Information Technology Support of EEC’s System Building Efforts

May 8, 2012 EEC Board MeetingSummary Presentation

•Requests IT needs through established prioritization process

•Supplies resources to provide input on business needs of IT applications

•Very involved in requirements, testing, and training phases

•IT Leadership ensures alignment

of IT goals with EEC Strategic Goals

•EOE/ ITD Leadership provides executive

level sponsorship and oversight

•Provides feedback on current IT issues

and on new applications

•Involved in user acceptance testing

•Presents comments on application

usability and rollouts

EEC IT Strategic Visioning

•Commissioner Killins defines Strategic goals and direction of the agency

•Commissioner with Sr. Leadership drives prioritization of IT projects and process improvements EEC

Leadership

EEC User CommunityEEC

EEC’s vision for leveraging IT to meet Strategic Goals involves support and feedback at the Secretariat, Agency, and User levels

EOE Support

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Business Application Definitions

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FY12 EEC IT Applications

KinderWait-childcare waiting list application Web-based application implemented in August 2011 to replace a

legacy waitlist application• Allows for ease of use: MA211 & families can also enter data• Application taking• Eligibility wizard• Waiting list system

Voucher Reassessment – streamlined VM process

Child Care Financial Assistance (CCFA) Service Web-based application that will improve attendance, billing,

payment, and compliance processes Collect uniform, universal, and high quality data on all children Reports and data from this application will support ongoing

research, policy decision making, and budgetary planning

4The launch of these IT Initiatives were born from the strategic direction and visioning of EEC

FY12 EEC IT Applications cont’d

QRIS Automate Level 1 verification for licensed programs in good standing Added functionality that enables users to copy data from one application

to another Enhanced Summary of Application Profile page to display list of standards

a program must achieve to get to the next Level by user role and status of a QRIS application

PQR Monthly emails to registrants and administrators regarding expired

registrations Streamlined instructions pages and developed monthly instructional

emails to registrants and administrators regarding pending registrations Enhanced matching criteria to prevent addition of multiple records for

registrants and non EEC programs

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Enhancements were completed on our existing applications

These modifications support the Agency’s vision of improving applications based on efficiency realization and user feedback

Implementation Lessons Learned

Data quality ISSUE: The KinderWait implementation brought over family data from a legacy

system. A lack of full understanding of the data elements in the new system and their significance led to data quality issues.

LESSON: Data conversion is an important part of many implementations and needs to be handled with detail to attention and full understanding of system impacts

Communication ISSUE: End users have felt unprepared by application implementations or did not have

the full set of expectations conveyed to them LESSON: Constant communication is critical to the success of a project which also

includes thorough training and end user guides

HelpDesk ISSUE: End users have felt lack of response from HelpDesk LESSON: HelpDesk should be prepared prior to implementations to handle additional

user requests

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Past application implementations had several issue areas

In order to streamline implementations and also provide on going user support the HelpDesk is streamlining its processes by monitoring outstanding work orders and ensuring cross training of its staff

Vision for the Future

Efficient and innovative technical solutions for families, providers and EEC staff

Open and transparent engagement with business sponsors and users of EEC to prioritize initiatives

Accurate and timely data for policy making, service delivery, and results evaluation

Streamlined applications that are appropriately integrated and linked

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EEC seeks an IT environment that will enable…

Ease of Technology and Mobility

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EEC leadership proactively seeks ways to increase productivity through use of technology

Improved process and end user benefits

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Data Driven Policy Administration

Unleash the potential of existing data Multi-dimensional views of data for

• All children• By program setting, region, funding source, age group• Assessment data coupled with parental consent

• Provider/Program• Data on programs in QRIS• Data on PQR registrants

• Data across time

Combination of data streams for longitudinal view

Coordination with LDS-P20 initiative and share data across Commonwealth agencies

• EWIS report to indicate distribution of risk levels10

EEC’s vision is to enable data driven management

ECIS Implementation: Phased Approach

Massachusetts has developed a high quality plan to strengthen EEC systems and build interoperability among them, with a specific focus on data accessibility

Linking it all together – EEC IT will continue to ensure appropriate system links

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CCFA