RD166 - Child Care Automation


Executive Summary:
The Department of Social Services (Department) has a vision for a new business automation model that will enable child care providers to obtain assistance and manage their child care business with the Department and local departments of social services (LDSS) by phone, Internet, or in-person at LDSS, community action agencies, child support offices and other partner organizations.

The Department’s vision anticipates that enterprise-wide case management will be utilized across programs by LDSS and partner agencies. Enterprise-wide case management will include an automated child care management and payment system to track providers and services, provide case-based financial management, maintain service plans and case notes, post alerts to workers and enable standardized data exchange with companion systems. The automated child care management and payment system will be a lead project for the Department’s enterprise-wide case management effort.

Virginia will meet federal mandates more efficiently with a fully automated child care management and payment system. The automated system will improve program management by providing:

• Analysis of encumbrances and expenditures;
• Assessment of unmet child care needs; and
• Timely information regarding children and families served, providers utilized, and costs associated with child care.

Item 334(T) of the 2007 Appropriations Act provided $750,000 in the first year and $750,000 in the second year to create the child care management and payment system. The Department is working closely with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) and state and local partners to promote the Child Care Automation Project and to implement the automated child care management and payment system.

The Department has progressed toward implementing the automated child care management and payment system by:

• Hiring a project manager to lead a case management and payment system analysis and to identify system requirements;
• Forming a committee of state and local staff and child care providers to identify policies that need revision to support automation;
• Analyzing an Interface Systems Repository (ISR) that will house child care provider data and obtain financial information; and
• Developing a project plan and holding weekly meetings with child care and information technology staffs to ensure timely progress toward implementation of the automated system.

The planning phase of the project with baseline requirements will be completed by September 30, 2008. Estimated project costs will likely exceed $500,000 during this first year. The focus of the second year - development and implementation of an enterprise-wide application for a vendor and fiscal management/payment system – should be completed by June 30, 2009. Program policy and procedure modifications necessary to complement automation should be implemented by October 1, 2009. The third year of the project will focus on development of the case management system in conjunction with the Department’s goal for enterprise-wide solutions, with implementation expected by June 30, 2010.