Before undertaking a step by step examination of the request process, this guide will provide an overview of the content and structure of the MSS database. This will contribute to understanding the logic behind the request process. The next page contains Figure 2, which enumerates the data elements found in the MSS case work-area. The case work-area houses the contents of one case record as "seen" by the computer during MSS processing. Each case record contains the information for 1979 on one client in the Medical Assistance Program. Thus, the first point to make about the MSS data base is that it is client structured. The data base consists of 404,732 records pertaining to the persons eligible for Medicaid in 1979.