Considerations for utilizing collected income form data directly from RocketScan's database

Considerations for utilizing collected income form data directly from RocketScan's database

INFO: The application type discussed in this article is the Income Form, but it is also known as "LCFF form", "income survey", "alternative income form", "Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) form", "student education benefit form", "school benefit form", "data for school funding form", etc.
RocketScan uses National School Lunch Program (NSLP) requirements to evaluate an Income Form for benefit eligibility. The data collected by RocketScan from an Income Form is stored as a snapshot; it does not dynamically change when new information becomes available. Retrieving this data outside of RocketScan's interface may result in outdated or irrelevant information.

RocketScan's Income Form Reports wizard allows the user to get the most up-to-date information possible for reporting on the collected Income Form data. One of the tools that may be accessed from this interface is to update Directly Certified/Directly Certified Reduced status. If a student's DC status changed since their Income Form was originally processed, this tool may be used to update their reported status accordingly. This feature cannot be triggered outside of RocketScan's interface.


If an external method is used to return the current active records from the Income Forms data stored in the RocketScan database, there may be some issues with the results. For example:

Let's say that an alternate income survey is received for Student 1 and Student 2. The district processes the survey that same day with income information used as the determining factor to calculate the benefit that would be received per NSLP. Based on the income from their survey, Student 1 and Student 2 would not receive a benefit and be marked as “Paid” in RocketScan's Income Form report. A result from a SQL query to the database would also show a "Paid" status.

A few days later Student 1 becomes Directly Certified to receive NSLP benefits while Student 2 is still not listed as being a recipient of Direct Certification. However, the Income Form report — generated either from within RocketScan or obtained directly from the database — would still show a "Paid" status for Student 1 and Student 2. This is because without triggering the Income Form Reports wizard and performing the DC status update, the collected LCFF data will not include new information that has been received that would alter the reported benefit determination.

Now let's say a RocketScan user utilizes the Income Form Reports wizard. The system re-processes the income survey based on the updated DC status information, creates a new record in the database (the old record is kept for historical accounting), and the new record is marked as "active".  A report generated — either from within RocketScan or obtained directly from the database — after the DC status is updated using the wizard will show Student 1 and Student 2 as Directly Certified (Student 1 = DC and Student 2 = DC-Extended).

    • Related Articles

    • RocketScan Income Form Guide

      Welcome Welcome to RocketScan’s Income Form add-on! Image One’s RocketScan software has been a reliable scanning solution for processing family meal applications for almost 20 years. With our add-on, you may utilize RocketScan’s capabilities to ...

    • How to obtain your Income Form Report

      For more information on RocketScan’s Income Form add-on and its features, please see the RocketScan Income Form Guide. 1. Log in to RocketScan and launch the Admin module. 2. Click on the “Refresh Student Database” button and wait for it to complete ...

    • District Printing Best Practices

      When ordering forms to be used with Image One’s RocketScan or Strata Apps software, you have the option to utilize your vendor for printing. Using your printer means that Image One will generate print-ready files as PDF and EPS to provide to your ...

    • Prerequisites for early collection of Income Surveys in RocketSCAN

      Introduction RocketSCAN by Image One is of the few – if not the only – data collection systems that allows for the collection of Income Form data prior to the release of the USDA’s National School Lunch Program Eligibility Guidelines. However: The ...

    • Get Started with RocketSCAN

      Introduction Thank you for choosing RocketSCAN FMA — Image One Corporation's innovative, automated solution for processing meal applications and income forms for your district. Say goodbye to manual, time-consuming tasks and hello to a more ...