The California Employment Development Department (EDD) built out several modernizations in 2017 and is working to increase process efficiency and reduce cost with new software and system upgrades.
The department is responsible for state disability insurance disbursements and streamlined business processes this year by automating distribution of to-do items to all disability insurance staff through the State Disability Insurance Online System.
The system was launched in 2012 in an effort to reduce the time it takes to complete paperwork, increasing productivity and speeding benefit payouts.
The upgrade includes time stamps “to identify and prioritize the oldest work when assigning work priorities to staff,” public information officer Sarah Mejia wrote to Techwire. The improvement allows work to be prioritized, “automatically routing work items to the right staff at the right time.”
Another system that saw process improvement was the Benefit Programs Online Portal. The department modified the Access and Identity Management system to include a single sign-on for all benefit programs.
This improves security through Oracle software and minimizes the need to share user sign-on information to multiple medical service providers.
Using the user’s email address allows medical providers and users to access information securely and quickly.
In 2018, the department will replace its Unemployment and Disability Insurance Overpayment Collection System. Both functions will become part of the Accounting and Compliance Enterprise System, which includes collection tools and online services. The new tool is scheduled to roll out in May.
The department plans on modernizing the entire benefits system after 2018. The modernization effort will include making services accessible online and on mobile devices and streamlining system changes.
“It’s very expensive to maintain both the old legacy and new systems, and with static funding, this model is not fiscally sustainable,” Mejia wrote.
The department will look for proven software solutions “built specifically for handling benefit payments.”
The information-gathering part of the project life cycle is complete, and the documentation of business requirements will be complete around June or July. Consolidating all three benefit systems into one through vendor software will be next.
Deploying the Unemployment Insurance Online system has automated many processes, reducing eligibility determinations and increasing claimant certifications without paper forms.
This has also reduced the use of the call center for demographic information changes by 22 percent.
The department also plans to implement the new Unemployment Insurance Online Project and expand on the single sign-on system in coming years.
