Voucher Management System - July 2012 Release

The PHAs were notified as follows:

Subject: Housing Choice Voucher Program
Voucher Management System (VMS) July Release

On July 27, 2012, a VMS release was implemented in the Voucher Management System (VMS). The release corrects the following known issues:

• In the Prior Month Correction module, PHA’s have been unable to enter a comment for the Additional Expense/Comments Tab. This correction will allow PHA’s to enter comments on that tab by adding a “comment” field to the drop down selection. Please refer to an earlier emailed entitled “VMS PMC Module - Temporary Instructions”, dated February 6, 2012, that advised PHA’s of a temporary workaround to this issue. This workaround will no longer be needed after the July release.
• VMS does not currently allow PHA’s to make changes in the Prior Month Correction module to Point of Contact information. This correction will allow PHA’s to make these changes in the PMC module.

Additionally, the VMS User’s Manual was revised with the July release. Version 8.1.0.0 can be found here: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/centers/fmc and contains the following revisions:

In Section 4.1.1, Page 62, the wording was changed to read:

For a Hard Edit Error, just as for a regular Submission, click the appropriate drop-down menu explanation. If "Other" is selected a mandatory explanation is required in the Comment box to further explain the change. For non Hard-Edit errors, such as invalid format or cross-reference errors, the field must be corrected. When corrections and explanations are complete, press the “Validate” button again.

If there are no Validation errors, or if all Hard Edit errors have been properly explained, a “Submit” button will appear at the bottom of the page. Click this button to submit the correction.

Section 4.1.1, Page 63, the following was added:

Note: Most fields are fully replaced by the PMC process. One exception is the Comment field on the Additional Expense / Comments Tab. If you modify this field via PMC, previous comments will be retained, and your comment will be added below them in the (text) field, as shown below:

Voucher Management System - October Release

The following notice was issued to the public housing agencies (PHAs):

Dear Executive Director:

Subject: Housing Choice Voucher Program

Voucher Management System – October Release

This is to advise you of the upcoming VMS release that will streamline the process for entering Prior Month Corrections (PMC), as well as to notify you of a system downtime to accommodate the release process. We ask that you share the information in this notice, including the attached PowerPoint document, with any of your staff who compile, enter, and/or submit your agency’s monthly VMS data.

Currently the system requires the PHA to enter data changes one month at a time and requires the FMC financial analyst to approve any pending hard edits before moving to another month. The upcoming release will add the new PMC Module that will enable PHAs to make changes to one or more months of data without the requirement for hard edit approval between submissions. The FMC financial analyst will be able to review all changes in one setting, and to approve or reject the revisions, as appropriate. We believe this will be a dramatic service improvement and efficiency enhancement to the PHA users!

Attached to this notification is a PowerPoint document that provides an overview of the PMC module as well as pertinent information required to access the system and complete any needed changes to prior months’ data. This document will also be posted on our FMC Web Page.

To permit the installation of the next scheduled Voucher Management System (VMS) release, the system will be temporarily shutting down on October 28, 2011, at 5:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, and will open again on the morning of November 1.  At that time the PMC module will be available for your use.  The temporary shutdown of the system should have no impact on the timely submission of your October data, since the October reporting period does not begin until Friday, November 4.

If you have any questions about this notification, please contact your assigned financial analyst at the FMC.

October 2011 VMS Release (MS-PowerPoint)

April 2011 Release

HUD released a new version of the VMS software, including significant changes to VMS’ look and ease of use, but no changes to the data that is reported. This new version is operational and will first be used by PHAs in the month of May, for reporting April 2011 program activity. All prior data will display in the new format provided in this VMS version. Details related to the April Release were provided to the PHAs in an email message sent on April 29, 2011.  PHAs have also been reminded that the features of the Executive Summary tab are not yet fully functional, but that users should acquaint themselves with those features in the meantime.

A webcast has been prepared to provide all PHAs with complete information regarding all new screen shots, new system functions, etc. PHAs were notified of the broadcast and were advised that it is available for viewing from the HUD webcast archives. The system changes consist primarily of how screens are laid out, as well as new functions available (or soon to be) for PHAs’ use in monitoring leasing and budget utilization. To become familiar with the changes, VMS users are strongly encouraged to view the webcast prior to using the newly enhanced version of the VMS for their first time.

The following documents have been posted to the HUD website to begin familiarizing users with the new look of the VMS:

• The PowerPoint presentation that accompanies the webcast;
• Copies of the new VMS input and report screens; users are advised to print these screens and refer to them when viewing the webcast, as they will be easier to read than the on-screen display; and
• Copies of the output PHAs will receive when they print each of the new input and report screens

The website address for these documents is: /program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv

April 2010 Release

The April 2010 release provided a number of system enhancements to provide users greater ease and efficiency in entering, viewing, and printing their data, and in reducing the number of erroneous hard edit notices they may receive.

January 2009 Release

Below are copies of the attachments to an email sent to all PHAs on January 12, 2009, that address recent changes affecting the PHAs' monthly VMS data submissions.