State and Local Agencies

Appendix F4

Round 1
DTA Staff HIP Interview Guide

DTA Staff HIP Interview Guide

Round 1: Implementation

The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) is supporting the Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) by:

• Dedicating key members of the Special Nutrition Administration Program (SNAP) and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) staff to support the pilot. These staff will dedicate a percentage of their time to HIP.

• Hiring a full-time team to support HIP.

HIP staff is located at either the central DTA office in Boston or in Hampden County. The purpose of Round 1 interviews with State SNAP, EBT and HIP staff is to document HIP implementation. The interviews will take place approximately six to eight weeks before HIP start up.

Key staff and their primary HIP responsibilities include¹:

Position	Location	Primary Responsibility	FTE
Executive Lead (Assistant Commissioner for Policy, Program and External Relations)	DTA Central Office - Boston	Oversight of HIP and HIP staff and ensuring HIP goals and strategic objectives are met	0.25
Pilot Director	DTA Central Office - Boston	HIP planning, implementation, and oversight	1.00
Pilot Assistant Director	Hampden County	Supports the Pilot Director providing project management and HIP evaluation support	1.00
HIP EBT Contractor Liaison	DTA Central Office - Boston	Works with ACS (EBT vendor) providing oversight for EBT system modification and testing and HIP operations	1.00
HIP EBT Officer (Deputy Director for Financial Program Management)	DTA Central Office - Boston	Communicates with stakeholders concerning EBT program management and procedures. Ensures accurate accounting of HIP benefit issuance.	0.25
Data and Management Analyst	DTA Central Office - Boston	Supports HIP data analysis and evaluation	1.00

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 85 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Research and Analysis, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302 ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Position	Location	Primary Responsibility	FTE
HIP Evaluator Liaison (DTA Director of Policy Research)	DTA Central Office - Boston	Ensures HIP data and research standards and priorities are met	0.25
Federal Grants Analyst	DTA Central Office - Boston	Tracks and reports spending in grant account	0.25
Trainers	Hampden County	Developing, assessing and implementing structured training and orientation sessions for DTA staff, HIP participants, retailers and community partners	2.00

In addition to staff directly assigned to HIP, Management is also involved in HIP as follows:

DTA Management

• SNAP Director

• SNAP Assistant Director

• Deputy Chief of Staff

• Director of Program Assessment

• Budget Director

• Assistant Budget Director

Hampden County Management Team

• Regional Director for Western Massachusetts

Please Note: The following members of the Hampden County Management Team will be interviewed using the Local Office Interview guides:

• Transitional Assistance Office Director – Springfield State

• Transitional Assistance Office Assistant Director – Springfield State

• Transitional Assistance Office Director – Springfield Liberty

• Transitional Assistance Office Assistant Director – Springfield Liberty

• Transitional Assistance Office Director – Holyoke

• Transitional Assistance Office Assistant Director – Holyoke

Interviews will be scheduled in at least two weeks in advance. Interviews are anticipated to take place at DTA facilities.

Interviews will include the questions starting on the following page. Additional, follow-up questions are anticipated, to clarify or expand responses.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Date and Time of Interview

2. Location of Interview

3. Name(s) and Title(s) of Respondent(s)

4. Office Location

5. Provide a description of your responsibilities related to HIP.

6. With which other HIP team members do you primarily interact?

HIP GRANT, INCLUDING ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING

7. Were you involved in making the decision to apply for the HIP grant? If not, skip to question 8.

   1. Who were the key DTA and Hampden County decision makers

   2. Please describe the decision making process and the primary considerations that led DTA to apply for the HIP grant, including your thoughts on whether HIP will improve SNAP overall.

   3. What role, if any, did your EBT contractor (ACS) and retailers play in the decision to apply for the HIP grant?

   4. Were any other stakeholders involved in decision making? If so, please identify.

8. Did you participate in preparing the HIP grant application? If not, skip to question 9.

   1. Please describe your role.

   2. In addition to yourself, who else participated in preparing the grant application?

   3. What issues, if any, were encountered during the grant application process and how were they resolved?

9. Are you involved in accounting for funds or reporting to FNS for HIP? If not, skip to question 10.

   1. Please describe your role.

   2. What issues, if any, have been encountered during the accounting and reporting process and how are they being addressed?

HIP MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

10. Do you have a role in managing or coordinating activities between HIP team members or stakeholders? If no, please skip to question 11.

    1. Please describe your role in managing or coordinating HIP activities, including the HIP team members and stakeholders that you interact with in coordinating HIP activities.

    2. How frequently do you interact with other HIP team members or stakeholders and how do interactions take place (e.g., e-mails, calls, conference calls, meetings)?

    3. What issues, if any, have you encountered in managing or coordinating HIP activities and how have these issues been resolved?

    4. Do you have any suggestions to improve HIP management and coordination between team members and/or stakeholders?

HIP PROGRAM OPERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

11. Did you participate in developing DTA’s operational design for HIP? If not, skip to question 12.

    1. Please describe your role.

    2. In addition to yourself, who else participated in developing the conceptual design?

    3. Was DTA required to make any changes in policy or procedures to accommodate HIP? Please describe.

    4. What issues, if any, were encountered during concept development and how were they resolved?

HIP SYSTEM DESIGN

12. Did you participate in HIP system design sessions? If not, skip to question 13.

    1. Please describe your role in HIP design sessions and which HIP design sessions you participated in.

    2. In addition to yourself, who else participated in HIP design sessions?

    3. What issues, if any, were encountered during system design and how were these resolved?

HIP IMPLEMENTATION

13. Are you participating in implementing HIP? If not, skip to question 15.

    1. Please describe your role in HIP implementation.

    2. With which individuals/stakeholders do you interact most frequently in implementing HIP and why?

    3. Which implementation activities are/have been and least most time consuming?

    4. Which implementation activities would you describe as most and least important?

14. Have implementation activities been completed or do you have remaining activities?

HIP RETAILER RECRUITMENT

15. Were you involved in the recruitment of HIP retailers? If not, skip to question 17.

    1. Please describe your role in the recruitment process.

    2. Have recruitment retailer activities been completed? If not, please describe the ongoing recruitment activities.

    3. What were the biggest challenges in recruiting retailers and how were these challenges met?

    4. What reasons were given by retailers who choose not to participate?

16. In retrospect, what changes could have been made to improve the retailer recruitment process?

HIP TRAINING

17. Are you involved in developing, assessing, or executing training materials or plans? If not, skip to question 22.

    1. Please describe your role, specifying which group(s) of stakeholders (DTA Central Office, Hampden County, retailers, participants, CBOs) that you support.

    2. What issues, if any, were encountered with training materials or plans and how were they resolved?

18. What type of training or training materials will be provided to SNAP participants selected to participate in HIP?

19. Please describe the participant training process, including any suggestions you may have to improve the training process.

20. In addition to participants, what type of training or training materials will be provided to other HIP stakeholders (DTA Central Office, Hampden County DTA offices, retailers, community based organizations [CBOs], others)?

    1. Are training resources adequate? If not, please describe the gaps in training.

21. What suggestions do you have to improve the training materials, plans and processes?

HIP EVALUATION

22. Are you involved in the HIP evaluation? If no, skip to question 23.

    1. Please describe your role in the HIP evaluation, including the evaluation activities in which you are involved (data collection, data analysis, other).

    2. In addition to yourself, who else is involved in these evaluation activities?

    3. What issues, if any, have been encountered in developing the HIP evaluation processes and procedures and how have they been resolved?

    4. Do you have any suggestions to improve the evaluation?

ISSUES/LESSONS LEARNED

23. Other than previously discussed, have any other issues been encountered during HIP implementation?

    1. How were these issues resolved?

    2. What impact have they had on HIP implementation?

24. What key lessons have you learned from your experiences to date?

1 Staffing breakdown based on the Massachusetts DTA HIP Grant Application, March 2010 and Evaluation Meeting November 2, 2010.