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Self-Help Builder Newsletter June 2013 Volume 6, Issue # 2 >
Self-Help Automated Report and Evaluation System (SHARES) tidbits
By Nancy Jacobson, RCAC rural development specialist - housing
Congratulations
to the USDA Rural Development consultant and task force participants who
contributed their time and efforts to bring us the long-awaited new SHARES
program. Hopefully, you have accessed the new program and find it simpler and
easier to use. The new program requires access to Internet Explorer 8 or
higher, Microsoft Excel (for the Reports) and a level 2 USDA eAuthentication
ID.
Since the new SHARES rollout, grantees
have notified us of issues with their reports and reporting. The consultant is
responsive and is quickly correcting the program as issues are reported. A new user’s guide is available on the SHARES
website.
Some of the issues grantees reported include:
- SHARES EU numbers were not reporting
correctly, including discrepancies between the construction report and the SHARES reports.
- Comments
were entered to note issues that occurred during the quarter. The comments
were entered on the “Problems” screen but didn’t show up on the SHARES
report.
- Information
was missing on the SHARES reports. Missing categories include: missing
categories by number, for example 1, 2, 2, 4, 4… but no 3 and number of
bedrooms, house size, etc.
- The
SHARES report(s) formatting took several pages and lots of ink. The
reports are Excel based so they can be reformatted prior to printing but
this took extra time and effort.
- Carry
over EU’s from a previous grant to a new grant and grant transfers.
All of these issues should be corrected with the recent rollout. However, if you still encounter issues and discrepancies in your
reports and/or data please email me with specific details and examples at njacboson@rcac.org.
All SHARES
users should have received the new URL address to access the program: https://shares.sc.egov.usda.gov. All users must have an eAuthentication login and
password. You can obtain an eAuthentication ID by logging into https://shares.sc.egov.usda.gov and choosing “create an account.” Passwords must be
changed every six months; simply changing the letter you capitalize can
eliminate creating an entirely new password. If you are a new SHARES user,
after registering for your eAuthentication account please send your new login
information to njacobsen@rcac.org along with your name, organization
name, address, phone number and organization’s Tax ID number. We will forward your information to the
programmer to connect you to your organization’s SHARES account.
All SHARES’
Users are linked to their organization’s account. When you log in you should
see only your organization’s grant records. If you do not connect to your grant
records, please notify me at njacobson@rcac.org or (406) 579-5202.
USDA Rural
Development produced a SHARES training video and it will be launched in the
next few weeks. RCAC will develop other training in the future. We appreciate your input.