Information that has resulted in any decisions made is of significant value to an agency, particularly as those decisions change over the lifetime of a case. Coinciding with the requirements to determine which families are eligible to receive benefits and services are the requirements to display how decisions are made, what information has been used to determine a family being eligible or ineligible, as well as the calculations that have gone into determining entitlement amounts. The ability to see the information used to make decisions, particularly looking across the lifetime of a case, becomes invaluable in understanding how changing needs are met over time. Caseworkers and the families themselves need to know not only the benefits they are eligible to receive (or not eligible to receive) and for how long, but also the reasons why they are (or are not) eligible.
Taking a closer look at the example of providing income assistance to families in need, income assistance amounts can change over the lifetime of a case. For example, the income assistance amount may go down when one of the children in the household reaches age 18. The income assistance may go up while a family member is pregnant, and down again after the newborn baby reaches a certain age. It is important that caseworkers and families can see the 'big picture', not just after changes have occurred, but as soon as information is available. Milestone ages for family members can be displayed as key decision factors in determination results over the lifetime of a case - this can include projected ages in the future, thus providing a family with a view into what's to come. The calculations performed to determine entitlement amounts can be displayed on decision details pages, thus providing clear explanations for how amounts were derived.