The Survey of Program Dynamics (SPD) will provide policy makers with information on the effectiveness of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. The first longitudinal file contains fully edited, consistently formatted and longitudinally processed core variables covering the years 1992 through 1997. This paper outlines and discusses methods used in reviewing the first longitudinal file that will facilitate person-level analysis for those who stayed in sample. To highlight these techniques, person-level data was extracted focusing on those individuals who reported receiving public assistance in 1993. Selected demographic and socio-economic characteristics of these individuals were reviewed and evaluated for the years 1993 and 1997. In addition, the SPD: 1st longitudinal file was merged with the 1993 SIPP longitudinal file in order to supplement data missing for 1995. The paper then discusses the findings from the SPD longitudinal cohort, as well as findings from the subsample from merging the data files. Selected demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individuals are reviewed and evaluated for the years 1993 through 1997. This paper discusses techniques and methods that can be used in supplementing 1995 missing information from the SPD: 1stlongitudinal file. The benefits from the additional information are not without its associated costs; reduced sample size and increased sample variance.