WINNIE the Scoop! Newsletters

June 4, 2026

Upcoming important dates

• Friday, June 19 – Juneteenth National Independence Day – MN Help Desk AVAILABLE and State Office CLOSED
• Tuesday, June 30 – deadline: complete review of Infoview agency-specific folder contents
• Friday, July 3 – observation of July 4th – MN Help Desk and State Office CLOSED

Phase 3 June guidance - adjusting benefits

The Phase 3 Food Package Changes – June Guidance (PDF) document was updated with the following information:

• Adjusting May, June, and July benefits when breastfeeding status changes.
• Required documentation for breastfeeding status changes in WINNIE if unable to adjust benefits until later.
• Options for tracking participants who need adjusted benefits for June/July.

The following was provided in a June 2 email.

Some reiterations/clarifications:

June and July benefits for women and children can be adjusted beginning on the household’s Printed First Date to Use (PFDTU) in June. This is a transition issue as we shift to the new food packages.

As long as a household has May benefits, the Adjust Benefits page will be locked for women and children because it is unable to adjust the current set. Since we issue rolling month benefits, some households will have May benefits that expire as late as June 27. You will be unable to adjust June or July benefits for women and children until their May benefits have expired. Issues like these emphasize why it is always so important to double-check food packages with families and before issuing benefits.

Documentation requirements
To ensure food packages for women with breastfeeding status changes are adjusted so that they are receiving the appropriate quantities of food, documentation is required to provide a method for tracking and verifying that the changes were made. Documentation in WINNIE is only required for breastfeeding women.

Tracking adjustments
The Adjust Benefits note/priority alert subject was added for the purpose of tracking breastfeeding status changes that required adjusted benefits. However, it can be used to track any participant adjustments since some women and children may need other adjustments that must also wait until their June Printed First Date to Use (PFDTU). The Infoview report, NOTES AND DOCUMENTATION, can help with tracking these adjustment needs as well. You can also use the tracking form, Track June/July Benefit Adjustments (WORD), for this purpose.

Potential scenarios
There are a lot of different scenarios that may occur in clinic. Please refer to the Phase 3 Food Package Changes – June Guidance (PDF) document or call the Help Desk for assistance (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2).

We apologize for any confusion this is causing. Please contact us (Questions & Feedback) if any questions.

DIRECT SHIP ONLY added to powdered formula descriptions in WINNIE

As of one year ago in June, we added the WIC Contract Formula – Powder food item so that families could choose the type of contract formula they want to use while at the store. Guidance at that time was to select this food item for all new infant food prescriptions for powdered contract formula and that existing food prescriptions did not need to be updated.

As this time, all infants issued powdered contract formula should have the WIC Contract Formula – Powder food item in their food package unless the powdered contract formula has to be direct-shipped for some reason.

To ensure the specific powdered contract formulas are only selected if they need to be direct shipped, we have added “DIRECT SHIP – ONLY” to their descriptions in the WINNIE Food Item dropdown.

Agencies can use the FOOD AND FORMULA BY PFDTU Infoview template to identify infants whose food packages may need to be edited to provide the WIC Contract Formula – Powder food item. The Food Item IDs for the DIRECT SHIP - ONLY powdered contract formulas are: 153;399;405;409;411.

Best practice: change Household ID when foster family custody changes

A local agency asked a couple of questions about what happens in the WIC app and HyVee Aisles Online when a custody change occurs, and a household ID change is completed, or cards are deactivated/reassigned.

MN WIC App
Deactivating a card does not affect the participant’s registration within the MN WIC App. If a custody change occurs and the CPA simply updates the proxy and issues a new card, the previous proxy will still be able to view all information in the WIC app, including benefits, appointments, and certification details.

However, when a change Household ID is completed and the child is successfully moved to a new household ID, the previous household will no longer see that child’s information. This is because the “old” household ID no longer has any account data associated with that child.

HyVee Aisles Online
If a WIC card is added to an Aisles Online account, and that card is later replaced, it does not affect the Aisles Online account’s access to the benefits. This is because the technology through which Aisles Online works authenticates the shopper to the household’s WIC account, not just to a specific card. If there is a custody change, the previous proxy would still have access and that would need to be removed on the back-end.

However, when a change Household ID is completed, the “old” household no longer has access to any benefits, and if they attempt to use benefits through Aisles Online, the transaction will be rejected because no benefits remain associated with the “old” Household ID.

Best Practice
In lieu of these scenarios, best practice is to always change the Household ID when foster care changes occur, even when custody remains within the same county and it is just a new foster parent gaining custody.

New bugs/issues added to WINNIE Bugs & Issues webpage

The following bugs have been added to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues page on the MDH WIC website.

Income: Incorrect over income message triggered when hourly income is assessed a second time.

Added 6/2/26 (URB 264134)

Description: An incorrect over-income message displays for eligible incomes when you save an income record with an hourly frequency and it is subsequently assessed or saved a second time. This appears to occur in the following two scenarios:

1. Certification resumed — Hourly income is entered during a certification, certification mode is closed, then certification mode is resumed, and the system automatically resaves the income.
2. Copy Items to Current Income — The system accepts the initial hourly income without issue. However, when the hourly income is copied to the current income, the system treats this as a second assessment, which triggers the incorrect Over Income message.

In both cases, the system interprets the second save action as a new assessment of the hourly income, which causes an incorrect Over Income warning to appear. This confirms that the message is tied to the second review/save, not the initial entry.

What to do: If the income you are trying to copy is hourly, create a new income contact. Add an alert with the original date of the income you would have copied.

Resolution: Release 3.7.0

Reminders

Provide feedback about Help Desk assistance

You can use the Minnesota WIC Help Desk Feedback Form to submit feedback you want to give about a Help Desk experience. This form is currently found on the Local Agency page in the Forms section under Feedback/Questions/Complaints and the Local Agency WINNIE Support page.

Infoview reports that need revision

If you use an Infoview report that has any of the following information in the output, please verify that you are using an updated version since the transition to WINNIE. All revisions are listed on the Infoview Report Revisions and Corrections page of the MDH WIC website. If your template hasn’t been updated, or if you're not sure it is working correctly, please request that the template be revised using the Local Agency Reports & Data Request. The following can cause issues with the report output:

• Staff IDs – displays SWEB IDs for all new staff.
• Income create date/time – overwritten when new household members added.
• Cultural Identity (state use) – will not show new records.
• Local Use Answers – will not show new records.
• New certifications – may not be accurate.
• New households/participants – may not be accurate.

Infoview agency-specific folders

Please make sure to review your agency-specific folders by June 30 and send an email to Sarah.mallberg@state.mn.us with any reports you would like to keep for future use. These will be moved to a new combined “Agency” folder before deleting the agency-specific folders in early July. For more information, see the Reminder! Agency-specific Infoview reports in the May WINNIE the Scoop!

New food calculators in WINNIE

You’ve probably noticed that the food calculators have looked different since Release 3.5.1 was installed last October. They’ve been added for all food items to allow flexibility if new federal substitutions rules are created in the future. For most food items, the Category Limit (maximum combined amount that can be provided), Allocated (amount currently in food package), and Remaining (amount that can still be added to the food package) are all that are pertinent. However, with the new substitution rules for juice/CVB and eggs/legumes, the Substitutions Available and Substitutions Made have been added to provide additional information.

To explain how they work, we’ll use eggs/legumes. Substitutions Available shows for the food item that has an amount that can be added (legumes) based on what was removed (eggs). For instance, if you remove/delete one dozen eggs, when viewing the calculator for legumes, it displays 16 since 16 ounces can now be added in lieu of the one dozen eggs.

Clicking the information icon under Substitutions Available displays an explanation of the substitution that is available:

The Substitutions Made displays information for the food item that was decreased, or in most cases, deleted (eggs). In food packages 4-6, we won’t see this because they have only 1 dozen eggs and once deleted, you can’t view the eggs calculator. However, in Food Package 7 or 7+, where there are two or three dozen eggs, respectively, we can. If we were to decrease the eggs by 1 dozen, increase the legumes by a quantity of 1 (or 16 oz), and return to eggs, it would show that 1 substitution was made.

Clicking the information icon under Substitutions Made displays an explanation of the substitution that was made:

Whether these calculator changes are helpful or not, at least now you know how they work.

Infoview – new process for draft reports

We have a new process for agency review of requested new or revised Infoview templates. Once a draft has been completed and is ready for review, we will post the draft report to the new *DRAFT REVISIONS – Agency Review folder. Revised templates will be saved with the following format: <agency name> review – TEMPLATE TITLE (draft version #). Once the draft has been approved by the requesting agency, the guidance document has been completed, and the revised version posted, the draft template will be deleted from the DRAFT REVISIONS folder.

May 7, 2026

Upcoming important dates

• Saturday, May 9 – MN WIC App update available for participants
• Saturday, May 23 – Installation of WINNIE Release 3.6.2
• Monday, May 25 – Memorial Day – MN Help Desk and State Office CLOSED
• Tuesday, May 26 – WINNIE Training database UNAVAILABLE for refresh

IMPORTANT! June guidance for phase 3 food package changes

This is essential information for all WINNIE users! Please refer to the Phase 3 Food Package Changes – June Guidance (PDF) document for the following guidance and information:

• Default food packages
• Issuing late for May in June
• Adjusting May benefits in June
  • Issued before June 1
  • Issued on or after June 1

You can also find this document under Information System on the Food Package Updates page.

Reminders!

Some of this information was previously provided in MIS & Data Communication emails or the Weekly Update. New content is highlighted in the gray-shaded areas.

Reminder! WINNIE Release 3.6.2

An internal error was found while testing Release 3.6.1, which required a fix that delayed its installation. The corrected release, Release 3.6.2, is now scheduled to be implemented on May 23 instead.

If you haven’t read the WINNIE Release 3.6.2 Document (PDF) yet, we wanted to highlight an issue we’ve been receiving multiple Help Desk calls about that will be fixed once the release is installed: Deleting Materials Given contact deletes contacts statewide (URB 272581).

Description: If you delete a Materials Given contact, the system is deleting all materials given contacts statewide from participant records that were created on the same date. This is due to the system deleting based on the contact date only.

What to do: Do not delete Materials Given contacts until this bug is fixed in Release 3.6.2. Document if it wasn’t actually given in a note instead.

Reminder! WIC Hardware transition

As we continue the WIC hardware transition to all local agency-owned hardware, beginning Monday, May 11, 2026, we will no longer be replacing any WIC hardware.

Please refer to the WIC Hardware Transition (PDF) memo for the following guidance and information:

• Distribution of peripheral items
• Inventory Report and Ownership Acceptance form
• Technical specifications for WINNIE hardware
• Returning computers

Reminder! Agency-specific Infoview reports

One of the projects the state will be working on is performing a thorough review of all current Infoview templates in an attempt to streamline the Infoview folders and their contents. We will be:

• Combining templates providing the same or similar information.
• Updating outdated or old templates that are still being used.
• Removing obsolete templates.

At this time, we are asking all agencies to thoroughly review the reports found in their Agency-Specific folder. Your agency, or your Infoview users, must ensure that any reports in your agency-specific folder you want to keep are saved to Personal Folders. We will delete all agency-specific folders and their current contents on June 30.

The following agencies have an agency-specific folder found under Public Folders >> INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> Agency-Specific: Anoka, Bloomington, Blue Earth, Chisago, Countryside, Crow Wing, Dakota, Douglas, Fond du Lac, Hennepin, Horizon, Kandiyohi, Leech Lake, McLeod, Mille Lacs, Nicollet, Olmsted, Pipestone, Rice, Scott-Carver CAP, Sherburne, Sibley, St. Louis, St. Paul-Ramsey, Stearns, Washington, White Earth, Winona, and Wright.

Please contact Sarah.Mallberg@state.mn.us with any questions.

Reminder! Mobile Management and app update

Mobile Management
Mobile Management Release 9.8.4 was installed on Saturday, May 2. A short Mobile Management Release 9.8.4 Document (PDF) detailing the release and an updated Mobile Management and Contact Us Overview (PDF) document are now available on the MDH WIC website’s Other Information System Training page.

MN WIC App
An updated mobile app update will be published to app stores on May 9. This will not require any system downtime.

WINNIE training database refresh – UNAVAILABLE May 26

The WINNIE Training database will be refreshed on May 26 and will be UNAVAILABLE.

All existing training accounts are deleted as part of the refresh process. Any agencies wanting to use WINNIE Training after the refresh on Tuesday, May 26, will need to contact the Help Desk after the refresh has been completed to have your agency’s training account re-created. The earliest the Help Desk can re-create your training account is the day after the scheduled quarterly training database refresh, or Wednesday, May 27.

To contact the MN Help Desk: call 1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or email them at mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com.

High risk resolutions and pseudo-certs – follow-up

CPAs can resolve system-assigned high risk when it is no longer appropriate. However, CPA resolved high-risk is not maintained when a pseudo-cert is created. (A pseudo-cert is a new record added to the table where certification information is stored.) We can see that a pseudo-cert has occurred on the Risk Factors page when a risk factor is assigned or resolved or the WIC Category changes. However, there are instances that create a pseudo-cert that may not be obvious, or viewable, in WINNIE and we followed up with the WINNIE software contractor to see what other actions within the system can cause pseudo-certs.

The following is a list of other actions that will create a pseudo-cert and can cause the CPA high-risk resolution to revert:

• CPA saves Health Information and the breastfeeding amount has changed (e.g. fully breastfeeding to mostly breastfeeding, or to not breastfeeding).
• CPA saves Health Information and the participant's WIC category has changed (e.g. breastfeeding to non-breastfeeding).
• CPA saves a Nutrition Assessment Contact and interview answers are linked to risk factors.
• User saves Demographics and household fields tied to risk factors have changed (e.g. homelessness, migrant status).
• CPA completes a Mid-Certification Assessment that results in BF amount or category changes.
• End-of Day triggers an automatic category change from infant to child the night an infant turns one year old.

Infoview search - update

Although the Infoview search function no longer errs out, it still doesn’t appear to be working correctly. Gainwell is continuing to research how to complete the fix.

April 2, 2026

Updated 4/9/2026

Phase 3 Food Package Changes

Reminder! The issues you are seeing with default food packages will only occur during the transition period. Please refer to the information provided in the WINNIE Update Document – Phase 3 Food Package Changes (PDF).

Must type increased Cash-Value Benefit (CVB) amount

During the phase 3 food package transition period (now – end of June), when removing juice and increasing the CVB, the up-spin arrow does not allow you to increase the quantity by 300. To increase the CVB amount, you must type an additional 300 into the Quantity instead of using the spin arrows.

Example – children: after removing juice, the CVB quantity is increased from 2600 to 2900 so you must type 2900 into the Quantity field.

Calculators do not work correctly for some food items

During the phase 3 food package transition period (now – end of June), the calculators for some of the food items may not work correctly and the system may allow you to over-issue. This is due to the current food packages having higher food item limits.

NOTE! Except for eggs and juice, default food packages should have the correct quantities for all food items.

Tip! Look for 10 food items when creating new food packages

Eggs and juice, both of which have new substitutions for the phase 3 food package changes, do not always display correctly in the default food packages. All food packages for children and women (4, 5A, 5B, 6, 7, and 7+) should have 10 food items after saving a new food prescription if there haven’t been any substitutions.

The number of food items included is displayed next to the Effective Date once the prescription has been saved:

Infoview

New Infoview template – Not Issued Juice or Eggs

This information was previously provided in the March 26 MIS & Data communication email and the April 1 Weekly Update.

A new Infoview template titled NOT ISSUED JUICE OR EGGS is now available in the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> Benefits >> Agency Management folder. This report was created to assist you with identifying participants who were incorrectly issued benefits without juice or eggs and the appropriate substitution.

Participants display in the output if they weren’t issued any:

• Juice, and the CVB amount wasn’t increased by $3.00 (300 cents in the system).
• Eggs, and the quantity of peanut butter/beans wasn’t increased to the maximum allowed based on their assigned food package.

The incorrect quantity of CVB and peanut butter/beans displays in the outputs. Participants should only be included if the benefits have not yet been adjusted and should no longer be displayed once the benefits have been corrected. (Remember! Infoview is 24 hours behind WINNIE, so changes made today will not be displayed in the report until tomorrow.)

Please note:

• Participants may display in both outputs. If reviewing Benefits History for missing juice/eggs, you can save time by also reviewing for missing eggs/juice.
• The agency is based on where the participant currently belongs, which may be different from where the benefits were issued. If this is the case, the staff person listed in the output may not work for your agency.
• The default in the Agency ID prompt is “0” which runs the report for all agencies. To run it for your agency only, you will need to click the Reset Prompt Values icon found on the top right of the Prompts modal to delete the 0 from the prompt then enter your agency ID(s).

Security training updated

The security training modules have been updated with more information about electronic communications, Multi-factor Authentication (MFA), Mobile Management, and cybersecurity incidents. The review module has been divided into three modules; one for each training module that focuses on the specific topics covered.

All staff are required to complete annual security training each federal fiscal year (between Oct. 1 and Sept. 30).

Security training is found on the WIC Other Information System Training MDH WIC webpage.

March 5, 2026

Food package changes

Reminder! You should ALWAYS call or contact the MN Help Desk with any WINNIE questions or issues. The MN Help Desk is ALWAYS your first call for help!

• Phone: 1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2
• Email: mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com

Default food packages are glitchy during transition

Please be very conscientious when creating default food packages (DFPs) for current food prescriptions and future with the new food package changes. We have found that since we have both old food items and new in the default food packages (what displays for the DFP depends on the Effective Date), food items and their quantities can be glitchy. Use the WINNIE Update Document – Phase 3 Food Package Changes if unsure what the appropriate food items and quantities should be when creating current or future default food packages.

Potential over-issuance

It is possible to over-issue certain food items as we transition to the new food package both when creating food prescriptions and using Adjust Benefits. Over-issuance can occur anywhere the default food package charts indicate a decrease or increase in quantity and is due to higher maximum quantities set on the back-end in order to allow for higher quantities in either the current or future food packages.

These quantities will be adjusted at the end of June. Until then, always reference the WINNIE Update Document – Phase 3 Food Package Changes if unsure what the appropriate quantity should be when creating or adjusting a current or future food package.

Remember to verify whole grains

Whole grains in existing food prescriptions must still be corrected prior to issuing benefits. Although the default food prescriptions and all previously issued benefits have been updated to correctly display whole grains in ounces, existing food prescriptions display a value of 1 or 2 ounces. If this quantity is issued, families will not be able to purchase any whole grain food items.

Benefits can be adjusted if they are issued with the incorrect amount of whole grains. You can use the Infoview FOOD & FORMULA ITEMS ISSUED BY PFDTU report to proactively identify these participants. Enter 58 into the Food Item prompt and use the input controls to limit the output to select 1 and 2 for the Item Quantity.

Remember to verify CVB amounts for postpartum and pregnant women

CVB amounts increased by $1 for pregnant and postpartum food packages in January. These participants should be receiving CVBs for $48. Please double-check and ensure the CVB amount is $48 for pregnant and postpartum women before issuing benefits.

Manually increment CVB

Another food package transition issue appears to be that you are unable to use the spin up/down arrows to increase/decrease the CVB amount. The increment amount on the back-end has been adjusted to 300 for food packages 4, 5, 6 and 7, 450 for 7+, and 1100 for food package 2 so that it will increase the appropriate amount once juice for women/children, and infant fruits/vegetables for infants, are removed. You can try to use the spin arrows to adjust the CVB since it appears to work for some. However, if it doesn’t work, you will need to double-click the quantity to highlight it and type the appropriate amount in cents. This issue will be resolved in July once we are out of the transition period.

June food package issuance – reminder!

This information was previously sent via email on Friday, Feb. 26

Please do NOT create June food packages in advance. June food packages should only be created at the time June benefits are issued and when the participant is on the phone or present in person. At that point, create the June food prescription using the updated NEW food items.

Before issuing any June benefits, you must review the WINNIE Update Document – Phase 3 Food Package Changes

The training environment has been updated if you’d like to practice the new process.

If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com).

Update document

The WINNIE Update Document – Phase 3 Food Package Changes has been updated/revised a number of times since it was first posted on the MDH WIC website. As best practice, please don’t print this document; bookmark it instead. This way, you will always have the most recent version available to you.

Do NOT enter false data into WINNIE! Remember to issue last set of benefits for breastfeeding women first

We’ve learned from the Help Desk that some users are changing and entering false data into WINNIE. They are entering false data to work around no longer being able to issue the last set of benefits to a breastfeeding woman. Entering false data into the database is NOT allowed.

If baby has turned one year old and a breastfeeding mom has not yet received the last set of benefits that she is eligible to receive (Printed First Date to Use before Cert End Date), you must remember to issue her last set of benefits before updating the Breastfeeding Verified Date in Health Information. You do NOT need to update this date before you can issue to mom; it only needs to be updated to issue benefits to the infant/child.

If you are updating Health Information and you see the following message that specifically tells you mom is going to be terminated, you must click NO.

After clicking No on the message, exit Health Information without saving and issue mom’s benefits.

If you click Yes on the message and are in the participant folder or certification mode, you will not be able to issue the last set of benefits to mom and you will have to call the Help Desk. The Help Desk may be able to assist you with providing the last benefit set.

(NOTE! You cannot correct this by removing the incomplete certification since any changes to infant/child Health Information are maintained.)

New State Use Question option

A new option for the First time formula/other given to infant (meds ok) State Use Question will be available beginning Friday, March 6, 2026. You can now select “BF, donor milk, and formula given in the hospital” if the infant was fed by all three methods during their hospital stay. This will allow us to more accurately track both formula exposure and donor milk usage for WIC participants. Guidance and definitions can be found in the Breastfeeding Exclusivity document in the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> State Use Questions >> Breastfeeding Exclusivity folder in Infoview.

Use hot keys to quickly select from dropdowns

After you’re familiar with the items in a dropdown, you can speed up selection using hot keys. Start typing the first few alphanumeric characters of the option you want, and the dropdown will filter or highlight matching entries automatically. Some dropdowns, especially Nutrition Education, can be more difficult to become familiar with due to the sheer number of topics.

As a potential reference, a new Infoview template called NUTRITION EDUCATION TOPICS LIST is now available in the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> Nutrition Education folder. This report has two tabs, PRIMARY and SECONDARY, and groups Nutrition Education topics by WIC type.

New Infoview report available – assignment of 400 risk factors

Per MOM, Section 5.3.4, a dietary risk factor should be assigned as part of the complete nutrition assessment performed during certifications. If a dietary risk factor is not identified, risk factor 428 (4-23 months) or 401 (2 years and older) should be assigned.

A new Infoview report (requested by a Local Agency), NOT ASSIGNED 400 (DIETARY) RISK FACTORS AT CERT, is now available in the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES >> Agency Management >> Audits/Chart Reviews folder and can help your agency assess whether this requirement is being met.

February 5, 2026

Reminders!

Do not issue 4 months of benefits

WINNIE will sometimes suggest 4 months of benefits, and participants should only be issued a maximum of 3 months of benefits at one time. We usually see a fourth set being suggested when a new member is added to a household and some of the existing members have already received benefits. The system provides a partial for the new member with a Printed First Date to Use (PFDTU) in the current month plus 3 additional months with PFDTUs in the next three following months. (This is not the same as providing a partial and full package where the PFDTU both fall into the same month.) In these instances, the new member should only be issued the partial and two following months, maintaining the household’s current tri-monthly issuance.

Infoview advanced concepts training modules available

If you’ve ever repeatedly modified your Infoview reports after exporting them or wondered how to organize your reports, these Advanced Concepts training modules may be helpful to you. The intent is to help you become a more effective and efficient user of Infoview. You don’t have to watch all the modules in their entirety; each training module has a Table of Contents that will help you find the topic you might want to review.

• Infoview Training 5A – Advanced Concepts: Managing Personal Folders (6 min.) – copy/paste templates to folders; move reports; add and rename folders.
• Infoview Training 5B – Advanced Concepts: Intro to Design Mode (7 min.) – design mode; advanced refresh; high-level overview of formulas, queries and dimensions.
• Infoview Training 5C – Advanced Concepts: Modifying Report Outputs 1 (9 min.) – add, rename, and delete columns; undo; format headers and cells; format tables.
• Infoview Training 5D – Advanced Concepts: Modifying Report Outputs 2 (9 min.) – move columns; format text; sort data; format tabs.
• Infoview Training 5E – Advanced Concepts: Adding Filters (11 min.) – add, edit, and delete input controls; use variables as filter.

These training modules can be found under Infoview on the Other Information System Training page of the MDH WIC website.

January 8, 2026

Always delete food items being replaced before adding new

Best practice is to always delete the food items you are replacing before adding the new food items when tailoring or adjusting food packages. The reason for this is twofold.

First, due to how the maximums are set in WINNIE, adding a food item before removing the unwanted food item will exceed the maximum amount allowed. For example, if you want to exchange yogurt for 1 quart of milk, you cannot add the milk until you’ve removed the yogurt.

Second, WINNIE allows over-issuance when providing infant fruits/vegetables and infant cereal for children and women receiving Food Package III. The reason for this is that the maximums allowed for these food items are separate from the CVB and regular cereal so a combined maximum cannot be assessed. If you were to add infant fruits/vegetables before removing the CVB, the system would not remind you to remove the CVB and if you don’t remove it, you will over-issue.

Infoview tip! Remember to select Personal Folders when saving templates

When saving your own version of a template, Infoview defaults to the INFOVIEW TEMPLATES folder in the Save As modal, not your Personal Folders. Remember to select Personal Folders when saving. Otherwise, an error will display indicating you don’t have the rights to save the template.

December 4, 2025

Questions/suggestions from Local Agencies

Appointments in the App

Is there a way for the appointments tab to indicate to the participant if the appointment is virtual or in person?

Currently, the only way to designate an appointment as virtual is by scheduling it at a TeleWIC Appointment Clinic since only the clinic address displays in the app (and not the appointment type).

If scheduled at this clinic, TELEWIC APPOINTMENT displays in the app, and staff would need to ensure that participants understand that this type of appointment does not require them to attend the appointment in person.

Coordinators at agencies that don’t currently have the TeleWIC Appointment Clinic can request it using the Change Grantees, Agencies or Clinics in IS and/or on MDH Website form.

November 6, 2025

Reminder! When contacting the MN Help Desk, you must provide…

This is just a reminder that when you contact the MN Help Desk, you will be required to provide the following information:

• Your first and last name.
• Agency ID.
• Description of the issue.
• State WIC ID or Household ID (if appropriate).

This information allows both the Help Desk and the State to track issues that may be occurring at agencies and for specific users.

You can contact the Help Desk by calling or via email:

• Call: 1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 (non-critical)
• Email: mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com

Reminder! Infoview reports still need corrections

This is just a reminder that there are many Infoview reports that still need corrections since our transition to WINNIE. Any reports that provide information about new certifications, local use answers, state use answers, and staff ID will require revising to ensure accuracy. At this time, the State Office is only correcting reports based on requests from local agencies to prioritize revising reports that are currently being used. You can view corrected reports on the Infoview Report Revisions and Corrections page.

Questions/suggestions from Local Agencies

Race/ethnicity selection

Can there be an “Other” option for race/ethnicity if a participant does not feel any of the race options align with how they would describe themselves?

Unfortunately, we are limited by federal requirements on the selections we can provide for race and ethnicity. The Racial and Ethnic Data Collection (PDF) tool includes some helpful descriptions that can facilitate a participant’s selection, including some ideas for those who identify as Hispanic or Latino, and there is some clarifying information on the WIC Civil Rights Resources page as well. Please note that if a participant refuses to self-select, you must select based on your perceptions of the participant.

Benefit redemption

For a family with multiple household members (a woman, child over 2, and child under 2) with the WIC-allowed milk food item:

If they are buying evaporated milk, whose food package does it come off from? Does the fat content of the evaporated milk purchased make a difference?

The fat content is important since 1–2-year-old children, in general, should be receiving the Whole Milk (WIC-allowed) food item while children over 2 and women are receiving the Fat Free/Skim Milk or 1% (WIC-allowed) food item. If they buy a combination of lower fat and whole evaporated milk, it will pull the low-fat item from either the older child or woman’s benefits and the whole from the 1–2-year-olds benefits. If they buy only whole evaporated, it will only come off the 1–2-year old’s benefits.

How about soy milk?

Soy beverage is different in that it can only be purchased if issued the Fat Free/Skim Milk or 1% (WIC-allowed) food item. You can issue this to 1-2 year old children because it is the only option for soy (and goat milk). Please refer to the Food Package Changes to Implement on June 9 (PDF) memo for this information and reference.

Is there an order to which household member a food item is removed from first, such as for the cereal or the fruit and vegetable benefit?

No and yes. For most food items that are issued to multiple family members, the order appears to be random (it is actually based on some internal number assigned by the eWIC processor but looks random to us). For example, although two members may both have cereal and eggs, in one transaction, the eggs may be removed from member 1 while the cereal is removed from member 2. This is why Adjust Benefits aggregates food items issued to multiple members, so that regardless of the benefit transaction, as long as the household total is greater than the redeemed, you can still make changes to the food item for any of the members issued that food item.

That said, there are certain food items, like yogurt that is removed from the member issued the more “restrictive food item” first. For example, mom is issued the Yogurt (low fat/nonfat) option while her 1–2-year-old child is issued Yogurt (any WIC-allowed). The low fat/nonfat food item issued to mom is more restrictive because only low fat/nonfat yogurt can be purchased while both low fat/nonfat OR whole yogurt can be purchased with the any WIC-allowed option. So, when the family buys a low-fat yogurt, since that is the more restrictive food item, it will come off of mom’s benefits first.

Please note that although this information may be helpful to staff in some way, participants should always be referred to their aggregated benefit balance in the app.

October 2, 2025

WINNIE Questions & Answers webpage removed

We have removed the WINNIE Questions & Answers webpage since it was created to house local agency questions and answers before we transitioned to WINNIE. Any still pertinent information has been moved to the WINNIE User Tips page.

Please contact the MN Help Desk (1-800-488-8799, press 2, 2 or mnhelpdesk@gainwelltechnologies.com) with any information system (WINNIE, Mobile Management, Infoview) questions.

The following forms are still available on the Local Agencies webpage (in the WIC Forms for Local Agencies section >> Information System dropdown):

• WIC IS Software Change Request Form – suggest potential changes to the information system.
• WIC App Suggestions – suggest changes or enhancements to the WIC mobile app.
• Local Agency Reports & Data Request – submit data requests or report questions.

End-of-Month (EOM) information in Weekly Update

Beginning in September, we have started providing EOM information the week prior to running EOM in the Weekly Update – IMPORTANT section. It will include when EOM will be run, when the Infoview Year-to-Date Participation report can be run after EOM, and when initial and closed-out participation counts will be available on the Monthly Participation webpage and Local Agency Portal.

September 4, 2025

Due to the NWA Technology Conference, there is no WINNIE the Scoop for this month.

August 7, 2025

Other language access added to eWIC customer service line August 7

An option to go directly to a customer service representative that can connect the participant to the Language Line has been added to the eWIC Customer Service line and will be available beginning August 7. The following has been added after the voice prompt to press 2 for Spanish:

• "For other, press 3."

Once the participant presses 3, the voice prompt says:

• "I’ll transfer you to a representative who can help you. Please hold."

When the customer service rep answers, state the needed language, and the rep will use the Language Line for the remainder of the call.

This information has been updated in the eWIC Customer Service training module. The revised version is now available on the WINNIE Training page.

July 3, 2025

Request training accounts AFTER database refresh

There has been some confusion about when to request new training accounts when a training database refresh has been scheduled. Since the quarterly refresh completely wipes out all access to the database (accounts or usernames and passwords), if your agency uses a training account, you will need to contact the Help Desk after the refresh has been completed to have your training account re-created. The earliest the Help Desk can re-create your training account would be the day after the scheduled quarterly training database refresh.

June 5, 2025

New weekly Mobile Management purge begins June 15

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.

May 1, 2025

Initial Contacts and Unexpected Participants in Infoview Outputs

We’ve seen a couple of instances whereby participants are displaying on the Initial Contacts Requirements Not Met Infoview report that show an Initial Contact has been completed when the modal is opened in WINNIE.

Explanation: Upon research, we have determined that this occurs when you complete the Initial Contact after the certification. When an Initial Contact record is created, it has two dates associated with it: the Initial Contact Date that you see in the modal and that you can change (up to 30 days prior to the current date) and the record’s Create Date/Time. The Create Date/Time is when the Initial Contact record was added in WINNIE and can only be seen in the database. The Create Date/Time is how we can determine that these Initial Contact records are being created after the certification is completed.

How Initial Contacts Work: When an Initial Contact is created, a record is inserted into the database with a blank Certification ID. If a certification is completed after the Initial Contact, but within 60 days of its Create Date/Time, the unique Certification ID assigned to that cert when it is completed is entered into the Initial Contact record, linking the Initial Contact to that certification. However, if the Initial Contact is created after the certification, the system does not retroactively link it to the cert. Instead, the Initial Contact record waits for a certification to be completed on a date that is after the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time or it is removed during End-of-Day after 60 days, whichever occurs first.

While the Initial Contact record waits to be linked (within 60 days of its being added), it appears as if it has been completed correctly, especially if you have changed the Initial Contact Date to a date prior to the certification.

Initial Contacts and Infoview Outputs: Infoview reports that identify incomplete or unmet requirements compare the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time to the Cert Start Date. If the Initial Contact’s Create Date/Time is after the Cert Start Date (and other report criteria are also met) the participant will display in the output as not having a completed Initial Contact.

April 3, 2025

Infoview Reports – Counting Certs/Recerts

This is just a reminder that in order for Infoview reports to correctly count certifications, they must be started and completed on the same date. This is due to the criterion used to exclude pseudo-certs, which requires the Cert Start Date (date started) to be equal to the Cert Effective Date (date completed).

March 6, 2025

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

February 6, 2025

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

January 9, 2025

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

December 5, 2024

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE User Tips page.

November 7, 2024

All content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant OR has been moved to the WINNIE Bugs & Issues or WINNIE User Tips pages.

October 3, 2024

WINNIE Training

“Cheat Sheets” and WINNIE Functionality

At this time, we are not providing “cheat sheets” for most of WINNIE’s functions. However, we’ve created two that address specific scenarios:

• Change Household ID – Direct Shipped Formula
• In Case of Participant Death

Both of these can be found under Change Household ID on the WINNIE Training page.

If, once you have reviewed the training modules, you feel there is another specific scenario that may require a cheat sheet, please use the WINNIE Questions about Training form to submit your suggestion.

September 12, 2024

Future Approved Change Requests for WINNIE

Any suggested changes to WINNIE must be documented by the State Office and assigned a severity, discussed with (and approved by) the SPIRIT Users Group (SUG), and then prioritized by the SUG for inclusion in a future release.

The following were suggestions provided by our pilots that will be included in a future release.

August 1, 2024

All previous WINNIE the Scoop content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant.

July 11, 2024

Training - Reference Documents Available

Per requests from local agencies, we’ve added a couple of documents to assist with training.

1. WINNIE Training Module Checklist (WORD) – lists all modules by topic and their duration and can be used to keep track of the modules or information in modules that you’ve completed.

2. Reference for browser settings based on your preferred default browser – “how to”: set your default browser, ensure your login isn’t saved, clear your browse cache, bookmark the WINNIE login page, set your zoom preference, allow pop-ups in WINNIE, ensure downloads are deleted daily, and open the Develop Console, which may be helpful when working with the MN Help Desk.

• Browser Settings for Microsoft Edge (PDF)
• Browser Settings for Google Chrome (PDF)

June 6, 2024 - November 18, 2020

All previous WINNIE the Scoop content has been deleted since no longer timely or relevant.