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This page is maintained by the Design team at Raft LLC for the purposes of the TANF Data Portal project.

TDP Project Update - January 2023

Overall, the pilot expansion program was a success in which data was successfully transmitted for each grantee that participated. In addition, TDP has been utilized to help solve for instances where data file transfers have been a challenge due to existing file transfer protocols.

The Pilot Expansion

Who participated in the expansion

We recruited grantees based primarily on the following criteria:

  • Interest in participating in the pilot
  • Current reliance on email transmission (Tribes)
  • Recent submission of partial data
  • Submits SSP data

TDP's userbase is now made up of:

  • 10 states
  • 7 Tribes
  • One territory

All together these STTs represent the following regions:

  • Region 1 (2 STTs)
  • Region 2 (1 STT)
  • Region 3 (1 STT)
  • Region 4 (3 STTs)
  • Region 5 (1 STT)
  • Region 6 (1 STT)
  • Region 7 (1 STT)
  • Region 8 (1 STT)
  • Region 9 (5 STTs)
  • Region 10 (3 STTs)

What we tested

Based on the task scenarios defined for v2.2 the pilot expansion program was a success. Grantees that participated were able to complete all task scenarios measured in v2.0 in addition to new released features for inline email notifications and being able to submit TANF and/or SSP-MOE data files. In addition, for those in our moderated sessions we were able to observe and record the efficiencies and perceived shortcomings of the current platform to help inform future iterations. While our top level findings focus on observed gaps to improve TDP, we continue to receive positive feedback on TDP’s impact from participating grantees.

Continually tested functionality (v 2.0)

TDP's launch functionality:

  • Secure Login & Account Management

  • Support for TANF Submission & Resubmission

Newly tested functionality (v 2.1 & 2.2)

Added since 2.0:

  • Support for SSP Submission & Resubmission

    Users from TANF programs that submit SSP-MOE data now have access to a new field on the Data Files page allowing for quarterly SSP data to be submitted as well as TANF data.

  • Email Notifications

    TDP now sends out email notifications for key events to keep you informed about the status of your account during the account creation process and the status of your submitted data files.

Changed / Fixed since 2.0:

  • Improved visibility of success & error messages

    In v 2.0 the banner highlighting whether data files were submitted successfully or failed to submit often appeared off-screen. This change ensures that the message gets highlighted more prominently when it appears.

Our findings

Participants expressed a variety of positive feedback about TDP

“There is nothing really I dislike, I think it is a needed changed for ease and modernization ”
“This process is much simpler and less clunky in comparison to "insert vendor" on the mainframe ”
“[I really like] the ease of uploading the reports and the email notifications that the reports were received ”
“[Discovering an easier way to attach files] Oh, I could just drop my files into these boxes! ”

Some Tribes still selected their state during the Request Access flow

A follow-up finding from our initial 2.0 Pilot, we've encountered additional instances of Tribal grantees selecting their State during the Request Access flow as opposed to the name of their Tribal program. This continues to support an enhancement we have in the backlog to make selection of State vs Tribe more explicit in that flow.

TANF Data Portal Request Access Form containing inputs for First Name, Last Name, and a combobox for Associated State, Tribe, or Territory

We further validated the case for more tailored data file submission screens

Also a continuation of a finding from the 2.0 Pilot we've encountered additional Universe data submitting grantees expressing some confusion over the presence of Section 4 (Stratum) as an option during the data submission process.

TANF Data Portal Request Access Form containing inputs for First Name, Last Name, and a combobox for Associated State, Tribe, or Territory

We observed some new bugs concerning search results and data submission

“It was odd that the last quarter's reports were in the spaces for [Q4] ”

The 2.2 Expansion brought to light some errors that seem to result from certain file or network conditions—and possibly from users repeatedly clicking the submit button if/when there's lag due to those network conditions. While all the actual data submissions were successful we've drafted a number of tickets to smooth out the cause of the issues here so that grantees won't run into network errors when their data did successfully make it into our database.

Screenshot of the GitHub issue tracking one of the errors we observed during the 2.2 expansion

One participant encountered some friction with TDP's search flow itself

“Other than the one dislike about the search function, I like this new system. ”

One grantee told us about some friction they encountered due to expecting the Data Files search component to not actually require search to be pressed to update the results on the page. This new 2.2 finding is an area we'll continue to observe as we expand TDP to others. In the interim we've updated the Knowledge Center with new imagery that better conveys the need to click 'Search'.

Data Files search with emphasis on File Type, Fiscal Year, and Quarter fields as well as the Search button
View Full Synthesis

What's Next

Scaling our error-related research and our userbase

As the development team is beginning to dig into building TDP's parsing engine we want to ensure that our research efforts are meeting the mark to ensure that the error reports grantees will ultimately receive from the new engine are the best they can be.

  • Making it real. One ultimate test of TDP will be its ability to help guide grantees to higher quality data. We're integrating more and more real data into our research to directly measure how easily grantees are able to correct errors in a context directly relevant to them.

  • Research as an onboarding aide. Moving from our current user base to readiness to onboard every grantee is no small task and will require a number of strategies to facilitate. One has proven to be using research sessions as an opportunity to get new grantees up and running in TDP.

  • Onboarding another cohort of STTs by February 7th. Quarterly data submission deadlines represent prime opportunities for getting new users not only approved for access in TDP but logged in and fully engaging with it. As with past quarterly expansions, this one will be run in parallel to new features and enhancements going-live in TDP.

Initial error-related research findings

Tribes are excited about the prospect of immediate notifications in TDP

“Sometimes it was like a shot in the dark because I'd submit and then not hear anything back for [...] a month ”

While Tribes tend to have a far lower rate of errors in their transmissions, the Tribes we've spoken to so far have expressed enthusiasm about the instant nature of data-related confirmations in TDP. e.g, Confirmation of successfully transmitted data.

The way we're presenting data in error report prototypes is providing grantees with the information they're after

“Everything seems to be where I can understand it. It seems straightforward ”

Our prototype error reports have been successfully understood by grantees in each session we've tested them so far; ensuring that participants are taking away key information both about the nature of the error and where it's occurring in their data.