When DPA began efforts to LEAN our core business processes it was acknowledged that leveraging technology would bring additional benefits and efficiencies that further enhance our system of work and add to the quality of the services we provide Alaskans. Since our first KAIZEN event, we have been pursuing efforts to modernize the tools and technology division employees use every day. Overall, there are about three dozen IT-related projects in the initial planning stages or under development. These projects range from enormous undertakings such as a replacement for EIS to relatively modest endeavors like enhancements to the Case Management System (CMS) used by work services case managers. We are also working on replacing the Fraud Case Management System, initial planning for a statewide, integrated phone system, and a replacement for AKWIC the system used to certify eligibility and issue food benefits for participants of the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC).

What follows is the start of an ongoing effort to keep you informed about the development and implementation of information technology within the Division of Public Assistance.

Today the Division of Public Assistance was recognized for its outstanding achievements in attaining the highest accuracy rate in the nation in determining food stamp benefit payments for Alaskans.

Today, the Division of Public Assistance is being recognized for its outstanding achievements in attaining the highest accuracy rate in the active food stamp payment category and finishing second in the negative payment accuracy category.

This is a monumental day for the Division of Public Assistance. This morning I was officially informed that, as anticipated, DPA had the best Food Stamp Program (aka SNAP) payment accuracy in the nation during federal fiscal year 2011. Alaska’s active payment error rate reported by FNS was 0.76%; in other words the sampled cases were 99.24% accurate.

For several years the Division has been advocating heavily to replace the Eligibility Information System (EIS) used to determine eligibility for thousands of people and to issue over $25 million in cash and food benefits alone each month. EIS has been a powerful tool and the backbone of our core business. Almost 30 years old, EIS’ cannot keep up with the demands created by growing workloads, changing policies and more and new federal mandates that require states to stand up systems capable of supporting real-time interfaces, online applications, client portals, and other modern functionality.