Tennessee WIC chooses FormsPartner® and Source Technologies secure MICR laser printers to save time and money managing vouchers

Tennessee WIC chose a MICR printing system because...

• MICR printers allow them to print vouchers on the spot, doing away with long wait times.
• MICR printers allow the WIC offices to focus on helping their participants and forget about the hassles and delays that existed with vouchers.
• They saved thousands by eliminating postage costs and preprinted voucher stock inventory costs.

In the State of Tennessee, there are more than 150 local WIC offices in addition to four regional offices. Women who are eligible for the program can visit their local office to receive information, supplements, and apply for food vouchers which are similar to checks and are used in supermarkets to purchase approved food and infant care products.

WIC vouchers, like checks, contain a MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) line. Tennessee WIC was unsatisfied with their system for voucher issuance because voucher requests were received from the local offices then batch printed using line printers and preprinted voucher stock with MICR encoding. After printing, they were mailed to the recipients. This process often took more than a week from start to finish, much longer than the desired time for a mother to have money for necessities.

Since MICR fonts are unique, most WIC organizations, including Tennessee's, have historically relied on financial institutions or specialty printers for preprinted voucher stock. This solution can be very expensive - and risky - considering the security problems associated with storing blank MICR documents.

Source Technologies worked with the State WIC office and its software vendor to enable on-demand voucher printing at both regional and local offices.  Source Technologies' secure MICR printers are now installed in each office. Additionally, FormsPartner was integrated with the State's AS/400-based system, which allows vouchers to be printed on-demand using blank voucher stock.

To issue a voucher using the new system, WIC employees in local offices find the recipient's account number through the regional office's AS/400, and the voucher then prints on the local office MICR printer. The printed voucher includes an identifying number, logo, variable data, MICR line, and authorized signature.

Today, all of the Tennessee WIC offices print food vouchers on-demand for immediate disbursement. This results in drastic cost savings by eliminating both postage, and inventory costs of preprinted voucher stock.