California Division of Workers’ Compensation Accelerates Work With External Users In Preparation For EAMS Implementation

Sacramento, CA  (CompNewsNetwork) - The California Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) announces preparation for the new Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS) to go live on Aug. 25. The DWC is expanding it's work with external users to help prepare them for EAMS.

“As go-live draws near, external users need to decide whether they want to use e-forms or OCR forms to file their documents in EAMS,” said DWC Court Administrator Keven Star. “And we want them to work with us to be sure they are ready.”

To that end, DWC posted a forms submission video demonstration in June to its EAMS Web site to detail the process. And this month the division is working directly with external users who will be affected by the transition.

On July 21, a group of 40 volunteers began a month-long EAMS pilot to help DWC test the system's readiness for external users. During the external pilot the volunteers---a representative group of non-DWC employees who regularly interact with the division---are filing documents using current forms and processes, while also filing them in EAMS using either new optical character recognition (OCR) paper forms designed for scanners or new electronic, Web-based forms (e-forms) that are sent over the Internet.

The volunteers are reporting their activities in EAMS to DWC, which then checks the system to make sure the documents were properly filed. DWC has also extended its outreach efforts to external users in the following areas:

OCR forms developers: On July 18, DWC released 10 “third draft” OCR forms to developers who are working to include the EAMS-ready forms in their own systems. The DWC's OCR forms will be available to all external users on Aug. 25 from DWC's Web site, where they can be filled out, printed and filed in hard copy format at a DWC district office. However, those who want to develop a version of the new OCR forms that will work both in EAMS and their own forms flow systems have been working with DWC for several months to be able to do so. More information on this process can be found in the division's June 9 newsline on the forms testing lab. Forms developers who did not receive the July 18 draft OCR forms by e-mail, and who want to participate in developing their own OCR forms to work in EAMS, can send an e-mail to EAMS@dir.ca.gov with “OCR Forms” in the subject line.

E-forms trial: On July 17, DWC began accepting requests from external users who've volunteered to participate in an e-forms trial. E-forms are Web forms that allow documents to be filed into EAMS over the Internet. These volunteers will be filing all of their documents in EAMS using e-forms during the period of their participation in the e-forms trial. External users who are interested in volunteering to participate in the e-forms trial, who did not already receive DWC's e-mail announcing the trial, should immediately send an e-mail to EAMS@dir.ca.gov with “E-Forms Trial” in the subject line. The current deadline for requests to participate is Friday, July 25.

Educational guides: On July 16, DWC held an all-day meeting with external users who volunteered to help prepare a series of educational pieces about EAMS for external users. The team of external users and DWC personnel will begin by preparing a demonstration to help external users decide whether e-forms or OCR forms best meet their filing needs. When this and other materials are completed they will be posted on the EAMS Web site, along with the growing collection of EAMS external user resources already there. External users interested in helping prepare EAMS educational materials should send an e-mail to EAMS@dir.ca.gov with “How-to Volunteer” in the subject line.

For more information about EAMS, point your browser to DWC's EAMS Web page at www.dwc.ca.gov/eams for an overview of the system and the newsletter EAMS Insider. Questions can be emailed to EAMS@dir.ca.gov.

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