October 20, 2011

NEW ONLINE CONSOLIDATED APPLICATION AND REPORTING SYSTEM (CARS) — RESPONSE REQUESTED BY NOVEMBER 4

The purpose of this letter is to make you aware of the upcoming release of the Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) and confirm your approval for your CARS Local Educational Agency (LEA) Administrator. The CARS LEA Administrator is the person who will have the authority to grant permissions for individuals to access your LEA’s data in CARS. We plan to release CARS this winter and will be providing training to the CARS LEA Administrators in the near future. By default, we will assign the CARS LEA Administrator role to the individual that your LEA listed as the Consolidated Application (ConApp) contact person as submitted to us on the 2011–12 Consolidated Application (ConApp), Part I. If your LEA submitted the 2011–12 ConApp, Part I, that contact person’s name and e-mail address are listed below. In some cases, the individual listed below may not be an employee of your LEA.

If you want to change your CARS LEA Administrator as listed below or if it is listed as “Unknown”, it is very important that you contact the ConApp Help Desk at conappsupport@cde.ca.gov, or by phone at 916-319-0297 and provide the name, phone number and e-mail of the person you have selected as your CARS LEA Administrator by close of business Friday, November 4, 2011.

ConApp Contact — Default CARS LEA Administrator
Name: [insert name]
E-mail account: [insert contact’s e-mail here]

A new CARS web page for disseminating information has been created on the CDE Web site at: http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/co/cars.asp. The attached documents contain more information about CARS. Please share these documents with those individuals involved in preparing your LEA’s Consolidated Application. If you have any questions, please contact the ConApp Help Desk.

Sincerely,

Sonya Edwards
Education Administrator, Education Data Office
cc: Consolidated Application Contact
Enclosure

CARS BACKGROUND

The CARS is an on-line system that will replace the desktop version of the Consolidated Application Data System (CADS). CARS is the new on-line system your LEA will use to submit the Consolidated Application for formula based categorical programs, track categorical program expenditures and report on program activities. Additional information about CARS will be posted on CDE’s web site at: at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/co/cars.asp

CARS SCOPE STATEMENT

The CARS project scope covers the redevelopment of the Consolidated Application system and process to preserve current capabilities, which are:

• To capture application data for categorical funding;
• To capture relevant expenses and tracking data for categorical programs;
• To support administration of the collection (i.e., identify which LEAs are required to submit, which have not yet submitted);
• To provide applicants with printable documentation for local board review and approval;
• To capture carryover for future expenditure;
• To distinctly administer user and system administrator access; and
• To enable data extraction to support:
  • Program administration,
  • Program reporting,
  • Program compliance,
  • Support broader CDE needs,
  • Federal reporting (EDFacts/CSPR).
    
• This project scope does not include:
  • Supporting quarterly cash balance reporting;
  • CDE providing public reporting of data collected;
  • Providing a list of funding opportunities (that is a separate process);
  • Serving as a grant management tool (there are multiple systems across the department for this purpose);
  • Serving as a repository for monitoring exceptions;
  • Serving as the LEA Plan;
  • Serving as the primary data collection to meet the federal submission requirements of the Consolidated State Performance Report; and
  • Determining program entitlements.
    

CARS BENEFITS

The new CARS has many benefits as compared with the existing desktop version in the following areas:

• No need to download and install — updates are seamless;
• Multiple LEA staff can enter and update data in the system;
• Displays and reports only data for select categorical programs that are applicable to your LEA;
• Retains all certified data — historical and current, thereby supporting an audit trail; provides an overview of data collection status, which will make it easier for your staff to track submission status; and allows your staff to submit those data sets that are error free without having to wait until all data sets are clean. For example, your staff can submit the Title I Part A Expenditure Report if it is error free even though the Title II Expenditure Report data may have errors.
  

KEY TIMEFRAMES

Below are some general timeframes for CARS preparation activities:

• October/November — Identifying users and roles
• November — CDE Testing CARS
• October/November — System Training
• December — Statewide Roll Out

NEXT STEPS FOR YOUR LEA

Here are some pre-release activities to help you prepare your LEA for the change.

• IMPORTANT!! No later than Friday, November 4, so that your LEA staff have access to the system, it is important that your LEA superintendent’s office notify regarding any changes to your CARS LEA Administrator. If CDE does not hear from you, the person who controls access to the CARS system for your LEA will be set by default or not exist.
• Convene a meeting with categorical program directors and their staff that are involved in the ESEA Title I, Title II, Title III, Title IV, Title IX to make sure they are aware of the CARS, its benefits, key dates, etc.
• Have your staff (technical, data management and program staff) browse the new CARS web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/co/cars.asp and have them contact the CARS help desk if they have any questions.
• Make sure your staff are signed up on the listserv for the Consolidated Application. You can do so by going to the ConApp web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/aa/co/. It is important that future CARS users are signed up on the listserv given that it is our primary channel for sending information (e.g., upcoming training, changes in the system, etc.). Have your categorical program and data staff attend a webinar on CARS. The CARS webinars will be announced via our listserv.
• Have your CARS users attend the CARS training, which will be announced via the listserv.