CalSAWS Interface

CalSAWS issues benefits through electronic transmissions to the EBT system. These, in turn, are posted to the individual payee’s EBT account. The interface between EBT and CalSAWS only transmits issuance, adjustment and withdrawal information from CalSAWS to EBT. There is no issuance data transferred from EBT to CalSAWS. Consequently, any updates (i.e., benefit issuances, adjustments, withdrawals, etc.) done directly through the EBT Admin Terminal do not update the CalSAWS Benefit Issuance/Benefit Recovery subsystems. Therefore, all EBT benefit issuances, adjustments and repayments must be performed through CalSAWS. EBT benefits are NOT to be issued directly from the EBT Administrative Terminals except under extraordinary circumstances.

An Administrative Terminal is provided for selected users to input data directly into the EBT system for limited purposes as outlined below:

  • Issuance of PINs in the office
  • Benefit issuances when CalSAWS is not available (e.g., in case of a disaster). Staff will be notified when this exception is authorized.

Important: Benefit issuances which are done through the EBT Admin Terminals must be recorded in CalSAWS as a Non-System Determined Issuance (NSDI) BEFORE authorizing further benefits for the case. Failure to record the NSDI issuance will result in benefits being reissued in error by the CalSAWS system.

CalSAWS EBT Data

CalSAWS provides EBT information from FIS records through the Interface system. The CalSAWS Interface Activities subsystem, EBT Data subsystem provides the following information:

EBT Data Subsystem Window

Data displayed includes:

Inquire on Benefit Data from EBT

All the benefits issued for that case. These details include:

  • a system-generated number for each benefit issuance,
  • benefit type and month,
  • initial amount of the benefit,
  • benefit availability date,
  • last date a transaction was applied against the benefit,
  • the amount of that transaction, and
  • the remaining amount of the benefit.

Inquire on Card Data from EBT

The name and SSN of the individual associated with the card,

  • case number, cardholder type and indicator,
  • card status and access, issue date,
  • previous card number if one was issued,
  • number of cards issued, and
  • number of times an incorrect PIN was entered for the card.

Inquire on Case Data from EBT

Case level information including:

  • cash and CalFresh account status and balances,
  • EBT card information such as name of cardholder, card number, card status, cardholder access and cardholder type.

Inquire on Client Data from EBT

Demographic data of the client associated with an EBT account including:

  • the name, SSN, DOB, address and phone number of the cardholder, and
  • the number, status, and account access associated with the card issued to the cardholder.

Inquire on History Data from EBT

A list of EBT transactions that occurred during the previous 90 days including:

  • benefit deposits, cash purchases, POS CF debits, adjustments, etc.
  • the EBT card number used,
  • merchant’s FNS number, transaction type, transaction amount, transaction time, merchant name and address, and
  • amount of any fees or surcharges imposed on the transaction.

Search EBT Claim Data
  • Client and merchant transaction disputes. The EBT system processes information concerning new debit claims and denied credit claims submitted through the FNS adjustment process and generates a Claim Activity File that is sent to CalSAWS on a daily basis.
  • The Search EBT Claim Data window is populated by the Claim Activity file that is received from the EBT system in a daily batch interface process.
  • CalSAWS will also send an ALERT to the assigned caseworker informing them about the EBT claim and trigger the appropriate notices.

Search EBT Errors
  • Information on batch EBT transactions that errored out during the update process.
  • These errors are processed through a batch interface program that populates the Search EBT Errors window and generates alerts for the assigned caseworker and the EBT coordinator. Information regarding the specific error type, error code, and description is displayed in this window.

Refer to the CalSAWS Help for additional information and/or instructions.

Related Topics

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Overview

EBT Forms