Business (For- and Not-for-Profit)

Appendix F17

Round 2
Integrated Retailers’ Interview Guide

Integrated Retailers’ Interview Guide

Round 2: Early Operations

Integrated retailers will be interviewed in Round 2 to document early operations of HIP. 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 a one week period and will be completed by phone. Persons to be interviewed will include:

• The Integrated Retailer’s Technical Contact for the store or stores in Hampden County (responsible for managing the relationship with the TPP and/or making the required changes in the stores’ systems and front ends)

• The Integrated Retailer’s Relationship Contact with the store or stores in Hampden County (responsible for the relationship with the stores’ management)

• One or more Integrated store managers in Hampden County (responsible for store operations)

Retailers may want to include cash register company technology staff as this development function is often managed by a third party. 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. Name(s) and Title(s) of Respondent(s)

3. Location of Interview

4. If changed since the previous interview, provide a brief description your normal job function and those specifically related to HIP.

HIP SYSTEM OPERATIONS

5. What system challenges has your company encountered since HIP became operational and how have these been addressed?

   1. Have you had to make any modifications to your system since the previous interview?

   2. Please describe why and when these modifications were made.

   3. Please describe whether your system needed to be retested and recertified once these modifications were made.

6. What have been the impacts, if any, of your store(s)’HIP implementation on your normal ECR/POS operations?

   1. Have you requested additional support from ACS or your third party processor since beginning operations? If yes, please describe.

7. Please describe your approach to identifying HIP-eligible items.

   1. How did your company identify product codes for HIP-eligible items?

   2. How will the approved product list be loaded into store systems?

   3. What challenges have you encountered in this process and how have these been addressed?

   4. Have you had any issues in-lane due to omissions or errors in the produce list? If so, please describe.

   5. What is your plan for updating the database of eligible items and keeping it current?

STORE PARTICIPATION

8. Are your company’s stores HIP-ready in geographic areas outside of Hampden County?

   1. If so, what is the area where the changes will be made and how was this decided?

9. Are any of your stores in Hampden County not participating in the HIP project and if so, why not?

   1. Would these stores participate later in the project and if so, when and why?

STORE OPERATIONS

10. How effective have your system changes been in automating HIP transactions in-lane?

    1. Have HIP transactions impacted in-lane processes or transaction times? Please describe.

    2. What have been the greatest challenges in conducting HIP transactions and how are they being addressed?

11. Describe the cashier and back-office training for HIP, including who provided the training and what type of training was provided.

    1. Based on current experience, are there any areas of training that could have been improved?

12. Based on comments from the stores, how well do HIP participants appear to have been trained?

    1. What types of questions or comments have stores received from non-HIP participants?

13. Have your stores changed food stocks to meet HIP participant demands for fruits/vegetables? If so, please describe.

14. What impact, if any, does HIP have on settlement or reporting?

    1. Does SNAP reconciliation take longer since HIP began? If so, please describe.

ISSUES/LESSONS LEARNED

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

16. Other than previously discussed, what issues, if any, have you encountered during operations and how were they resolved?

17. What lessons have you learned since the last interview that would be useful if HIP were to roll out statewide or nationwide?

    1. What preparations would you make if HIP were to roll out statewide?