Business (For- and Not-for-Profit)

Appendix F18

Round 3
Integrated Retailers’ Interview Guide

Integrated Retailers’ Interview Guide

Round 3: Mature Operations and Feasibility of HIP Expansion

The purpose of Round 3 interviews is to document the mature HIP operations process after a year of operations and to assess the feasibility of expanding the HIP program. The interviews will take place approximately 11-12 months after HIP implementation.

It is anticipated that interviews will occur over approximately 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 retailer store managers from a store 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 the previous interview 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 since the previous interview?

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

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

   1. How does your company identify product codes for HIP-eligible items and has this changed since the previous interview?

   2. How do you load the approved product list into store system and has this changed since the previous interview?

   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.

STORE PARTICIPATION

8. Since the previous interview have you added or removed stores from participating in HIP, either in or out of Hampden County?

   1. If so, what were the changes and how was this decided?

STORE OPERATIONS

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

   1. Have HIP transactions times in lane changed since early operations?

   2. Since the previous interview, what have been the greatest challenges in conducting HIP transactions and how are they being addressed?

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

11. Based on comments from the stores since the previous interview, how well do HIP participants appear to understand HIP?

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

12. Since the previous interview, have your stores changed food stocks to meet HIP participant demands for fruits/vegetables? If so, please describe.

13. What impact, if any, has HIP had on settlement or reporting?

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

ISSUES/LESSONS LEARNED

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

15. What lessons learned can be derived from your experiences with HIP?

16. In retrospect, what could be done to improve HIP operations?

17. Do you think HIP should be expanded to other areas of Massachusetts?

18. Do you think HIP should be expanded to other states?

19. What changes would you make before expanding HIP in Massachusetts or other states?

20. What changes would you recommend other retailers once they have made the decision to participate in HIP?

EXPENDITURES

21. Were there implementation costs that you incurred that were not reimbursed by funds from ACS? If so, please explain.

22. Did HIP transactions impact operational costs? If so, please explain.

23. If you were to expand HIP to other stores, would you incur additional costs? If so, please explain.