Applications
are taken and processed to determine eligibility and benefit levels
and to establish the basic client application record for each
program year. When an application is entered into the system,
the basic client data is retrieved from the Client Database with
the remaining data supplied from the application. Clients who
were in the program in the prior year may be rolled over to the
next program year to provide the basic data for the application.
Once clients are certified and approved according to the program
regulations, the system determines benefit levels and can process
payments to the client, the client's fuel vendor, the client's
landlord, or the landlord's fuel vendor on behalf of the client.
CAPTAIN
interfaces with vendors and utility companies to notify them
of eligible clients and their benefit levels as they are approved
for assistance. LIHEAP also interfaces with Weatherization and
all other agency services as well as with state funding sources.
When
program regulations call for producing actual payments, the
system prints checks, check registers, and all necessary back-up
documentation. Many other features are built in like flexible
queries, payments to alternate vendors and fuel sources, leveraging
techniques, the ability to re-calculate benefits if supplemental
funds become available, appointment scheduling, tracking clients
who are in arrears from prior programs, LIHEAP vendor tracking,
and a broad range of statistical reporting capabilities to monitor
the program, payments, and characteristics of the client population
served.
