WINNIE the Scoop! Newsletters

July 3, 2025

Important Dates

• Friday, July 4 - MN Help Desk and State Office CLOSED

Other language access added to eWIC customer service line

An option to go directly to a customer service representative that can connect the participant to the Language Line has been added to the eWIC Customer Service line and will be available beginning July 20. The following has been added after the voice prompt to press 2 for Spanish:

• "For other, press 3."

Once the participant presses 3, the voice prompt says:

• "I’ll transfer you to a representative who can help you. Please hold."

When the customer service rep answers, state the needed language, and the rep will use the Language Line for the remainder of the call.

This information has been updated in the eWIC Customer Service training module. The revised version will be available on July 20.

Request training accounts AFTER database refresh

There has been some confusion about when to request new training accounts when a training database refresh has been scheduled. Since the quarterly refresh completely wipes out all access to the database (accounts or usernames and passwords), if your agency uses a training account, you will need to contact the Help Desk after the refresh has been completed to have your training account re-created. The earliest the Help Desk can re-create your training account would be the day after the scheduled quarterly training database refresh.

New bugs/issues added to WINNIE Bugs & Issues webpage

The following bugs have been added to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues page on the MDH WIC website.

Nutrition Assessment: Answers entered into Nutrition Assessment modal not displaying

Added 6/11/25 (URB 260136)

Description: Answers do not always appear to save or display after being added in the Nutrition Assessment modal. The issue has been most often reported about answers added for the 900 Environmental/Other Factors question. We have been able to recreate this issue by clicking the Next button after answering the 900 question and then clicking the Previous button before clicking the Save button.

What to do: Try not to click the Previous button after answering the last Nutrition Assessment question. If you do, and the answer does not display or displays "No answer", you will need to click Edit and re-enter your answer.

Resolution: Not assigned to release.

Search: participant date of birth changes when returning to search

Added 6/15/25 (URB 260358)

Description: When searching by Participant Date of Birth, after opening the participant folder and returning to the Search page, the date changes to the day before the previously entered date of birth (ex: search by 1/28/25, open a participant folder, return to Search, the Participant Date of Birth field now displays 1/27/25).

What to do: This is a display issue. The birthdate is correct in the database.

Resolution: Not assigned to Release.

Search: participant date of birth changes when returning to search

Added 6/30/25 (URB 261627)

Description: The order of formulas in the Food Item dropdown is not consistent in WINNIE. In, the Select Formula modal that displays in Health Information, the formula is displaying in ascending order by Food Item ID while in Food Prescription, the sort order is determined on the backend. This results in new formulas, such as the WIC Contract Formula - Powder displaying at the top or bottom of the dropdown respectively.

What to do: This is a display issue.

Resolution: Not assigned to release.

Reminders about entering dates into prompts in Infoview

Timestamps (12:00:00 AM) can cause issues when running reports in Infoview, which is why you shouldn’t use the calendar icon in the date prompt fields. When selecting a date from the calendar, Infoview automatically inserts the timestamp which can cause the report to err out or not run correctly. Always type the date into the field. Once the report is run, Infoview will again insert the timestamp, but as long as it’s been inserted by the system after the report is run, the timestamp will not impact the report if running for those dates again. 

June 5, 2025

Reminder! Food package updates begin June 9

This information was previously provided in an email to all WINNIE users on Thursday, May 29.

Food package changes for milk, formula, mostly-breastfed infants 0-1 months old, and infant cash-value benefits (CVBs) begin on June 9.

Milk

Beginning June 9, participants with the standard or default milk food item can choose the type of milk they want to purchase at the store. The description for this milk food item will automatically update to include “(WIC-allowed).” On June 9th, the default food package will also include this updated description for milk. Participants with specific types of milk in their food package (lactose-free, soy beverage, goat milk, and powdered milk) will still only be able to buy that type of specific milk. Since these food items will be inactive on October 31, you will need to update their food package sometime before that.

Formula

Beginning June 9, a new WIC-allowed Formula-Powder food item will be available. Families can purchase any type of contract powdered formula when issued this food item. You do not need to update the food package for infants currently receiving specific powdered contract formula if their current formula is working well, but this should be issued for new infants and when adjusting food packages (when issuing contract powdered formula). The specific powdered contract formula food items will continue to be available for direct ship.

Mostly breastfed (MBF) 0-1-month food package

The maximum amount of formula allowed for MBF infants up to 1 month of age will be increased to 435 oz (up to 4 cans powdered). The default will continue to be 1 can.

Infant CVBs

Beginning June 9, the Fruits and Vegetables – (WIC-ALLOWED) food item will be available in the 9-11-month default food package. Families can also purchase frozen or canned fruits and vegetables when issued this food item. Since this food item will be inactive on October 31, you will need to update any existing 9-11-month infant food packages sometime before that.

More information

For more information, please review the following:

• Evaporated Milk Follow-up-ACTION ITEM! (PDF)
• WINNIE Update Document – Food Package Changes (PDF)
• Food Package Changes to implement on June 9 (PDF)
• Food Package Updates

Reminder! Update state-owned WIC computers to Windows 11

This is a reminder that all state-owned WIC computers must be upgraded to Windows 11 by July 11. Once completed, agencies must send proof of the Windows 11 update for each upgraded computer to the MN Help Desk.

The Windows 11 Update & Installation (PDF) document provides step-by-step instructions on how to update the state-owned computers to Windows 11 and how to obtain proof of the update to send to the Help Desk.

Please refer to the WIC Hardware page for more information about Windows 11.

New weekly Mobile Management purge begins June 15

Beginning June 15, a new purge of Mobile Management records will occur every week on Sunday. This regularly-scheduled purge will assist agencies in managing their conversations by removing old conversations and their attachments. This may also improve its processing speed. This purge will include:

• Closed conversations: 1 month after the closed date.
• Open conversation and any attachments:
  • 1 month after the date of the last response.
  • 1 month after being created if have never been replied to and/or viewed.

Infoview Report Revisions & Corrections webpage

This is just a reminder to Infoview users to review the Infoview Report Revisions & Corrections page for a list of reports that have been updated since the transition to WINNIE. Always take a quick look at the webpage to ensure the report you are running is the most up-to-date version.

May 1, 2025

New Issues Web Page

On Monday, May 5th, the Transition Guide will be removed from the MDH WIC website and replaced with the new WINNIE Bugs & Issues webpage. All current and future issues impacting WINNIE will be added to this webpage for reference.

Call the MN Help Desk First if You Have Signature Pad Issues

If you are having an issue with your signature pad, please call the Help Desk to first trouble-shoot the issue before requesting a new signature pad. Often, the issue can be resolved by updating drivers or with other assistance. In general, we will not replace signature pads if a hardware request is submitted and there isn’t a call to the Help Desk documenting that you are having problems with your signature pad and that troubleshooting did not resolve the issue(s).

Reminders

Only One Woman Per Household

The State Consultants have received a couple of questions about families with more than one woman receiving WIC services. When this occurs, each woman should be in her own WIC household and the infant she gives birth to linked to her record. Please keep in mind that households should only ever have one woman in them.

Child Records Cannot Be Used for Returning Woman Participant

Existing participant records should never be changed from an infant/child category to a woman category. Please see the February 6 WINNIE the Scoop topic: Cannot Change Women Records to Infant Child or Vice-Versa below for more information.

Create Food Package for Non-Breastfeeding Woman’s 18th Birthday

All 18-year-old non-breastfeeding women must have a food package with an Effective Date of their 18th birthday to be able to issue benefits that overlap her 18th birthday. (This was previously included in the March 6 WINNIE the Scoop and can be found on the WINNIE User Tips page under Benefit Issuance.)

Use Block Function to Block Time in WINNIE Scheduler

This is just a reminder that all agencies should be using the Block function to indicate time periods on a Resource Schedule when appointments shouldn’t be added and should no longer be using the TIME BLOCK participants used in HuBERT. The TIME BLOCK participants were created as a work-around because blocking time could not be done quickly and had limitations in HuBERT. This “false participant” is no longer necessary and should not be used in WINNIE.

If you need the ability to block time on the calendar and don’t currently have it, please contact your WIC coordinator to see if you can get access.

Please see the WINNIE Training Module: Calendar 4B - Resource Schedule Blocks for more information about how to use the Block function.

Initial Contacts and Unexpected Participants in Infoview Outputs

We’ve seen a couple of instances whereby participants are displaying on the Initial Contacts Requirements Not Met Infoview report that show an Initial Contact has been completed when the modal is opened in WINNIE.

Explanation: Upon research, we have determined that this occurs when you complete the Initial Contact after the certification. When an Initial Contact record is created, it has two dates associated with it: the Initial Contact Date that you see in the modal and that you can change (up to 30 days prior to the current date) and the record’s Create Date/Time. The Create Date/Time is when the Initial Contact record was added in WINNIE and can only be seen in the database. The Create Date/Time is how we can determine that these Initial Contact records are being created after the certification is completed.

How Initial Contacts Work: When an Initial Contact is created, a record is inserted into the database with a blank Certification ID. If a certification is completed after the Initial Contact, but within 60 days of its Create Date/Time, the unique Certification ID assigned to that cert when it is completed is entered into the Initial Contact record, linking the Initial Contact to that certification. However, if the Initial Contact is created after the certification, the system does not retroactively link it to the cert. Instead, the Initial Contact record waits for a certification to be completed on a date that is after the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time or it is removed during End-of-Day after 60 days, whichever occurs first.

While the Initial Contact record waits to be linked (within 60 days of its being added), it appears as if it has been completed correctly, especially if you have changed the Initial Contact Date to a date prior to the certification.

Initial Contacts and Infoview Outputs: Infoview reports that identify incomplete or unmet requirements compare the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time to the Cert Start Date. If the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time is after the Cert Start Date (and other report criteria are also met) the participant will display in the output as not having a completed Initial Contact.

Questions & Answers

See WINNIE Questions & Answers to view questions that have been previously submitted from local agencies about WINNIE. You can submit your own question using the WINNIE Questions for the State WIC Office form.

April 3, 2025

Infoview Reports – Counting Certs/Recerts

This is just a reminder that in order for Infoview reports to correctly count certifications, they must be started and completed on the same date. This is due to the criterion used to exclude pseudo-certs, which requires the Cert Start Date (date started) to be equal to the Cert Effective Date (date completed).

March 6, 2025

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

February 6, 2025

Cannot Change Women Records to Infant/Child or Vice-Versa

Changing Prescreened Participants from Woman to Infant/Child (or vice-versa)
We have had a couple of instances in which staff have had issues linking infants to mom. When the Help Desk researched these issues, they found that the record had initially been prescreened as a woman category and had been changed to an infant or child category, and vice versa. Participant records, once created, cannot be changed from woman to infant/child nor from infant/child to woman.

This is due to “skeleton records” that are added to certain tables when a new participant is prescreened based on the participant’s WIC Category. For instance, a skeleton record is added to CHILD table for infants and children. If a CHILD record doesn’t exist, you cannot link mom and baby (and other issues may occur).

If you prescreen a woman participant when you should have selected infant or child for the WIC Category (or vice-versa), you should complete another prescreen selecting the correct category. Write down the State WIC ID for the incorrect and correct participant records and have your Agency Admin use the Potential Duplicates function to mark the incorrect participant record as a duplicate.

Child Participants Returning as Women
The Help Desk has also received a couple of calls asking if an existing child’s record could be changed to pregnant or postpartum if the child returns to WIC as a woman. Again, existing records should never be changed from an infant/child category to a woman category. If a woman has participated in WIC as a child, a new woman record should be created for her if she returns as pregnant or postpartum.

NOTE: In general, you shouldn’t be able to find records that haven’t been used in more than 6 years because the system should be purging them. However, we continue to have issues with the purge process and because of this, you may be able to find child records for women returning to WIC as an adult.

January 9, 2025

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

December 5, 2024

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE User Tips page.

November 7, 2024

Logging into Mobile Management

The following information was previously provided in an email on Monday, September 23.

The URL for Mobile Management was updated on Monday, September 23 to: https://mobile.mnwic.net/MobileWeb/index.html.

Your username for both WINNIE and Mobile Management are the same. For more information about logging in or changing your password, please refer to the Mobile Management and Contact Us Overview (PDF).

Do Not Void Benefits for Transferred Participants

In general, do not void benefits previously issued to participants that transfer to your agency unless there is an issue with their food prescription. As long at the food benefits are appropriate, you shouldn’t void their benefits just so that you can get the participation count for those benefits. (Training Module Reference: Transfers 1B – Agency-to-Agency)

SWIPe

Just a reminder that SWIPe needs to be open to be able to use signature pads, card readers, and scanners with WINNIE. SWIPe allows our peripheral hardware to communicate with WINNIE and if it isn’t open, an error will display when trying to collect signatures, read card numbers, and/or scan documents.

For easy access, best practice is to pin SWIPe to your taskbar since you will most likely use it every time you work in WINNIE. For information about how to do this, see the Hardware training module (TOC: SWIPe >> Pin to Taskbar).

October 3, 2024

WINNIE Training

“Cheat Sheets” and WINNIE Functionality

At this time, we are not providing “cheat sheets” for most of WINNIE’s functions. However, we’ve created two that address specific scenarios:

• Change Household ID – Direct Shipped Formula
• In Case of Participant Death

Both of these can be found under Change Household ID on the WINNIE Training page.

If, once you have reviewed the training modules, you feel there is another specific scenario that may require a cheat sheet, please use the WINNIE Questions for the State Office form to submit your suggestion.

September 12, 2024

Future Approved Change Requests for WINNIE

Any suggested changes to WINNIE must be documented by the State Office and assigned a severity, discussed with (and approved by) the SPIRIT Users Group (SUG), and then prioritized by the SUG for inclusion in a future release.

The following were suggestions provided by our pilots that will be included in a future release.

August 1, 2024

All previous WINNIE the Scoop content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant.

July 11, 2024

Training - Reference Documents Available

Per requests from local agencies, we’ve added a couple of documents to assist with training.

1. WINNIE Training Module Checklist (WORD) – lists all modules by topic and their duration and can be used to keep track of the modules or information in modules that you’ve completed.

2. Reference for browser settings based on your preferred default browser – “how to”: set your default browser, ensure your login isn’t saved, clear your browse cache, bookmark the WINNIE login page, set your zoom preference, allow pop-ups in WINNIE, ensure downloads are deleted daily, and open the Develop Console, which may be helpful when working with the MN Help Desk.

• Browser Settings for Microsoft Edge (PDF)
• Browser Settings for Google Chrome (PDF)

June 6, 2024 - November 18, 2020

All previous WINNIE the Scoop content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant.