hours Participated Enter verified hours participated for the activity This field is required, even if that number is 0.0 Add Make-Up Hours If the participant was able to complete some of the scheduled hours on a different day than was originally scheduled, click the button here to add entry fields Enter the participation make-up hours and date the hours were performed Make-Up hours must be completed in the same calendar week as the scheduled activity Calculate This button must be clicked to continue entry or before being able to save the new data If no additional detail is needed, click Save to return to the Calendar This will open the Non-Participation section if not all scheduled hours are accounted for When the hours scheduled for the activity does not match the hours participated, the following information is captured in the bottom section of the page: Non-Participation Automatically calculated from hours entered above Participant’s reason Record one of the available reasons a participant may give for non-participation More detail can be recorded in the free text Details field Only required if participant claims good cause for the non participation Good Cause Granted For non-participation hours, the worker determines if Good Cause is granted for that time Choosing either Yes or No will display additional fields for information Only required if participant claims good cause for the non participation Worker’s Reason Record one of the available reasons a that the worker grants or denies good cause for the non-participation More detail can be recorded in the free text Details field Only required if participant claims good cause for the non participation Good Cause Hours If Good Cause is granted, enter the number of hours that should apply Only required if participant claims good cause for the non participation W-2 Participation Tracking System Considerations A W-2 Participation Period runs from 16th of one month to the 15th of the next month. For the most recent participation period, the worker is expected to document all participation tracking information no later than the Pulldown date of each month. This date is generally five working days from the end of the calendar month. Check here for the calendar for Pulldown Dates. DELAY PAYMENTS If the initial payment is the result of a W-2 paid placement starting between 16th through the 31st of month, then the W-2 Delay Cycle date must be followed. (See Participation Tracking Business Requirements, Part 1, Section I.G. for special rules associated with W-2 Delay cycle) Only Activities listed directly in the EP are tracked. Goals and employment pulled form Work History is not tracked for participation. Individuals who are in a W-2 T or full or prorated CSJ placement may be sanctioned for non-participation. Sanctions cannot be assessed when the participant is currently in a “Pending Formal Assessment” status or is assigned formal assessment activity on the date of non-participation. All sanctioned hours are calculated automatically by WWP. Each sanctionable hour of non-participation that is documented by the worker will reduce the monthly W-2 payment for the W-2 Assistance Group by $5. Participation, Good Cause, Sanctionable hours, and placement all determine the monthly W-2 payment amount. When both parents in a two-parent household were placed in a full or prorated CSJ or W-2T placement at some point during a participation period, the non-participation details are rolled up into one payment calculation. If the worker makes adjustments after Pulldown to participation details for the most recent or any prior participation period, then further system-action is required to determine if an overpayment claim or auxiliary is needed. Related PTT training: Find more about EPs in the PTT Learning Center. W-2 Participation Tracking – Desk Aid WWP Updates: Participation Calendar Enhancement Webinar
