DATE OF ISSUE:  24 JANUARY 1996

PRINTING CONCESSION CARDS IN STATE OFFICES

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION	2
BACKGROUND	2
CLERICAL PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING REPRINTS OF CARDS	2
OPERATION OF PRINTERS	2
Separate printer for PCCs and CSHCs	3
Frequency of client extracts	3
Setup of PCC and CSHC stock in printers	3
Test run to align paper	3
Maintenance	4
RUNNING DAILY EXTRACTS	4
Print Health Cards (Screen PP.PC) description	4
Printers	5
Security access to run print jobs	5
Accountability for forms including spoils	5
Audit requirements for disposing waste cards/carriers	5
QUANTITIES	6
DESPATCH DETAILS	6
DESCRIPTION	7
Printers	7
Stock	7
Vouchers	7
Envelopes	8
PCC client data files	8
Variable information on PCC	8
Inserted Data on the CSHC	9
Variable information on CSHC	9
Income Limits for the CSHC	10
REPORTS	10
PHASE TWO OF IMPLEMENTATION OF LOCAL PRINTERS	11
CONTACT OFFICERS	11

INTRODUCTION

Following discussions with the State Offices and as a result of a feasibility study, arrangements have been made to print Pensioner Concession Cards (PCCs) and Commonwealth Seniors Health Cards (CSHC) in the State Offices for issues other than the bulk issue.  Phase one of the project has been the implementation of the printers.  Separation of screens and other enhancements such as improved reporting requirements will be part of the second phase.

BACKGROUND

2.Since their introduction in 1993 and 1994 respectively, the PCC and CSHC have been printed through a mailing house and distributed directly to clients.  Bulk issues of the PCC are made in November/December and CSHCs in June each year.  Weekly issues are made throughout the year to provide PCCs and CSHCs for clients who are newly assessed as eligible, and for replacement cards for clients who have not received or who have lost their card.

3.State offices have not regarded the standard of delivery of these issues as satisfactory.  Because of the relatively small quantities involved, only one print run a week was scheduled by the mailing house.  Client data was extracted each weekend and cards were printed and despatched later the next week.  Even when running to schedule, it could be up to two weeks for clients to receive their PCCs.  Delays to the print runs exacerbated these delays even further on a number of occasions.

4.In an effort to improve the delivery time and to give the State offices more control over the timely despatch of the concession cards, printers have been purchased for the State offices to produce the cards locally.

CLERICAL PROCEDURES FOR REQUESTING REPRINTS OF CARDS

5.A record of all requests for replacement PCCs and CSHCs made on the system through screen PP RH should be kept and should include the reason for the request, such as 'lost' or 'not received'.  Before a replacement PCC or CSHC is reordered through screen PP.RH, the operator should check the history screen (EC.PC).  A report will be implemented shortly to list occurrences of 2 or more replacement cards being requested for a client.

6.The most effective method of recording requests for replacement PCCs may vary from office to office, but the list of clients, their entitlement number and the reasons for request must be accessible for audit purposes.  Acceptable records include either a single book register, expecially if one officer has responsibility for keying the request onto the system, or a proforma which is filled out for each request and filed each day.

7.Reports associated with the daily issue of PCCs and CSHCs are detailed under the heading 'Reports' below.  Please read this section carefully.

OPERATION OF PRINTERS

8.Income Support (IS) Managers have overall responsibility for managing the correct running of the printers in the State Offices.  Decisions about placement of printers in secure premises and security for card stock lie with the Information Technology (IT) Managers except where they have agreed with the requests by the program area to house the printers within the IS area.  In that case, the IS Manager is responsible for the security of the printer and stock.

9.IS Managers are responsible for any changes to the initial arrangements, in agreement with the National Office and where it can be demonstrated that sufficient security is available for the printers.

Separate printer for PCCs and CSHCs

10.Printers have been defined for each of the card types in each State.  If any changes are required they should be co-ordinated through the Assistant Director, Client Communications in the CO&R Section, to arrange the necessary changes with the Communications Section and VSA.  If at some stage a printer is replaced, the printer alias (eg NBPCC) could be swapped to the new printer without notifying the Communications Section.  However, if a printer is moved to another controller, the CO&R Section must be notified to arrange a change of V-TAM ID.  Similarly, if the printer is to be used for other jobs, the necessary changes should be arranged through the CO&R Section.

Frequency of client extracts

11.A batch job will be run each evening to identify clients for whom a PCC or CSHC is to be issued.  When running the print job, the operator will request the date required.

12.Only the last ten days' extracts are retained.  If it appears that printing can't be finalised within the ten day limit, eg because of printer failure or stock problems, and there is risk that the required extracts will be deleted before they are printed, the officer responsible for printing in that State must contact the CO&R Section in the National Office immediately.

13.Please note that cards cannot be produced immediately for counter enquiries the same day.  All new and reprint requests are extracted in the evening and available for running the following morning.

14.The PCC and CSHC should be left setup in the printers.  The print programs have been designed to print the variable data at predetermined intervals, so once the the card carriers are aligned, they should not be altered.  The alignment can be done by using the test pattern on the print facility described below.  Only the printed carriers and any forms fed automatically without printing are to be removed following each day's run to reduce wastage and to aid in the accounting of the forms.  The forms are preprinted with a consecutive sequence number.

Test run to align paper

15.The paper can be aligned by selecting print type T to produce fields of XXs where data is normally inserted for real print runs.  Stock used for testing should be kept and treated as spoils for audit purposes.

Maintenance of Printers

16.General service maintenance of the printers is covered by a one year warranty by I-DATA until April 1996.  The service contact at I-DATA is Robin Woodruff in Sydney on telephone 02 9672233.  Maintenance after April will be covered by a general service warranty organised by the Communications Section in the Information Management Branch of the Department.  Any queries about servicing the printers should be directed to the Communications Section.

RUNNING DAILY EXTRACTS

17.Each day a program will be run to list clients eligible for a PCC or CSHC.  This program will select any cards requested through the screen PP.RH or from new claims processing for that day.  The print run is requested through the PIPs Print Health Cards screen (PP.PC).  This screen can be accessed from anywhere within the system by inserting 'PP.PC' in the command field and pressing ENTER.  The operator can specify to run all or only specified cards from the last ten daily extracts.  Only staff with approved access to this screen can initiate the PCC or CSHC print runs.  A copy of the screen is attached.

Print Health Cards (Screen PP.PC) description

18.The fields are described below:

State:The character is usually the State's initial.

N - NSW

V - Vic

Q - Qld (south)

F - Nth Qld (far nth Qld)

S - SA

W - WA

T - Tas

D - NT (Darwin)

A - ACT

Card type:P for PCC,

S for CSHC

Print type:T for test (produces XXs so that paper stock can be aligned correctly on the printer).

C for Cards, to run the daily print extract.  This will print requested (ie reprints of previously issued cards) and new cards.

R for reprint.  This field gives options for one or a range of cards for a particular date.  The entitlement number/s should be inserted including the State identifier.

Extract Date:Enter the date as DDMMYY or DD/MM/YY.  Only the last ten data sets containing the daily batch extracts are held.  Spoiled cards from those data sets can be rerun without being recorded as reprint on the system.

NOTE:  When the print job has been selected, the print run will be terminated if you insert 'Y' in the print field before the printing has finished.

SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Printers

19.The printers are to be kept in a secure location.

Security access to run print jobs

20.Security access authorising certain officers to enact transaction PPTPC to print concession cards has been set up for officers in each State.  In some States an Area-Function has been nominated for the transaction: in others, individual officers have been given the necessary access.  Any changes in the future must be requested through your security access officer in your State.  When requesting access, please ensure that the function is kept separate from the operational area in Income Support. Staff are not permitted to have access to request PCCs, through reprint requests (screen PP.RH) or through processing client income support applications and to initiate the print runs (screen PP.PC).

Accountability for forms including spoils

21.The forms are accountable documents.  The vouchers and cards are potentially useable in the wrong hands.  All spoils must be accounted for and destroyed.  A log of the number of cards printed and the number range, and the number of cards spoiled and the range, must be kept  for PCC stock (see attachment A for an example of the Pension Card Usage Report).  A similar log should be kept for CSHC stock, except that there latest stock does not have a sequence number preprinted on the back of the form.  Audit has agreed, that for the CSHC, it is sufficient that an account is kept of the number of cards printed and destroyed, and reconciled against the number of forms supplied.

Note that the first two forms are not printed each time a print run is requested.  These must be included in the 'waste' forms.

Audit requirements for disposing waste cards/carriers

22.When a rerun of cards from a daily extract is requested, the duplicate card units should be held in a secure place and recorded on the PCC or CSHC Pension Card Usage Report to show why they have been reprinted.  After all reprinted and spoiled card units have been accounted for, an independent person (the Income Support manager or delegate) can authorise destruction by shredding spoiled, unprinted or duplicate card units and sign the Usage Report  and verify their destruction.  The check should ensure that the carrier is intact and that no travel vouchers have been removed.  Destruction need only occur each week or fortnight, depending on the number of 'waste' cards and carriers involved.

23.A system report is generated, listing those cards for which a reprint (rerun) is requested from screen PP.PC.  Audit have asked that once the daily print run has been requested, the system then purge the Card Print file so that further printing of cards for that day can only be done from the Reprint function.  This change will be incorporated as soon as possible.

QUANTITIES

24.In the bulk issue in December 1994 for the 1995 PCC, over 350 000 cards were issued.  With the addition of Income Support Supplement recipients during 1995, this number is expected to be over 400 000 for the 1996 PCC bulk issue.  Weekly runs range from over 2000 immediately after the bulk run, to a plateau of about 700 cards per week.  This includes cards issued to new clients and cards reissued to clients who have lost their cards.  The average numbers of PCCs per weekly run for the period 31 March to 25 September 1995 were:

PCCS IN WEEKLY RUNS (March - Sept. 1996)
State/Territory	Average	Range
NSW	255	118 - 381
VIC	201	76 - 326
QLD	116	65 - 171
SA	61	25 - 87
WA	70	35 - 113
TAS	26	11 - 42
NT	2	0 - 4
ACT	9	3 - 30
Aust. PCCs	740
Aust. CSHC	16

25.The Commonwealth Seniors Health Card was introduced on 1 July 1994.  It is valid for the financial year in which it is issued if the client retains eligibility.  Bulk issues are made in June each year with weekly issues to provide cards for clients who are newly assessed as eligible, and for replacement cards for clients who have not received or who have lost their card.  In the first year of issue, approximately 2000 cards were processed.  In the bulk run for 1995/96 cards, about 1500 cards were issued nationally.  Weekly runs average about 20 cards nationally.  It is expected that this will increase during the year.

DESPATCH DETAILS

26.Care should be taken to fold the PCC carriers to display the client's name and address and the DVA return address in the envelope windows.  Folding should be along voucher perforations rather than just beside them.  For the CSHC, the stock is not perforated on the side, so the edges will have to be cut off or turned under.  When the CSHC stock is reprinted we will add the perforations to the stock.

27.Carriers/cards for couples at the same address should be inserted into the one envelope.

28.After the bulk run, one insert, a State specific fridge magnet calendar for 1996, should be included for new PCC recipients in your State or Territory.  The calendars are 1/3 A4 and list DVA contact numbers for the State or Territory on the back.  Only one should be inserted per envelope.  In NSW, all new ACT and NSW clients should also receive the NSW rail insert.

DESCRIPTION

Printers

29.Following a trial of a number of commercially available printers, the C.ITOH C-600 II with an external I-Data UNI 224-1CB coax interface was identified as the most suitable printer.  The printer has been modified by having the platen shimmed to better cope with the card stationery which has a plastic card tipped onto the carrier.

30.Each State office has been supplied with separate printers, one for printing PCC and one for printing CSHCs.  In addition:

• for NSW, an additional printer has been supplied for the ACT PCCs;

• for SA, an additional printer has been supplied for NT PCCs; and

• for North Queensland, two additional printers have been supplied, one each for PCCs and CSHCs.

31.The cost of the printers, acoustic hoods, installation including connections and ongoing maintenance will be met by the National Office.  Printers should normally be set up in the IT area and remain dedicated to one type of card stock.  Once set up and aligned, stock should not be removed from the printers except where one printer has broken down and an alternate printer is needed urgently.  Note however, that one printer is kept in reserve at the National Office and will be available for emergency use.

Stock

32.The PCC card stock has been modified to make the layout suitable for the requirements of the local printers.  The carrier sheets have been changed to enable all personalisation of the carrier details to be carried out on the left hand side of the carrier.  On the right hand side of the carrier, the personalisation will be restricted to the card details only.  In all cases the travel voucher portion of the carrier will appear on the left hand side of the carrier.

33.The PCC carrier stock will be on a tractor-fed, modified A4 form of 210mm x 350mm size (normal A4 is 210mm x 297mm), with perforations for the tractor feed and between each form.

34.The PCC stock will be pre-printed, with the exception of the client's address details, the client's card details and parts of the travel vouchers.  The local printer will be used to insert these details at the time of printing.  As previously indicated, the PCC stock is State specific and the system changes will only allow the printing of cards in the residential State.  States will not be supplied with stock for other States, with the exception of NSW and SA who will be printing the NT and ACT clients.

35.The CSHC stock will remain in its present style and will be preprinted in true A4 format.  Existing stocks of the CSHC will be used.  They do not have perforations for the tractor feed so the edge will have to be trimmed or folded under the form before enveloping.  When the stock is reprinted, additional perforations will be inserted.

Vouchers

36.Vouchers are preprinted on all stock.  During printing, a string of XXs will be printed against the name and entitlement number sections of the vouchers for reissued cards.  The XXs are likely to be replaced with the word VOID for the 1996 PCC.  On no account are the vouchers to be removed from the carrier to supply requests for replacements.

37.The 1996 DSS and DVA carriers have prominent wording just above the vouchers to say that we cannot replace them.  In previous years we have replaced vouchers in emergencies.  The State rail authorities have asked that they be the sole authority for issuing replacement vouchers in future, even where cards are reported as not received.  DVA issues vouchers once only on behalf of the State rail or transport authorities.  However, all States except for Victoria, have indicated that they are willing to replace the vouchers or sell equivalent discount travel on application and a statutory declaration.  State rail contacts will be included where available, on the 1996 carriers.

38.Clients who request replacement vouchers (or who claim they did not receive their annual PCC), should be directed to the State rail/transport authority for the replacement.

Envelopes

39.The existing two window envelopes will continue to be used for the concession cards and the advices.

PCC client data files

40.Clients included on the extract are separated into State/Territory files according to their State of residence.

• PCCs for Queensland clients will be printed in Brisbane or Townsville depending on the client's postcode (residential postcodes of 4000-4736 on the Brisbane printer, and 4737-4999 on the Townsville printer);

• PCCs for ACT residents should be printed on the ACT printer located in the NSW BO;

• PCCs for NT residents should be printed on the NT printed located in the SA SO.

State/Territory of Residence	Printer Location
NSW	NSW BO
VIC	VIC BO
QLD	Qld BO if postcode is in the range 4000-4736 North Qld if postcode is in the range 4737-4999
SA	SA
WA	WA
TAS	TAS
ACT	NSW
NT	SA

Variable information on PCC

41.Only a minimal number of variables are to be inserted at the final printing.  Changes from those inserted on the bulk issue are shown in shading below.

VARIABLES	for Bulk Printing	for Local Printing
CARD
Client name and address	from client details on system	from client details on system
Entitlement number - Client	of eligible client on system	of eligible client on system
Entitlement numbers and names - Dependents	of the client's eligible dependents taken from the details on the system	of the client's eligible dependents taken from the details on the system
Date of Grant:	from client details on system	from client details on system
Expiry Date:*	fixed data:  31/12/95	fixed data:  31/12/95
CARRIER
Client name and address	from client details on system	from client details on system
Return addresses (DVA)	Variable set by Payee Indicator on Entitlement no	Preprinted - residential State
Contact telephone numbers	Variable set by residential state (for PCC), and, in case of Qld, also the postcode	Preprinted - residential State
VOUCHERS**FOR NEW CLIENTS
Name and Entitlement number	from client details on the system and used for all States/territories except NT	from client details on the system and used for all States/territories except NT
Address (Tasmanian vouchers only)	from client details on the system	for Tasmania only, taken from client details on the system
Dated of Grant (Tasmanian vouchers only)	from client details on the system	for Tasmania only, taken from client details on the system

Note:* Expiry Date to be updated annually as cards are issued for successive years.

** Position of the vouchers on the carrier nay vary for the local printer stock.

42.Clients included on the CSHC extract are separated into State/Territory files according to their State of residence.  Note however, that in NSW and SA, the same printer is used for the ACT and NT cards respectively.  This is because the stock is not State/Territory specific.

Variable information on CSHC

43.Only a minimal number of variables are to be inserted at the final printing.  Changes from those inserted on the bulk issue are shown in shading below.

VARIABLES	for Bulk Printing	for Local Printing
CARD
Entitlement number	of eligible client on system	of eligible client on system
Date of Grant:	taken from client details on system	taken from client details on system
Valid to:	fixed data:  30/06/96	fixed data:  30/06/96
Client name and address	taken from client details on system	taken from client details on system
CARRIER
Client name and address	taken from client details on system	taken from client details on system
Income limits	taken from file on income limits	taken from file on income limits
Return addresses (DVA)	Variable set by Payee Indicator on Entitlement no.	Preprinted
Contact telephone numbers	Variable set by residential state (for PCC) indicator and for Qld, also the  postcode.	Preprinted.
Signature block	Variable inserted and periodically updated.	Preprinted.

Income Limits for the CSHC

44.These are variables to be inserted at the final printing.  They will be automatically updated when changes occur.  The values as at 28 September 1995 were:

• $20,181.20 if you are single,

• $33,675.20 (combined), if you are a member of a couple; or

• $39,738.40 (combined), if you are accepted as being separated due to medical reasons.

• These amounts are increased for each dependent child by $624.

REPORTS

45.The following two reports will be generated as a result of either the overnight extract, or the print run.

Daily processing record:  Use the existing health cards issued reports, (PENHEAP reports), generated each day as the result of State office processing and requests for replacement cards.  It lists the cards for PCCs and CSHCs as well as other health cards to be processed for the State.  The report also includes a summary of the number of cards to be issued for each State.

Daily print report:  is a new system generated report which will produce a print record each time a print run is executed for either PCCs or CSHCs.  There are two versions of the report: one reports the full daily print run in that State, and the other reports cards requested through the 'reprint' option on the print screen(PP.PC).  This should not be confused with the term 'reprint' sometimes used to describe the request for a replacement card through screen PP.RH.  Following printing, this report should be passed to the Income Support area with the printed stock.

46.A record should be kept of the stock used.  A suggested format as described below, is at Attachment A (pages 11-13 are in landscape format)  In addition, a register should be maintained to list all requests for replacement PCCs and CSHCs.

Daily Pension Card Usage Reports.  These are proforma reports which must be used to account for all the PCC and CSHC stock used, both for successfully printed cards and spoils and unprinted cards.  A suggested format is attached.  This reports should be retained by the IT area with waste stock and passed to the Income Support manager at weekly intervals or thereabout, together with spoiled cards for destruction.  The IS manager or delegate should then use this record to verify the destruction of the waste cards.  Note that the CSHC stock supplied in December does not have a sequence number on the back, but the number of forms used should be reconciled against the total stock supplied.

PHASE TWO OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LOCAL PRINTERS

47.As part of phase two of the implementation of the local printers, the reports will be modified to better meet the needs of the State Offices.  Implementation of the planned screen changes and reports to list multiple requests for concession cards will also be part of this phase.  Modification of the printer programs to avoid excess stock wastage will also be addressed, together with consideration of any other suggestions from the State Offices.

CONTACT OFFICERS

Annette Smith (06) 289 4739 — Paul McBow  (06) 289 6429

JEANETTE RICKETTS

A/G BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT BRANCH

Attachment A

SAMPLE

PENSION CARD STOCK USAGE REPORT

PCC

Date of printing	Date of print extract	Stock Sequence numbers from - to	TOTAL number of cards for despatch	Reprint Y/N	TOTAL number of cards to destroy	Wastage/spoils sequence numbers	Reason	Officer's name	Officer's signature
21/11/95	20/11/95	s000118 - s000320	200	n	2	s000118-119	for despatch	B Bloggs (print operator)
"	"				3	s000130, 131, 132	torn	B Bloggs (print operator)
22/11/95	20/11/95	s000321 - s000323	3	y			reprint for despatch	B Bloggs (print operator)
TOTAL CARDS DESTROYED					5			R Rigges (ISM delegate)

PENSION CARD STOCK USAGE REPORT

CSHC

Date of printing	Date of print extract	TOTAL number of cards for despatch	Reprint Y/N	TOTAL number of cards to destroy	Reason	Officer's name	Officer's signature
TOTAL CARDS DESTROYED

PENSION CARD STOCK USAGE REPORT

PCC

Date of printing	Date of print extract	Stock Sequence numbers from - to	TOTAL number of cards for despatch	Reprint Y/N	TOTAL number of cards to destroy	Wastage/spoils sequence numbers	Reason	Officer's name	Officer's signature
TOTAL CARDS DESTROYED