• Food Stamp Policy Manual,
• 1998 and 1999 Food Stamp memorandums linked to the Food Stamp Manual, and 
• all Income Maintenance calendar year 2000 memorandums.

Links within the manual sections and the memorandums that revised the manual provide easy access to pertinent information regarding a subject.  A new search feature makes it easier to find specific information.

This memorandum provides definitions and detailed information on accessing the Intranet and navigating in the Food Stamp Manual.  Sample pictures of screens are included on the hard copy of the memorandum to aid in identifying some of the objects referenced in this memorandum.  An attached quick reference guide on card stock provides a glossary and a flow chart outlining the basics of accessing and navigating the Intranet and the Food Stamp Manual.

DEFINITIONS
Browser:  An application that displays a web page.  Netscape Navigator is the browser used by FAMIS computers.
Browser menu bar:   Selections such as File, Edit, and View are available to help the user to navigate or print.  These are in a bar near the top of the browser window.  Click on one of the selections to see a menu with a list of actions you can do.  (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)
Button:   Buttons are similar to links (see "link" definition below) in that they take you somewhere else, but they are not underlined.  Buttons may be in the form of an icon (a small picture) or they may be text. (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)
Click:   Press the left mouse button one time.
Double click:   Quickly press the left mouse button twice.
Intranet:   The DSS Intranet presents information in a way similar to the Internet.  The fundamental difference is that the network exists exclusively within the Department of Social Services.  Access is limited to pages that have been posted on the Department server.  The network delivers our resources to each desktop quickly and inexpensively while protecting the information from unauthorized access.
Link:   Highlighted and underlined text (usually blue) that acts as a pointer to related information.  When you click on a link and later return to the page on which the link is located, the link may be a different color, indicating you have already visited the link.  Links may take you to another section of the manual, to a memorandum referenced by the manual, etc. (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)
Navigation box:   This is an area containing buttons leading to different sections of the manual or to the search engine.  It is near the top of the manual screen, directly below the toolbar. (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)
Scroll Bar:   A vertical bar on the right side of the screen  allows you to use the mouse to scroll through a document that is larger than a single screen can display. (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)
Search Engine:  A search engine is a tool that allows you to search for specific information on the Intranet.  This tool goes out to all the files on the server and looks at things such as key words, titles, page properties or what the page includes, and ranks those files based on frequency and returns them to the user in the form of links.
Toolbar:   The toolbar provides a list of selections such as Back, Forward, Reload, Home, Print, and Stop in the form of buttons with icons.  It is at the top of the browser window.  FAMIS users will not use the Search, Netscape, or Security buttons. (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo)

ACCESSING THE INTRANET FOOD STAMP MANUAL

Accessing the Intranet was addressed in Memorandum IM-#74 DSS INTRANET: FAMIS USER GUIDE dated May 5, 2000.  It is strongly recommended that all staff using the Intranet review IM-#74.

In the Lotus Smart Center at the top of your desktop, click on the Communications drawer.  Click on the Intranet tab, then double click on the icon named  Browser.   The Department of Social Services Intranet home page should appear automatically in the browser window.  If this is not the case, check with your Remote Site Coordinator or the FAMIS Help Desk.
 
On the Department home page, find the underlined link Family Services.  Move the mouse pointer over the link until the pointer changes from an arrow to a pointing finger.  Click on the link to go to the DFS web page.

Click on the link for IM Policy on the DFS web page.  The Income Maintenance Manual page appears. The Navigation box, near the top of the page, contains buttons leading to memorandums and various areas of the manual.  This box also has a button for the Search function, which will be discussed later in this memorandum.  Clicking on a button that is not active will bring up a screen that says "This section is "under construction.""  Click the Back button on the toolbar to go back one screen; you can retrace your steps all the way back to the screen that came up when you opened the browser.  Click the Home button on the toolbar to go directly to the DSS Intranet home page.

Click on the "Food Stamps" button to go to the Food Stamp Manual Table of Contents.  The button will be highlighted as you move the cursor over the text "Food Stamps."  Occasionally the cursor does not change to a hand as you pass over a button.  You can click on the button regardless and the link will work correctly.

NAVIGATING THE FOOD STAMP MANUAL

You will notice that every section of the table of contents is a link.  You may click on either the reference number or the text to go to the desired section.  When you click on a link, a red stoplight on the toolbar is highlighted (See Figure 1 attached to the hard copy memo).  This indicates that information is loading, and may last for several seconds.  DO NOT CLICK ON ANOTHER LINK UNTIL THE STOPLIGHT IS SHADED ("GOES OUT").  When the page appears, you may see a link to the last memorandum that impacted this particular section.  You may also see links to other sections of the manual.  At the bottom of each page, there is a link to the Food Stamp Table of Contents, a link to the previous section of the manual, and a link to the next section. (See Figure 2 attached to the hard copy memo)
Not all memorandums listed in the manual are accessible by links.  If it is not underlined and the arrow cursor does not change to a hand, there is no link to the memorandum.  For example, go to 1105.035.00, Work Requirement for 18-50 Year Olds.  Memo IM-32 is listed in blue and is underlined, indicating that this is a link to that memorandum.  However, if you look at 1105.015.00, Household Determination, you will see that Memo IM-24 is in black print, is not underlined, and the cursor does not change.  There is no link to this memorandum.

ACCESSING MEMORANDUMS

This process is similar to the process of accessing the Food Stamp Manual.  Click the "Memos" button in the navigation box near the top of the screen.  You can click on this button from any manual or memorandum page that displays the navigation box.  The button will be highlighted as you move the cursor over it.  The Memorandum Table of Contents will appear.  Click the year you want to search or use the scroll bar to move down the list of memorandums until you find the one for which you are searching.  Click the selected memorandum to go to that page.  NOTE: Memorandums that are listed in the Table of Contents but not underlined are not yet available on-line.  Memorandums that include manual changes have links to the section of the manual that is impacted.  At the bottom of the memorandum, there is a link to the Memorandum Table of Contents.

The process for issuing hard copies of memorandums will not change.

SEARCHING THE MANUAL AND MEMORANDUMS

The Search capability allows you to narrow your search for specific information within the Income Maintenance Manual. The following instructions apply ONLY to searches initiated from within the manual section.  Searching from other areas of the Intranet may give different results.  Click the "Search" button in the Income Maintenance Manual navigation box.  The button will change in size and color as you move the cursor over it.  A new window will appear when the Search  button is clicked.  You may wish to click the middle button at the top right corner of the browser window to maximize the screen.  Your original screen will still be open.  NOTE:  Do NOT  use the Search button on the toolbar at the top of the screen.  This button is not functional on computers without Internet access, such as FAMIS computers.

The search screen currently has two check boxes, labeled "Food Stamps" and "Memos" (See Figure 3 attached to the hard copy memo).  Click on one or both of these boxes to narrow your search to the selected area(s) of the Intranet.  Do not leave both boxes blank as this will provide unpredictable search results.  After selecting which section you want to search, click on the long white box (the dialog box).  Type some key words or phrases using lower case only and click on the "Search" button below the dialog box.  This will take you to the search results screen, which displays a list of links and brief summaries of what the links lead to.  You may need to scroll down the screen to view the links.  Click on a link to go directly to that section. (See Figure 3 attached to the hard copy memo)
 
SEARCH TIPS

The more words provided for the search, the more results you will get.  The search engine ranks the results so the closest matches appear first in the list.  For example, searching on categorical eligibility in the Food Stamp 
Manual returns 73 matches.  Eleven of these contain both words, so these eleven are listed first.

Placing phrases in quotation marks narrows the search to look only for those words next to each other.  For example, searching "categorical eligibility" in the Food Stamp Manual returns 11 results, instead of the 73 results of the search in the previous example.

Searching for terms in lower case letters will match words in any letter case. Using other letter case combinations results in an exact case match.  For example, searching the Memos section for  alien  returns nine results, searching for "Alien" returns six results, and searching for "ALIEN" returns only two results.

SEARCH WITHIN A PAGE

Clicking on a link will take you to the top of the page with the information you are seeking.  Once you are on this page, you can search within it rather than scrolling through the page looking for the information you desire.  The instructions for searching within a page are found in Memorandum IM-#74.

PRINTING A PAGE

Printing from the manual or memorandums screens is a two step process.  First, click on any empty area within the body of the page, below the navigation toolbar (see figure 1 on hard copy).  The cursor will not change when you click, but this makes the body "active" for the print function.  Now click the Print button on the toolbar.  This will print the entire section you are viewing, not just the part that is visible on your screen.  This may be many pages in length.

When possible, you may wish to do print preview first to ensure you are actually printing what you want.  Click on the File menu on the browser menu bar near the top of the screen.  Click on "Print Preview."  When you are 
satisfied with the result, click the Print button near the top left of the Print Preview screen.
 
HELP:   Helpful information about the Netscape browser is found by clicking on the Help menu of the browser menu bar, and clicking "Help Contents," or by passing the F1 key.  You may also call the FAMIS help desk at 1-800-MO-FAMIS.

• Review this memorandum with appropriate staff.

 
• Use the Intranet to access the Food Stamp Manual effective 10/23/2000.