Business (For- and Not-for-Profit)

Appendix F14

Round 2
EBT Contractor (ACS) Interview Guide

EBT Contractor (ACS) Interview Guide

Round 2: Early Operations

The EBT contractor for (DTA), Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) will be interviewed in Round 2 to document early HIP operations. The interviews will take place approximately 2-3 months after all HIP participants have begun earning incentives.

It is anticipated that interviews will occur over approximately a one week period.

The EBT contractor interviews will take place in Austin, TX, Hamden County or on site in Hampden County, Massachusetts. If ACS staff are not at these locations, we will conduct phone interviews. Interviews will include:

• The ACS Massachusetts EBT Project/Account Manager (responsible for DTA relationship and EBT/HIP project management)

• The ACS HIP Technical Lead (responsible for overall design and changes to the ACS system, third party processor systems and for working with DTA and their contractor on interface changes)

• The ACS EBT Senior Director for Program Management (responsible for all EBT operations in Massachusetts and across the country)

• The ACS EBT Project Lead responsible for HIP implementation in Hampden County (rollout of new EBT machines and/or software)

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

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 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.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Date and Time of Interview

2. Location of Interview

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

4. Provide a brief description of the respondents’ normal job functions.

5. Describe your role in HIP. Check all that apply.

 HIP Project Management

 EBT System Design and Modifications, Including HIP Reports

 Retailer Recruitment

 Supporting HIP Enablement for Retailers

 Retailer System Testing/Certification

 Cardholder Support, including Card Issuance and Customer Service

 Coordination with Other Stakeholders

 Other (please define)

1. Has your role changed since the previous interview? If so, please describe.

HIP MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

6. Describe the ACS support and project management structure utilized for implementing and operating HIP in Massachusetts.

   1. Has this structure changed since the previous interview?

7. Have there been changes since the previous interview to the ACS project plan, and if so, what were the changes and why did they occur?

   1. Since the previous interview, what have been the greatest challenges in meeting the project schedule and how were they addressed?

   2. What lessons learned can be derived concerning the project schedule?

8. Describe the level and type of coordination that has occurred between ACS staff, FNS, DTA Central Office, DTA local offices and community based organizations (CBOs) and the Abt team since the previous interview.

   1. What have been the strengths and weaknesses of coordination between the stakeholder groups?

   2. Did coordination between ACS stakeholder groups change since the previous interview?

   3. What challenges have been encountered in working with these stakeholder groups on HIP operations and how were they addressed?

   4. What types of coordination took the most and the least amount of time and were the most or least productive?

HIP SYSTEM AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT

9. Have you been involved in HIP system modifications or HIP system operations? If no, skip to question 12.

10. Have any modifications been necessary since the previous interview? If so, please describe.

11. What type of support does the HIP system require for operations?

    1. What issues (if any) have occurred in regard to system operations and how have they been addressed?

    2. What have been the most time consuming and least time consuming HIP system support activities?

    3. Has the HIP system required more or less support than you had originally anticipated?

HIP RETAILER SUPPORT

12. Were you involved in recruitment or on-going support of retailers? If not, skip to question 17.

13. Since the previous interview, what types of support have been provided to integrated retailers, EBT only retailers, third party retailers, voucher retailers and farmers’ markets?

    1. Have retailers asked to participate in HIP since the previous interview?

    2. Have retailers been tested and recertified since the previous interview? If so, please describe.

    3. Are there any parts of the county potentially underserved by current retailer participation in HIP and if so, how is this being addressed?

14. Since the previous interview, what issues/questions have you received from the various types of HIP retailers and how have they been addressed?

    1. Could additional or modified training provided by ACS or TPPs have alleviated any of these issues or questions? If yes, please describe.

    2. Does ACS plan to provide additional training or materials to HIP retailers? If yes, please describe.

15. Since the last interview, has ACS made any process changes made to the ACS retailer help desk and to the retailer data base? If yes, please describe.

16. Since the last interview, have retailers started to participate in HIP and then dropped out? If yes, please describe.

THIRD PARTY PROCESSORS (TPP)

17. Were you involved in providing TPP support for HIP? If not, skip to question 22.

18. Since the previous interview, have any TPPs decided to participate? If yes, please describe.

19. Since the previous interview, have any TPPs been tested and recertified? If yes, please describe.

    1. What were the dates of recertification?

    2. Did all TPPs recertify on the first try and if not, why?

20. What were the challenges in getting TPPs to participate and to certify and how were these challenges addressed?

21. Going forward, what lessons learned can be gleaned from the experience of supporting and certifying TPPs for HIP?

CARD ISSUANCE, CARDHOLDER CUSTOMER SERVICE, AND CARDHOLDER TRAINING

22. Since the previous interview, have you been involved in card issuance, cardholder customer service or cardholder training? If not, skip to question 27.

23. Since the previous interview, have any card issuance changes been required by for HIP? If so, please describe.

24. Describe issues with the protective card sleeve, if any, and how they have been addressed.

25. Since the previous interview, what changes have been made, if any, to the cardholder customer service interactive voice response (IVR) system and scripts? Please describe.

    1. What have been the most frequent cardholder questions about HIP?

    2. Based on calls to cardholder customer service, what has been the most difficult aspect to understand about HIP (e.g., which retailers accept HIP, how to purchase food through HIP, the amount of the HIP incentive, the HIP ceiling, etc.)?

26. Since the previous interview, what changes have been made, if any, to cardholder training or training materials? Please describe.

ISSUES/LESSONS LEARNED

27. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about the implementation process?

28. Other than previously discussed, what issues, if any, have you encountered since the previous interview and how were they resolved?

    1. How might they affect the impacts of HIP on participants and other stakeholders?

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

30. What recommendations can be made for the remainder of HIP operations?

31. Since the previous interview, have efforts to implement and operate HIP been more or less than anticipated? Please elaborate.