2004 - 2008 News Archive

12/17/2008 - Periodic Child Count End Date Extended

Due to problems with the CECAS system during the child count process, we have decided to extend the count period end date. All certifications are to be completed by close of business December 19, 2008. You may re-submit as often as you need during this time period.

If your LEA has not certified the child count please use the following instructions:

1. Exited Record Errors
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:

Resolve all active record errors in the student record and re-submit.
Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen.
Search for and select the exited record.
Select the radio button next to the record name.
Click the Delete button.
Click the YES button in the pop-up window.
After all steps are completed, wait for the system to process the records to Validation Completed and then Certify. Do not re-submit.

2. Child Count Must be Uncertified To Make Corrections.
Some LEAs have corrected records on the DEC 2008 Child Count using the Child Count Reduction Correction Screen. If this screen is used to make corrections before the count is closed, LEAs could be penalized for submitting incorrect information.
All error corrections should be made in the Validation Completed status under Move to Active, Exit or Delete Student until the count is closed to avoid any penalties for your LEA.

3. To Certify the Count:
The EC Director must sign into CECAS.
Open Data Exchange folder, Open the Periodic Count folder, Click on Periodic Count Submissions.
On the Periodic Count Submissions page, drop down the Count Period field. Select December 2008 Periodic Child Count. Do not select a file type.
Click Search.
The Certify button will appear next to the Search button.
Click Certify.
Print this page for your records.

* If the EC Director is not the User who submitted the child count, please go to the Downloads Page of http://www.nccecas.org/ and print the December 1, 2008 Verification Form . Complete and mail it to the address specified on the form. If you have any questions, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/16/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

12/16/2008 - Production Data not Showing on Reports

Currently, the CECAS production application is not replicating data entered on the Data Manager screens over to the Reports server resulting in inaccurate reports. Data entered today is not reflected on reports.
This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

12/16/2008 - Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/16/2008 - Production Site Down

Some users are currently unable to log into and access CECAS. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/15/2008 - Dtool and Forms Up and Running

The issues reported earlier with DTool and EC Forms have been corrected. You may need to clear your cache in order see the correction. Please use the following steps to clear your internet cache.
From your browser window:
Click on Tools
Internet Options
On the first tab labeled General click on Delete Cookies
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears click Delete Files
Check the box for offline content
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears
Close the box and the browser window
You may then open a new browser and log back into CECAS. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/15/2008 - New Trainer to Join the EC Delivery Team

Hello Everyone:

It gives me great pleasure to announce that a new regional trainer has been selected for the vacancy on our team. Jennifer Sims has accepted the offer for the position of Regional Trainer assigned to regions 4 and 5. Her services in this position will begin on January 5, 2009.

Jennifer has worked in Education for 20 years, 12 of which were in Special Education. Currently she works for Halifax County as the Transition Coordinator for Exceptional Children, Data Manager and CECAS Contact. In addition to training on the CECAS application, Jennifer trains on the development of IEPs and trained on SIMS. It has been a long time coming, but we believe that the experience and expertise she brings to the team is certainly worth the wait. We look forward to having her on board.

12/15/2008 - Closed/Verified DEC4 EC Forms Not Opening

Currently users are reporting problems opening Closed/Verified DEC4 EC forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/11/2008 - Map of New Regions - In correspondence with the EC Delivery Team regional training staff assignments we have posted the 8 region map on the Miscellaneous section of Training Documents page under Training tab.

12/10/2008 - Dtool Unavailable

Dtool is unavailable due to an issue that must be corrected by the Dtool Vendor. We expect this issue to be corrected early next week. If you have any questions about this or any other issue please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your trainer, please contact the help desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. or call 919-807-4357 and press option 2.

12/9/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

12/9/2008 - Production Data not Showing on Reports

Currently, the CECAS production application is not replicating data entered on the Data Manager screens over to the Reports server resulting in inaccurate reports. Data entered today is not reflected on reports.
Please do not close verify any forms while this issue is being fixed as it may result in an error on the PDF.
This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

12/9/2008 - On December 1, 2008 the EC Delivery Team regional training staff assignments adopted the 8 region breakdown. As a 4th trainer is not in place as of yet, a temporary assignment is listed below:

Region 1 - Ilona Ketting
Region 2 - Khalilah O'Farrow-Boulware
Region 3 - Ilona Ketting
Region 4 - Khalilah O'Farrow-Boulware
Region 5 - Lisa Miller
Region 6 - Lisa Miller
Region 7 - Khalilah O'Farrow-Boulware
Region 8 - Lisa Miller

12/9/2008 - Part C to B delay reasons:

CECAS has revised the Part C to B delay reasons to correspond to the sections of the Indicator 12 spreadsheet. These are the reasons that were discussed at the CECAS contacts workshop in November. If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer and if they are not available, you may contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/5/2008 - Reminders about Child Count Corrections:

All LEAs are to have completed an initial submission by close of business on Wednesday, December 10, 2008. All certifications are to be completed by close of business December 17, 2008. You may re-submit as often as you need during this time period.

* If the EC Director is not the User who submitted the child count, please go to the Downloads Page of http://www.nccecas.org/ and print the December 1, 2008 Verification Form. Complete and mail it to the address specified on the form. If you have any questions, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/4/2008 - Count Problems Resolved

The problems with count submission being rejected has been corrected. LEAs should continue to work on their Periodic Child Count until they are in Certified status. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/3/2008 - Problems With Child Count Submission

Users are reporting problems with Periodic Count Submissions being rejected because of an incorrect the Active Student Count. We have reported this issue to our vendor and are working to correct it. LEAs may submit the child count with Actual Student Count and then resubmit when the issue is corrected.

12/3/2008 - CECAS DEC4 Hands-on Training Opportunity

Due to the overwhelming response to the full day hands-on training on the new DEC4 in CECAS, two additional training sessions will be offered on Monday, December 8 and Monday, December 15, 2008. Training begins a 9 am and ends at 4 pm.
You must register by Friday, December 5 to attend. To register, please contact Ilona Ketting at iketting@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/2/2008 - December 1, 2008 Child Count Verification Form

The 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" of the Downloads Tab on the CECAS Information Site. Click Here. (http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/Dec 1, 2008 Child Count with disabilities Verification Form.doc) Please note that EC Directors will now be mailing this form to the EC Delivery Team. If you have any questions please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/25/2008 - Data Request for December 1 Child Count

Data requests for the December 1 Child Count will not be completed. If you have a pending data request do the following as a work around:
Create a duplicate record - Use only the most current information and required fields (demographics, Special ED, and Plan).
Enter the word "Duplicate" into the Local Id Field on the Demographics screen.
This will be the record which is included in the December 1 Child Count. When data requests resume, the original record that is the subject of a pending data request will be corrected according to the request. When you are notified that the original record has been corrected, you may Exit the duplicate record using Exit Reason "Moved" and the Exit Date of 12/15/2008.

We deeply regret this inconvenience. We understand you may not be able to submit your Child Count on the scheduled date and we will be flexible with the submission deadline for LEAs and Charter Schools affected by pending data requests. The Certification deadline will remain December 18, 2008.

10/29/2008 - Closed/Verified DEC4 EC Forms Not Opening

11/24/2008 - Production Site Available

11/24/2008 - Training Update

Due to the overwhelming response to the full day hands-on training on the new DEC4 in CECAS, two additional training sessions will be offered on Monday, December 8 and Monday, December 15. Training begins a 9 am and ends at 4 pm. You must register to attend. If you are interested in attending a session, please contact Ilona Ketting at iketting@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/24/2008 - Production Site Down

11/21/2008 - New DEC4 error-handling behavior

Due to problems encountered recently in previewing some closed/verified DEC4s, the CECAS vendor has changed the way errors are handled when close/verifying DEC4s. If a problem is encountered when close/verifying a DEC4 you will receive the message: "Processing Error Occurred - Please contact CECAS Support". If this message is encountered, the DEC4 will remain in Meeting status. Please notify the helpdesk and the vendor will be contacted to correct the problem. After the problem has been corrected, you will be able to close/verify the DEC4.

In addition, any closed/verified DEC4s that were previously "lost" due to these problems should now be available for viewing.

11/21/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

11/20/2008 - CECAS Production Site

Some users are currently unable to log into and access CECAS. We are also experiencing problems with server errors and viewing EC forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/20/2008 - Production Site Available

11/20/2008 - Production Site Down

11/20/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

11/20/2008 - Production Data not Showing on Reports

Currently, the CECAS production application is not replicating data entered on the Data Manager screens over to the Reports server resulting in inaccurate reports. Data entered today is not reflected on reports.
Please do not close verify any forms while this issue is being fixed as it may result in an error on the PDF.
This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

11/19/2008 - DPI Customer Satisfaction Survey

Technology Services is conducting our 6 month survey for your feedback so we can serve you better. If you use one or more of the products or services from the Technology Services Area, please complete the appropriate online survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228GKR5UJ2G. The information you provide will be useful in helping Technology Services provide/improve services and programs to meet your needs and the needs of North Carolina Educators who use our resources and services. All responses will remain confidential. Providing your name and contact information is optional. Please complete the online survey that apply to you no later than December 5, 2008. The survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete.
We need your help to serve you better!

11/14/2008 - Clarification: Checking to see if you have DTool Permissions

For those of you who will attend the CECAS Contacts' Workshop 2008 during the 58th Conference on EC, you will need to have DTool permissions in order to participate in the DTool portion of the training. Otherwise, you'll have to watch the presenter's demonstration. Several of you are unsure of whether or not you have these permissions. To check to see if you have DTool permissions, follow these steps in CECAS:

1. Open the Reports folder.
2. Click the DTool link.
3. Make sure that you are able to see the DTool Web Client Window open with OSEP cubes in view.
4. If you are unable to open DTool or if you get an error message, please send your user id to CECAS Support.

If you find that you do not have DTool permissions, you cannot give yourself DTool permissions. Another CECAS user with the appropriate role/permissions will have to give you these permissions. Again, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. Thanks.

11/10/2008 - December 2008 Periodic Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the Schedule for December Periodic Child Count memo from Mary Watson dated October 28, 2008, the December 2008 child count for children with disabilities will be transmitted through CECAS based on the submission dates as listed in the table below.

Follow this link to view the memo. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake	12/1/2008
Guilford	12/1/2008
Charlotte Mecklenburg	12/2/2008
Forsyth Union	12/2/2008 12/2/2008
Initial Submission for all other LEAs and Charter Schools	12/3/2008 through 12/10/2008
Deadline for Certification Status	12/17/2008

11/4/2008 - Reminder about Private Student Data Transmitted Via Email

Please remember that it is against state law to transmit personal identifying information and other confidential information, such as social security numbers, through email to external email addresses. This is in violation of State Government Statute 132-10.1 (b)(5). This statue states that an agency of the State or its political subdivisions or any agent or employee of a government agency shall not intentionally communicate or otherwise make available to the general public an individual's social security number or other identifying information.

Please be mindful of this violation when emailing questions / comments about a student record from the CECAS application. This includes sending screen shots in your attachments. Only refer to the student record by indicating the UID# assigned to the student record. The EC Delivery Team appreciates your immediate attention to this very important matter.

11/3/2008 - Closed/Verified DEC4 EC Forms Not Opening

10/31/2008 - Production Site EC Forms issue has been fixed

Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue reported earlier today has been fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/31/2008 - Closed/Verified DEC4 EC Forms Not Opening (Newest Version)

Currently users are reporting problems opening Closed/Verified DEC4 EC forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/31/2008 - Production Site Up

10/31/2008 - Production Site Down

Currently users are reporting problems opening Closed/Verified DEC4 EC Forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/24/2008 - Regional Training Assignments (based on 8 regions)

Beginning December 1, 2008, the EC Delivery Team regional training staff assignments will adopt the 8 region breakdown. Please see the following assignments:

Regions 1 and 3 - Ilona Ketting

Regions 2 and 7 - Khalilah O'Farrow

Regions 4 and 5 To Be Determined

Regions 6 and 8 - Lisa Miller

Please continue to contact and communicate with your current regional trainer until this change occurs. The EC Delivery Team plans to have a regional trainer in place for Regions 4 and 5 prior December 1, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact your current regional trainer.

10/24/08 - Data Encryption

Data encryption is a secure process for keeping sensitive and confidential information private. For more information about data encryption, please click here. Please contact Justin Edwards at (336) 751-2491 (ext. 4114) or edwardsj@davie.k12.nc.us with any questions that you might have.

10/20/2008 - CECAS Support email is working again

The problems with the CECAS Suporrt email address have been corrected. Users may contact support via phone at 919-807-4357 option 2 or via email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/17/2008 - DPI Email Box is down for maintenance

On Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 3:00 pm the e-mail system will be taken offline and will remain offline until Sunday night at 6:00 pm. This service disruption will include all ability to recieve or send email at all during this time. For all CECAS issues, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2.

10/16/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

10/16/2008 - Production Data not Showing on Reports

Currently, the CECAS production application is not replicating data entered on the Data Manager screens over to the Reports server resulting in inaccurate reports. Data entered today is not reflected on reports. This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS.

10/16/2008 - Support Email Box is not working

Currently, users are reporting problems with emailing the CECAS Support desk (cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.). We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. For all other CECAS issues, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2.

10/9/2008 - New CECAS Exit Codes

CECAS has added two new exit codes to assist you in documenting special exiting situations. The code "Consent Revoked" is for the purpose of exiting a student who is still eligible for special education but is being removed because the parent or adult student revoked consent for placement. The code "Comparable Services" is for the purpose of exiting and reentering a student who was placed in active status for the child count using a work around. Additional information about these two situations can be found in the Group II FAQs (#4 and #15) on the CECAS Information website at http://www.nccecas.org/faqs/faq.html

If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/6/2008 - CECAS Training Servers Offline Tonight at 7:00 PM

The CECAS training servers will be taken offline for approximately 30 minutes this evening beginning at 7 PM to perform required maintenance. Users will not be able to log in to Training while the servers are offline. Additionally, if a user is already logged into the application, data entry will not be saved. If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/6/2008 - Training and Production Offline for Release

The CECAS Training site will be offline beginning Thursday, 10/9/2008 for the release of the new DEC4 and will come back up Monday morning, 10/13/2008.

The CECAS Production site will be offline beginning Friday, 10/10/2008, from 5:00 PM until Monday morning, 10/13/2008, for the release of the new DEC4. LEA Leadership Teams have already received some training on the form. Contact your LEA CECAS Data Manager for instructions on how to use the new form.

We apologize for the shortened notice on the release of the new DEC4 however due to extended delays on the form we feel that it is important to go ahead with the release. Please make sure your LEA is prepared for the following:

All DEC4s that are in Draft, Meeting or Paused status at the time of the release will be deleted. The deletion of the open forms will not affect Closed/Verified forms attached to the DEC4 however, non-closed/verified related forms to the DEC4 will be deleted.

If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/2/2008 - Data Requests

At this time, all data requests for changes to data in CECAS have been suspended. The EC Delivery Team is working diligently to resolve this issue. We will inform you when data request processing resumes. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

10/1/2008 - Upcoming DEC 4 Release

The new DEC4 IEP form is projected to be released to the CECAS production site in October 2008. We will inform you of the exact schedule for the release by the end of next week, but please consider this communication to be your 10 business days notice of the deletion of all DEC4s that are in Draft, Meeting or Paused status at the time of the release. The deletion of the open forms will not affect Closed/Verified forms attached to the DEC4. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

09/30/08 - Online Registration for the Upcoming CECAS Contacts' Workshop 2008

Online registration for the CECAS Contacts' Workshop 2008 is now available for CECAS Contacts across the state. Online registration is required for any CECAS Contact who plans to attend the 1-Day workshop. This workshop is designed only for CECAS Contacts, and only one person per LEA. Please register online at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/conference/2008/ by October 19th for the fee of $35.00. After that date, the late registration fee is $60.00.

CECAS Contacts from the Central, Northeast and Southeast regions are scheduled to attend the CECAS Contacts' Workshop 2008 on November 17th. CECAS Contacts from the Western, Northwest and Southwest regions are scheduled to attend on November 18th. Please ensure to register for your assigned date. We look forward to seeing you there!

9/29/2008 - Dtool and Forms Up and Running

The issues reported earlier with DTool and EC Forms have been corrected. Please use the following steps to clear your internet cache. From your browser window:
Click on Tools
Internet Options
On the first tab labeled General click on Delete Cookies
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears click Delete Files
Check the box for offline content
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears
Close the box and the browser window
You may then open a new browser and log back into CECAS. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/29/2008 - PDF EC Forms Not Opening

Currently users are reporting problems opening PDF EC Forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. If you have any questions regarding this or any other CECAS issue, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/26/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue has been fixed

Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue has been fixed. If you have other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/24/2008 - PDF EC Forms Not Opening

9/18/2008 - End of Year Child Count Submission

The September Exit count is well under way and most LEAs and Charter Schools have completed an initial submission. As a reminder, we are posting some answers to common questions about completing the Exit count. LEAs who have certified the Child Count do not need to complete the steps below.

Tech Manual Data Errors on students under 14 years of age:
Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen. Search for and select the exited record.
Select the radio button next to the record name.
Click the Delete button.
Click the YES button in the pop-up window. After all steps are completed, wait for the system to process the records to Validation Completed and then Certify. Do not re-submit.

To Certify the Count:
The EC Director must sign into CECAS.
Open Data Exchange folder, Open the Periodic Count folder, Click on Periodic Count Submissions.
On the Periodic Count Submissions page, drop down the Count period field. Select December 2007 Periodic Child Count. Do not select a file type.
Click Search.
The Certify button will appear next to the Search button.
Click Certify.
Print the next page for your records.

If you have any questions regarding this, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot reach your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/9/2008 - Production Site Slowness

Currently, users are reporting problems with slowness on the site. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/8/2008 - Training Server Move/New DEC4

The dates for the relocation of the CECAS training servers have been set for the period 9/20/2008 through 9/26/2008. This move will re-establish the current Disaster Recovery Site in a state-owned data center. During this move the training site will not be available. The production site will not be affected. Please plan CECAS training in your LEA accordingly to accommodate the training servers move.

The EC Delivery team is working diligently to release the new DEC4 form to the CECAS production site. Based upon the need for the vendor to correct defects discovered by the EC Delivery Team in their acceptance testing of the new release, the intended release date of September 12, 2008 is being delayed until further notice. As soon as a new date of release is determined, it will be published on the CECAS Communications site and distributed through the list serv.

At this time, existing DEC4s with a status of Draft, Meeting or Paused will not be deleted. LEAs will be given 10 business days advance notice before releasing any changes or deleting any current forms.

If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

9/5/2008 - End of Year Child Count Verification Form

The End of Year 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" of the Downloads Tab on the CECAS Information Site. Click Here. Please note that EC Directors will now be mailing this form to the EC Delivery Team. If you have any questions please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

8/27/2008 - Training Update

Due to the overwhelming requests for additional CECAS Full-Day training sessions, the EC Delivery Team is offering another training session on Preparing for the Periodic Child Count and Electronic EC Forms. An attempt to host the training sessions on back-to-back dates was made, however, the resources were not available. Please see the details below:

Preparing for the Periodic Child Count

September 10, 2008

9am - 3pm

NCDPI, 5th floor computer lab (Room 564), Raleigh, NC

Trainer: Khalilah O'Farrow, kofarrow@dpi.state.nc.us

Registration Deadline: September 5, 2008

Electronic EC Forms

September 15, 2008

9am - 3pm

NCDPI, 5th floor computer lab (Room 564), Raleigh, NC

Trainer: Ilona Ketting, iketting@dpi.state.nc.us

Registration Deadline: September 10, 2008

Registration with the assigned trainer is mandatory, and please be mindful of the registration deadline date for each session. These opportunities will go quickly, so don't hesitate to register as soon as possible.

8/25/2008 - Data Request Issues

DPI is receiving a large number of data requests from LEAs for changes that are not relevant to current student records. Because of changes to fields and forms within the CECAS system, users must clearly describe each change that is being requested in the data request form. Unclear data requests will be returned to the LEA without being completed.
Before sending a data request, LEAs should consider whether or not the change is necessary for the current reporting year. Please do not send requests for deletes or changes that are unnecessary for compliance and/or state and federal reporting purposes.
Reminders:

Do not add any student record to the CECAS database without using the State Wide Search feature to ensure that the record does not already exist. Preventing duplicate records in the system will allow LEAs to share data more efficiently for students that move in and out of LEAs while receiving Exceptional Children services.
To send a data request to delete a record from CECAS, please go to Data Exchange/Periodic Count/Periodic Count Submissions, click the Child Count Reduction Correction link to search for the record. Make sure that the record has not been counted in a previous child count. DPI does not allow records that have been used in federal or state child count submissions to be removed from the database.

The EC Delivery team is working closely with the vendor to provide a tool that allows data corrections to be made at the State and LEA level; however, it may be quite some time until this feature is available to use. Please ensure that users are checking over EC Forms, screens and dates very carefully before clicking save. If you have any questions, please contact your regional trainer if available, or the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

8/4/2008 - September 2008 Periodic Count - Submission Schedule

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson dated July 30, 2008, the September 2008 Periodic Count to capture End of Year Reporting data on students "Exiting" special education will be collected from the Comprehensive Exceptional Children Accountability System (CECAS). The "Exiting" data is based on the July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 fiscal year. The submission schedule is as follows:

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake County	09/11/2008
Charlotte-Mecklenburg	09/11/2008
Guilford County	09/12/2008
Forsyth County	09/12/2008
Initial Submission from all other LEAs and all Charter Schools	09/15/2008 through 09/19/2008
Deadline for Certification Status	9/26/2008

All submissions must be finalized by September 26, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/11/2008 - Modified Regional Training Assignments as of August 11,2008

The EC Delivery Team is saddened to announce the resignation of Heather Jones effective August 11, 2008. Heather has served as Regional Trainer for several of our regions and has truly been a great asset to the EC Delivery Team. As the team will miss her greatly, many well wishes go out to her.

Please see the regional trainer assignments indicated below:

Ilona Ketting - Northeast Region and Central Region

iketting@dpi.state.nc.us- 919-779-4138

Khalilah OFarrow - Southeast Region and Southwest Region

kofarrow@dpi.state.nc.us- 704-596-0842

Lisa Miller - Western Region and Northwest Region

lmiller@dpi.state.nc.us- 336-753-1328

The EC Delivery Team really appreciates your cooperation with these changes listed above. Should you have any questions, please contact Pat Smith, Training Coordinator, or any of the trainers at your convenience.

8/11/2008 - Upcoming PRC 29 End-of-Year SIF Data

As a reminder, the PRC 29 End-of-Year SIF data is due to be documented in CECAS on August 15, 2008. Some users have not received math and reading test scores that need to be documented in the SIF Form by August 15. A solution to this situation is to select the Not Tested option, make a comment in the Comments field indicating that you are waiting for the test results that will not be available until Fall 2008, and then save the SIF Form. Please ensure to go back and update the student records with the correct scores once your receive them, and save the SIF Form again.

8/1/2008 - Record Keeping for Indicator 11 and 12 Reporting 2008-2009 SY

Records found Not Eligible at any point in the referral process MUST remain in the status of No EC Services. Schools must not use Record Closure to close these records. Record Closure takes the record out of the End of Year Indicator 11 and 12 Reporting.

Leave all records found Not Eligible in the status of No EC Services. If LEAs and Charter Schools have mistakenly used Record Closure on records that were found Not Eligible after 7/1/2008, a data request must be submitted to CECAS Support for correction. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact your Regional Trainer. If you cannot each your Regional Trainer, contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/29/2008 - Save The Date

58th Conference on Exceptional Children

Creating Success
One Child at a Time

November 17 - 19, 2008
Koury Convention Center
Greensboro, NC

Registration will be online.

7/24/2008 - Production Site Available

7/24/2008 - Production Site Down

Users are currently unable to log into and access CECAS.We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/18/2008 - New Release to CECAS

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson dated July 16, 2008, ECS will release into CECAS the new DEC 4 IEP Form. Both the CECAS training site and the production site will be unavailable beginning at noon on Friday, September 12, until 7:30 a.m. on Monday, September 15, while the changes are being implemented. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/8/2008 - CECAS Production and Training Sites Offline at 5:30 pm Today

We have just been informed that at 7:00 PM this evening ITS will be executing an emergency change on its physical infrastructure at the Raleigh ITS Data Center. This change is critical and is being implemented to mitigate the potential risk of an unplanned total power outage to the Data Center. Implementing this change will require that all application servers as well as the mainframe be brought down. We are advising that CECAS production and training sites will shutdown by 5:30 PM today. We regret any inconvenience this last minute notice might cause, but it is unavoidable. We will notify here and via listserv when the sites are back up.

6/16/2008 - Conditions and Validations Document for Periodic Child Count Submissions

An updated Conditions and Validations Document has been posted on the Downloads page of the CECAS Communications website in the General Reference and Miscellaneous section. There are no recent changes to the document that are different from the April 2008 Periodic Child Count. It reflects the changes to IsAIG and the changes to the Exceptionality Codes made earlier in the year as well as the .XML file layout for 3rd Party Users. If you have any questions, please contact the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

06/16/2008 - Modified Regional Training Assignments as of June 16 and July 1

The EC Delivery Team training staff will undergo several changes in the very near future. As of June 16, 2008 Valencia Davis has accepted a position focusing primarily on EC Grants. Although Valencia will be greatly missed as a Regional Trainer, the EC Delivery Team is pleased to announce that Ilona Ketting has accepted the position. Ilona was formally a regional trainer at the initiation of the CECAS project and has successfully been a member of Help Desk support, therefore she will transition into the position with ease.

As of July 1, 2008, Lisa Miller will be assigned the Western region and half of the Northwest region. Lisa joined the EC Delivery Team on March 7, 2008 as a Regional Trainer. She is formally a trainer from the NCWISE project.

Please see the details of the upcoming regional assignment schedules indicated below:

From June 16, 2008 until July 1, 2008

Western Region - Khalilah O'Farrow
Northwest Region - Khalilah O'Farrow
Southwest Region - Heather Jones
Southeast Region - Heather Jones
Northeast Region - Ilona Ketting
Central Region - Ilona Ketting

As of July 1, 2008 moving forward

Western Region - Lisa Miller
Northwest Region - Lisa Miller (Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Hickory City, Newton Conover City, Watauga and Wilkes)
Northwest Region - Khalilah O'Farrow (Davidson, Davie, Elkin City, Forsyth, Iredell-Statesville, Lexington City, Mooresville City, Mt. Airy City, Stokes, Surry, Thomasville City and Yadkin)
Southwest Region - Khalilah O'Farrow
Southeast Region - Heather Jones
Central Region - Heather Jones (Asheboro City, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, Chatham, Dept. of Corrections, Dept. of Health and Human Services and Dept. of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention, Durham, Franklin, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Nash-Rocky Mount, Randolph, Wake and Wilson)
Central Region - Ilona Ketting (Alamance-Burlington, Caswell, Granville, Guilford, Orange, Person, Rockingham, Vance and Warren)
Northeast Region - Ilona Ketting

6/13/2008 - Initial Placements for Students Referred Prior to Age 3

Do not use the current DEC4 in CECAS for students who are transitioning from Part C to Part B or for students referred prior to their third birthday. In order to ensure data accuracy for Indicator 12 reporting purposes, the user must enter a Plan with the purpose of Initial Part C to B instead of the CECAS DEC4. This process will be necessary only until the new DEC4 with updated purposes is implemented in CECAS.

6/11/2008 - Production Site EC Forms issue has been fixed

Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue reported earlier today has been fixed. If you have any other CECAS issues, please contact your regional trainer.

6/9/2008 - PDF EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening PDF EC Forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. For all other CECAS issues, please contact your regional trainer.

6/6/2008 - CECAS Application Support Monday, June 9 through Wednesday, June 11

Due to the upcoming OSEP conference in Washington, DC, several members of the EC Delivery Team, including the Help Desk support, will be out of the office. The EC Delivery Team requests that all CECAS users utilize the resources indicated below for CECAS application support on June 9, 10 and 11 (next week). Please request support in this sequential order as you would normally:
1. Utilize training materials and online help.
2. Contact assigned CECAS Contact.
3. Contact assigned Regional CECAS Trainer.

6/5/2008 - Release of the New Web DEC4

The new DEC4 is scheduled to be released before the beginning of the new 2008-2009 school year. Please be advised that all DEC4s that are in Draft, Meeting or Paused status at the time of the release will be deleted. The deletion of the open forms will not affect Closed/Verified forms attached to the DEC4. Only DEC4s that are not in Closed/Verified status will be deleted during this release. Exact release dates will come as soon as they are made available from the EC Delivery team and the vendor. The other EC forms will be released at a later date.

Please direct questions regarding the release of the new DEC4 form, first to your Regional CECAS Trainer and then to the EC Help Desk. Please feel free to contact the Help Desk at 919-807-4357 or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/30/2008 - Data Entered in Plans is Now Saving Correctly

The issue reported earlier today with the data being visible in the plans screen is now fixed. If you still experience this issue or to report any other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/30/2008 - Data Entered in Plans is Not Saving

Users have reported issues with the Plans Screen not saving data as well as DEC 4 data not being visible on the Plans Screen. We have reported this issue to the vendor and are working to correct it and will post when the issue is fixed. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/28/2008 - Updated Data Request Form

An updated Data Request Form has been posted on the Downloads page of the CECAS Communications website in the General Reference and Miscellaneous section. It reflects the changes to Statuses. Please begin using this revised Data Request Form and destroy all versions of the old form. If you have any questions, please contact the CECAS Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/14/2008 - Referral Received by School date must be entered before closing the DEC1

Please be notified that users must manually enter the Referral Received by School date on the Special Ed Screen in CECAS before closing the DEC1 EC Form. If this date is not entered before closing the DEC1, users will need to send a data request to delete the closed/verified DEC1 and re-enter the form after saving the Referral Received by School date.

If you have any questions regarding this notice or any CECAS issue please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/12/2008 - Production Site Available

05/09/2008 - CECAS Group II Training Documentation has been Posted

The CECAS Group II training materials have been posted to the Training Downloads. Please take advantage of using these materials for a better understanding of the most current CECAS enhancements and/or for any additional training that you may host.

05/08/2008 - CECAS Group II Enhancements Release Notes and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The CECAS Group II Enhancements Release Notes and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) have now been posted to the CECAS Communication site. The Release Notes are located in the System Updates section and the FAQs are located in the FAQs section of the website. Please take advantage of these materials for a better experience of using the most current CECAS enhancements.

05/05/2008 - DPI Customer Satisfaction Survey

Technology Services is conducting our 6 month survey for your feedback so we can serve you better. If you use one or more of the products or services from the Technology Services Area, please complete the appropriate online survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227RW97ZK7G. The information you provide will be useful in helping Technology Services provide/improve services and programs to meet your needs and the needs of North Carolina Educators who use our resources and services. All responses will remain confidential. Providing your name and contact information is optional. Please complete the online survey that apply to you no later than May 16, 2008. The survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete.
We need your help to serve you better!

5/5/2008 - Production Site Offline Friday, May 9, 2008 at 12 Noon

The CECAS Production site will be offline beginning Friday, 5/9/2008, from 12 noon until Monday morning, 5/12/2008, for the scheduled release of the Group 2 enhancements to the Special Ed screen. LEA Leadership Teams have already received training on the new enhancements. Contact your LEA CECAS Data Manager for instructions on how to use the new screen.
LEA Leadership Teams need to contact their assigned trainer with inquiries about training issues with the new screen. Please do not contact CECAS Support about this issue. For all other requests or technical issues, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/5/2008 - EC Forms Drop List Corrected

The issue reported earlier today with the empty Form Name drop list is now corrected. If you still experience this issue or to report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/5/2008 - EC Forms Drop List Empty

Currently users are reporting no form names in the Form Name drop list when creating new forms. We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/24/2008 - Training Site Offline Friday at 12 Noon

The CECAS Training site will be offline beginning Friday, 4/25/2008, from approximately 12 noon until Monday morning, 4/28/2008, for the scheduled release of the Group 2 enhancements to the Special Ed screen. Please contact your LEA CECAS Data Manager for instructions on how to use the new screen. LEA Leadership Teams should contact their assigned trainer with inquiries about receiving training on the new enhancements. Please do not contact CECAS Support about this issue.

For all other requests or technical issues, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/22/2008 - Requesting Behavioral Support Services PRC 29 Funds for 2008-2009

It is time for the annual budget request process to access Funds (PRC 29) for the 2008-2009 school year. As many of you may know, a special budget provision in the 1999 Appropriation Act modified the use of these state dollars to allow expenditure of these funds to provide services to "(i) children with special needs who were identified as members of the Willie M. class at the time of dissolution of the class, and (ii) other children with special needs." This provision provides the use of these funds for services for children with disabilities who have significant behavioral and emotional needs in the public schools.

Information for each student for whom services are being requested must be completed on CECAS. All students who will be served by the PRC 29 funds must be entered into CECAS. Sampling of students is no longer allowed. If the student already has PRC 29 information in CECAS, only the PRC List screen needs to be completed with a PRC 29 Eligibility of "Request." If the student does not have PRC 29 information in CECAS, complete the PRC 29 List screen with a PRC 29 Eligibility of "Request" and complete a Baseline Student Information Form. Copies of IEPs are not required.

It is essential that you begin planning soon for submission of your requests prior to the May 1st deadline. All funding documents and information are posted on the DPI web page under the Behavioral Support Services Section of the Exceptional Children Division. Access the "funding" link for specific funding documents and the "intervention" link for Student Information Forms and information. Please contact Diann Irwin (919/807-3298) or your regional Behavioral Support Section consultant if you have questions regarding these matters. Mail your original request to Diann Irwin at 6356 Mail Service Center, Department of Public Instruction, Raleigh, NC 27699-6356 and send a copy to your regional BSS consultant.

4/21/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue has been fixed

Production Site EC Forms Not Opening issue has been fixed. If you have other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/21/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working to correct this issue and will post here when fixed. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/17/2008 - PDF Password Fields to be Removed

The PDF Passwords fields on the My Settings screen will be removed when the Group 2 change to the Special Ed screen is implemented on May 9. The PDF password fields play a huge part in the confusion users have at password expiration time and to avoid the problems surrounding password resets, it is being removed. In addition, with all EC forms are converting to web-based format with the Group 3 release, the PDF password field will be obsolete. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/16/2008 - April 2008 Child Count Must be Uncertified To Make Corrections.

Some LEAs have corrected records on the April 2008 Child Count using the Child Count Reduction Correction Screen. If this screen is used to make corrections before the count is closed, LEAs could be penalized for submitting incorrect information.

All error corrections should be made in the Validation Completed status under Move to Active, Exit or Delete Student until the count is closed to avoid any penalties for your LEA.

Please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us or 919-807-4357 if you have any questions.

4/14/2008 - April 2008 Periodic Child Count

All LEAs are to have completed an initial submission by close of business on Wednesday April 9, 2008. All certifications are to be completed by close of business April 16, 2008. You may re-submit as often as you need during this time period.
Exited Record Errors
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:
Resolve all active record errors in the student record and re-submit.
Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen.
Search for and select the exited record.
Select the radio button next to the record name.
Click the Delete button.
Click the YES button in the pop-up window.
After all steps are completed, wait for the system to process the records to Validation Completed and then Certify. Do not re-submit.

To Certify the Count:
The EC Director must sign into CECAS.
Open Data Exchange folder, Open the Periodic Count folder, Click on Periodic Count Submissions.
On the Periodic Count Submissions page, drop down the Count Period field. Select April 2008 Periodic Child Count.Do not select a file type.
Click Search.
The Certify button will appear next to the Search button.
Click Certify.
Print this page for your records.

* If the EC Director is not the User who submitted the child count, please go to the Downloads Page of www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads.html ( April 1, 2008 Child Count with disabilities Verification Form ) and print the April 1, 2008 Verification Form. Complete and mail it to the address specified on the form. If you have any questions, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/11/2008 - Update on Deletion of Non-Closed/Verified Forms in CECAS

The implementation of the Group 2 release that will take place on May 9, 2008 does not impact EC Forms in any way. EC Forms will not be deleted with this release.

As each new form is released to CECAS, then the draft/meeting/paused forms will be deleted and LEAs will be notified in advance of the intent to delete non-closed/verified forms. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/10/2008 - New Release to CECAS

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson dated April 10, 2008, ECS will release into CECAS the new Group 2 enhancements. These enhancements involve significant changes to the Special Education Screen. CECAS will be unavailable beginning at noon on Friday, May 9, until 7:30am on Monday, May 12, while the changes are being implemented. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/9/2008 - April 2008 Child Count Initial Submission Due Today

Per the March 6, 2008 memo Schedule for April 2008 Child Counts from Mary Watson, all LEAs and Charter Schools must have an initial April 2008 Child Count submission in CECAS by close of business today, Wednesday April 9. Once the initial submission is in CECAS, LEAS and Charter Schools may re-submit as often as needed until Wednesday, April 16 to ensure all records are counted. All submissions must be finalized by April 16, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

4/7/2008 - New Java Update and CECAS DTool

If you are experiencing issues accessing DTool, or have issues navigating inside DTool, you may need to update to the newest version of Java Runtime Environment. To download Java, go to www.java.com. Click the Free Java Download button to start the process. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

03/31/2008 - Production Site Available

03/31/2008 - Production Site Down

3/24/2008 - ID Verification Document

For LEAs that are still working on the Non-Match files, a document, entitled ID Verification in CECAS, has been posted to the CECAS website under the General Reference and Miscellaneous section. Click this link to access the file. This document will assist LEAs in understanding what to look for in the student records that appear on the non-match list. Understand that the non-match file you receive from your testing coordinator has the data as it appears in CECAS. Compare this data to your student information system data. Please direct all inquires to the CECAS Support Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

3/17/2008 - CECAS Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-HELP (4357), then press 2 for CECAS or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

3/17/2008 - CECAS Production Site Down

Users are currently unable to access CECAS upon login. We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press #2 for CECAS, or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

3/14/2008 - April 2008 Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the Schedule for April 2008 Child Counts memo from Mary Watson dated March 6, 2008, the April 2008 child count for children with disabilities will be transmitted through CECAS based on the submission dates as listed in the table below. Please follow the posted schedule for your LEA. 3rd party submissions must submit complete files with all required elements for each record. Incomplete 3rd party files will be deleted.
The AIG child count will be conducted separately through either SIMS or NCWISE. Dates for the AIG child count electronic pickup can be found in the memo. To review this memo, please follow this link. The memo can also be accessed from the Downloads page of the CECAS Communications web site at http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/Schedule for April 2008 Child Counts Memo.doc. Please direct all inquires to the CECAS Support Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake	4/1/2008
Guilford	4/1/2008
Charlotte Mecklenburg	4/2/2008
Forsyth	4/2/2008
All other LEAs and Charter Schools	4/3/2008 through 4/9/2008
Deadline for Certification Status	4/16/2008

3/14/2008 - Revised Timeline for Changes to CECAS

The Group 2 changes in CECAS that encompass the revised Special Ed screen to capture Indicators 11 and 12 will not occur until after the April 1, 2008 child count as outlined in the memo from Mary Watson, Subject: Revised Timeline for Changes to CECAS dated March 6, 2008. To review this memo, please follow this link. The memo can also be accessed from the Downloads page of the CECAS Communication web site at http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/Memo-Revised Timeline for Changes to CECAS_1.pdf
Due to the delay in releasing Group 2, the data for Indicators 11 and 12 will be collected with a Excel spreadsheets rather than through the new periodic count process. In addition, the release of the new forms in CECAS will be delayed. Training details and further information will be forthcoming. Please direct all inquires to the CECAS Support Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

3/14/2008 - CECAS Presentation Directors' Institute March 12, 2008

The EC Delivery Team presented a project status and EC Forms overview at the Exceptional Children Directors' Institute in Greensboro, NC on March 12, 2008. We have posted our powerpoint presentation to the Downloads page of the CECAS Communications Site at http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads.html under the Presentations and Briefs section. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, then press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

3/13/2008 - Deadline for Data Requests that Affect April 2008 Child Count is 3/24/2008

To ensure completion prior to April 1, any necessary changes to data in the CECAS application that impact the April 2008 child count for your LEA need to be submitted to cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us no later than close of business Monday, March 24, 2008. Instructions for completing and submitting a data request and the data request form can be found on our Downloads page in the General Reference and Miscellaneous section.

3/5/2008 - Production Data Replication is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

3/5/2008 - Production Data not Replicating to Reports

Currently, the CECAS production application is not replicating data entered on the Data Manager screens over to the Reports server resulting in inaccurate reports. Data entered today is not reflected on reports. This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience. For all other CECAS issues, please call the Help Desk at (919) 807-4357, press 2 for CECAS, or email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

2/22/2008 - CECAS Application Support

A CECAS Application Support document has been recently posted to the Training Downloads section. This document has been slightly updated from its last version dated 09-07-07. The revision is on the last page offering instruction on how to contact the CECAS Help Desk.

Please review this document to ensure that you are following the proper sequential order of obtaining CECAS support for both CECAS training and application inquiries. Additionally, please do not contact the Help Desk to receive training over the telephone and do not call the Help Desk staff via their direct telephone numbers. Our request is that you contact them by calling 919-807-HELP (4357) and then press 2 (or) via email (cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us). Thank you for your cooperation to this matter.

2/20/2008 - CECAS Production Site Available

2/20/2008- Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at (919) 807-HELP (4357) and press 2 for CECAS, or cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

2/18/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

2/1/2008 - Changes to Exceptionality Categories

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson dated January 31, 2008 subject CECAS Changes to Exceptionality Categories, the application has been updated to reflect the exceptionalites approved by the State Board on November 1, 2007. The memo has been placed on the Downloads page of the Communication website under the Memorandums and Official Communications. Click here to review the memo. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

2/11/2008 - CECAS Production Servers Offline Tonight at 9 PM

The CECAS production servers will be taken offline for approximately 30 minutes this evening beginning at 9 PM to perform required maintenance to correct a problem with hardware. Users will not be able to log in while the servers are offline. Additionally, if a user is already logged into the application, data entry will not be saved. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/18/2008 - Consent Place Field in New Special Ed Screen in CECAS

Users have expressed some confusion about the memo that was sent on 1/11/2008 from Mary Watson titled Changes to CECAS. The Consent Placement field will only be required with the new screen for records that are in the placement process. LEA's are not required to close DEC6 forms for all records in order to make the record compliant. We mentioned this field in the memo on 1/11/2008 for the following reason: If the currently entered date in this field is not coming from a closed/verified DEC6, then it will not carry over to the new screen. However, even if the field is blank, the record will still remain active and eligible for child count purposes. If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/17/2008 - Reminder: ECS to Upload ID Matches for NCWISE/SIMS to CECAS

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson and Mike Vecktenstedt dated December 6, 2007, DPI will provide ECS with the Matched by DPI ID files to be uploaded into CECAS. This process will take place no later than January 31, 2008. The NCWISE ID field, Local ID field or the Social Security Number field will be overlaid with data in CECAS for records who are on the Matched by DPI report. If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/14/2008 - Changes to CECAS

In an ongoing effort to provide accurate data to the Federal Government, CECAS is being expanded to collect information for Indicators 11 and 12. These changes are scheduled to begin in February 2008. The Special Ed screen is being changed significantly in layout and will also require entry of several key components into a child's record.
The memo from Mary Watson Subject: Changes to CECAS dated January 9, 2008 briefly describes each of the changes. Click this link to access the memo.
The document entitled 57th EC Conference Info outlines in greater detail steps LEAs can take in preparation of these changes. Click this link to access the memo.
Both the memo and document can also be accessed from the Downloads page of the CECAS Communication web site at http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads.html
As we approach implementation of each of these enhancements, we will notify you in advance of the exact dates they will take place, so you can plan accordingly. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/30/2008 - CECAS Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/30/2008 - Production Site Down

Some users are currently unable to log into and access CECAS. We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/30/2008 - Training Site Now Available

Users are now able to login and access the training site. If you still experience login problems with the training site or to report other issues with the CECAS production site, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/30/2008- Training Site Down

Users are currently unable to log into and access the CECAS Training Site. We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/24/2008- Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/24/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

1/14/2008 - CECAS Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/14/2008 - CECAS Production Site Down

Users are currently unable to log into and access CECAS. We are working to correct and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/3/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

1/3/2008 - Production Site EC Forms Not Working

Currently, some users are reporting problems opening PDF EC Forms. We are working to correct this problem and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/20/2007 - CECAS Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/19/2007 - Production Site Down

12/18/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/18/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening PDF EC Forms. We are working on correcting this problem and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/13/2007 - December 2007 Periodic Child Count

All LEAs are to have completed an initial submission by close of business on Friday, December 7, 2007. All certifications are to be completed by close of business December 14, 2007. You may re-submit as often as you need during this time period.
Exited Record Errors
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:
Resolve all active record errors in the student record and re-submit.
Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen.
Search for and select the exited record.
Select the radio button next to the record name.
Click the Delete button.
Click the YES button in the pop-up window.

After all steps are completed, wait for the system to process the records to Validation Completed and then Certify. Do not re-submit.
To Certify the Count:
The EC Director must sign into CECAS
Open Data Exchange folder, Open the Periodic Count folder, Click on Periodic Count Submissions/
On the Periodic Count Submissions page, drop down the Count period field. Select December 2007 Periodic Child Count. Do not select a file type.
Click Search.
The Certify button will appear next to the Search button.
Click Certify.
Print the next page for your records.

* If the EC Director is not the User who submitted the child count, please go to the Downloads Page of www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads.html ( http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads.html ) and print the December 1, 2007 Verification Form and mail it to the address specified on the form.

If you have any questions, please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/10/2007 - Matching CECAS IDs to SIMS/NCWISE Excel Spreadsheet

Per the memo sent from Mary Watson and Mike Vecktenstedt December 6, 2007, LEAs and Charter Schools are to begin their review of the 3 pages of the Excel spreadsheet, placed on the Accountability secure file transfer site in late November and begin updating non-matched records in CECAS. To view this memo, please click here: http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/Memo-NCWise SIMS to CECAS ID 120607.pdf

The Excel spreadsheet contains 3 pages or tabs. Tab 1 contains a list of files that matched exactly between CECAS and SIMS or NCWISE. Tab 2 contains list of files that were able to be matched by NCDPI based upon 5 elements, and Tab 3 contains a list of files that did not match to the student record system.

As outlined in the above referenced memo, files listed on Tab 1, the exact matches, will be placed in the appropriate CECAS field by our vendor, ECS. Files listed on Tab 2, those matched by NCDPI, are to be reviewed for accuracy. LEAs and Charter Schools do not need to update files on Tab 2, only ensure the numbers are correct. These IDs will also be populated to the appropriate CECAS ID field by ECS.

Tab 3 contains the list of records LEAs and Charter Schools are responsible for updating, as these records were not able to be matched by NCDPI. Please review the December 6 memo for the correct location of the SIMS or NCWISE ID in CECAS. In addition, any records that have been moved into your school system after September 20, 2007 are not reflected on this spreadsheet. Records that were transferred into your school system after September 20, or newly created records after September 20, need to be reviewed and updated individually by January 31, 2007.

All records in CECAS must continue to be maintained with correct, accurate and corresponding IDs to the SIMS or NCWISE system. To help with the continued maintenance of correct IDs in CECAS, please review the revised NCWISE IDs / SIMS IDs Must Match CECAS IDs document dated December 6, 2007. This document can be found on the CECAS downloads page or by clicking this link: http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/Memo-NCWise SIMS to CECAS ID 120607.pdf.
If you have any questions, please contact Ilona Ketting at (919) 807-4039 / iketting@dpi.state.nc.us or Kelley Steen at (919) 807-7365 / ksteen@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/7/2007 - Initial December Periodic Child Count Submission Due Today

Per the November 7, 2007 memo from Mary Watson Subject: Schedule for December Periodic Child Count, click here to review the memo and schedule, every LEA and Charter school must submit a child count by close of business today, December 7, 2007.
Once you have initiated a New Submission in CECAS, LEAs and Charter Schools will have until closed of business Friday, December 14, 2007 to review their submission records for accuracy and resubmit as often as needed to ensure all records are counted.
If you have questions regarding your child count submission, please contact your regional trainer. If you have questions regarding the submission schedule, please contact Kelley Steen (919) 807-7365 / ksteen@dpi.state.nc.us or Ilona Ketting (919) 807-4039 / iketting@dpi.state.nc.us.

12/5/2007 - Problem with Error Correction Process is Fixed

The issue users were experiencing with saving corrections to their Tech Manual Data Errors inside the December 2007 Child Count Submission has been fixed. Please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, if you need further assistance.

12/5/2007 - Problems with Error Correction Process

Users are experiencing difficulty saving corrections to their Tech Manual Data Errors inside the December 2007 Child Count Submission. We have reported this issue to our vendor and are working to get it resolved as quickly as possible. Please contact cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, if you need further assistance.

12/03/07 - Available CECAS Web-based Training Tutorials

The CECAS Web-based Training (WBT) tutorials are available to assist with the December 1 Periodic Child Count submissions. Please take advantage of utilizing these tutorials to get your student data correctly documented and to properly conduct your child count submission in the CECAS application.

12/3/2007 - Saving a Plan as Ineligible Bug Fixed

Bug 8451 - "Saving a Plan as Ineligible Locks Special Ed Screen" is now corrected. If you need to update the Special Ed screen further to Exit the record, or bring the record back in as Referral in Process, you may do so now. If you have any questions, or to report records not corrected by this bug fix, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/30/2007 - Closed Services by Student Report

A bug was found in the Closed Services by Student Report and corrected to the CECAS production site late Thursday afternoon. To ensure all records with lapsed IEP Plans are identified in your LEA, please rerun your Closed Services by Student Report. Keep in mind that if a record appears on this report, it needs to be updated before the December Periodic Child Count. Records of students still in your LEA need a current Plan and students appearing on this list no longer in your LEA need to be exited from CECAS with the date of Exit as listed in NCWISE or SIMS. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. Thank you.

11/27/2007 - REMINDER: CECAS Training Site - Recommended Usage in December

As you know by now, the CECAS servers and the CECAS application have been moved from the vendor's data center in Georgia to Raleigh. As a safeguard, the EC Delivery Team has recommended that you not plan to use the training site (training.nccecas.org/cecas) for training sessions or other events that may require demonstration of the application the month of December, more specifically, until on/after January 2, 2008. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

11/20/2007 - CECAS Production Site is Back Online

The CECAS Production site was brought back online on the new servers at the Raleigh location midday Saturday, November 17, 2007. Users may now access the site. As of this morning, November 19, 2007, the known issues with the application are the Upcoming Task Report, Student Mailing Labels and Provider Mailing Labels returning server errors. In addition, DTool is not available. We are currently working to restore the reports and DTool issues and will post here when corrected. To report other issues with CECAS, please conatct the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/20/2007- Saving a Plan as Ineligible is Locking the Special Ed Screen

When saving a record as Ineligible on the Plans screen, the Special Ed screen is yellow shading as locked and no longer allowing data to be entered. We are working to correct this bug and will email when corrected. As a work around until corrected, when you are exiting a record from Active to Transferred to Regular Education because the child has met all their goals and is no longer needing exceptional children services, do not use the Plans screen to enter a Plan as Ineligible. Instead, go directly to the Special Ed screen, mark the student as Inactive with the Exit Reason of TR -Transferred to Regular Education, and save the screen. If you have any questions, or to report other issues with the application, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/18/2007 - CECAS Production Site Now Available for Use

The hosting servers move that began Friday, November 16 at 12 noon is now complete. All data entered into CECAS as of 12 noon Friday, November 16, 2007 was transferred from the Georgia servers to the Raleigh servers. We have tested the new location and it is working as it should. You may now access CECAS and use as needed. Please note the following issues you will experience upon accessing the new site. Some clicks on buttons and on links on screens may hang and not process. This can be corrected by reclicking the button or the link.
If you have any questions, or to report issues other than those listed above, please contact the Hep Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/16/2007 - REMINDER: CECAS Production Site Offline Beginning at Noon Today

The CECAS servers hosting location move takes place beginning at 12 noon today. Users will not be able to access the CECAS production site once the servers are taken offline. Please inform staff to plan data entry accordingly. For meetings that will occur between noon today and all day Monday, November 19, 2007 requiring the use of electronic CECAS forms, please instruct staff to print paper copies before 12 noon today.
The site will remain unavailable until all file transfers are complete. We anticipate bringing the site back into use by the morning of Tuesday, November 20, 2007. We will post here and via the list serv when the site is back up. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/14/2007 - CECAS Updates Presentation 57th Annual Exceptional Children Conference

The EC Delivery Team presented an update session at the 57th Annual Exceptional Children Conference in Greensboro, NC. We have posted our handout and powerpoint presentation to the Downloads page of the CECAS Communications Site at http://www.nccecas.org/info/downloads.html under the Presentations and Briefs Section. The handout includes changes to the Special Ed screen along with other upcoming changes in CECAS. Full training on all of the changes will be made available to LEA's and Charter Schools before the impending release. Your Regional CECAS Trainer will contact you with a training schedule as soon as it is final.

If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/14/2007 - CECAS Training Site - Recommended Usage in December

As you have seen on several communications from NCDPI, the CECAS servers and the CECAS application are being moved from the vendor's data center in Georgia to Raleigh. Anytime an effort like this occurs, a significant period of testing of the application is mandatory. In this move, the completion for testing is expected to occur by the end of this month. Although the EC Delivery Team does not anticipate problems, we still recommend that you not plan to use the training site (training.nccecas.org/cecas) for training sessions or other events that may require demonstration of the application until on/after January 2, 2008.

If you notice any abnormal functionality in the CECAS applications (training or production) now and any point moving forward, please don't hesitate to contact the CECAS Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

11/14/2007 - CECAS Production Site Offline from 12 noon Friday, November 16 through Monday, November 19, 2007

The CECAS servers location move will take place beginning this Friday, November 16, 2007 beginning at 12 noon. Users will not be able to access the CECAS production site once the servers are taken offline. At this time, all data from the Geogia servers will be transferred to the Raleigh servers. Users will not have access to the CECAS production site until all file transfers are complete. Please inform staff to plan data entry accordingly. We will post here and via the list serv when the site is back up. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/13/2007 - December 2007 Periodic Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the Schedule for December Periodic Child Count memo from Mary Watson dated November 7, 2007, the December 2007 child count for children with disabilities will be transmitted through CECAS based on the submission dates as listed in the table below. Please follow the posted schedule for your LEA. 3rd party submissions must submit complete files with all required elements for each record. Incomplete 3rd party files will be deleted.

Follow this link to view the memo. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake County	12/3/2007
Guilford County	12/3/2007
Charlotte-Mecklenburg	12/4/2007
Forsyth County	12/4/2007
Initial Submission from all other LEAs and Charter Schools	12/5/2007 through 12/7/2007
Deadline for Certification Status	12/14/2007

November 5, 2007 - CECAS Servers Location Move

Currently, the CECAS servers and the CECAS application are being moved from the vendor's data center in Georgia to Raleigh as outlined in a memo from Mary Watson dated October 19, 2007. To review this memo, please follow this link.
This move is an effort to adhere to the mandate for all State websites to be hosted within the State of North Carolina and has the added advantage of benefiting the local state economy. The vendor, CORE Education, formerly Enterprises Computing Services (ECS), will still be maintaining the application, completing Help Desk Bug fixes, and Data Requests. CORE Education will also continue to provide updates to the application through Change Requests and Enhancements.

Downtime during this migration will be kept to a minimum. The North Carolina State Office of Information Technology Services (ITS) will be replicating the servers as they are currently in Georgia with CORE Education providing assistance as necessary. Following a significant period of testing, the servers in Georgia will be disabled and shipped to North Carolina. At the same time, ITS will enable the servers in North Carolina and all CECAS traffic will be redirected to the new servers. We will keep you informed as the move progresses.

The transition from the Georgia location to Raleigh will be seamless. No action will be necessary on your part. Please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, if you have any questions.

11/2/2007 - Data Export to SIMS Not A Bug

The unresolvable errors when uploading CECAS files into SIMS is not a bug. The CECAS export is building accurately from the database. As long as the Consent Eval Date is earlier than the Eligibility Date, or there are no dates in either field, the record will pull into SIMS. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

11/01/2007 - Correct Use of Child Name Field on Demographics

Users are experiencing difficulties searching for student records and finding matches. Please make sure that you are entering only the child's first name into the First Name field. Do not enter a middle name into this field.

Also, please use the child's Full Legal first name and do not use nicknames in this field. The formula that searches for these students when using the Statewide Search or Partial Search feature is unable to locate many students because of the inconsistencies in the child name fields and this has caused countless duplicate records in the CECAS database.

If your LEA has to make corrections to active records according to the standards above, please do so in a timely manner.We are not asking you to make corrections to exited records, however if your LEA pulls a record from another LEA with an error in the name, please correct it at that time. If you have any questions, please contact the help desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/31/2007 - NCWISE IDs in CECAS

For LEAs on NCWISE, it is acceptable in CECAS to have the NCWISE ID listed in both the Local ID field and the NCWISE ID field as long as they are identical and correct. This allows the NCWISE LEA to search student records by Local ID as CECAS does not have a search by NCWISE ID. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/31/2007 - Data Export to SIMS

Currently, there is a bug in the CECAS production site with the Data Export files to SIMS. The files are not pulling the correct dates from the application. This is causing unresolvable SIMS data errors resulting in the inability to upload current CECAS information into SIMS. We are working to correct this problem and will post here when corrected. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/30/2007 - Updating Demographic Data

Preparing CECAS records for the December 2007 Periodic Child Count is under way. LEAs need to ensure records have a current Plan with correct Setting and Exceptionality. In addition, certain demographic data must also be accurate.
On the Child Demographics screen, the Local ID or NCWISE ID number in CECAS must match the ID number in either SIMS or NCWISE.
If you are on SIMS, enter the current SIMS ID in the Local ID field. If you are on NCWISE, enter the NCWISE ID in the NCWISE ID field. You are to have only one ID per record. Also on this screen, the Ethnicity and Birth Date must be accurate. On the Special Ed Screen, please ensure the grade is current. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/26/2007 - Forms and Reports working again

The issues with viewing Forms and Reports have been corrected. If you are still experiencing any problems, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/24/2007 - Deadline for Data Requests for December 2007 Periodic Child Count

The deadline to submit Data Requests to affect the December 2007 Periodic Child Count is 12:00 PM(noon) on Friday, November 16, 2007. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/24/2007 - December 2007 Child Count Preparation

LEAs can begin preparing records in CECAS for December 2007 Child Count. The Periodic Count Export Student List is ready to use to ensure all records will pull into the count. Also, the Closed Services Report can be used to see what records have lapsed IEPs. Records that appear on the Closed Services Report need either a current Plan entered into CECAS or to be Exited from the LEA. If you have any question, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/24/2007 - Ineligible Plans and Forms Saving Correctly

Users are now able to enter a Plan as Ineligible without having to enter IEP Begin and End Dates on the Child Plan Detail screen. In addition, the Special Ed screen no longer shades to yellow when a closed/verified Ineligible DEC3 is saved. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/18/2007 - Ineligible Plan Not Saving Correctly

Currently, users are unable to save a Plan as Ineligible without entering IEP Begin and End Dates. We are working to correct this issue. We will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/09/2007 - Upcoming CECAS Contacts' Workshop!

All CECAS Contacts are requested to follow this link to information about the upcoming CECAS Contacts' Workshop that will occur during the 57th Conference on EC this year: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/conference/2007/.

Please take the time to complete the registration form and ONLY fax or mail it to Angelia Rogers prior to the registration deadline date of October 19, 2007. Remember that only one person per LEA is to attend, and only on their scheduled day. We look forward to seeing you there!

10/9/2007 - CECAS Production Site Available

Users are now able to login and access CECAS. If you still experience login problems or to report other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/9/2007 - CECAS Production Site Down

Currently, the CECAS Production site is not displaying upon login. We are working to correct this and will post here when fixed. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/9/2007 - Set Pending Primary Button

Currently, the Set Pending Primary Button does not display. If you need to access a record currently active in another LEA, please contact that LEA's central office to ask to have the record exited. Once the record is exited from the LEA, you can obtain access to the record via the Set Primary Sp Ed button. To report all other issues with CECAS, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/8/2007 - Production Site Working

Users can now access the CECAS Production Site. If you still experience issues with login, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

10/8/2007 - Production Site Down

10/3/2007 - Password Email Corrected

The critical issue of password reset emails not reaching the user is corrected. Users are now receiving password reset emails. Please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. if you experience issues receiving password reset emails. Thank you.

10/3/2007 - Password Reset Emails are not being delivered

Users are not receiving password reset email from CECAS at this time. We have reported this as a Critical Issue and are working to get it resolved as quickly as possible. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/27/2007 - 9/27/2007 - Password Expiration Issue

Users are being prompted to change their password as it will expire soon. Upon doing so, many users are unable to log back into the application with the new password. To alleviate the inability to log into CECAS with the newly created password, ensure that you do change your password to one not used previously and click the save button. After you have saved your new password, click the Cancel button to remain in the CECAS application. If you log out, your newly created password will not be saved.
If you create and save a new password after being prompted that your password is expiring, then are unable to access CECAS with this new password, you will need to have your password reset. Your LEA CECAS contact can reset passwords.

9/27/2007 - Production Password Issue

Currently, upon login to CECAS, some users are being informed their password is about to expire. If you are prompted to change your password in CECAS, please ensure you do change to a different password than you were using previously. In addition, the password is case sensitive, so if you have caps lock on, your password will need to be entered in caps. If you change your password and upon a new login to CECAS you are unable to access the site, please inform your CECAS contact for your LEA. They can re-set passwords.

9/26/2007 - End of Year Child Count Verification Form

The End of Year 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. Please note that EC Director's will now be mailing this form to the EC Delivery Team. If you have any questions please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/25/2007 - September 2007 Periodic Child Count Submission Closes Tomorrow - Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The September 2007 Periodic Child Count Submission closes tomorrow, Wednesday evening, September 26, 2007. Please ensure your LEA has corrected all errors and has Certified the submission before close of business tomorrow. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/19/2007 - Draft, Meeting, and Paused PDF DEC4 and DEC4(2a)/Transition Forms, and Manifestation Determination Worksheets

All Draft, Meeting, and Paused PDF DEC4 and DEC4(2a)/Transition forms, and Manifestation Determination Worksheet were deleted from the CECAS application, as we had previously indicated. Currently, the Web-based DEC4 and the Plans screen are the only locations Users can document the data that would normally be documented in the PDF DEC4. The Web-based DEC4 is the only location Users can document the DEC4(2a)/Transition form. The Manifestation Determination Worksheet is no longer be available in CECAS. A blank form can be found at www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/policy/forms. All Closed/Verified PDF DEC4 and DEC4(2a)/Transition forms, and Manifestation Determination Worksheet remain in the application. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

09/18/2007 - CECAS Periodic Count Exit Submission Instructions

In an effort to provide CECAS users with instruction for conducting a Periodic Count Exit Submission, the EC Delivery Team has created a brief instructional tutorial for your assistance. Please take advantage of this document if you have questions pertaining to conducting your submission.

9/7/2007 - September 2007 Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the September 2007 Periodic Count - End of Year reporting memo from Mary Watson dated August 20, 2007, the September 2007 End of Year child count for children with disabilities will be transmitted through CECAS based on the submission dates as listed in the table below.

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake County	9/12/2007
Charlotte-Mecklenburg	9/13/2007
Guilford County	9/14/2007
Forsyth County	9/14/2007
Initial Submission from all other LEAs and Charter Schools	9/17/2007 through 9/21/2007
Deadline for Certification Status	9/26/2007

Please adhere to the posted dates schedule for your LEA. Any submission initiated prior to your scheduled date will be deleted.

9/18/2007 - PDF DEC4 Phase Out End Date and Removal of All Inactive Forms

As we posted here on September 5, 2007, all Draft, Meeting and Paused PDF DEC4 forms, DEC4(2a)/Transition forms, and Manifestation Determination forms, regardless of Form Status, will be deleted from the CECAS application.
As of 5 PM Tuesday, September 18, 2007, the Web-based DEC4 and the Plans screen will be the only locations Users can document the data that would normally be documented in the PDF DEC4. The Web-based DEC4 will be the only location Users can document the DEC4(2a)/Transition form. As of 5 PM Tuesday, September 18, 2007, the Manifestation Determination form will no longer be available in CECAS. This blank form can be found at www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/policy/forms.
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/7/2007 - Training Site Child Demographics Screen Corrected

All problems creating new records and saving changes to the Training site Child Demographics screen are resolved. If you are still having problems, please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/7/2007 - Training Site Child Demographics Screen Not Saving

Users are experiencing problems creating new records and updating the Child Demographics screen on the Training site. We are currently working to correct the problem. We will post a message here as soon as the problem is resolved. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/5/2007 - PDF DEC4 Phase Out End Date and Removal of All Inactive Forms

Due to the burden the PDF DEC4 places on the EC Forms servers, we are phasing out the PDF DEC4. In conjunction with the phase out of the PDF DEC4, we are also phasing out the DEC4(2a)/Transition form and the Manifestation Determination form. All PDF DEC4 forms, DEC4(2a)/Transition forms, and Manifestation Determination forms already created in either Draft, Meeting, or Paused status will remain available to the User to be either printed or Closed/Verified until close of business (5 PM) on Tuesday, September 18, 2007. At that time, all PDF DEC4 forms, DEC4(2a)/Transition forms, and Manifestation Determination forms, regardless of Form Status, will be deleted from the CECAS application.
As of 5 PM Tuesday, September 18, 2007, the Web-based DEC4 and the Plans screen will be the only locations Users can document the data that would normally be documented in the PDF DEC4. The Web-based DEC4 will be the only location Users can document the DEC4(2a)/Transition form. As of 5 PM Tuesday, September 18, 2007, the Manifestation Determination form will no longer be available in CECAS. This blank form can be found at www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/policy/forms.
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/6/2007 - Child Demographics Screen Corrected

All problems creating new records and saving changes to the Child Demographics screen are resolved. If you are still having problems, please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

9/6/2007 - Demographics Screen Not Saving

Users are experiencing problems creating new records and updating the Child Demographics screen. We are currently working to correct the problem. We will post a message here as soon as the problem is resolved. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/27/2007 - Deadline for Data Requests for September 2007 End of Year Periodic Count

The deadline to submit Data Requests to affect the September 2007 Periodic Count is close of business (5 PM) on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

08/27/2007 - Reminder: CECAS Listserv

In May 2007, we created a group mailing list to immediately notify all users of any issues or changes that occur with the CECAS application. With the beginning of the new school year for traditional schools and the addition of many new exceptional children staff, we want to remind users to encourage all staff to join. This mailing list supplements the announcements we currently place on the communications site at www.nccecas.org. It does not replace the news posted on our home page.
This is a self-subscribe list. To become a member, please send an email to subscribe-cecasannouncements@lists.dpi.state.nc.us. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/17/2007 - CECAS Group 1 Enhancements Are Here!

The CECAS application has now been updated with the Group 1 Enhancements. These changes include a slight wording change to the DEC5, the conversion of the Is LEP checkbox to Yes/No radio buttons, the incorporation of the DEC4(2a) into the web-based DEC4, a change to the Testing and Accommodations screen (If Standard Administration is selected as a Participation for a Test, no other Participation is allowed) and an EC Process report that shows testing information as entered on the web-based DEC4 for all active students with an active IEP. Specialized training is not required, although training documentation is provided under the Training tab CECAS Group 1 Enhancements - Associated Documents section of this website to understand the enhanced functionality.

8/16/2007 - Gender Field Has No Default

The Gender field on the Child Demographics screen no longer has a default to male. The field has been modified to be blank upon opening of a New Child Demographics record. Users must now select a Gender before the screen can be saved. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/31/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/31/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working on correcting this problem and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/29/2007 - Problems with Web DEC4 have been Fixed

All problems with errors on the web DEC4 have been corrected. If you are still experiencing problems please contact the help desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/29/2007 - Error on Web DEC4

Users are experiencing server errors when using the NEXT button on the WEB DEC4 to navigate to the Present Level Goals and Objectives Pages. Please use the drop down list on the top right hand of the form to get to each page until this bug is fixed. If you need further assistance please contact the help desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/28/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/28/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

8/23/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you experience problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/23/2007 - Production Site EC Forms Not Opening

8/21/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

08/21/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

8/20/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

08/20/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

August 16, 2007 - CECAS Group 1 Enhancements Coming Soon!

CECAS users will soon see the Group 1 Enhancement changes to the CECAS application. These enhancements consist of several new functionality changes, including a slight wording change to the DEC5, the conversion of the Is LEP checkbox to Yes/No radio buttons, the incorporation of the DEC4(2a) into the web-based DEC4, a change to the Testing and Accommodations screen (If Standard Administration is selected as a Participation for a Test, no other Participation is allowed) and an EC Process report that shows testing information as entered on the web-based DEC4 for all active students with an active IEP. Specialized training is not required, although training documentation will be provided to understand the enhanced functionality.
CECAS users may experience some strange happenings in both the Training site and the Production site between the hours of 5:30pm and 8:30pm tonight as these sites will be updated with the new enhancements during that timespan.

8/14/2007 - Problem Saving Demographics screen has been fixed

All problems creating new records or saving changes to the demographics screen have been resolved. Please log out of CECAS and log back in to see the change. If you are still having problems please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/14/2007 - Problems Saving Demographics Screen

Users are experiencing problems creating new records and updating the Child Demographics screen. We have reported this as a Severity 1 issue and are currently working to correct the issue. We will post a message here as soon as the problem has been resolved. If you have questions or need further assistance please contact CECAS Support at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

8/10/2007 - CECAS Enhancements Coming Soon!
In the next few weeks, we will be releasing important changes to the CECAS application. We want to provide you with a brief description of each of these changes. We will update you here with further details on this release as they are finalized.

These enhancements include:
Change to DEC5 Required by Federal Law
On the DEC 5, page 2, the last sentence of the first paragraph reads: "The deadline for filing a petition for a due process hearing is one (1) year from receipt of this notice."

Convert Is LEP Checkbox to Mandatory Field
The Is LEP checkbox on the Demographics screen is a mandatory radio button with 'Yes' or 'No' options. Existing student records will have automatic selections made based upon existing selections currently in the application. Students that have the Is LEP flag selected will be selected as "Yes". Students that are not selected as Is LEP will have "No" selected.

Incorporate DEC 4(2a) Transition Form into Web-based DEC 4
The 12/06 version of the DEC4 (2a) will be added to the current web-based DEC4. The two additional screens will be located after the Special Factors section and before the Present Level, Goals and Objectives screen.

NC Testing Program - Add Tests/Accommodations Reporting Capability
This EC Process report will show testing information as entered on the web-based DEC4 for all active students with an active IEP.

Standard Administration Not Allowed with Other Participation Options
If Standard Administration is selected as a Participation for a Test, no other Participation is allowed.

8/9/2007 - Blank CECAS EC Forms

The Blank EC Forms located inside the CECAS application under EC Process Reports were placed there in September 2004 at the time CECAS went live. Many of these forms have been modified or completely changed since that time. These blank forms will be updated to the most current forms when the entire new group of EC Forms become available.

Please refrain from using any of the CECAS Blank EC Forms and use the blank forms located on the Exceptional Children Division, Policy, Monitoring, and Audit Section website. Forms located on the NCDPI website at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/policy/forms/statewide/ are the most current, up-to-date forms and these are the only forms you should be accessing for blank copies. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/20/2007 - Reminder: PDF DEC4 Phase Out

On July 1, 2007, the PDF DEC 4 was made inactive in the application. Users are no longer able to create a new PDF DEC4. For a period of time, any PDF DEC4 form already created in either Draft, Meeting, or Paused status will remain available to the User and can be Closed/Verified. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/10/2007 - Reports Server is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy earlier today. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

7/10/2007 - Reports Server is Down

The Reports server is not replicating data entered today or pulling reports. This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience.

7/9/2007 - School Grade Changes

With the new school year beginning today, ensure all school's grades are correct. The CECAS grade span for a school must match the NCDPI grade span as noted in the Education Directory. Many schools are opened with a limited grade span and over time the grade span increases. If you have a school that was opened with limited grades and now has additional grades, please ensure the CECAS site reflects all current grade spans for your schools in your LEA. If you need grades added to a school, submit a data request.
If you have a new school opening this school year, please submit a data request to have the new school added. Conversely, if any of your schools have closed, once you have moved all records out of the school, please send in a data request to have the closed school Inactivated.
We have updated all existing high schools in CECAS with the grade of Graduate. If you have a high school that does not reflect the grade of Graduate in the school drop list on the Special Ed screen, please let us know so we may add this grade.
If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

6/28/2007 - Reports Corrected

We have corrected the problem users were experiencing earlier today. All reports are now available for query. Please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, if you are still taken to a Login screen instead of the report screen.

6/28/2007 - Reminder: PDF DEC4 Phase Out

As of July 1, 2007, the PDF DEC 4 will be made inactive in the application. Users will no longer have the ability to create a new PDF DEC4. For a period of time, any PDF DEC4 form created prior to July 1, 2007 in either Draft, Meeting, or Paused status, will remain available to the User and can be Closed/Verified. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

6/28/2007 - Reports Not Opening

Currently, users are unable to access Reports. When you click the Preview button, you are taken to the Login screen instead of the report. We are working to correct this and will post when resolved. Contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, for all other problems.

6/26/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. Please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us if you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms.

06/25/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, some users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working on correcting this problem and will post here when corrected. Please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us for all other CECAS issues or if you have any questions.

6/18/2007 - April 1, 2007 AIG Child Count

LEAs and Charter Schools that have received a letter from NCDPI requesting a corrected verification letter for the April 1, 2007 AIG Child Count are to submit this form as soon as possible. Please send your corrected verification form to Dr. Teresa Dais at the address stated on the form. Please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us if you have any questions.

6/20/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us if you have any questions.

06/19/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

6/8/2007 - Plans Bug Corrected

The bug on the Child Plan Detail screen not allowing the Plan Date and the Program Services Begin Date to be the same date is now corrected. If you continue to experience an error message when saving this screen, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

6/7/2007 - Problem Entering Plans

We have found that there is a bug in which the Plan and Program/Service dates cannot be the same and have reported it to ECS as a Severity 1 issue. We will post to this site as soon as the problem is corrected. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

6/7/2007 - Reminder: End of Year and Grade Changes

If you use the Mass Grade Change feature in CECAS to move student records up a grade, please keep the following in mind.
Records can be moved up one grade level all at the same time.
If you move records up one grade and do so grade by grade, remember to work from the highest grade to the lowest grade. For example, start with the twelfth grade records and move them to Graduated. Then, move the eleventh graders to twelfth, and so on.
For students moving from an elementary school to a middle school, or middle school to high school, there is no way to change the grade. These records need to be changed individually.
Preschool records should be moved individually to prevent placing all 3, 4 and 5 year olds in Kindergarten.
The Mass Change Log Report lists all records changed with the child's name, UID, previous grade and present grade.
To view the Mass Change Log Report, click View Mass Change Request in the Mass Change folder. Enter the report criteria and click the Search button. When the results display in the Mass Changes section of the screen, click the appropriate numbered blue hyperlink and the report will display.
If you have any question, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

6/1/2007 - DPI Technology Services Client Satisfaction Survey for EC

NCDPI Technology Services is conducting a survey of North Carolina school district administrators and educators who use our services and products. The scope of the particular survey posted here is for Exceptional Children products and services. The information you provide will be useful in helping Technology Services provide services and programs to meet the needs of North Carolina Educators who use technology as instructional, administrative and productivity tools. Please take the time to complete the online survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226K2CMA3WG. All responses will remain confidential. Providing your name and contact information is optional. Please complete the online survey by June 15, 2007. The survey will take less than 15 minutes to complete. Please feel free to share this survey with teachers in your district, we would welcome their participation.

5/31/2007 - CECAS Site Offline Between 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM Today

We will be bringing the CECAS site offline briefly this evening from 5:30 PM until 6:30 PM for required maintenance.

5/31/2007 - Reports Corrected

We have corrected the problem users were experiencing earlier today. All reports are now available for query. Please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, if you are still receiving a Login screen instead of the report criteria screen.

5/31/2007 - Reports

Currently, some users are unable to access Reports. When you select a report to query, you are taken to the Login screen instead of the report criteria. This is an intermittent problem. You may access reports one time and not another. If you attempt to access a report and are taken to the Login Screen, log out of CECAS and log back in. This may take you to the reports server. We are working to correct this and will post when resolved.
Contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us, for all other problems.

5/30/2007 - CECAS Site Offline at 5:30 PM - 8 PM Today

To correct an error with EC forms, we are taking the CECAS server offline at 5:30 PM this evening and will be back by 8 PM today.

5/30/2007 - Reminder: Using EC Forms and Exits

If you use electronic EC Forms fully in CECAS and Close/Verify a DEC3 to place a student already receiving EC services to return to Regular Education, the application creates a new Ineligible Plan on the Plans screen based on this DEC3. In addition, the Status on the Special Ed screen is changed to Ineligible. Users then need to go to the Special Ed screen and change the Status to Inactive, enter a Status Date and Exit Reason, then Save the screen. This will ensure the record will be pulled into the September End of Year Periodic Child Count.

5/29/2007 - CECAS Back Up

ECS has completed their work on the site and everything should be running smoothly. If you are experiencing any technical difficulties please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

5/29/2007 - EC Forms Timing Out

Currently, users are experiencing time out errors when opening forms. We are working on this problem and will post here when corrected. For any other CECAS issue, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

5/25/2007 - Reminder: End of Year Data and PRC 29 Funding

As you are preparing CECAS records for the end of the school year by exiting student records known to be moving, graduating students and making grade and school changes, it is imperative that you do not exit a student record until the PRC 29 End of Year Student Information Form (SIF) is documented in CECAS, if applicable. Once the record is made Inactive on the Special Ed screen, the PRC 29 component of CECAS is no longer available for data entry. PRC 29 End of Year SIFs may be documented in CECAS once all known data is compiled. If you have any questions, contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

5/24/2007 - CECAS Web Address Displays Under Construction

Currently, Users are reporting that the CECAS website is returning an under construction message instead of opening. The site is not under construction. The site is available and accessible, however, due to one of the web productions servers offline for emergency repair today, users may or may not experience the ability to access and log into the application.
If your attempt to access CECAS is not successful, wait a few minutes and try again. Access appears to be intermittent and dependent upon the number of users attempting to access the site. This will continue to occur until the production server is brought back up. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

5/21/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

05/21/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working on correctly this problem and will post here when corrected. For all other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

05/17/2007 - Data Request Form Process

Data Requests allow users to request modifications to their data that cannot be made from within CECAS. Items include deleting student records, deleting closed/verified forms, correcting accidental exits, correcting date entries in locked fields, adding and/or removing schools, and adjusting school grade ranges.

The Data Request Form is located on the Downloads Tab of the CECAS Communications web site under the General Reference and Miscellaneous section. Click the following web address link to access the form.
http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/CECAS_Data_Request_Form.doc
The Data Request Form Process document is also located on the Downloads Tab and can be accessed by clicking the following web address link.
http://www.nccecas.org/downloads/downloads/CECAS_Data_Request_Form_Process.doc

The process is a follows:

1. Access and complete the Data Request Form.
  a. Select the appropriate check box under Type of Request.
  b. Cut and paste the UID into the form in the Details of the Request section. Often users confuse a zero for the letter 'O' and a one for the letter 'I'.
  c. Complete the remaining Details of the Request in the applicable section(s).
  d. Provide the correct LEA Approval Authority by entering the information of the EC Director.

2. Save the form. Do not use the child's name. Use the UID number.

3. Email the form to the CECAS Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. Note: The form must be emailed from the EC Director's email account.

4. The Help Desk reviews the Data Request to ensure accuracy, assigns the request a ticket tracking number, sends the request to ECS for processing, and emails the LEA with the ticket tracking number.

5. ECS receives the Data Request, logs the request into their tracking system assigning a DAT number to the request, and emails the Help Desk with the DAT number.

6. The Help Desk logs the DAT number into the tracking system to ensure no requests are missed.

7. ECS completes the Data Request and informs the Help Desk.

8. The Help Desk informs the EC Director the request is completed and closes the tracking ticket.

5/10/2007 - EC Forms are Opening

The problem with accessing and opening EC Forms is corrected. If you are still experiencing problems opening EC Forms, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

05/10/2007 - We have created a group mailing list to immediately notify all users of any issues or changes that occur in CECAS. This is a self-subscribe list and we encourage all CECAS users to join. To become a member please send an email to subscribe-cecasannouncements@lists.dpi.state.nc.us. This mailing list will supplement NOT replace the announcements we currently place on the communications site at www.nccecas.org If you have any questions please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

05/10/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

5/8/2007 - EC Forms Server

Forms server connections are reestablished and users are able to access EC Forms. If you are still experiencing difficulty accessing EC Forms, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/8/2007 - EC Forms Server Not Responding

Currently, users are reporting problems accessing EC Forms. We are working on it now and will post when corrected. For any other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/4/2007 - EC Forms Server

The EC Forms server connections are reestablished and users are able to access EC Forms. If you are still experiencing difficulty accessing EC Forms, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/4/2007 - EC Forms Server Not Responding

Currently, users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working on it now and will post when corrected. For any other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/4/2007 - PDF DEC4

Currently, users have access to two versions of the DEC4 in CECAS, a web-based version and a PDF version. As we move from PDF forms to web-based forms, all PDF forms will be phased out. Beginning July 1, 2007, the PDF DEC 4 will be removed from the application. Users will no longer have the ability to create a new PDF DEC4 form, however, any PDF DEC4 form created prior to July 1, 2007 in either Draft, Meeting, or Paused status, will remain available to the User and can be Closed/Verified.
LEAS not already using the user-friendly web-based DEC4 need to begin planning staff training on the web-based DEC4. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

5/2/2007 - CECAS Update

Currently, reports are not reflecting any changes to data that have been made in the Data Manager since yesterday morning, May 1.

In order to correct the replication server, the CECAS website will be taken down this evening at 5:30 PM for approximately 3 hours. Users will not be able to access the database during this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

5/1/2007 - Replication Server Down

The reports server is not replicating data entered today. In correcting this problem, users may experience the inability to log into CECAS. This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience.

4/26/2007 - CECAS back up

ECS has completed their work on the site and everything should be running smoothly. If you are experiencing any technical difficulties please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/26/2007 - CECAS Down

ECS will be bringing the site down for about 5 minutes around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. We will post a response to this as soon as everything is back up and running again.

4/26/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems opening EC Forms. We are working on it now and will post here when corrected. For any other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/23/2007 - PRC 29 Updates

Per the memo from Mary Watson and Diann Irwin Subject: PRC 29 Funding for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 dated March 9, 2007, all students who will be served by the PRC 29 funds must be entered into CECAS. If the student already has PRC 29 information in CECAS, only the PRC List screen needs to be completed with a PRC 29 Eligibility of "Request". If the student does not have PRC 29 information in CECAS, complete the PRC 29 List screen with a PRC 29 Eligibility of "Request" and complete a Baseline Student Information Form.

The bug not allowing some Student Information Forms to save is fixed. The Student Information Forms Detail screen will now save. If you still experience problems with this issue, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/19/2007 - Reminder: The DEC3 and Student Status

A closed/verified DEC3 with the selection of "ineligible" for special education services causes the student's status on the Special Ed screen to change to "ineligible". The only way for this record to become "eligible" is through the entry of a new closed/verified DEC3 with "eligible" selected.

4/16/2007 - PRC 29 Student Information Form (SIF) Screen Issue

Some users have reported they are unable to save the Student Information Form (SIF) Screen on selected records. This bug is being worked on and is slated to be fixed no later than close of business Friday, April 20, 2007. If you have any questions or need to report a record with this bug, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

04/26/2007 - We have had reports that some users are still experiencing problems with opening forms this morning. Please use the following steps to clear your internet cache. If you still cannot access forms or experience any other problems, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

From your browser window
Click on Tools
Internet Options
On the first tab labeled General click on Delete Cookies
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears click Delete Files
Check the box for offline content
Click ok
When the hour glass disappears
Close the box and the browser window
You may then open a new browser and log back into CECAS.

4/25/2007 - EC Forms are now working again

If you are currently logged into CECAS, please log out and close your browser before trying to view EC Forms. For any other CECAS issues, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/25/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

4/18/2007 - EC Forms are working again. Please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us if you experience any further problems in CECAS.

4/18/2007 - EC Forms Server Error

4/13/2007 - April 2007 Periodic Count Submission Closes Today

The April 2007 Periodic Child Count submission window is drawing to a close. All LEAs and Charter Schools are to have the status of Certified by close of business today. Several submissions are still in the status of Validation Completed. Please review your child count to ensure your submission status is Certified. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

4/5/2007 - Status of April 2007 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:

Student Records that Turn 22 during the School Year

Due to changes in legislation, records that turn 22 during a school year can continue to be served. Any LEAs that were instructed to delete records over the age of 21 due to no setting in their file can re-submit their child count for reprocessing to ensure they count these records.

Submission Window

All LEAs are to have completed an initial submission by close of business on Friday, April 6, 2007. All certifications are to be completed by close of business April 13, 2007. You may re-submit as often as you need during this time period.

Exited Record Errors

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:

Resolve all active record errors in the student record and re-submit.
Click the "Move to Active, Exited, or Delete Student" link on your "Submission Processing Work Box" screen.
Search for and select the exited record.
Select the radio button next to the record name.
Click the Delete button.
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.

3/30/2007 - EC Forms Server Working

We have re-established the EC Forms server connections and users are now able to access EC Forms. Please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us if you still experience forms not opening.

3/30/2007- EC Forms Server Temporarily Unavailable

Due to a server failure, users are not able to access EC forms in CECAS. We are working to restore the sever to enable access to the EC Forms. We will post here when corrected.

3/27/2007 - April 2007 Child Count Submission Schedule

The April 2007 Child Count begins next week. Please follow the schedule for your submission date. Early submissions will not be accepted. If you have any questions, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

Initial Submission
Guilford and Wake - Monday, April 2, 2007
Charlotte/Mecklenburg and Forsyth - Tuesday, April 3, 2007
All other LEAS and Charter Schools - Wednesday, April 4 through Friday, April 6, 2007

Record corrections and re-submissions can be done throughout the week of Monday, April 9 through Thursday, April 12, 2007

Certification Deadline
All LEAS and Charter Schools - Friday, April 13, 2007

3/22/2007 - Use the Web-based DEC4 Form

Currently, users can access two versions of the DEC4 in CECAS, a web-based version and a PDF version. The PDF DEC4 places a greater burden on the hardware and increases the time out error messages for users. With the unusually high demand on the forms servers, we strongly suggest you only use the web-based version of the DEC4 and refrain from creating any new PDF DEC4 forms.

As we move from PDF forms to all web-based forms, the PDF DEC 4 will be removed from the application and will no longer be available. We will place a notification on this site prior to this occurring. If you have any questions regarding the DEC4 form, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

3/22/2006 - EC Forms Time Out Issues

As LEAs and Charter Schools prepare for the April 2007 Child Count, the forms servers are functioning with an unusually high demand resulting in some users experiencing problems accessing EC Forms. If you attempt to access an EC Form and receive an error message instead of the form, completely shutdown your computer, then re-start. Upon re-entry into CECAS, you should be able to access forms. If this workaround solution does not provide you with access to an EC Form, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us or (919) 807-HELP (4357).

03/15/2007 - Electronic EC Forms Web-based Training Tutorials are Now Available

The EC Delivery Team training staff are proud to announce that the Web-based training (WBT) tutorials are now available under the Training Downloads (EC Forms - Refresher section) of this website. These WBTs are truly cost effective for the users and allow the users the opportunity to learn at their leisure. Please understand that these WBTs are not to replace an initial training session. Instead, they are available for CECAS users to obtain an overview of the Electronic EC Forms within the CECAS application and/or to be used as a refresher to understand how these forms are utilized within the CECAS application.

Please take advantage of reviewing the Electronic EC Forms WBTs. Look for more WBT tutorials in the near future.

03/12/2007 - Join us in Welcoming Quentin Parker to the EC Delivery Team!

Please join us in welcoming Quentin Parker to the EC Delivery Team. As of today, March 12, 2007, Quentin takes on the responsibilities of the Exceptional Children Divisional CIO. In this position, Quentin will ensure that the EC Delivery Team of dedicated staff focus on managing, developing, and maintaining the EC portfolio of information systems, which includes CECAS, EC Grants and other applications. Quentin will also oversee and manage the efforts of the staff to meet an annually-identified set of IS business goals supporting the EC business unit of the NCDPI. We wish him the best of luck in this position and feel comfortable that he will do a fantastic job.

3/20/2007 - Some LEA's have been experiencing difficulties with opening EC forms today. We have notified the vendor and they are working on a solution now. We will post a notification as soon as the problem is corrected.

3/19/2007 - Production Site is Working

The server for the CECAS website was unavailable this morning. The problem was noted just after 7:00 AM this morning and promptly reported to ECS for correction. The problem was isolated, and the server was restored around 10 AM. We do apologize for this inconvenience. If you are still experiencing login unavailability, please contact the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

3/8/2007 - Data Requests that Affect Child Count Deadline is 3/21/2007

Any necessary changes to data within the CECAS application that affect the child count for your LEA need to be submitted to cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us no later than close of business Wednesday, March 21, 2007 to ensure completion prior to April 1. Requests to delete student records do not affect child count. To ensure no counting of duplicate records, uncheck the entitlement box on the Special Ed screen. and save the record.

3/8/2007 - April 2007 Child Count Submission Schedule

Per the April 1, 2007 Child Count memo from Mary Watson dated March 7, 2007, the April 2007 child count for children with disabilities will be transmitted through CECAS based on the submission dates as listed in the table below.

Submission Schedule
LEA	Submission Date
Wake	4/2/2007
Guilford	4/2/2007
Charlotte Mecklenburg	4/3/2007
Forsyth	4/3/2007
All other LEAs and Charter Schools	4/4/2007 through 4/6/2007
Deadline for Certification Status	4/13/2007

Please follow the posted dates schedule for your LEA. Submissions initiated prior to your scheduled date will not be accepted.

The AIG child count will be conducted separately through either SIMS or NCWISE. Dates for the AIG child count electronic pickup can be found in the memo.

3/7/2007 - User Account Information - My Settings Screen

A large number of emails are returned to us with failure to deliver. These include password resets, notifications regarding Set Pending Primary and Upcoming Task Report, as well as emails pertaining to child count. If email addresses and telephone numbers are not correct and current, users are not notified of important information and it is difficult to contact parties to resolve possible issues.
Ensure all users check the information entered on their My Settings screen. Changes to contact information are made on this screen and are reflected in the database once saved.

2/22/2007 - Reports Ready to Prepare for the Periodic Child Count

The Periodic Count Export Student List Report is now available based on the April 2007 Child Count. You are now able to run this report to obtain a list of records that will pull into the count.

To assist in your data preparation, we suggest you run the Period Count Export Student List with Entitled selected to obtain records that will pull into the count, and with Not Entitled selected to see records that do not pull into count due to an unchecked Entitlement Box on the Special Ed screen.

Other reports you may find useful in preparing for Child Count are:
Closed Services Report - to locate records that do not have a current Plan
Quick Student List Report - to see all records entered in CECAS for your LEA

If you have any questions, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

02/20/2007 - Due to recent updates with Internet Explorer, users will be prompted to update their Java Client when accessing Dtool. Please follow the installation instructions and Dtool will open. If you have any problems with the update, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

02/14/2007 - Due to new versions of the DEC4(2a)/Transition and the Manifestation Determination Worksheet, we have made these forms unavailable in CECAS. Please use the forms available to you EC Division Website - http://www.ncpublicschools.org/ec/policy/forms/

Forms that have already been created and are in Meeting or Draft status can be viewed, edited and close/verified.

02/13/2007 - We have found an increasingly high number of duplicate records in the CECAS data base. Please make sure that all Data Entry Personnel are doing a State Wide Search before entering any new student record. Please also use the students FULL LEGAL NAME on the demographics screen so that records can be found by other LEA's. Duplicate entries can cause serious complications at periodic count time and once the records are counted they cannot be deleted from the system. We appreciate your attention to this matter.

02/19/2007 - Reports Server is Working

Users were experiencing problems with report accuracy on Friday. This has now been corrected. If you note any report discrepancies, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

02/16/2007 - Reports Server is Down

The Reports server is not replicating data entered today. This is a severity 1 issue and is being worked on currently. We apologize for this inconvenience.

02/14/2007 - Training Site Issue has now been corrected

The issues users were experiencing yesterday with the Training site have now been corrected. If you are still experiencing problems with the Training site, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us

02/14/2007 - Training Site Issue

Currently the CECAS Training web site is experiencing problems.
We apologize for any inconveniences that this may be causing you, and are working to ensure that the problems will be cleared up as soon as possible.

02/08/2007 - Recent calls and communications to DPI have determined that PRC 29 data entry is still confusing to CECAS users. We are adding a new tab to the Communications site which will be labeled FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). This section will include information for PRC 29 entry as well as other helpful questions and answers related to documenting records in CECAS. As always, please feel free to call the help desk with any questions.

PRC 29 Data Entry

1. With the student record open on the screen, select PRC 29 from the Go To drop list. You are now on the PRC-29 List screen.
2. Click the SIF button. You are now on the Student Information Form List screen.
3. Click the New button. The Student Information Form opens.
4. Complete the SIF.

End of Year was due 8/15/06

1. Sif Type = End of Year
2. School year = 2005-2006
3. SIF Date = August 15, 2006
4. Click the Add button to access the Services/Interventions checklist - Must have the service and Must have at least one intervention
5. Hours in School - Hours per day/based on IEP
6. Test Scores / Grades - From second semester of last school year
a. Math and Reading Test Scores for 3-8 only
b. Can enter a letter to get a pre-determined grade, or can enter the actual number grade 97, 99, 100

Mid-Year due 2/15/07

1. Sif Type = Mid-Year
2. School year = 2006-2007
3. SIF Date = The date you are entering the information on this screen
4. Click the Add button to access the Services/Interventions checklist - Must have the service and Must have at least one intervention
5. Hours in School - Hours per day/based on IEP
6. Test Scores / Grades - From first semester of this school year
a. Math and Reading Test Scores for 3-8 only
b. Can enter a letter to get a pre-determined grade, or can enter the actual number grade 97, 99, 100

Upcoming CECAS Training - Behavioral Support Services (PRC 29) Schedule for Morning of February 2, 2007 Has Been Cancelled

There is some upcoming CECAS training on Behavioral Support Services (PRC 29) scheduled for this Friday, February 2, 2007 at the Caldwell County Schools Education Center. Currently, there are two (2) half-day sessions (morning and afternoon) planned for that day.

As you may have heard by now, there is a possibility of inclement weather forecasted for Thursday, the day before the training. In considering your safety first, the morning session scheduled from 9am-12am has been cancelled. If you have registered for this session, please try to attend the afternoon session instead. The afternoon session is scheduled from 1pm-4pm. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Khalilah O'Farrow at kofarrow_cecas@yahoo.com.

If the weather is inclement on Friday, February 2, forcing the afternoon session to be cancelled, notification will be posted to the CECAS Communication website news (www.nccecas.org) on Friday by 11am. If there is no posting, then the afternoon session will continue as planned. Thank you for your cooperation on this matter.

1/30/2007 - PRC 29 Data Entry

Some users entering PRC 29 data into CECAS are not able to access the Services/Interventions pop-up screen fully. We are working to correct this and will post when fixed.

1/25/2007 - CECAS EC Forms

CECAS EC Forms are working properly. The issues users were experiencing yesterday are now corrected.

01/22/2007 - CECAS Updates

Currently, there are two bugs affecting users in CECAS. PC users on Internet Explorer 7 are not able to access DTool due to a runtime error. MAC users on Netscape cannot open forms. We are working to correct these.

If you need to report other issues with CECAS, please email the HelpDesk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us. If you must call, please call 919-807-4357 (HELP).

1/19/2007 - CECAS Training Scheduled for the week of January 22

CECASathon January 2007 at NCDPI (Raleigh, NC) - Scheduled for January 22 - 23
The weather prediction for Sunday, January 21 is that there's a possibility of inclement weather that might make Monday morning too treacherous to be on the highways. Because we don't know if the weather conditions will indeed be adverse, the Monday morning session (January 22) has been changed to begin at 11:00 am instead of 9:00 am - just to be on the safe side. If the weather is adverse, Monday's session will be canceled. If Monday's session is canceled, there will be a message posted to the CECAS Communication website news (www.nccecas.org/) by 8:00 am Monday morning. The Tuesday morning session (January 23) is still scheduled to begin at 9:00 am, unless otherwise notified via the CECAS Communication website. If Monday's training is canceled for the day, then Tuesday's training is canceled as well. In that situation, we ask that training participants try to reschedule with Angelia Rogers (arogers@dpi.state.nc.us) to attend the following week at NCDPI, Monday - Tuesday, January 29 -30.

CECASathon January 2007 at Union County Staff Development Center (Monroe, NC) - Scheduled for January 25-26
As far as we can tell, this training will remain as scheduled. If anything changes, a message will be posted to the CECAS Communication website news on Thursday, January 25, by 7:00 am.

CECAS - Behavioral Support Services (PRC 29) Training at the WRESA Center (Asheville, NC) - Scheduled for January 22 and 23
CECAS - Behavioral Support Services (PRC 29) is scheduled for 4 identical half-day sessions occuring Monday and Tuesday, January 22-23. As stated above, the weather prediction for Sunday, January 21 is that there's a possibility of inclement weather that might make Monday morning too treacherous to be on the highways. Just to be on the safe side, the Monday morning session (9:00am- 12:00pm) has been canceled. Registrants scheduled for that time are welcome to attend the Monday afternoon session (1:00pm- 4:00pm) or either of Tuesday's session (morning or afternoon) instead. If Monday afternoon's session is canceled, a message will be posted to the Communication website by 10:00am on Monday morning. If either of the Tuesday sessions is changed, a message will be posted to the CECAS Communication website news on Tuesday morning, January 23, by 8:00am.

Please ensure to continuously review the CECAS Communication website news to be current with details of CECAS training. If you have further questions, feel free to contact your assigned CECAS trainer.

1/24/2007 - CECAS Site Offline at 5 PM - 8 PM Today

To correct an error with EC forms, we are taking the CECAS server offline at 5 PM this evening and will be back at 8 PM today.

01/24/2007 - EC Forms Not Opening

Currently, users are reporting problems with EC forms not opening in CECAS. We are working on correctly this and will post when corrected.

1/19/2007 - Production Site Offline Today at 4:30 PM

The CECAS Production site will be offline today from approximately 4:30 PM to 9:30 PM for required maintenance to update the SSL Security certificates.

01/19/2007 - CECAS Updates

The problems users experienced yesterday (1/18) have been corrected. All users are now able to login to the application.

To report a problem with CECAS, please email at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us If email is unavailable, call 919-807-HELP. When calling identify this as a CECAS issue. Your call will then be routed to the EC HelpDesk.

01/18/2007 - Production (Live) Site

Currently, users are experiencing technical difficulty logging into the production site. From the Login screen, the user is taken to a blank screen. We hope to have this corrected very soon and we appreciate your understanding and patience.

01/16/2007 - The CECAS Help Desk is now relocated to NCDPI. Please direct all problems and inquiries to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

If you need to call the help desk, please dial 1-919-807-HELP (4357). You will be asked to identify yourself and the application you are calling about and will be routed to our CECAS Help desk support. Thank you for your patience during this transition period.

01/04/2007 - CECAS Production Site

The issues users were experiencing early today have now been corrected. Issues you may have encountered include not being able to enter a new record and no access to the programs/services screen.
If you are still experiencing problems with the production site, please email the Help Desk at cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

01/02/2007 - CECAS Help Desk Relocated to NCDPI

The CECAS Help Desk is now relocated to NCDPI. Please direct all problems and inquiries to: cecas-support@dpi.state.nc.us.

01/04/2007 - CECAS Production and Training Site Issues

Currently the CECAS production and training web sites are experiencing problems.
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.

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.

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:

Next and Back buttons as well as a section drop list for quick navigation
Auto-save to avoid losing documented data
Additional Comments pages to accommodate the necessity of more comments
Unlimited free form text fields to document any amount of text
Simplified entry of lists, such as related services, committee members and assessments that allow for an unlimited number of items that can be entered in lists.

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:

How to log into the CECAS application
How to search for a child record
How to create and maintain a child record
How to generate specific reports for preparing for a periodic child count
How to conduct a periodic child count submission

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.

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.