Contents

About this document

This document has been developed by ASWB to assist board staff with using the ASWB Board Portal. The portal was designed to offer flexibility to meet the requirements of each jurisdiction’s relationship with ASWB. As a result, this document may include items that do not pertain to your usage of the board portal. It also will not include process related topics regarding when to report information to ASWB. If you have questions regarding this, please contact ASWB via email at specialists@aswb.org

PPD Management

Overview

The Public Protection Database (PPD) is an important tool for the protection of the public. PPD is a flagging system that provides information on actions taken by member boards. Member boards can use PPD to assist them in making licensure decisions.

The system is designed to prevent an applicant who has had action taken against them in one jurisdiction from withholding the disclosure of the action when applying for license in a new jurisdiction once a subject is flagged through a PPD query, member boards are encouraged to contact the reporting board for the details of the action.

Through the ASWB Board Portal, member boards will be able to file new PPD reports online, and view PPD reports submitted by other member boards to assist in determining a candidate’s eligibility for licensure.

Reporting to the PPD is not mandatory and therefore it is not the final word as to whether a subject has had action taken against them. It is only as good as the jurisdictional data reported to the system and should be considered one tool in checking a subject’s background.

Open

About the PPD management dashboard

The features available to users through the PPD management dashboard are:

1. Create a new PPD report.

2. Resume a PPD report already in progress.

3. Search for existing PPD reports in any jurisdiction.

4. Review a summary report of all PPD actions reported to ASWB by member boards.

5. Review a breakdown of the types of actions reported to ASWB by member boards.

6. Obtain a list of the Basis for Action Codes you may use to report an action.

7. Review all the actions reported to ASWB by member boards over the last year.

8. Review all actions reported by your board.

Your screen may look different that the screenshot above depending on your permission level in the system. If you feel you do not have proper access, please contact your ASWB board portal contact, or ASWB.

Accessing the PPD management dashboard

After logging into the ASWB board portal, users will be able to access the PPD management dashboard, by clicking on the “PPD management” tile.

Open

If you do not see the PPD Management button when you log into the board portal, please contact ASWB for assistance.

Creating a new report

To create a new PPD report, click on the “New PPD Report” tile.

A PPD report will consist of eight pages of data.

1. Certification details

2. Practitioner identity

3. Addresses

4. Education and license

5. Action report

6. Action codes

7. Basis for action codes

8. Description of action

Entering information

As you complete the PPD report, the system will validate most of the data you enter as you move from field to field. If you fail to provide required information, or if the data you provided is considered invalid, the system will display an error message below the field containing the issue.

You must fix all errors on a page before you are able to proceed forward with the report.

Attached is a general definition of all the fields contained in a PPD report. Please note that some of these fields may not be applicable to your report and will not be needed.

Saving your report

As you move from field to field, the system will automatically save your valid responses. If you need to stop for any reason, you can press the Save & Quit button

at the bottom of the page. Doing so will return you to the PPD dashboard.

Submitting your report

After completing the eight sections of the PPD reporting process, you will be given the opportunity to review the information you provided on the “Pre-Submission Overview” page. You can click on each header shown to expand it to see the information you provided.

If you need to add, change, or remove any information you entered, you may use the back button

to move back to a previous page. If the information you have reviewed is accurate, press the “Submit Application” button

to send the report to ASWB. Note: the process of sending a report to ASWB is not complete until you press the “Submit Application” button.

The system will display a confirmation message when the report has been submitted.

Pending PPD report entries

Any reports which have been started, but not submitted, will be shown under the Pending PPD report entries section on the dashboard. This section will only appear when there are one or more PPD reports which have been started and not completed.

Addressing pending PPD report entries

Clicking on the down arrow next to the action button will provide you with the ability to either continue with the entering of information on a report you wish to submit, or to delete a report.

Note: when deleting a report, all information in the report will be deleted so use caution when selecting this option. The system will ask you to confirm the deletion to prevent accidental deletions.

Search PPD reports

This section allows you to search all reports submitted to ASWB by member boards to determine if a candidate has had a PPD report from another jurisdiction. Note: The rules governing the submission of a PPD report by member boards vary by jurisdiction and this list should not be considered an exhaustive attempt to determine a candidate’s eligibility.

Search filters

The system allows you to search PPD reports submitted by ASWB member boards using multiple criteria. When using multiple criteria, the system will only return results when all specified criteria are found in a report.

1. Last Name – allows you to search by the subject’s last name. The results will include any last name containing the value you entered. For example, searching on the last name “Snow” would return reports for: Jon Snow and Roberta Whitesnow.

2. First name – allows you to search by the subject’s first name. The results will include any first name containing the value you entered.

3. Social Security Number – should be the individual’s SSN without any dashes. Values entered require an exact match on a record.

4. Jurisdiction – selecting a member board will limit the search results to reports submitted by that specific member board.

5. Date of Action (From) – allows you to limit the time of the infraction to the earliest reporting period.

6. Date of Action (To) – allows you to limit the time of the infraction to the latest reporting period.

7. Reset – resets the search fields and removes any previously returned search results.

8. Search – perform the search using the field(s) populated.

9. New PPD Entry – allows you to create a new PPD report.

Search results

Upon processing your search, the system will return a list of all submitted reports which match the criteria provided.

Name – The primary name submitted on the PPD report.

1. Board – the ASWB member board which submitted the report.

2. Birthdate – the birthdate provided in the submitted PPD report.

3. Date of Action – the reported date of action for the PPD report.

4. Action Code(s) – the action code(s) listed on the PPD report. If multiple codes are listed, the display will list these separated by a semi-colon (;).

5. Basis Code(s) - the basis code(s) listed on the PPD report. If multiple codes are listed, the display will list these separated by a semi-colon (;).

6. Revised – Indicates if the submitting board has issued a revision for the PPD report since its submission. This feature is currently not available.

7. Action – If the search result is from another board, you will be directed to contact that board to obtain the details of the report. If the report was submitted by your organization, clicking on the view button will produce a PDF version of the PPD report.

Reporting

Overview

The reporting features of the board portal allow you to export most data into either Excel or comma- separated value (CSV) files. Exporting occurs by clicking on either the

or

buttons.

Action summary

The action summary report categorizes the action codes on submitted PPD reports and provides a synopsis of all submitted PPD reports by jurisdiction since the initial launch of PPD.

Actions breakdown

The actions breakdown report expands on the information shown in the action summary report by listing the number of submitted PPD reports containing each action code.

Basis for action codes

The Basis for action codes report summarizes the total number of submitted reports from ASWB member boards who reported the basis code.

Count of actions

Provides a yearly summary of PPD reports submitted to ASWB for each reporting member board.

Actions in <member board>

The Actions in report summarize all submitted PPD reports for your jurisdiction.

Custom reporting

If you require PPD reporting not provided by the system, please contact ASWB.

Score Transfers

Overview

Based on your organization’s requirements, Candidates who have passed a social work licensing examination authorized by a different jurisdiction may be required to have ASWB report the office score result to your jurisdiction for review and consideration of licensure in your jurisdiction.

The ASWB board portal will allow authorized individuals the ability to search for and view any score report sent to your jurisdiction in the last calendar year.

Accessing the score transfer dashboard

After logging into the ASWB board portal, users will be able to access the score transfer dashboard, by clicking on the “Score Transfers” tile.

If you do not see the Score Transfers button when you log into the board portal, please contact ASWB for assistance specialists@aswb.org

Searching for a score transfer

Search filters

The system allows you to search for a Candidates score report by:

1. Last Name – allows you to search by the candidate’s last name. The results will include any last name containing the value you entered. For example, searching on the last name “Snow” would return reports for: “Jon Snow” and “Roberta Whitesnow”.

2. First name – allows you to search by the candidate’s first name. The results will include any first name containing the value you entered. For example, searching on the first name “Rob” would return reports to “Robert Smith”, “Rob Jenkins”, “Robert Doe”.

Search Results

Upon processing your search, the system will return a list of all score reports which match the criteria provided.

1. Last Name – The Candidate’s last name.

2. First Name – The Candidate’s first name.

3. Exam Level – The ASWB exam level for the report.

4. Exam Date – The date the exam attempt was administered.

Pressing the “View” button

will have the system render a score report in PDF format. Note: Depending on your computer’s configuration, the report may open in the browser, in another program or be downloaded immediately.

Exam Approvals

Overview

The ASWB board portal provides authorized users the ability to enter new approvals to sit for an ASWB exam, edit existing approvals, and check the status of a previous.

About this section

This section has been created to provide users with an overview of the approval management functionality in the new ASWB board portal and assumes that the user has been granted the proper permissions to access the area. Its intended scope is limited to the usage of the system and not the processes or procedures related to when/if an approval should be created or edited.

About the Approval dashboard

1. Create a single exam approval authorization.

2. Upload multiple exam approval authorization from a file.

3. Search for existing exam approval authorizations to identify the status of the approval or make an edit to the existing approval.

Accessing the Approval dashboard

After logging into the ASWB board portal, users will be able to access the Approval management dashboard, by clicking on the “Approvals” tile.

If you do not see the Approvals button when you log into the board portal, please contact ASWB for assistance.

Create a single approval

To create a new approval, click on the “Create Approval” tile.

Entering Information

The approval entry screen allows you to provide ASWB with the necessary information to authorize a Candidate to sit for the examination. An approval consists of the following information.

As you complete the exam approval, the system will validate most of the data you enter as you move from field to field. If you fail to provide required information, or if the data you provided is considered invalid, the system will display an error message below the field containing the issue.

Avoiding duplicate approvals

A new feature of the approval entry system is that the system will now attempt to identify if there is an open approval for the Candidate and ask you to confirm if you are updating the previous approval, or if this is a new approval.

In the screenshot below, the system identified a possible match to an approval submission.

The information on the left side lists the information you just entered, and the information on the right is the potential match. If you wish for ASWB to update the existing approval the system matched with, click on the “Edit Existing Approval” button, otherwise, click on the “Save New Approval.”

After confirming which action to take, the system will display a confirmation message that the approval has been saved.

Uploading multiple approvals

The ASWB Board Portal offers users the ability to upload multiple approvals at the same time using a robust processing system. To upload multiple approvals, click on the “Upload Approvals” tile.

Creating a template

The new bulk approval upload feature allows users to use the ASWB provided approval template or in some cases a template of your design.

Note: The ASWB template is available for download by clicking on the “Download Bulk Exam Approvals Spreadsheet” link on the Bulk approval upload page.

If you are interested in using a file template different than the format supplied by ASWB, please submit a copy of the file to the ASWB team itservices@aswb.org and a member of our IT team will be in touch.

Entering Data

At a minimum, the following information is required for an approval to be processed:

• First Name

• Last Name

• Date of Birth

• Exam level

• SSN/SIN/Personal No – if required.

The following rules applied to the fields below if the column is not included in the file, or if there is no value listed for the record:

• Approval Date – The date and time the file was uploaded.

• Expiration Date – The date and time based on the standard approval window for your member board from the approval date used.

Uploading the approval file

After verifying the file is populated correctly, press the “Choose File” button

on the screen. When prompted navigate to and select the file to be uploaded. Once the file name has been populated, press the “Upload Approvals” button

and the system will begin processing the file.

Identifying Errors

When uploading records, the system will first make sure that all required columns are present before attempting to process the records listed.

The system will process and save each record in the file individually and when all records are processed, you will receive a message indicating the results. In situations where one or more records are not processed due to errors, the system will provide you with the details for each failing record, and the cause. It is important that you remove the processed records from the file when resubmitting to avoid creating duplicate approvals.

Note: The “Export to Excel” and “Export to CSV” buttons can be used to download the list of approvals with errors. You can then correct the items and use this file to reprocess the approvals.

Searching for existing approvals

To search for an existing approval entered by your organization, click on the “Search Approvals” tile.

Search Filters

The system allows you to search previously submitted exam approvals multiple criteria. When using multiple criteria, the system will only return results when all specified criteria are found in a report.

1. Last Name – allows you to search by the candidate’s last name. The results will include any last name containing the value you entered. For example, searching on the last name “Snow” would return reports for: “Jon Snow” and “Roberta Whitesnow”.

2. First name – allows you to search by the candidate’s first name. The results will include any first name containing the value you entered. For example, searching on the first name “Rob” would return reports to “Robert Smith”, “Rob Jenkins”, “Robert Doe”.

3. Social Security Number – should be the individual’s SSN without any dashes. Values entered require an exact match on a record.

4. Date of Birth – allows you to search on the candidate’s date of birth. You should enter the date in the “MM/DD/YYYY” format.

5. Internal ID No. – Not currently supported

6. Reset – resets the search fields and removes any previously returned search results.

Search – perform the search using the field(s) populated.

Search Results

Upon processing your search, the system will return a list of all score reports which match the criteria provided.

1. Last Name – The candidate’s last name.

2. First Name – The candidate’s first name.

3. SSN – The candidate's social security number.

4. Date of Birth – The candidate date of birth.

5. Exam Level – The ASWB exam level for the approval.

6. Approval Date – The start date of the approval.

7. Approval Expiration Date – The end date of the approval.

8. Status – An approval may be in one of the following statuses:

• Awaiting Import – ASWB has received the approval from the member board but has not reviewed it yet.

• Accepted – ASWB has accepted the approval, and the candidate may now register to sit for the exam.

• Registered – The candidate has registered with ASWB to sit for the exam.

• Exam Attempted – The candidate has sat for the exam for this approval.

• Exam Passed - The candidate has sat for an exam for this approval and passed.

Action – Pressing the “Edit” button will create a copy of this approval which you may update and submit to ASWB for review and acceptance.

Exam Results

Overview

The ASWB board portal provides authorized users the ability to locate passing and failing attempts of the ASWB exam, download individual score reports and group rosters.

About this section

This section has been created to provide users with an overview of the Exam Result functionality in the new ASWB board portal and assumes that the user has been granted the proper permissions to access the area. Its intended scope is limited to the usage of the system and not the processes or procedures related to how the examination results are to be applied.

Accessing the Exam Results dashboard

After logging into the ASWB board portal, users will be able to access the Exam Results area, by clicking on the “Exam Results” tile.

Understanding the Exam Results display

When first accessing the exam results page, all examination results received by ASWB which have not been downloaded by your team will be displayed

Searching for an Exam Results

Search filters

1. Exam Date Range – The period to limit the exam results to. If no end date is provided, the current date will be used. The dates provided are inclusive time periods.

2. Last Name – The last name of the candidate.

3. First Name – The first name of the candidate.

4. DOB – The date of birth provided by the candidate.

5. Authorization ID – The unique ID assigned to the candidate and their exam attempt by ASWB.

6. Result – Allows you to limit the results to Passing or Failing results only

7. Search button – Performs the search based on the criteria provided. At least one search field must be populated.

8. Reset button – Resets the search criteria fields and updates the result section to show any new exam results which have not been downloaded by your team

Viewing Exam Results

The Exam result section will show all exam results meeting the search criteria.

The exam results section provides the following:

1. Exam Date – The date the exam was taken.

2. Last Name – The last name of the candidate.

3. First Name – The first name of the candidate.

4. DOB – The candidates date of birth.

5. Address – The mailing address provided by the candidate.

6. Authorization ID – The unique identification number assigned to the exam attempt by ASWB.

7. Result – Indicates whether the exam attempt resulted in a Passing or failing result.

8. Actions –

   1. If the exam attempt was completed on or after January 2^nd, 2024, you will be able download an individual score report with the result information by clicking on the download icon.

      1. Note: Downloading an individual score report using this icon does not remove it from the default list of exam results to download when the page initially loads

   2. If the exam attempt was completed before January 2, 2024, you will not be able to download the individual score report and will see “N/A” in the column. A tool tip is displayed when hovering over this text informing you to contact ASWB if you require the individual score report.

9. Items per page – allows you to change how many results to show on the page at one time.

10. Download – after selecting the appropriate results reports to download, this will begin the generation of the reports. Once generated, the exam results shown on the table will be marked as downloaded, and you will need to search for them to see their results in the table in the future.

    1. Score Roster – an excel document listing all the exam results in the table with one line per exam result.

    2. All Individual Reports – a zip file will be created containing a one-page PDF file for each score report on the exam result table.