FNS has seven regional offices located in: Boston; Robbinsville, NJ; Atlanta; Dallas; Chicago; Denver; and San Francisco. Each is responsible for a serving a specific geographical area. A virtual team of FNS staff with expertise in systems, technology and the Advance Planning Document (APD) process comprise the State Systems Office (SSO).
The Advance Planning Document process is a series of successive steps through which state agencies obtain federal prior approval of and federal financial participation in automation projects supporting FNS programs. This includes all Electronic Benefit Transfer projects.
The primary objective of this Handbook is to help state agencies navigate FNS requirements to secure approval, and get the requested funding, for modern eligibility systems and EBT benefit delivery services.
The WIC Post-Implementation Review Tool consists of two parts: the review tool itself and a functional area spreadsheet.
Information systems in WIC support a number of program operations and management functions, such as certifying applicants, monitoring food vendors, tracking participation and expenditures and managing appointments. The Functional Requirements Document for a Model WIC System (FRED) provides a comprehensive description of functions that can be automated to support the WIC program.
The primary purpose of the rule was to strengthen the requirements for adequate testing and pilot before rolling out a new management information system or major system changes. The rule also made changes to the SNAP regulations to provide clarifications and revisions since the last update which occurred in 1996.