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Pseudo SSN
Job Seeker Social Security Numbers are necessary to make a match against wage records. Since all Employment and Training programs have performance measures that require the use of wage records it is very important to collect them and yet there are times when a “pseudo” Social Security Number is appropriate to use. SKIES makes it simple. Just double-click in the Social Security Number field and SKIES will automatically assign a “system” number that will not match an actual Social Security Number. This can be done on a new record or one that currently exists. (05/28/04)

Quick Screen Print
Skies users sometimes need a quick screen-print to share a point or put information in a paper file. Use the “Print Screen” option in the HELP menu in SKIES. Only the SKIES screen shows without the other information from your desktop. (04/30/04)

SKIES and Passwords
In SKIES, each user periodically receives a warning that his or her password will expire within a number of days. Users who receive this message must change their passwords before they are denied access to SKIES. “We have been experiencing quite a few phone calls at the SKIES Help Desk about passwords,” says Kay Kaliman of SKIES System Administration. ‘We’re encouraging everyone to change their passwords as soon as they get a warning. This is an important part of keeping the system secure.”

To change your password, go to the SKIES Staff Functions Menu option and click on ‘Change Password.’ Follow the instruction shown. The system will then state “Password Successfully Changed.” Click “OK” and Exit through the door icon. If you have questions or you cannot log into the system, contact the SKIES Help Desk at 360.438.4690. (03/26/04)

Exiting
When finished with a set of tabs in SKIES, exit through the (Exit this Form) door before going to another screen. Each edited tab should be saved before going to the next tab. This will release computer memory for efficiency; otherwise, your computer may slow down to a crawl. (02/27/04)

Acrobat Reader
The SKIES application utilizes Acrobat Reader version 5.0 as intervening software to assist in viewing reports on-line. Optimal response time on this process depends on many things. We do know that if you are requesting a large amount of data, it does take time to load in to your computer and display. If your first response is a white screen, give it some time to load the data before you determine it to be an error. Computers do help us process data faster, but patience is still a virtue with some features. (01/30/04)

Finding SKIES Server Number
“When calls come in to the SKIES Help Desk from users experiencing problems, we’re always interested in which SKIES Production server you are logged into.” states Kay Kaliman, SKIES Help Desk Supervisor. The server number 1, 2, or 3 is located after the title “SKIES Production” in the color bar at the top of your SKIES screen. You often can help to trouble shoot the problem by making note of this number before you close or delete your SKIES connection. (12/24/03)

Finding Job Orders By City
“We often get calls to the SKIES Help Desk from users wanting to know if it is possible to identify Job Orders within a particular city” says Kay Kaliman, SKIES Help Desk Supervisor. The answer is yes! Open job orders can be found using the Binocular Search feature in SKIES. You can search for job orders in a particular city, or by several other characteristics. You can make your search broad or very specific. Or try several different combinations until you find just what you want. The SKY is the limit. (11/26/03)

Slow Response Time
Sometimes users experience what we call a slow response time (transactions take 10 or more seconds). When this happens, we suggest that you try to access another Internet site outside our government network such as Microsoft network (www.msn.com) and click on links to other information. When other Internet transactions are slow, you can expect transactions to be slow in SKIES too. (10/31/03)

Assistive Technology
Since the implementation of SKIES Version 2, you may notice that the cursor will now navigate to data fields that did not accept manual entry with Version 1. These are the same fields that have been “view only” fields and previously bypassed by the cursor. In order for Assistive Technology software to read or speak these fields, it was necessary for the cursor to navigate to all fields. The Assistive Technology software programs are tools that assist persons with disabilities to utilize SKIES more effectively. (10/17/03)

Improve response time and periodic printing problems
Users may improve response time and periodic printing problems in SKIES by going to their Internet Explorer Tools menu and selecting Internet Options. On the General tab, find the Temporary Internet file section and click on the delete files button. This will clear your cache.

Next, while you are still in the Internet Options window, to help with printing problems, click on the “Advanced” tab. This screen will show a check box called "reuse windows for launching shortcuts." If the box is checked, click in it to “uncheck” it. Then click on OK to exit the Internet Options window. You must exit out of SKIES and re-enter in order to connect to the print function in the SKIES program. 02/07/03