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Unified Information Technology System Development – Project Overview

Board of Early Education and CareFebruary 10, 2009

Agenda

Unified System Overview What is the Vision

What is Included

What are the Expected Outcomes

IT Governance

External Stakeholder Involvement

Project Plan

Next Steps

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Unified System Overview

Scope – Develop a single, comprehensive system for providing and tracking services to children, families, providers and educators of early education and afterschool time throughout the Commonwealth

Goal – Migrate EEC’s older legacy systems to a modern, browser-based environment

Expand the online functionality available to EEC staff, its partner agencies and programs, and to other stakeholders in Massachusetts

Establish enterprise data standards for use throughout the Department

Funding – $9.5 million (capital funds) from the Information Technology Division

Duration – Began February 3, 2009, lasts for 14 months, and spans two fiscal years

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The Unified System Vision

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Providers

CCR&RsCPCs

CHSBDCF

DTA

Families

Public

EOHHS(VG)

OSC(MMARS)

Practitioners

Background checks

Placements

Payment, contracts Intake

Funding, support, referrals

Provider search

Funding, support, referrals

Qualifications, trackingFederal

Govt.

Reports, Revenue tracking

Placements, background

checks

Legislature & Administration

Reports

Family Child Care

Systems

Public Schools

Other State Agencies

Funding, support

Licenses, resid placement,

tracking

Licenses, funding, tracking

Provider search, financial assistance

Consumers

Fund Sources

LegendIntermediaries

Other State Agencies

Service Providers

Practitioners

Note: The interactions described in this diagram are intended to illustrate information flow

Grants, tracking

OSD (Comm-PASS)

RFR

UFR

– Supports activities to measure and promote child outcomes and program effectiveness

– Improves decision making capabilities through integrated and expanded data capture and analysis

– Promotes process improvements and operational efficiencies

– Increases transparency and information sharing

– Uses modern technology that is easier to support and change including supporting regulation and policy changes

* Based on the Strategic Roadmap developed in 2007.

What is Included in the Unified System?

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TO4: Provider Development TO5: Integrated Child and Family

TO6: Purchase of Services TO7: Professional Development

• Search for providers• Add/edit providers• Create and maintain

licenses (renewals, visits, complaints, docs, etc.)

• Search for child/family

• Add/edit child/family• Refer child from

DTA/DCF• Determine eligibility

for financial assistance

• Manage child care wait list

• Place children• Track attendance• Manage

billing/payment• Assess children’s

progress• Promote program

effectiveness

• Receive payments• Process BRCs• Manage

compliance issues and legal actions

• Promote provider quality

• Manage RFR process

• Add/edit contracts• Manage budgets/

expenditures• Manage fiscal

compliance

• Assess risk• Manage payments

(leveraging MMARS)

• Track workforce• Manage practitioners

certifications (e.g., application, certification, decertification, etc.)

• Maintain professional development repository

• Search for professional development opportunities

Unified System

Expected Outcomes

Easier for children and families to request and receive services

Ability to track children and families including child outcomes

Expanded online resources for professional development

Flexible tools that support ongoing data analysis, policy- making, and budget planning

Comprehensive reporting across all provider relationships

Greater collaboration with state agencies that serve children and families

Easier to do business with EEC (billing, payment, and compliance)

Reduced operational and management complexity

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Accomplishments To Date

Selected Vendor Developed Statement of Work between EEC and

Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) which defines key deliverables, milestones, and payment points.

Prepared for Design by documenting functionality of legacy applications

Updated Technical Infrastructure (e.g., hardware, software, network, etc.) so it is capable of supporting the new system

Implemented mini-projects to support the overall goals of the Unified System (i.e., new background record check functionality, improved the quality of existing provider and child information)

Established Governance Committee to resolve policy issues and business process changes; coordinate staff participation in the Unified System Project; prioritize operational needs, engage external agencies and stakeholders

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Engaging External Stakeholders

The majority of the users of the Unified System are not EEC staff

There is a need to involve individuals who have knowledge of the existing processes (e.g., CPCs, CCR&Rs, contracted providers, other state agencies, etc) early on in the project to:

Promote communication between EEC and its partners

Improve the quality of the design of the Unified System

Facilitate the adoption of the Unified System

EEC Advisory and Parent Advisory Teams will play a key role

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Project Plan and Timeline

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TO8 Warranty and Transition

Integrated Child and Family5.1 Child Intake and Waitlist

TO1 Program Management

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M JFY2009 FY2010

TO2 Program Architecture

TO3 Common Services

Provider Development4.1 Provider Intake and Single Provider

Provider Development4.2 Advanced Licensing

Provider Development4.3 Provider Quality

Integrated Child and Family5.2 Placement and Attendance

Integrated Child and Family5.3 Billing/Payment and Referral Exchanges

Integrated Child and Family5.4 Universal Child and Family

Purchase of Services6.1 Purchase of Services

Purchase of Services6.2 Fiscal Compliance/Purchasing Exchanges

Professional Development7.1 Professional Certification

Professional Development7.2 Professional Development

Requirements baseline

Online professional certification and orientation

Online anonymous eligibility pre-screening

Replace Licensing Manager

Replace CCIMS/ eCCIMS

Unified System

Calendar Bar Legend

Management and architecture

Elaboration/design

Construction

Transition/testing

Task Order No.

Task Order Name(Development Package)

TO5

TO7

TO5

TO4

TO6

TO4

TO7

TO5

TO5

TO4

TO6

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Introduction to the IT Development Cycle

Inception Phase (aka Requirements) Defines the scope (or vision) of what is to be implemented. Typically includes high-level

business and technical requirements and an estimate of cost or resources required to implement the vision.

This phase defines the overall nature of the project. For the US, this is the Vision and Requirements Document and Unified System RFQ.

Elaboration Phase (aka Design) Transforms the vision for the project into specifications suitable for system development. This

is a critical phase where the design of the “to be” application is detailed and where business rules and requirements are specified.

Resulting from this phase are the design documents and models that will guide development. These documents set the expectations for later user acceptance testing of the system.

Construction Phase (aka Development) Focuses on the coding and development of the functionality and features of the designed

system. Unit testing is conducted to make sure individual pieces of the system meet the specifications of the various design documents.

In large projects like the Unified System, this construction phase (and the corresponding elaboration and transition phases) is divided into several manageable iterations.

Transition Phase (aka Testing/Training/Deployment) “Transitions” the application from development into production. It is in this phase that users

will confirm the functionality developed during Construction in a process called User Acceptance Testing (UAT).

The key criteria for the successful completion of UAT is the proper implementation of the designs developed during the Elaboration Phase.

Next Steps

Formalize IT Governance processes

Finalize approach to involving external users in the project

Begin to address policy issues and business changes that will impact the Unified System (e.g., regulation changes)

Conduct requirements “baselining” sessions

Plan for the development of the first Unified System development package focusing on Professional Certification

Arrange staff availability to participate in design sessions

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