2004-2006 News Archive

12/07/2006 - Changes to Certified December 2006 Periodic Count

You must re-submit to make any changes to your Certified December 2006 Periodic Child Count submission prior to the close of count on December 15, 2006.

The Child Reduction/Correction screen is only utilized to note changes once the submission is closed. Please note - all certified submissions must be uncertified in order to access the Re-Submit button.

If you have any questions about this, please contact Kelley Steen at ksteen@dpi.state.nc.us or Ilona Ketting at iketting@dpi.state.nc.us

12/07/2006 - New Record Data Entry Bug Fixed

The reported bug preventing users from entering new records into CECAS has been fixed. Users are now able to enter new records.

12/06/2006 - Status of December 2006 Periodic Child Count

Numerous users have called with questions and concerns about the Periodic Count, and the CECAS Team would like to remind LEAs of a couple of things:

Submission schedule update

Users have from now until December 15 to submit and certify their child count.

About exited record errors during the December Child Count

CECAS performs an exit count at the same time it does an active count. In December and April, DPI uses only the active count data.

Any errors you receive in exited data can be resolved from inside the submission by using the following steps:

1. Resolve all active record errors in the student record and re-submit.

2. Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen.

3. Search for and select the exited record.

4. Select the radial button next to the record name.

5. Click the Delete button.

6. Click the YES button in the popup window.

After all steps are completed, wait for the system to process the records to Validation Completed and then Certify. Do not re-submit.

11/28/2006 - CECAS Help Desk Telephone Number

Users are reporting a problem with the toll free help desk number.

For immediate assistance the following direct non-toll free number is available to report issues with the CECAS system: (770)225-3316 or send an email to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/27/2006 - December 2006 Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the November 8, 2006 memo from Mary Watson, the following is the submission schedule for the December 2006 Child Count:
December 1 - Initial submission for Wake and Guilford
December 4 - Initial submission for CMS and Forsyth
December 5 - Initial submission for all other LEAs and Charter Schools
December 15 - Deadline for Certification Status

11/21/2006 - Revised CECAS Training Assignments

The EC Delivery Team, formally known as the CECAS Team, would like to welcome Heather Jones back from maternity leave. With her return, the training assignments have been revised effective Monday, November 27, 2006. Please see the new assignment below:

Region RCT Email Phone
Western/Northwest Regions Khalilah O'Farrow kofarrow_cecas@yahoo.com 704-596-0842
Southeast/Southwest Regions Heather Jones TrainerHeatherJones@gmail.com 910-395-6313
Northeast/Central Regions Valencia Davis vwdavis@gmail.com 252-535-3718

11/15/2006 - Deadline for Data Requests

The deadline to submit Data Requests to affect the December 2006 Periodic Count is close of business (5 PM) on Monday 11/27. If you have any questions please email Pat Smith at pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us

11/13/2006 - DPI Technology Satisfaction Survey

DPI Technology Services is committed to providing the highest quality customer service and satisfaction in meeting your technology needs. This requires developing and engaging you in our process more proficiently so we can be more effective. To fulfill this commitment, our goal is to continually and to more regularly measure, identify, and assess satisfaction, needs, and problem areas.

In an effort to achieve this, we need your help. Please click on the following link and complete the following survey by close of business day, November 22, 2006. The survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete. All of your responses will be completely confidential.http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB225TPEU22BE

11/20/2006 - The replication server has been restarted. Please run any reports that were pulled from CECAS today again to ensure accurate information.

11/20/2006 - Reports Error

Currently the CECAS application is not producing accurate reports due to a server malfunction. This has been reported to ECS and should be fixed this morning. We apologize for any inconvenience.

11/15/2006 - Update CECAS Training Environment Down For Hardware Replacement

The hardware replacement has been completed and the CECAS Training Site is back on line.

11/15/2006 - CECAS Training Environment Down For Hardware Replacement

The CECAS training environment has been taken down from 12:00 to 1:00 for hardware replacement.

11/13/2006 - CECAS Help Desk Number Issue

The training site is now available.

Users are reporting a problem with the toll free help desk number.

For immediate assistance the following direct non-toll free number is available to report issues with the CECAS system: (770)225-3316 or send an email to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

We apologize for any inconveniences that these issues may be causing you, and are working to ensure that the problems will be cleared up as soon as possible.

11/09/2006 - CECAS Training Site Offline/Help Desk Number Issues

The issue with logging in to the CECAS System Production Site should be resolved for users.

The training site is currently offline due to a hardware issue.

Also, users are reporting a problem with the toll free help desk number.

For immediate assistance the following direct non-toll free number is available to report issues with the CECAS system: (770)225-3316 or send an email to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

We apologize for any inconveniences that these issues may be causing you, and are working to ensure that the problems will be cleared up as soon as possible.

11/08/2006 - CECAS Production Site/CECAS Training Site Offline/Help Desk Number Issues

Some users have reported an issue with logging in to the CECAS System Production Site. When a user tries to log into the application by entering their user id and password, they cannot get into the application. The system refreshes leaving the user on the CECAS Login screen. Not all users are experiencing this issue.

The training site is currently offline due to a hardware issue.

Also, users are reporting a problem with the toll free help desk number.

For immediate assistance the following direct non-toll free number is available to report issues with the CECAS system: (770)225-3316 or send an email to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

We apologize for any inconveniences that these issues may be causing you, and are working to ensure that the problems will be cleared up as soon as possible.

10/31/2006 - The CECAS training staff has undergone and is still continuing to experience a series of changes. As of October 16, 2006, Ilona Ketting has moved on to join the CECAS help desk staff. Previously, Ilona was the assigned regional trainer for the Western region and part of the Northwest region. She was truly an asset to the training staff and will continue her dedication to the help desk. Heather Jones, regional trainer for the Southeast region and part of the Central region, will be on maternity leave as of October 18, 2006. After her bundle of joy is delivered, Heather plans to resume her work as a regional trainer on November 18, 2006.
Due to the exciting events occurring for Ilona and Heather, regional training assignments have altered. Please see the training assignments below that will remain intact until further notice. As of October 16, 2006, these assigned trainers will be responsible for any training provided in these areas as well as answering questions or concerns of CECAS users in these assigned regions.

Region RCT Email Phone
Northeast Valencia Davis vwdavis@gmail.com 252-535-3718
Southeast Valencia Davis vwdavis@gmail.com 252-535-3718
Central Valencia Davis vwdavis@gmail.com 252-535-3718
Northwest Khalilah O'Farrow kofarrow_cecas@yahoo.com 704-596-0842
Southwest Khalilah O'Farrow kofarrow_cecas@yahoo.com 704-596-0842
Western Khalilah O'Farrow kofarrow_cecas@yahoo.com 704-596-0842

If you have any questions about the CECAS training assignments, please feel free to contact Pat Smith at pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us. Thank you.

10/16/2006 - The telephone number for the CECAS Help Desk is experiencing a temporary malfunction. Please communicate with the Help Desk through email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/16/2006 - The telephone number for the CECAS Help Desk is experiencing a temporary malfunction. Please communicate with the Help Desk through email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

09/21/2006 - Yesterday the CECAS Training site was experiencing some problems at the Login screen. However, the situation has been corrected and users can now log in the application.

09/19/2006 - Status of September 2006 Periodic Child Count

Numerous users have called with questions and concerns about the Periodic Count, and the CECAS Team would like to remind LEAs of a couple of things:

Reports to use for September Child Count
The correct report to use in determining which students will be submitted for your exit count is the "PC Export Student List Report" (with Exit selected as one of the report criteria). The "Exited Students List" report shows only students who have exit dates within the count period, and does not include other validations we include in the count. The "Exited Students List" is not the appropriate report for looking at submission numbers.

About active counts during the September Child Count
While CECAS does an active count at the same time it does an exit count, DPI is not using the active count data. Any errors you receive in the active data can be resolved simply by deleting those students from your count after you have submitted. To do this, click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen, search for and select the child, and click the Delete button.

Exited students counted in the September Child Count
CECAS does not count students as exited during the count period unless they were active at some time during that period. This means for example that if a student's programs/services ended before July 1 2005, but they were not exited until after July 1 2005, CECAS assumes that these students really represent exits for the prior count period and should not be counted in the current count.

09/20/2006 - We are aware of the Training site experiencing some problems today and are working toward having this resolved as soon as possible.

09/14/2006 - Due to data validation issues that were reported in CECAS, the submission schedule for CECAS Daily users to submit the "Exiting" data has changed. The new schedule is as indicated below:

Submission Schedule
LEA Submission Date
Wake County 09/11/2006
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 09/12/2006
Guilford County 09/13/2006
Forsyth County 09/13/2006
All Other LEAs 09/18/2006 through 09/25/2006

Please see this memo for further details.

09/14/2006 - CECAS Training Site Fixed

The problems that users were experiencing on Wednesday, September 13 with the CECAS training site are no longer happening. They have been corrected and users can go back to utilizing the training site as they normally would. Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

09/13/2006

This is a reminder that the Personnel Data Collection is underway, and due on September 25, 2006. The Personnel Data Collection can be accessed at http://ncdpiecd.inquisiteasp.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=JSQ664

09/13/2006 - CECAS Training Site Experiencing Problems

The CECAS training site is experiencing two major issues. The first issue is when a user tries to log into the application by entering their user id and password, they cannot get into the application. The system refreshes leaving the user on the CECAS Login screen. The second issue is when users try to view a pdf form, they receive an error message. The web version of the forms is not experiencing this problem. It is working as it should.
Please know that the vendor is working diligently to resolve the issues. These issues are considered critical to be corrected with top priority. Unless there are major complications, these issues should be fixed by the close of business today.
We apologize for any inconveniences that these issues may be causing you, and are working to ensure that the problems will be cleared up as soon as possible.

08/14/2006 - Introducing the New CECAS Web-based DEC 4

The Exceptional Children Division is proud to introduce the new Web-based DEC4. This new version of the DEC4 will eliminate the long wait time to download the pdf form. All data entry and form editing will be completed through standard Web pages like the rest of the CECAS Data Manager. Additionally with super-quick editing, anytime print preview, simple status management and the same strong compliance checks, users can spend less time documenting and more time serving students.

More key features of the Web-based DEC4 include:

The new Web-based DEC4 is scheduled to rollout to the production and training sites on Monday, August 14, 2006 at 5pm. The CECAS application will be unavailable for usage at that time while the application is being updated. Users will be able to access the CECAS application and the new Web-based DEC4 after 7pm following the system update.

Three documents have been placed on the CECAS communication site located under the Training tab to assist users with understanding the functionality of the new Web-based DEC4. Click the links below to view the documents.

Web-based DEC4 Quick Start Guide (offers users quick instruction for utilizing the Web-based DEC4), please click here.
Web-based DEC4 Tips Sheet (offers tips for using the Web-based DEC4), please click here.
Web-based and PDF DEC4 Side-by-Side (compares the two versions of the DEC4 form), please click here.

The CECAS Team hopes that users will take advantage of the Web-based DEC4 and the associated documents listed above as soon as possible. Formal training on how to use the Web-based DEC4 will be offered in the very near future as part of the Refresher - EC Forms training sessions.

08/10/2006 - Web-based Trainings (WBTs) are Here!

The CECAS training staff has completed the first web-based training (WBT) tutorial - Preparing and Conducting a Periodic Child Count Submission. This series of 4 WBTs offer instruction and demonstrations on how to prepare CECAS users for a periodic child count submission. Some of the instruction include, but is not limited to:

These WBTs are extremely useful when there is no time to travel to a refresher training session, and CECAS users can review the necessary processes for a successful submission at their own desks AND at their own convenience. Users can view the WBTs online with FLASH or can save an .EXE file offline. .EXE files will only work with Windows PCs.

Users should understand that these WBTs equate to overviews of CECAS topics or self-refresher training sessions. The intended audience is any user who has previously received a full-day training session on that particular phase of CECAS training, or any individual interested in seeing the basics that CECAS has to offer.

The Preparing for the Periodic Child Count WBTs are posted to the Training Downloads section of the communication website. Click here to review them. They are located under the Training tab, in the Training Downloads, in the PCC - Refresher section.

More WBTs are being created for other phases of CECAS training. Please make sure to take advantage of them.

08/02/2006 - Behavioral Support Services / PRC 29 Frequently Asked Questions

Please review the updated Behavioral Support Services / PRC 29 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) listed on this site. Click here to review the FAQs and their answers. The physical location of the document is under the Training Tab, in the Training Downloads, BSS/PRC 29 - Regular section.

07/07/2006 - CECAS Training Schedule Adjustments

As most of you know, the CECAS training staff has taken a drastic change over the course of the past 2 months. Clara Dunn retired in May and Jennifer Diliberto has moved on to a different endeavor in June. This leaves the official number of trainers at three: Heather Jones, Khalilah O'Farrow and Ilona Ketting.

Due to the constant increase in necessary training activities and the current limited number of trainers, some of the immediate training projects are being adjusted. As most CECAS users are out for the summer, the CECAS Team has decided to limited some of the currently scheduled training sessions. Therefore, some of the scheduled training sessions for which you may be registered may soon be canceled. Your assigned regional CECAS trainers will send you a cancellation email if you fall into this category.

The training staff is focusing more on projects such as the web-based training (WBT) development. These WBTs will equate to overviews of CECAS trainings and/or self-refresher training sessions on CECAS functionality. This project has the potential of eliminating a great deal of travel costs and time. Look forward to seeing more information in the near future about the WBTs and other projects.

We appreciate your cooperation with our modified training activities. Should you have any questions or concerns about these training adjustments, feel free to call Bill Winchester, the CECAS Delivery Manager, at 919-807-3215.

07/06/2006 - End-of-Year Report

As a reminder, please be sure that all student records are up-to-date in preparation for the End-of-Year Periodic Count Submission in September 2006. For more information on the End-of-Year Reporting to NCDPI, please click this End-of-Year Report memo link. This memo is also found on the Downloads page of this website.

07/06/2006 - Web-based Trainings (WBTs) Coming Soon!

The CECAS training staff is in the process of finalizing a web-based training (WBT) tutorial for Preparing for the Periodic Child Count. This WBT equates to an overview of CECAS topics or a self-refresher training session on getting prepared for a child count.

The intended audience of the WBT is any CECAS user who has previously received the initial Preparing for the Periodic Child Count training session, or any individual interested in seeing the basics that CECAS has to offer.

Once the WBT is completed, it will be posted to the Training Downloads section of the communication website. Look for it this month. Additionally, more WBTs are being created for other phases of CECAS training. Please make sure to take advantage of them.

05/18/2006 - Slow Forms Generation Issue

CECAS is experiencing a form generation slow down during the peak usage period between the work week hours of 10 AM to 4 PM.

We are aware of this slow response issue reported by many of you and we are working on a solution. In the interim when possible, please generate forms before 10 AM or after 4 PM to work offline during the peak usage period. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience because we do know how very busy everyone is during this time of the school year. Stand assured a permanent solution on the way.

04/05/2006 - The CECAS site will be down from 12noon until 1pm on Wednesday, April 5, 2006.

This will fix an error that some LEAs are encountering with their April submission where errors appear for some exited students (errors indicating that their service dates are before or after the count date). After the systems comes back online, the result will be that most LEAs will be able to continue processing as they had been, and the affected LEAs will be sent back through the count process so that the error is eliminated.

03/29/2006 - Deadline for Data Requests

The deadline to submit Data Requests to affect the April 2006 Periodic Count is close of business (5 PM) on Friday 3/31. If you have any questions please email Pat Smith at: pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us

03/27/2006 - The CECAS vendor, ECS, will perform some maintenance tasks on the production site (www.nccecas.org/cecas). This site will be unavailable for usage from Tuesday evening, March 28 at 5pm until Wednesday morning, March 29 at 7am.

03/23/2006 - DTool Training Canceled

DTool training has been canceled through the month of April because of issues experienced with the tool during recent training sessions. For More information or any questions that you may have please email Patricia Smith at: pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us

03/17/2006 - We are experiencing DTool issues today which began around 11:00 AM. Our technology staff are working to correct the problem. If you have any questions please email Pat Smith at: pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us

03/17/2006 - Additional information for the April Count is available. Please see the schedule memo here (students with disabilities) and the AIG memo here.

03/17/2006 - We have worked to address DTool problems, and believe them to be solved. Please continue to notify the help desk of any issues you encounter.

03/13/2006 - We are currently experiencing intermittent problems with DTool, starting just before lunchtime today. Please report any issues you are having to the help desk. We are working on the problem and will post an update as soon as there is a resolution.

03/09/2006 - Improved instructions for importing CECAS data into SIMS are available from the 2006 NCWISE Symposium site. The link is available in the SIMS section of the Downloads page.

03/03/2006 - We were experiencing connection issues with the DTool this morning. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience! The issues have been resolved.

02/28/2006 - CECAS Training Site Offline for Data Removal February 28th-March 6th

The CECAS training site will be scrubbed of all training site student data beginning February 28, 2006 at 5pm through March 3. This process requires that the training site be unavailable to CECAS users. Users will be able to resume usage of the training site on March 6. Once the training site is back online and available on March 6, all student data entered for training purposes prior to February 28 will have been deleted. Any training site activities, such as training, scheduled during the training site cleanup period will need to be rescheduled. If you have any questions concerning training or the training site please contact Pat Smith at: pjsmith@dpi.state.nc.us

02/28/2006 - Behavior Support Services module PRC 29 Data Collection

02/24/2006 - DPI is experiencing a problem with the email address for CECAS Support. Until that is resolved, please use the following address for your CECAS support requests: groupcecas@zavata.com

01/06/2006 - There has been a new release for CECAS, including a case manager report, an enhanced DEC4 that includes a new way of documenting student test participation, and improved Mac/Adobe forms support. You can find more information in the Release Notes here.

11/14/2005 - The CECAS training site will be down for maintenance the week of Nov 28 to Dec 2. During this time, the training site will be completely unavailable - Please do not schedule any training during this time.

09/13/2005 - The CECAS September 2005 Periodic Count has started for the largest 3rd party LEAs. The rest of the state may conduct their initial submission beginning 9/17. Initial submissions must be conducted before COB 9/22. The detailed schedule is provided in the June/July newsletter on the Downloads page, in the "Newsletters" section.

08/29/2005 - The CECAS site has an updated organization and look. Among the changes, the downloads page has been reorganized and moved to its own "tab", and the Training section has been moved to its own "tab" to make it easier for trainers and CECAS Contacts to get to the information they need in developing and conducting their local training programs. Also, the latest versions of the training manuals have been posted to the Downloads page under the "Training Modules" section.

08/29/2005 - The June/July newsletter sent out to the EC Directors in late July has been posted. This newsletter gives valuable information and instructions on how Exiting, Personnel, and Discipline information will be gathered by EC Division this year. Please see the "Newsletters" section of the downloads page.

06/20/2005 - The email address for CECAS Support has changed. The new email is cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. Also, additional information about Support hours is provided on the User Support page. Please update your email address books accordingly.

05/31/2005 - This year's End of Year reporting process has been established. This process will involve a Periodic Count with CECAS for the Exiting data, submission of Personnel data from the LEAs via spreadsheet, and collection of Discipline data from within DPI (no impact to the LEAs). Adjustments to the EOY data collection should greatly reduce reporting burdens compared to previous years. Information is available on the End Of Year page of the EC Division website.

04/11/2005 - Several new downloads are available on the Downloads page. The April Special Education Child Count verification form (for those LEAs whose EC Director does not actually do the CECAS submission) is available in the "Memorandums and Official Communications" section, and the EC Director's Institute conference presentation can be found in the "Presentations and Briefs" section.

03/21/2005 - The Medicaid Survey form is now available on the Downloads page, under the General section. This survey was given out at the EC Director's Institute in Greensboro last week. Please return this survey no later than March 25 to the contact provided in the survey instructions.

02/08/2005 - The CECAS Video "Giving Teachers More Time to Teach" is now available for viewing over the internet! You can select a version appropriate for the speed of your internet connection here.

01/28/2005 - The December 2004 Child Count Results have been posted in an excel spreadsheet to the Downloads page. The document is called "December 2004 Periodic Count Totals by LEA".

11/19/2004 - For LEAs that want to migrate data (one-time) from NCWISE to CECAS after their SIMS-NCWISE conversion, a set of instructions has been provided on the Downloads page. The document is called "NC WISE Data Extract to Populate CECAS" and is in the "Memorandums and Official Communications" section.

11/15/2004 - Two new sections have been added to the Frequently Asked Questions page: "CECAS How-To" and "Q and A from 54th Conference on Exceptional Children". The "How-To" section addresses common questions about tracking visiting students, tracking preschool students, exiting students, and documenting block schedules. The new section on Q and A from the 54th Conference addresses the more common questions from the recent 54th Conference in Greensboro.

11/05/2004 - CECAS Update Memo is available on the Downloads page. Also, the CECAS Presentation from the 54th Conference on Exceptional Children is available in the "Presentations" section of the Downloads page.

10/25/2004 - This week is the practice Periodic Count, in which EC Directors at the LEAs, SOPs, and Charter Schools can practice the Periodic Count Submission and error resolution process with their live data. The latest CECAS Update memo (10/22/2004) with additional information is on the Downloads page.

10/11/2004 - At the recent NCCASE conference, EC Directors asked what schedule should be used for updating SIMS with information from CECAS. While not recommending or dictating any specific schedule, the CECAS Team has provided a link on the Downloads page that provides the State Reporting schedule. Some of these reports use EC information, and this schedule may be helpful in determining when to export data from CECAS and import it into SIMS.

10/08/2004 - CECAS Update Memo is available on the Downloads page.

10/07/2004 - CECAS sites (production and training) will be unavailable this evening 5:30pm - 6:30pm for system update.

9/28/2004 - An important Budget Amendment update is available! Please see the Budget Amendment page.

9/28/2004 - A recent memo (9/13) that was sent to Operational and WAVE 1 NCWISE LEAs and Charter Schools has been posted to "Memorandums and Official Communications" section of the Downloads page. This memo provides guidance on the decisions to be made regarding the December 1 2004 Periodic Count.

9/28/2004 - A CECAS Role Descriptions document has been posted to the Downloads page to provide a reference guide for the standard user roles (and the associated permissions) within CECAS. This document is in the "General" section.

9/27/2004 - CECAS has been updated to overcome two issues affecting schools in their SIMS migration efforts. Read more about it in the CECAS Data Migration Issues Memo found on the Downloads page.

9/17/2004 - A CECAS update will be available 9/24/2004 to overcome a problem some schools are having with their SIMS data migration. A memo was e-mailed to EC Directors on Friday, September 17 regarding this issue, and can be found in the General section of the downloads page.

9/13/2004 - Slightly over 1 year from contract execution, CECAS is live and ready for use for the state of North Carolina! Please review this site in detail, as it has been enhanced to provide additional information related to CECAS rollout. Updated content includes the Project Status section and the Training schedule. New content includes User support information as well as recent DPI communications regarding integration with NCWISE and SIMS.

8/31/2004 - SIMS data migration instructions are available for download. See the SIMS Migration to CECAS Quickstart. Additional integration information can be found in the SIMS Date Exchange Guide, and the user guide for the CECAS Import/Export facility is in the "Training and Documentation" section of the Downloads page.

8/17/2004 - Additional resources (Facilitator's Guide-Preparing for Periodic Count and Training Plan Guide) for CECAS Trainers are now available. Please see the Downloads page in the "Training and Documentation" section.

8/13/2004 - The CECAS Getting Started Guide for Superintendents, EC Directors and IT Directors is available on the Downloads page in the "General" section.

8/04/2004 - Updated CECAS System Requirements document available - Macintosh support improved. See the Downloads page.