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August 2023 edition
Status - Busy But Good
As expected, July has been busy. Things went well.
GEARS Made All Payments Correctly
For a very few agencies, less than 1% of agencies paid, payments went into one of their bank accounts other than the account used in the CARS process. This was not the result of GEARS processing, instead it was the result of how the information related to STAR LOC-IDs was migrated.
There was also a timing issue with deposits to the Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) that affected a small number of counties.
The LOC-IDs and LGIP timing issue were resolved prior to the August 1st payment.
GEARS Payment Processing Schedule through May 2024 is now on-line!
The GEARS Payment Processing Schedule has been updated and is available at GEARS Processing and Payment Schedule | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. It shows the due dates for GEARS Expenditure Report submission and the related payment dates. The GEARS processing dates are added to the schedule once we have verified that GEARS payments and reports are correct. The GEARS processing dates are used to select the desired GEARS-603 or -620 reports.
Subject: We Need Your Help!
Each month we receive 500 – 600+ GEARS Expenditure reports. In addition, we receive a number of emails on a variety of other GEARS related topics. Formatting the email’s subject line properly helps us make sure your email gets to the right GEARS team member quickly. The proper format for submitting an expenditure report is shown below.
Agency #-Agency type-Contract year-Report Month/Year-Agency name
Share This Newsletter
If you are not the person who submits your agency’s GEARS Expenditure Reports, please share this information with them and encourage them to subscribe to this newsletter.
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More Helpful Contact Info Now Available
We have updated our “Contacts” webpage to include information on how to format the subject line on emails sent to us. We hope this updated page is helpful. The requested formats are based on what is being sent. Formatting the subject line as requested helps us find the information needed to respond quickly to questions. Formatting the report month by spelling out the month name with a four-digit year (ie. September 2023) is especially helpful, as it helps us locate expenditure reports in our electronic files quickly when questions come up.
GEARS Payment and Reimbursement Reports
Reports related to the August 1st payments are posted on the CARS/GEARS Reports page with a processing date of 2023-07-22. Guidance on retrieving and using the GEARS reports is found on the CARS/GEARS Manual webpage CARS/GEARS: Manual | Wisconsin Department of Health Services
- The GEARS Payment Report provides information similar to the information provided on the CARS Payment Listing.
- From the listing of GEARS Reports, select the GEARS Payment Report and enter your GEARS Agency Number, GEARS Agency Type code and the payment date range. To see both the July and August payments select a Payment Date From of 2023-07-03 and a Payment Date To of 2023-08-01. You no longer need to scroll through an alphabetic list of agencies to find information on payments to your agency.
- The listed payment amounts include payments for all contract years. If you need payment information by contract year, please see the GEARS Reimbursement Reports.
- The GEARS Reimbursement Reports include the GEARS-603 and GEARS-620 reports and are very much like their CARS counterparts.
- Differences between the CARS and GEARS Reimbursement Reports are noted in the on-line guidance.
- When retrieving a GEARS Reimbursement report, all open contract years are listed. If an agency has no contracts or other information for that year, the report headers, but no other information, are shown on the screen.
- How to find your GEARS Agency number
- The GEARS Agency number can be found in your grant agreement. It is the same as your CARS Agency number.
- DHS continues to maintain information in CARS. Local agencies can also use the CARS Agency List to search for their agency name and number. Reminder—the agency type codes on this list (3-digits) are the CARS agency type codes. The GEARS agency type codes are the last 2-digits of the CARS agency type codes.
Updating GEARS Agency Names for County Agencies
As part of migrating CARS agency information to GEARS, county agency names were standardized. We have heard from a number of county agencies that the standardized names do not work. As of August 7, 2023, we will begin accepting and processing name changes from county agencies.
Requests for updating agency names
Requests for updating County GEARS agency names should be sent via email to the DHS Supplier Coordinator at DHSDESBFSVendorVAL@dhs.wisconsin.gov Requests will be processed as time permits on a first in first out basis. Changed names will appear on GEARS Reports generated after the name change is processed. Names on previous reports remain as they were at the time the reports were generated, regardless of when they are retrieved and used.
Criteria required for county-related GEARS Agency Name Changes
GEARS Agency Names are not limited to 25 characters. In order to be updated in GEARS a requested name needs to conform to the following:
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Multi-county agencies may use the name under which they operate:
- The multi-county agency name does not need to include the names of member counties.
- If a multi-county agency chooses to list counties within the agency name:
- All member counties must be listed.
- The county name that links to the GEARS Agency number must be the first name listed.
- The Agency name must be descriptive and consistent with agency type.
- For all other county agencies, the first part of the name must be the county name and the requested name must be unique at the agency number-agency type level.
- If a county has an umbrella human services department, the names must distinguish between the parts of that department based on the types.
- Names need to be sufficiently descriptive that a reasonable person would agree the name fits the type
Because the GEARS Agency Names are generally identical to the CARS Agency Names for all non-county agencies, we are asking non-county agencies to delay requesting name changes, with one exception. Non-county agencies that have legal name change should notify the DHS Supplier Coordinator at DHSDESBFSVendorVAL@dhs.wisconsin.gov .
When a legal name change occurs, the DHS Supplier Coordinator will work with the agency to properly update all related supplier information.
What's Next?
We're looking at improvements to GEARS
While we have only just transitioned to GEARS, we have started talking about things we’d like to change to make GEARS work more effectively. Some of the suggested changes are the result of comments, questions, or suggestions we’ve received from local agencies. While we will need to consider what changes can and should be made, we appreciate the feedback on GEARS that we are receiving. We hope you will continue to let us know what is and is not working for your agency.
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