ELSA SSID User Guide - How to Assign SSIDs in ELSA

ELSA SSID Policy

All children receiving early learning scholarships must be assigned a statewide student identification number. The statewide student identification number is the mechanism for identifying children participating in Early Childhood Family Education, School Readiness and Early Learning Scholarships and is critical to the discussion around the alignment of preschool programs and funding to K-12 data. Assignment of state student identification number and validation of the student identification number for early learners participating in these programs will be the responsibility of the resident school district. MARSS Coordinators will see all resident children receiving either a Pathway I or Pathway II scholarship on their list of children to assign an SSID.

Login to ELSA

1.1.

1.2. Select ‘Enter Early Learning Scholarship Administration (ELSA)’

1.3. Enter your username and password (you will automatically have access to ELSA as an SSID Maintainer. This role can only view the list of child awaiting an SSID. If you will also be the staff member entering scholarship award information, see Step 2.1.) If you do not need additional access, skip to step 3.1.

Tip: if you time out or have trouble logging in, close your browser window and re log-in.

Request Additional Security (optional if you will be adding scholarship awards for your district)

All MARSS Coordinators have automatically been granted access to ELSA. When you log in, you will see a list of all children in ELSA waiting for an SSID to be assigned. If you will be the staff member to enter the Pathway II scholarships attending your school district, you must request additional security and be on your Superintendent’s authorization list.

2.1 Click on the ‘Request SA Access link in the left navigation screen.

2.2 A new window open. Click on “Request Application Access.”

2.3 Choose the Scholarship Administrator role.

2.4 An email notification will be sent to MDE to verify your Superintendent has authorized you to enter data into ELSA for your school district. If authorization has been granted, your request will be approved and you will receive an email. (Superintendent Authorization Form)

Assigning SSIDs in ELSA

3.1 The home page will be a list scholarship student statewide awaiting the assignment of an SSID. To filter the list down to your district, click on the dropdown list and select your district. Click on “update List”.

3.2The list will narrow down to the resident children of the school district selected. There are 10 children per page you will see page numbers at the bottom of the list if there are additional pages.

3.3The list of children will have a 13 digit SSID number or the number zero in the SSID column:

  1. If the child has a single perfect match (First, middle, last name, gender, and date of birth) with MARSS data, then the SSID will pull into ELSA. If the number looks appropriate, you click save and the number is now assigned to the child. The child name will drop from your list.
  2. If there is no perfect match in MARSS, you will need to access the MARSS system. There are two ways to use the MARSS system:
  1. Click on “Lookup” next to the child’s name

ii. If you leave the SSID number as 0, and click on the ‘go to the SSID system’, it will take you to the Search Screen in MARSS.

iii. In the search screen, you should delete the zeros in the SSID number and include or exclude the various child data fields to search for the child in MARSS.

iv. If you would rather go to the Validate Screen in MARSS, enter any digit after the 0 in the SSID field and click “lookup”.

v. If a match is not found with the SSID you entered, a new message will appear. Click on “go to the SSID system.”

vi. Now you will be in the Validate Screen of MARSS. The validate screen is less restrictive than the Search Screen, and will allow you to see children similar to the child you are validating. This may be a preferred search option to ensure duplicate children are not being created.

vii. Follow the MARSS Coordinator rules and procedures to generate a new SSID for the child when no matches or similar children were found.

viii. Once you generate a new SSID for the child, the number will automatically pull into ELSA when you refresh the webpage. Click Lookup next to the child’s name and the child will drop off the list.

ix. At any time you can click on the PDF icon to see the Parent Name and Address, as well as the Child Name, address, and scholarship award information. The PDF will also list the organization that entered the child’s information; Regional Administrator, School District, or Head Start name and address. The next section will cover what to do when your MARSS search finds similar children that may be duplicates to the ELSA child.

B) Returning a Child back to the RA or SA

4.1 If you know the child information is ELSA is incorrect, or when you validate a child in MARSS and you think the child may already exist in MARSS but has a different name, birthdate, or gender, you may return a child’s data back to the entity that created the child.

Example: I think the ELSA child is close to an existing MARSS child, I want the SA to review the gender.

4.2. Click on return to “SA/RA”

4.3. The child will be removed from your list. The SSID status will be updated to ‘returned’ for the RA/SA that entered the child. They will be able to update the Name, Birthdate, and Gender fields and save the child to resubmit for SSID assignment.

4.4. When the RA/SA corrects the name, birthdate, or gender and saves the Child’s data, the SSID status changes back to pending.

4.5. And the child is back on the MARSS Coordinator’s list to assign an SSID.

4.6. There is no note or communication that is automated when you return a child back to the RA/SA. If you have a reason you are returning the child [e.g. the gender seems wrong, there is a similar child in MARSS with a birthdate one year off, the last name should be hyphenated], you should communicate with the RA/SA what information needs to be corrected. To identify who the RA/SA is, click on the PDF next to the child’s name.

4.7. This will open a PDF of the entire Scholarship Package. Parent/Guardian Name and Address, Child Name, Address, Gender, Birthdate, and the scholarship and program information associated with the child. In the top right corner, it lists the entity that created the child in ELSA.

4.8. Contact information for the 13 Regional Administrators will be posted here in Bulletin #2.

C) Duplicate child in ELSA

5.1. ELSA was designed to prevent duplicate entry of a child into the system. If a child has a duplicate entry in ELSA, the only way an RA/SA may save the child’s data is by entering a note on why the child is different from the child that already exists in ELSA. (Note: They system does not consider a child with no middle name and the same child with an abbreviation or full middle name to be duplicates. Always entering the full name when known is critical). The second child entered will have an award status = investigating.

5.2. When assigning an SSID to either the original child, or the duplicate child, the SSID number will pull in for both children. We are currently redesigning this process and will update this documentation when complete.

5.3. The "i" icon to the left of the child's name indicates the RA/SA entered a note explaining why the child was entered as a duplicate

ELSA SSID User Guide - How to assign SSIDs in ELSA– June 20151