The Verification Setup page is used to create a new Verification Definition for the school year and start the Verification process. Verification Setup is the first step in a three step process for Verification in MealTime.


For most districts, Verification should begin on or shortly after October 1st in order to complete the process by November 15th. Unless otherwise directed by your state, perform a Direct Certification import before Verification begins.


Note! Performing a DC import during verification runs the risk of removing applications from Verification due to the fact that a Direct Certification can override an application. If a DC import must be done during Verification, make sure that none of the students in the import are currently on an application pulled for the Verification process.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


-> Go To: Eligibility Management > ELIGIBILITY > Verification > Verification Setup


The Eligibility Management Homepage will automatically add Verification to your Notification Center in the week before it begins. Clicking the Verification link in the Notification Center will take you directly to the Verification Setup page in MealTime to start the process:


Create a new Verification Definition

1. Click Add, toward the bottom of the page.


VERIFICATION SETUP


2. The *Start Date field will auto populate with the date you create the new definition and cannot be modified.


3. Choose the *Selection Type; the Standard (3% Error Prone), Alternate 1 (3% Random) or Alternate 2 (1% Error Prone + .5% Categorical) as directed by your state contact.
If you are unsure of which selection type to use, ask your state contact for clarification. Most users will select Standard.


4. Select the *Sample Cutoff Time your state requires.
Options are: Beginning of 10/1 (12:01am) or End of 10/1 (11:59pm). Beginning of 10/1 will include applications submitted through end of day 9/30 and End of 10/1 will include applications submitted up to end of day 10/1.


5. The *Response Days First Attempt is the number of days an applicant has to respond to their first selection notice. The response time counts down starting from the day after the Verification Start Date and defaults to 15 days. This number can be modified however, Verification must be completed by November 15th.


6. The *Response Days Second Attempt is the number of days an applicant has to respond to their second selection notice. The response time counts down starting from the day after the end of the first attempt and defaults to 7 days. This number can be modified however, Verification must be completed by November 15th.


Note! If you're considering changing the default days for the Response Attempts, see the Suggested Verification Timeline at the end of the article to better visualize how Response Attempts are timed and how you can modify those dates to ensure that your Verification is complete by November 15th.


ESTIMATED SAMPLE COUNTS


7. When making a selection for Verification prior to October 1st, you will need to enter your Estimated Income Pool (Est, Income Pool) and Estimated Case Number Pool (Est, Case # Pool) counts. These counts are a guess as to how many income-based and categorically-based applications you will have on file as of October 1st. 


Most users will wait until October 1st, at which time the MealTime application will automatically make the selection based on actual counts, rendering this section unnecessary.


ACTUAL SAMPLE COUNTS


8. The Actual Sample Counts fields display the calculated amounts in each verifiable pool. These numbers cannot be modified and are for reference only. 
Note! Applications selected earlier in the year "For Cause" will Not count against your total selected applications, in accordance with USDA guidelines.


9. When satisfied with your Verification selection settings, click Save & Select to view details as to how many applications were selected or click Cancel to cancel:


VERIFICATION LETTERS

When your Verification Setup is complete, the Notice of Verification Selection letters will be generated and queued up to be sent to the selected applicants. These letters are located in the Letter Queue.


10. Go To: Eligibility Management > Letters > Letters > Letter Queue to view and print the generated letters.


SUGGESTED VERIFICATION TIMELINE

The following example uses the First Attempt default value of 15 days, which starts counting down the day after Verification Selection is complete and the notice is sent out on October 1st. The applicant then has those 15 days to respond, from October 2nd to the 16th.


The day following the end of the First Attempt, October 17th, the Second Attempt notice is sent. The applicant then has 7 days to respond, from October 18th to the 24th.


The Adverse Action Notice is sent the day following the end of the Second Attempt response window, in this example October 25th. This notice is always sent the day after the end of the second attempt and provides a total of 10 days to respond before failing apps and they become Paid. The number of response days for this notification cannot be changed.


Using the default Response Days settings, we are left with nine calendar days before Verification must be complete on November 15th, which provides some room for adjustment if necessary. When figuring out your numbering, keep in mind that days of action do Not overlap and always start the day after the previous action is complete.