Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance Training

ELIZABETH WAIN: Hello and welcome to the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance Annual Reports Performance Measurement Tool Training. Today, we're going to go over the Office for Victims of Crime Attorney General Guidelines, the performance measure reporting. We'll also be going over the Performance Measurement Tool, or the PMT, and then we'll go over some next steps, resources, and contact information for support. 

So first off, performance measure reporting, reports and deadlines. What you all need to know now is that as the federal partners, we'll begin using the PMT system to report performance measures data in April, so coming up pretty shortly here. As federal partners, you should be collecting already the activity that occurred for those guidelines for the fiscal year and what we also refer to as the reporting period. And that fiscal year, due in April, is going to be for October 1st, 2022 to September 30th, 2023. 

Your report due date, again, for that October to September reporting period is going to be a submission period from April 1st to April 22nd, and your deadline this year is April 22nd. And what's going to be due is the quantitative and mostly qualitative, or narrative, data. You're going to see four sections within the PMT once you gain access. There's going to be an introduction section, a part 1 overview section, part 2 is going to be compliance guidelines applicable to all components, and then there's a couple of questions in part 3 labeled performance measures. 

So at this point, I'm going to actually stop sharing my screen and jump over into the PMT itself. All right. So in the PMT, once you all gain access, we'll be providing access to the main point of contact provided to us by OVC, and then I'll show you how you as the primary point of contact can go in and add additional users. But there are going to be cases where some of you are going to see just the Attorney General questions, but you may also have an Interagency Agreement or Agreements, in which case you'll see both. 

So for today's purposes, we are going to log into the PMT and look at the AG-only module. And here's what you'll see. You're first going to see a home page that provides you with some information and resources. Be mindful that the system does time out after 30 minutes of inactivity, so you always want to save your information. On the home page, you'll also see the reporting schedule. And then you have the administration tab, which if you hover over that, you'll see some pre-populated information. And then this is where you can also add additional users, as many users as you'd like. We all know that it's always nice to share in work. 

So, if you have others that also need to access the system to enter data and create reports, you can add them here by clicking "Add New User," entering their name, their phone number, and their email address. And then they, too, will be provided with access to this account. You also have a profile page, which is pre-populated information based on the information provided by OVC. This is a test account, so you'll see different information for your organization. And then all the magic happens here on the "Enter Data" page, where you'll see the Attorney General Guidelines for Victim and Witness Assistance and the current reporting period for the fiscal year 2023. 

So after you're seeing that, you'll hit continue, which will then bring you to those sections that I mentioned. You'll first see this introductory page, introduction page, which also provides some links to some helpful resources. This is based on the guidelines that were provided. Breakdown of the questionnaire, when the reports are due. 

So really just an information page, and the we'll get into Part 1, the overview. So, you'll see all of the questions that you were provided in that Word document, that questionnaire document. They've all been basically copied, and pasted, and converted into the PMT so that you can enter this information into the system. Now, because a lot of these questions are narrative in nature, it is probably best that you're collecting and collecting your responses potentially in that Word document, and then you could copy and paste your responses into the system. Also, because of that 30-minute timeout, it's probably a best practice to do it that way. Let's see. So, you've got some questions here that are asking for amounts. 

So anywhere you see a question for an amount or a number, it's only going to accept a number. For these narrative responses, we've limited some of these to a maximum character, and it'll provide you with a count, as you can see at the bottom. All of the questions are required, so be sure that you're answering all of them. You'll also notice that some of the questions have been outlined, or they're like a hyperlink. If you hover over those hyperlinked questions, you'll see additional instructions. And these are essentially the instructions that were in the questionnaire, the Word version of the guidelines that was provided to you by OVC. So, all of that information is in here. Once you've gone through all the questions on this first page, you'll hit "save and continue." Then it'll take you to the second part, for compliance with guidelines applicable to all components. You'll see some instructional text in yellow here at the top of each page. Again, that is basically a mirror image of what's in the Word version document of what you've been reporting on in the past, and can continue to do so this year as well. 

So this is-this tool is not necessarily mandatory for you to use this year, but it is highly encouraged. We would like to be able to collect this information, the PMT, from everyone, and then we can get exports of the information instead of, you know, individual Word documents. So, it would be better for all of us going forward. But certainly not-not required, but definitely encouraged for you to use it this year. But you could certainly also continue to use the Word version this year. Same setup, same layout. The questions that are hyperlinked will provide you with additional instructions. Let's see. There is a show-hide question here that I did want to point out. I don't know if it's on this page. But you will notice that, again, you've got character limits from maybe 2,000 in this case, then maybe 500. And that's really just to keep the amount of information down to a limit. And then you could always use the Word document if you felt as though there was additional information you wanted to provide. 

So, once you've answered all the questions on this section, hit save and continue. It'll bring you to the next one. And these are the two performance measures that we're collecting this year to get a count of victims served. And then another kind of cool thing in the PMT is this "Review" page. So, the review page is actually going to show you an overview of all of the questions, all of your responses. And then I'll show you if, by mistake, we may have missed this first question. And we go back to the review page. It's going to show that that question's missing. 

So, we can hit this required link here on the review page. It'll take you back to complete that question. Just some kind of cool features in the system that make sure that we're getting all of the information that's being asked. And then on the review page, after you have answered all of the questions, and again, I encourage you to copy and paste your responses from a Word document only because of the 30-minute timeout factor and allowing you to get everything in that you need to for each of the questions. But once you've answered every question in the system, you're going to click on the review page. 

And at the bottom of the review page, after you review all of the questions and all of your responses and everything has been completed, you're going to see this checkbox at the bottom to mark your data complete. And after marking your data, you can also add some additional comments if you'd like. But after marking your data complete, you would hit "save." It's going to lock your report. And then we'll go to the reports page. And you'll see on the "Reports" page, we have the reporting period, the report status, or the data entry status is complete. It's been completed by myself, of course, for testing. And you'll also be able to export your data in an Excel version. And you can also export it or save your annual report in a PDF format. And that's what that looks like. 

And then, so that's really it. It's very straightforward. If there are any questions, feel free to put those in the Q&A box. I don't know if anything's come through while I was presenting. I was unable to see that. But I will go back to our slide deck here. And essentially, this is what we went over, right? So, the PMT is a web-based reporting system in which you all can electronically submit your quantitative and qualitative data. Come on or around April 1st, we will be creating user accounts for you. 

So, you won't have access to the system yet, but we will be providing you with access on, or around April 1st to that primary point of contact that we received from OVC. And then that primary point of contact can go in and add additional users. Here is the website address for the PMT. We will be providing slides, so that you can grab these links that are in here. Once you've selected OVC PMT, again, if you're just an Attorney General Guidelines partner, you will only see the Attorney General Guidelines. 

If you have both Attorney General and an Interagency Agreement, you'll see both of those options appear for reporting in the PMT. This is an overview of what we went through describing what each of the tabs represent in the system. And this is where you'll be able to add additional users. There isn't a limit on the number of users you can add. And then the "Enter Data" tab where we went through and saw all of those sections and all the questions. Just an important note here that the next reporting period, which will be a year, almost a year from now, you'll be reporting... You'll need to make sure that your previous report is complete. 

So, there is just a function in the system making sure that past reports are complete before being able to create the next report. And these are the sections laid out here on the page. Again, that hover over, if you hover over one of those hyperlinked questions, you'll be able to see additional instructions. The definitions that appear on each of the sections or tabs within the system. The show-hide functions, just make sure that, you know, if you see a blue bar, or it could be an accordion. So, we've done that in the system to save space and kind of prevent scrolling, having to scroll down page, page, page. 

So just be mindful of that. Here's an example of a show-hide question. So in this example, if we were to answer no, we're not going to be required to provide an additional explanation. However, if you answer yes, a text box will appear asking you to provide additional information. And then that "Review" page, if you missed something, you can go on the "Review" page to see what might be missing, and it'll take you back to that question to answer. The "Review" tab is where you would mark your data as "Complete" and add any additional comments you have. And that's just an example of that, which we showed. And just some Performance Measurement Tool tips. So, the system really does work best in the latest version of Google Chrome and above, or the latest version of Microsoft Edge. 

You want to make sure that you're answering all of the questions on the page. You can always answer some and come back. You don't have to do this all in one fell swoop. You can answer one or two questions, hit save, come back at a later time. Just make sure you're getting everything in by April 22nd. If you see that there's a numeric value, you will need to enter a number. It will not accept anything else. You want to make sure that you're hitting "save and continue" as much as possible to avoid that timing out. And then, again, pay attention to any plus or minus signs that indicate that there's an accordion. 

There could be some additional questions. And then save your work frequently, just so you don't lose anything. Again, collecting your data in Word and copy pasting it is probably the best practice. And then the "Reports" tab allows you to unlock the report yourself. And you can unlock it yourself during a reporting period. However, if it's past the reporting period, you can contact the Help Desk and we can unlock the report for you. It's not a problem. And here's an example of that "Reports" page, which we showed. And then next step, how are we doing on time? 

I see some questions coming in. Is there anything that I need to address with the group?

CATHERINE PIERCE: Liz, it's Catherine. I think the two questions in the chat, the whole group would be interested in.

ELIZABETH WAIN: Okay. Harif or Aubrey, would you mind letting me know what the questions are?

CATHERINE PIERCE: I can read them to you, Liz.

ELIZABETH WAIN: Okay.

CATHERINE PIERCE: The system only, well, so I think Harif has responded, but I think it'd be good to talk about this. The report at the very end that you just referred to, that is what one prints out for a hard copy, correct?

ELIZABETH WAIN: Yes, absolutely. You don't need to necessarily do anything, with that because OVC has access to the PMT, and the system, and they'll be reviewing your information within the system itself. But certainly, if you wanted a copy for yourself after you've entered all the information, marked it "complete," there's that annual PDF and an Excel also available to you from the reports page.

CATHERINE PIERCE: Thank you. Does that answer your question, Jose?

ELIZABETH WAIN: Yes. He says yes. Thanks, Jose. All right. Any other questions that I'm missing that we should share? I feel like I get through this quickly. All right. So next step, we want to make sure that we're collecting the data on the activity conducted during the annual reporting period based on that Word version of the questionnaire Catherine sent out. And you want to make sure that it's based on the fiscal year of October 1st, 2022 through September 30th, 2023. 

You will receive access to the PMT, that primary point of contact provided to us from OVC, and also listed in the PMT on or around April 1st. That's when the system will become available. And then upon receiving access, you'll log in and you'll report your activity, and make sure you get that in before April 22nd. You can certainly contact the OVC PMT Help Desk. Our contact information is located on every page in the PMT. So, we're always available to support you. You can, of course, schedule a "welcome to the PMT" session. And we could also do a, you know, similar Webex screen share session with you as well and send any questions, or suggestions for technical assistance to us. We also are going to be posting all of these resources on a new page on our OVC Performance Measures website. It's currently not available yet, but it will be coming soon. 

So we'll have a copy of the questionnaire, a copy of the recording, and a copy of all of these slides at some point. But certainly after this session, we'll be sending out a link to the recording and a link to all of these slides, so that you can get access to slides and the links that are in here. And with regards to contact information, we do have a point of contact at OVC who's our Performance Management Coordinator, Ashley Ellis. And here's her email address. And then, of course, you could always email the OVC PMT Help Desk with any questions you have as well. 

Any other questions? We went through that pretty quickly. I'm happy to review something else, or go back into the PMT, if you'd like. And the recording will be available, so you can always review it back once you get access to the system. Catherine, anything else you can think of that maybe we missed? Again, I think I will say that, you know, we're encouraging you to use the PMT this year. It's a great tool. Of course, I think it is. It's a great tool. It's very easy to use, and that way it'll give OVC access to the information more quickly and not in a Word version or, you know, an attachment, a document. It'll allow OVC to extract the data directly from the system to do their review. But you could, of course, still continue to use the Word version if you're still more comfortable with that, but highly encourage to use PMT this year.

CATHERINE PIERCE: And just to underscore, this is Catherine, that using the PMT a year from now will be mandatory, so we just want everybody to get comfortable with this. And I hope this is responsive to what you had wanted. If you have any further comments or questions, you can send them to me. I'm also happy to try to respond to anything technical, but really, Ashley and the PMT team are the folks who can do that best. But I want to thank everybody for joining this afternoon and I really look forward to reading reports.

ELIZABETH WAIN: Thank you so much, Catherine. And thank you, everybody, for joining today and taking some time out to review the PMT and come April 1st, you know, if there's any issues logging in or anything like that, we're here to help.