The eligibility and entitlement engine uses the case effective date to ensure that the reassessment periods are consistent. The eligibility and entitlement engine uses the from and to dates to determine the eligibility and entitlement periods and these dates are determined based on certification periods, delivery patterns, and nominee component assignments. Since all of these dates are variable, the eligibility and entitlement engine also uses the case effective date when calculating delivery dates. The case effective date is set to the delivery date on or after the initial case approval date.
The purpose of the case effective date is to establish a fixed date for determining delivery dates. To determine the delivery dates, the eligibility and entitlement engine works its way back from the case effective date to the eligibility and entitlement engine from date and then works its way forward to the eligibility and entitlement engine to date. The following scenario demonstrates how the eligibility and entitlement engine uses the case effective date to determine dates on which the eligibility and entitlement engine will reassess the case.
A benefit case is created on October 16th which is eligible from Thursday, October 11th until Friday November 30th. James Smith is the primary client and nominee; his delivery pattern is 'weekly by check on a Monday'. The benefit case is also approved on October 16th. Since October 16th is not a payment date, the case effective date is set to the next payment date, Monday, October 22nd. The case is paid out as far as Sunday, November 4th, and subsequently reassessed. The eligibility and entitlement engine determines the delivery dates inside the reassessment period as follows:
Notice that these are the same delivery dates that would have been found if starting with the input from date; however, by having a fixed date, the case effective date, there eliminates the risk of inconsistencies as the input from and to date vary.