By Veronica Alvarez, DBS II, CalSAWS & Automation Support
Our customers have often asked for the ability to email their workers directly. While we are not able to offer that exact service for security reasons, we have been getting closer to it by other means. First, OCTOPUS enabled customers to send one-way electronic messages to workers. Now, CalSAWS has taken us to the next step: two-way electronic communication, housed within the CalSAWS and BenefitsCal applications. This is similar to the e-messaging model used by many banks, where communication between the customer and the organization takes place within a secured website rather than by email “in the wild.”
Not all counties opted to activate the e-messaging feature, but Santa Barbara County did. That means customers are able to communicate with our staff via two-way messaging. Read on to learn more!
How does it work?
The customer, using BenefitsCal, can use Message my Caseworker or Respond to Worker-Initiated Actions to start an e-message.
The EW can access these e-messages in two ways:
- Caseload-carrying workers can click My e-Messages on the Home screen, as shown in the screengrab at the top of this article.
- Or, go to the Case Info tab on the global navigation bar, select e-Tools from Local, and click on e-Messages in the task navigation bar.
Note that e-Messages for banked caseloads are originally assigned to the banked caseloads and then auto-reassigned to EWs after a nightly batch process.
How should EWs handle e-Messages?
Monitor your e-Messages daily, just like your voice messages. When a client sends an e-Message, respond within 5 calendar days. The response should be courteous, professional, and responsive to the specific inquiry or message. Note that customers can choose from a list of pre-defined questions as shown here.
Note that e-Messages do not generate a journal entry in the case record. Because staff can search for e-Messages in CalSAWS, whether to complete a journal entry will depend on the specifics of the e-Message. Use your judgment. If the interaction isn’t consequential to case eligibility, don’t create a journal. On the other hand, anything significant to case eligibility should have a journal entry completed with the case actions that took place because of the e-Message.
More information
Note that e-Messaging does not replace formal requirements for correspondence and NOAs. Those formal notifications are still required by program regulations.
Please review the job aid JA Self-Service Portal (SSP) e-Message and refer to the BenefitsCal PPP for additional information.
Note: These e-Messages are not to be confused with Message Center messages. Message Center messages are sent from the Reception Log to inform the worker that a customer is waiting in the lobby, and from interfaces for messages associated with cases assigned to a worker (for example, for MAGI Determination results being available for a particular case).