Information Technology Support Center 33 rd . Annual National UI Issues Conference Savannah, GA Multi-State Consortia UI IT Systems Development Joe Vitale – ITSC Director June 19, 2014 1 Information Technology Support Center
NASWA Structure 2 Information Technology Support Center
Who is the ITSC? 3 Information Technology Support Center
ITSC Governance 4 Information Technology Support Center
ITSC and UI IT Modernization Services to States Overview of current UI IT Modernization projects Identifying and sharing best practices Establishing and supporting consortia Provide ongoing advisory services and technical assistance as needed Coordinating communication and information sharing among states Conducting assessments on request 5 Information Technology Support Center
UI IT Modernization 6 Information Technology Support Center
A National View of UI IT Systems ( NASWA/ITSC Study – July 2010) States developed systems for UI operations generally in the 1970s and 1980s, and many are using the same “legacy” mainframe technology based systems today. Note: In the NASWA/ITSC survey, over 90 percent of states reported using benefits or tax systems running on outdated hardware and software programming languages, such as COBOL. The survey found the average age of a state benefits IT systems is 22 years, and the oldest benefits system is 42 years. The average age of a state tax system is 24 years, and the oldest tax system is 41 years. Only eight states have a modernized benefits system, only three have a modernized tax system, and only one has modernized benefits and tax systems. 7 Information Technology Support Center
What is a Modernized UI IT System? A “modernized” UI system means the benefits or tax system uses an application technology that inherently supports web-based services and object- oriented paradigms in combination with a relational database technology. “Fully Modernized” refers to a UI system with both "modernized" benefits and tax systems . 8 Information Technology Support Center
Over two-thirds of states face growing costs for mainframe hardware and software support of their legacy systems. Additionally, seventy-five percent of states face major and growing challenges because in-house IT staff are retiring rapidly and there is a scarcity of IT staff skilled in older technologies 9 Information Technology Support Center
States Cannot Efficiently Handle Current Systems Skyrocketing cost: Nine out of 10 states reported maintenance, support and ongoing operations of these old systems escalates in cost every year. Poor agility: Eighty-two percent of states reported difficulties implementing new federal or state laws due to the constraints posed by their IT systems, including law changes involving Extended Unemployment Compensation and the $25 Federal Additional Compensation. Systems that add modern components onto old mainframe systems are difficult to enhance or reprogram. Poor scalability: Forty two percent of states reported trouble scaling-up in a timely manner to handle workload surges. Increasing system capacity to handle higher claims levels is hampered by the number of components that must be increased rapidly and in unison Inhibited productivity: Only eight states indicated a high usage of productivity- and service- enhancing technologies, such as automated case management systems and web-based user interfaces. Note: While the overwhelming majority of states have implemented internet-based services using newer tools and technologies for UI claimants, limitations posed by integrating these technologies with legacy systems create numerous inefficiencies and data error 10 Information Technology Support Center
Modernized Systems Challenges and Benefits Modernized systems lower costs and improve services and staff productivity Even modernized UI IT systems present cost and other challenges, but the benefits of modernization are high and numerous. States with modernized benefits and/or tax systems (accompanied by re-engineered business processes) generally report: better staff productivity; improved customer service, including shorter wait times faster and more accurate benefit payments; quicker and more accurate implementation of new laws/programs; and lower costs. 11 Information Technology Support Center
The Cost for UI IT Modernization – Single State Model Studies indicate at least $4-5 billion needed nationwide to modernize state UI IT Systems 12 Information Technology Support Center
A New Concept State Consortia UI IT modernization through state consortia is a promising new paradigm. Multiple states can pool their resources and reduce risk in pursuit of a single common system they can each use applying state- specific minor programming and configuration settings. The Unemployment Insurance State Information Data Exchange System (SIDES) is a recent model and example of a successful consortium project initially designed and developed by six states, some large employer TPAs and the ITSC DOL began funding state consortia in FY 2009 13 Information Technology Support Center
Key Components of a Consortia System High percentage of common requirements among state members (80% or greater) Executive Support and Sponsorship from all members A good governance model Willingness of one state to act as the Fiscal/Purchasing lead Ability of lead state to have other members states participate in RFP creation, evaluation and recommendation Agreement of states to work cooperatively together in person on requirements and implementation Selection of a vendor understanding consortia model and approach Common code for common functions with state specific subsets One core system Multi tenant environment Open Source tools Highly Configurable software framework Table driven model Inclusion of a Rules Engine 14 Information Technology Support Center
First Phase of the Consortia Model In FY 2010 USDOL funded two consortia to determine if a consortia model could be used to build a new UI IT Benefits and or Tax System. Was it feasible and could the states work together? In addition was there a high enough level of commonality of the requirements between the states in the consortium to make building a common system practical? AWIN consisting of Arizona, Wyoming, Idaho and North Dakota and SCUBI consisting of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee were the first two consortiums formed to test out this model. 15 Information Technology Support Center
Consortia Model Grows After two years of working together on the consortia model the states in both AWIN and SCUBI were able to develop a common core set of requirements for a new UI IT System AWIN – developed both common Benefits and Tax requirements SCUBI – developed common Benefits requirements The Good News: States discovered they can actually work together on a UI IT Modernization project leveraging fiscal and staff resources States had more in common than they initially realized going into the project Common requirements were in the range of 80% to over 85% Obviously there were still 15% to 20% of unique state requirements 16 Information Technology Support Center
Consortia Model Continues to Grow In FY 2011 USDOL provided funding for AWIN and SCUBI to move on to the next phase of their UI IT Modernization project Publish and RFP and Select a Vendor to Design, develop and Implement the new common UI IT System Note: AWIN changed to WyCAN as Idaho dropped out and decided to use the requirements developed to build a single state system for Idaho. Colorado joined the consortium and did a fit gap analysis of their requirements with the existing consortia requirements In SCUBI the consortium was reduced to three states as Tennessee decided to also go the way of a single state model In FY 2011 USDOL also funded an additional consortium VMW (Vermont, Maryland and West Virginia) to do a phase one feasibility study and develop a common set of requirements 17 Information Technology Support Center
Consortia Model Continues to Grow (cont.) In FY 2012 DOL funded another consortium MRM (Mississippi, Rhode Island and Maine) for development of a common system Mississippi was one of the first states to successfully modernize its UI IT system They discovered early on that they were not going to be able to support this system as a single state The vendor was still supporting it and there was no sign of Mississippi being able to take over this support both technically and financially as a single state The MRM concept was to leverage the already built modern UI IT system and make it a multi tenant common system for all three states Rhode Island and Maine agreed to accept core functionality in the Mississippi system that was not in conflict with their current UI laws 18 Information Technology Support Center
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