From FCW Magazine:
I have no idea how likely that $3.1 billion federal IT modernization fund is or what share of it that Social Security might get.
"We have a full-blown plan to basically re-write everything," Social Security Administration CIO Rob Klopp told FCW on June 14.
If the proposed $3.1 billion federal IT modernization fund becomes a system-shocking reality, Klopp said he plans to be among the first requesting a cut.
"We have very detailed plans, we know how we’re going to ask for the money," he said. ...
Klopp pointed to the Disability Case Processing System as a reference point. In 2014, SSA killed and restarted the DCPS project after sinking $300 million and six years into it. The new DCPS push has cost less than $40 million, Klopp told FCW, and should be rolling out this December, thanks to an agile development approach. ...OK, a successful rollout of DCPS will impress a lot of people. Automating the windfall offset will impress even more. I think that should be your next goal after DCPS. Of course, how many people are confident that DCPS is going to work?
I have no idea how likely that $3.1 billion federal IT modernization fund is or what share of it that Social Security might get.
Good heavens, how many times have we heard the same damn thing from the Systems types? Dozens, maybe hundreds. Don't hold your breath.
ReplyDeleteTHIS time they'll get it right. They swear.
ReplyDeleteGive this to SSA, even though their COBOL-based record maintenance programs are ancient and creaky, they've done a good job with a tiny IT budget at putting web-based overlays on it. At a basic level, it's polishing a turd, but it still helps productivity.
Although they fell flat on their face with the rollout of their recent update to how they managed representative payees. FO employees have been absolutely screaming to us about how many bugs were in it. And how many features weren't.
If ever there was an agency that needed an overall enterprise solution, instead of farming out responsibilities by region, it's SSA.
Sigh.... SSA's systems 'improvements' frequently (almost always) make field operations more difficult. Flaws, unanticipated conflicts, unanticipated circumstances.... Solutions? Few and far between. "We created a web site listing problems and 'work arounds'." "Use these." If that doesn't solve it 'send it up to vHelp' ... if they can't tell you how to fix it (complex time consuming possible work around), we will send it to Central Office for resolution." Oh...by the way....this all takes times and causes delays and further strains limited Field Office resources.... Oh well, it's just gov't work after all...I guess. :-(
ReplyDelete