The California Victim Compensation Board demonstrated its renewed advocate portal and addressed advocate questions about account setup, search and assignment, document uploads and access to correspondence during a webinar session of agency staff and about 300 registered attendees.

Jennifer Rocco, deputy executive officer who oversees the victim compensation division at the California Victim Compensation Board, opened the webinar and said, "The entire team is very excited to engage with such a large group of advocates who are working to assist victims of crime." The presentation included a product walkthrough by Thomas Jacob of CalVCB’s IT division and a deeper-feature demonstration by Rachel Olsen, a CalVCB staff member.

CalVCB staff outlined how advocates get access and how the portal organizes work. Advocates request access by emailing the board with a short list of information; CalVCB then provides an advocate PIN and account setup directions. Once logged in, the portal’s My Applications page lists "applications in process" (including drafts with temporary IDs) and submitted applications that are assigned to the logged-in advocate. The portal includes a search function (by application ID, applicant name, date of birth or advocate office), a forms page, upload functionality for bills and supporting documents, and an office-level user administration page for advocate administrators.

The board explained assignment workflows and limits. Advocate administrators (office admins) are the only users who can assign or reassign applications to individual advocates in their office. Paper applications received by fax or mail are entered through CalVCB’s intake process; when intake staff record an advocate office on section 6 of the paper form, the application will appear in that office’s unassigned list and can be assigned to an advocate in the portal. CalVCB said that after intake data entry the portal update can take about two hours.

Staff described how the search and unassigned lists are intended to protect claimant privacy by requiring fairly specific search criteria (for example, date of birth plus name). Rachel Olsen noted search behavior that can help advocates find paper applications that appear as "unassigned" in an office and demonstrated how admins can select multiple records and bulk-assign them to office users.

On account creation and signatures, Thomas Jacob said the applicant is not required to create an online account for an advocate to submit an application on their behalf: "The applicant need not create an account for, for an advocate to represent an application and submit." CalVCB staff nevertheless recommended that claimants create accounts when possible so they receive correspondence, can view bills and payments, and use the portal’s messaging feature to contact customer service.

Several functional limits and points of confusion were discussed. Advocates reported they had previously seen correspondence under the older CARES access and that correspondence is no longer visible in the advocate portal. CalVCB staff said the agency cannot expose full correspondence in the portal because letters may contain claimant personal information; alternatives offered included (1) asking claimants to read letters to their advocates, (2) having claimants fax or email a copy to their advocate, or (3) having claimants request that CalVCB send them a copy to share. Staff said they would reconsider access if policy or design changes allow it, but no immediate change was offered.

Advocates also raised questions about draft applications and the portal’s close button. CalVCB clarified the current behavior: a draft application becomes "closable" only after it has been inactive for 90 days and the applicant has not created an account; advocates who no longer want a draft to appear in their "in process" pane can have an office admin unassign the application so it no longer appears in that advocate’s view. Staff acknowledged some advocates report the close option not appearing in all cases and invited detailed reports through the portal feedback form so IT can troubleshoot and refine the workflow.

Other operational points covered during the session included:
- Upload categories: if a document is uploaded to the wrong category, advocates should submit a feedback ticket with the application ID and the correct category so CalVCB staff can correct it.
- Some external documents (for example, certain records from Medi-Cal or EDD) may not appear by default in the advocate view; advocates should use the feedback form to report missing expected uploads.
- Advocate admins can deactivate (but not fully delete) users who have left an organization; historical records retain the original advocate on past applications.
- Paper applications may be faxed using the board’s public fax channel; intake volume varies but most faxed applications are processed into the portal by intake staff and become assignable to advocates after the intake update.

CalVCB staff repeatedly urged advocates to use the portal’s Feedback button for troubleshooting and product requests, explaining that a feedback submission verifies the requester is an advocate with a signed confidentiality agreement and routes issues to the appropriate team (customer service, claims, or IT). Staff said they will prioritize and escalate issues based on the feedback entries they receive. The agency also said it will post the webinar recording on the CalVCB advocates page and plans additional webinars and resources, including user guides, short screencast videos and an e-learning walk-through of completing the online application.

The webinar closed with agency commitments to review survey and chat feedback, to consider future releases for features such as easier multi-application entry and correspondence access, and to follow up directly with advocates who reported persistent problems. No formal policy changes were announced during the session; staff framed the session as an informational demonstration and a collection point for user feedback.