MIS & Data Unit Communications

6/13/25 - Resolved - Firebase outage impacting mobile app

The Firebase outage that impacted some MN WIC App functions has been resolved. Participants should now be able to register and use the app as expected.

Thank you for your patience!

6/12/25 - Firebase outage impacting mobile app

The MN Help Desk has received notification that some participants are unable to register the MN WIC App. It appears that Firebase (the platform that helps manage the app) began experiencing some major service issues/outages this afternoon. Firebase has identified the root cause but does not have an ETA for full-service recovery. Because the MN WIC App utilizes Firebase for some functionality, participants may experience some issues with the app until it is fully resolved.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

6/12/25 - WINNIE training database refresh - UNAVAILABLE 6/24

WINNIE Training will be UNAVAILABLE on Tuesday, June 24, for a refresh of the database.

All existing training accounts will be deleted as part of the refresh process. Any agencies wanting to use WINNIE Training after Tuesday, June 24, will need to contact the MN Help Desk (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com) after June 24 to have their agency’s training account re-created.

Reminder! New weekly Mobile Management purge beings June 15

This information was previously provided in the June WINNIE the Scoop!

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.

6/10/25 - Fixed – App not displaying new powdered contract formula food item

An issue whereby the new WIC Contract Formula – Powder food item was not displaying in the WIC App was fixed earlier today. This was causing confusion for participants who were trying to purchase a powdered contract formula but weren’t seeing the new formula food item in their app. State staff who monitor purchasing errors confirmed that no issues with actually purchasing the new formula food item have occurred at stores.

We appreciate your patience and apologize for any confusion this may have caused you and your participants.

6/4/25 - Milk transactions working again

The system error that was resulting in participants not being able to purchase milk yesterday (6/3) has been corrected. Participants should now be able to buy milk at all stores.

We apologize for any inconvenience and confusion this issue may have caused.

6/3/25 - Unable to buy milk today!

There is currently a system error with all transactions purchasing milk. Participants will need to wait until Wednesday, June 4, to buy any milk. An app message will be sent to participants within the hour.

Thank you for your patience and we apologize for any confusion this may cause.

App Message

There is a problem when trying to buy milk at stores right now with your WIC Card. You can buy other WIC items but should wait to shop for any milk until Wednesday (Español/Somali).

2/24/25 - Reports with local use questions/answers

When our Information System was HuBERT, we had to create duplicate reports with the only difference being a specific Local Use Question because the most recent answers were stored in individual tables based on the question position (1-6). Now that we are using WINNIE, answers (if selected in WINNIE or HuBERT) are no longer stored in these individual tables, but instead in just one “Answer” table. This is why the Local Use answers are not displaying if selected in WINNIE and why all Local Use reports will need to be revised.

This change, however, also provides us with an opportunity to combine reports that are the same except for the Local Use Question. Due to how answers are now stored, we can pull the answers to any question, as well as add that column to any existing report, and you have the option of whether to pull Local Use answers into the report or not.

Since these reports will work differently, we have created a reference for how to use reports that have Local Use answers in their output: Using Reports with Local Use Answers (PDF).

Questions?

Any questions about Infoview reports? Please contact sarah.mallberg@state.mn.us. 

1/27/25 - WIC Local Agency Portal

Overview

The WIC Local Agency Portal (LAP) is a SharePoint site that will provide access to certain forms specific to Local Agency staff that are currently on the MDH WIC (public) website, as well as reports that include small numbers and private data. Many of the LAP data reports are similar to those currently found on the public website but include small numbers and identifiable data.

The LAP reports will provide data for smaller agencies that is suppressed on the public pages, while larger agencies will benefit from the ability to look at data monthly as well as yearly. In addition to reporting by county of CHB, like the public versions, many of the LAP reports can also report by agency or grantee.

Accessing the Local Agency Portal

The LAP will soon be available to agency coordinators and breastfeeding coordinators. You will be required to use your own individual login to access the LAP and you will receive an email with your access information within the next couple week if you haven’t already.

We will inform you once you can request additional users for the LAP. Please watch the Thursday emails from the MIS & Data Unit for more information.

Accessing Some Interactive Dashboards

In the Reports and Data library of the Local Agency Portal, some of the interactive data has an additional layer of security and will require you to sign in to the MDH Tableau server. Once signed in, all interactive content is available for the rest of the browser session.

Your Tableau User ID has already been created for you and is the same email address you used to access the LAP.

Logging into the Tableau Server for the First Time

When you see the Tableau login message, click the “Sign in to Tableau Server” button.

The first time you log into Tableau Server, enter your email address, and click the “Forgot your password?” link.

Type your email address into the Username field and click the “Send Password Reset Email” button.

You will receive an email within a minute or two with a link to change your password. Click the link in the email.

A new browser window will open. Enter your new password, enter the same password into the Confirm password field, and click the Reset Password link.

A Tableau Server browser window will open. Close it and return to the LAP browser window.

Log into the Tableau Server using your email address and your new password.

Once you’ve logged in for one dashboard, all the dashboards should display for the rest of your browser session.

11/21/24 - WINNIE environments

No reports environment in WINNIE

WINNIE does not have a Reports Environment that can be accessed by users, but there is still a reports database that is used by Infoview. Local Agency reporting needs were assessed prior to WINNIE roll-out and all HuBERT reports agencies indicated they were using were recreated in Infoview.

Year-to-Date Participation
Agencies can use the Year-to-Date Participation report found in INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> Counts >> Monthly Participation folder for an up-to-date count by grantee, agency, and clinic (reference: Year-to-Date Participation – Infoview Guidance Document (PDF)). Reminder: until End-of-Month is run, participants not issued benefits (fully breastfed infants < 6 months old and some-breastfeeding women > 6 months postpartum) will not be included in the count.

Closed-out participation counts are also available on the Monthly Participation page of the MDH WIC website, including the FFY Cumulative Monthly Summary by Grantee and the interactive Monthly Participation for FFY 2024.

Year-to-Date outlays - revised 6/18/25
The Year-to-Date Redemption report available on the Local Agency Portal provides this information.

WINNIE training environment

We will refresh the WINNIE Training environment quarterly to ensure the database has participants that can be used for training. When refreshed, all existing training accounts will be deleted as part of the refresh process. Any agencies wanting to use WINNIE Training after a scheduled Training refresh, will need to contact the MN Help Desk (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com) to have their agency’s training account re-created.

The training environment requires MFA when logging in. Agencies that have a general shared email account associated with the online application are setup so that the MFA code is sent to that account.

WINNIE office environment

In preparation for WINNIE, we asked Local Agency Coordinators to indicate who they thought would need access to the WINNIE Office environment. However, after assessing the need for this environment we have determined access to the State Office environment is not necessary since the older information is rarely needed.

The WINNIE Office environment is similar to the now retired Reports environment in that it shares the same database and includes all data that the Minnesota WIC program maintains.

The WINNIE Production environment has this same data with a few exceptions.

Only 3 years of the following information is available in the WINNIE Production environment:

• Scanned documents
• Participant signatures
• CPA signatures
• Benefit History details

Accessing data not found in production
If an instance arises where your agency requires information that is not found in the Production Environment, please contact the MN Help Desk for assistance (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com).