MIS & Data Unit Communications

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

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

Thank you for your patience!

6/12/25 - Firebase outage impacting mobile app

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

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

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

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

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

Reminder! New weekly Mobile Management purge beings June 15

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

Beginning June 15, a new purge of Mobile Management records will occur every week on Sunday. This regularly-scheduled purge will assist agencies in managing their conversations by removing old conversations and their attachments. This may also improve its processing speed. This purge will include:

• Closed conversations: 1 month after the closed date.
• Open conversation and any attachments:
  • 1 month after the date of the last response.
  • 1 month after being created if have never been replied to and/or viewed.

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

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

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

6/4/25 - Milk transactions working again

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

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

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

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

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

App Message

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

5/29/25 - Reminder! Food package changes beginning June 9

Food package changes for milk, formula, mostly-breastfed infants 0-1 months old, and infant cash-value benefits (CVBs) begin on June 9.

Evaporated milk

You must ensure all households with members receiving evaporated milk have a benefit cycle with a last date to use (LDTU) of the 6th. Agencies can use the FOOD & FORMULA ITEMS ISSUED BY PFDTU Infoview report to identify participants receiving evaporated milk who may still need their benefit cycle adjusted. Remember to discuss this cycle change with the family and that they will not be able to purchase evaporated milk until June 9.

Other food items

Milk

Beginning June 9, participants with the standard or default milk food item can choose the type of milk they want to purchase at the store. The description for this milk food item will automatically update to include “(WIC-allowed).” On June 9th, the default food package will also include this updated description for milk. Participants with specific types of milk in their food package (lactose-free, soy beverage, goat milk, and powdered milk) will still only be able to buy that type of specific milk. Since these food items will be inactive on October 31, you will need to update their food package sometime before that.

Formula

Beginning June 9, a new WIC-allowed Formula-Powder food item will be available. Families can purchase any type of contract powdered formula when issued this food item. You do not need to update the food package for infants currently receiving specific powdered contract formula if their current formula is working well, but this should be issued for new infants and when adjusting food packages (when issuing contract powdered formula). The specific powdered contract formula food items will continue to be available for direct ship.

Mostly breastfed (MBF) 0-1-month food package

The maximum amount of formula allowed for MBF infants up to 1 month of age will be increased to 435 oz (up to 4 cans powdered). The default will continue to be 1 can.

Infant CVBs

Beginning June 9, the Fruits and Vegetables – (WIC-ALLOWED) food item will be available in the 9-11-month default food package. Families can also purchase frozen or canned fruits and vegetables when issued this food item. Since this food item will be inactive on October 31, you will need to update any existing 9-11-month infant food packages sometime before that.

More information

For more information, please review the following:

• WINNIE Update Document – Food Package Changes (PDF)
• Food Package Changes to implement on June 9 (PDF)
• Food Package Updates

5/15/25 - IMPORTANT! An error received during Change Household ID can result in an over-issuance of benefits

If you receive the following ERROR Message during a Change Household ID:

Do not close the error message to reattempt the Change Household ID process. Call the MN Help Desk immediately (1-800-488-8799 - press 2, 1) for assistance.

When the above error is received, each attempt to finish the Change Household ID will result in an over-issuance of benefits.

This issue will be fixed in the next WINNIE Release 3.5.1 and has been added to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues webpage.

5/8/25 - Food package updates

On June 6-8, the state will be making back-end changes to the Information System and the WIC Processor so that the food package changes detailed in the WINNIE Update Document – Food Package Changes (PDF) document can begin on June 9.

All WINNIE users should review this document before June 9 to understand the changes and their impact on food packages and participants.

Beginning 8:00 PM on Friday, June 6 through 7:00 AM Monday, June 9, all WINNIE environments (Clinic, Training, and Infoview) will be UNAVAILABLE.

Change password required as of May 15

There was a bug affecting the password expiration settings, which was fixed in Release 3.4.1 installed last weekend. Since it is a security requirement that passwords are changed at least every 90 days, we will be forcing a password reset for all WINNIE users on Thursday, May 15.

When you first login on or after May 15, you will receive a message that your password has expired and needs to be changed.

Once you’ve successfully reset your password, WINNIE will begin requiring you to change your password every 90 days.

5/7/25 - Windows 11 update and installation on WIC computers

All state-owned WIC computers must upgrade to Windows 11 since Windows 10 will soon be unsupported, which poses security risks. All agencies should plan to implement Windows 11 by July 11 on all state-owned computers. Once each computer is updated, you must send proof of the Windows 11 update to the MN Help Desk.

The Windows 11 Update & Installation (PDF) document provides step-by-step instructions on how to update the state-owned computers to Windows 11 and how to obtain proof of the update to send to the Help Desk.

State and Locally Owned Computers
If your agency is still using both state and locally owned computers, you should return all state-owned computers. Agencies should only be using locally owned computers, not a mix of state and local owned. Contact the Help Desk (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com) to request return labels for all state-owned machines.

Locally Owned Computers
If your agency uses locally owned computers, you should transition to Windows 11 prior to the October 2025 end-of-support for Windows 10. Contact your local IT to assist with your transition to Windows 11.

State Owned Computers

• If you have 5580 machines, these cannot be updated to Windows 11. Agencies should have received an email from the State Office if they currently have any of these machines.
• If you are planning to start using locally owned computers, the technical specifications and requirements for WINNIE can be found in the Using Locally Owned Computers for WIC (PDF) document.

3/7/25 - App registration Infoview report

Revised 6/18/25

A revised Infoview report on app registrations titled WIC APP & HOUSEHOLD REGISTRATIONS is available in the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> WIC App folder. This report provides provide lists of households not registered for the app; registered households and whether they have opted in for Contact Us and the default app language being used; and counts by clinic for the specified agency and statewide by agency.

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

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

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

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

Questions?

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

1/27/25 - WIC Local Agency Portal

Overview

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

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

Accessing the Local Agency Portal

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

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

Accessing Some Interactive Dashboards

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

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

Logging into the Tableau Server for the First Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11/21/24 - WINNIE environments

No reports environment in WINNIE

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

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

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

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

WINNIE training environment

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

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

WINNIE office environment

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

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

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

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

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

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