Alerts are electronic notifications to case processing components that an action is needed or has been taken on a CEF. Some alerts are sent to the Disability Determination Services (DDS) system and displayed to the users on case processing screens. Alerts can also be accessed by opening the case in eView and navigating to the Alerts and Messages tab. In the Field Office (FO), alerts are posted to the Electronic Data Collect System (EDCS) Actions page. Alerts are generated when:

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  The office with jurisdiction of the CEF initiates an electronic Assistance Request (AR);

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  Information (e.g., flags, messages, ARs, imaged documents, eForms, FO determinations) is added to the CEF by an office that does not have jurisdiction of the case;

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  Certain actions (e.g., trailer material, Office of Quality Review (OQR) closure) occur after the DDS transfers the case to another component.

After transferring a claim to a DDS, alerts generate to the DDS when the FO uses the UAT utility to:

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  Update mainframe data (e.g., changes to the claimant's name, address, claim type);

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  Update disability report information (e.g., new medical source, new allegations, tests, medications); and

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  Add a new or escalated claim to a case currently pending in the DDS.

When the FO completes the UAT, an electronic SSA-5002 (Report of Contact) is generated and added to the CEF. Details of the alert can be found by selecting the alert displayed in the “alerts” table under the Alerts and Messages Tab in eView, or by viewing the image of the SSA-5002 under the Case Documents tab. For more information about the FO use of the UAT Utility, see Using the Update-After-Transfer Utility - DI 81010.095.

For more information about FO determinations and FO determination alerts, see Field Office (FO) Determinations - DI 81020.075.

After the DDS releases jurisdiction of the case, the following alerts may still be received by the case processing system:

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  Trailer Material – Documents received by the DDS after closing the disability case on the DDS case processing system. See Trailer Material - DI 81020.140, for the disposition of trailer mail received in the CEF..

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  OQR Closure – OQR closes a case and transfers jurisdiction of the case to the FO during the OQR Federal quality review process. This is an optional alert that may not be displayed by all DDS processing systems.

Electronic ARs allow one component to request case processing assistance from another component (see Electronic Assistance Requests (AR) - DI 81020.100). The DDS receives the following alerts related to electronic AR when:

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  An electronic AR is sent to an office that does not have the software needed to receive electronic AR transactions, the requesting office receives an alert informing them that the receiving office is unable to accept or process the request.

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  An electronic AR is rejected by the receiving office, the rejection information is sent to the requesting office as an alert.

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  An electronic AR is completed by another office and uploaded to the CEF.