Case Study - Pennsylvania's Unemployment Compensation Modernization System
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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IT-657-Q17
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Information Systems
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Jan 9, 2024
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Uploaded by PresidentRamMaster1473
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Case Study
Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation Modernization
System
Molly Richard
Professor Raymond Martinez
Enterprise Resource Planning
December 15, 2023
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Case Assessment
After reading and assessing the case study, Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Compensation
Modernization System (UCMS), I have noticed multiple reasons that justify the need for it. One reason to justify the need for UCMS is the large amount of information gathered and stored in the system. Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) currently has over 5,000 employees and has about 200 offices throughout the state that are used to serve Pennsylvania’s employed population, which consists of about 6.4 million workers and 300,000 employers. This is a large bulk of information for a legacy mainframe system. Another reason to justify the need for UCMS is that the DLI currently uses a “legacy mainframe system for processing unemployment benefits that was over 40 years old” (
Managing Information Systems). This legacy mainframe system is expensive, outdated, and an inefficient way to process the large amounts of data that is gathered. This system is outdated that the organization has to spend lots of money to try to maintain the system. The system’s functionality is also limited when it comes to case management and the integration of newer tools and technologies, which means that the company Key ERP Features
An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has many different features. Some such features include, integration, automation, and customer relationship management. The ERP integration is a feature that connects “multiple systems and/or applications w
ith a goal to share data across these systems to improve productivity and insights” (
10 Popular ERP Features: List of Key Capabilities
). This feature is beneficial, for a large organization with multiple
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departments/locations that need to combine information together in order to avoid duplicate information and slow services caused by human error, such as Pennsylvania DLI. The ERP automation feature helps streamline the whole process throughout the different departments and workflows while limiting the amount of manual input. This feature is beneficial for time efficiency as the different departments used to have to manually pass information from one location to another. The ERP customer relationship management feature provides “an integrated tool set for managing customer data and tracking interactions with customers” (
10 Popular ERP Features: List of Key Capabilities
). This feature is beneficial since it helps reduce time and labor costs required with managing customer information.
Integration Solutions
An ERP system is a software that which helps to automate and manage core business processes for the best performances. There are many different solutions to integrating the ERP system such as: Drop Files; Middleware; Enterprise Service Bus; Web Services; and Application Programming Interface. Drop Files is where one system drops a file in a folder that a different system is monitoring and imports. Middleware is a system that translates data from one system to
another when they are not capable of connecting with each other. Enterprise Service Bus is a more advanced type of middleware that does everything middleware does, but also implements “
business logic and enforce security, among other functions
” (
ERP System Integration Solutions: The
Ultimate Guide
). Web Services is when the system has a web server connection and can exchange information with other systems using standard web protocol. Application Programming Interface is the most commonly used. This is where the different systems directly interact with each other using the two-way connection between the systems using the programming commands.
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Why the Unemployment Compensation Modernization System was Risky and the Key Risk Factors
The unemployment compensation modernization system (UCMS) was a risky project in Pennsylvania for multiple reasons. Some of the reasons why the UCMS was a risky project in Pennsylvania because of the project’s size, the project’s structure, and the employee’s understanding of the projects scope. The size of the project is determined by many different factors. The UCMS project is considered a large-scaled software project due to “its complexity, large number of information requirements and business rules, and its cost” (
Managing Information Systems). The larger the project size, the higher the risks there are for that project. For large IT projects, there is a high risk of going over budget, over the allotted time, and under the predicted value of the project. The structure of the project can either reduce or increase risks of a project. If there is a clear, stable project structure, there will be a reduced risk rate. A clear, stable project structure helps make sure all of the requirements are implemented in the new system and the results of the projects are easy to see. If the project structure is unstable and unclear, there will be an increased risk rate. An unstable, unclear project structure will have unclear requirements and unclear project results. This structure has an increased risk rate due to human error such as changing the set requirements while in the middle of creating/implementing the project with the current requirements. The employee’s understanding of the project’s scope can either reduce or increase the risks of the project. All of the key stakeholders need to be able to understand what is supposed to happen and why it is supposed to happen. During the Pennsylvania’s DLI project, the DLI didn’t have enough employees with knowledge on the project’s subject matter which led to an “incomplete understanding of unemployment claims processing business requirements” and approving “IBM’s representation of business system
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requirements without fully understanding what they were approving” (
Managing Information Systems). When the different stakeholders aren’t on the same page as each other, it can lead to a miscommunication of what is required for the projects, which risks a increase in time and money
being spent on things that weren’t needed and making the project become late and over budget.
Framework Purpose
The purpose of a project’s framework is that it “provides a base for the application development process” (
What is a Framework?
) and to help the organization achieve its projects
. Pennsylvania’s DLI hired CSG Government Solutions to help with “planning, managing, and supporting complex projects that modernize the information technology and business processes of large government programs” (
Managing Information Systems). Using the projects framework, the organization will be able to see project problems and where they were encountered. Using the current framework of the project, CSG Government Solutions was able to see the project was supposed to have a budget of $35 million and a deadline of 18-24 months. The framework also shows the adjustments made to the project’s deliverables which would help improve quality, efficiency and customer service. Problems Encountered by the UCMS Projects
There were many problems encountered by the UCMS projects. Some of the many problems include: being over budget; past the deadline; missing focus; skill issues; execution issues; content issues; miscommunication; and lack of accountability. A couple of management factors that can account for these issues are poor communication skills and poor leadership. A technology factor that can account for these issues is the IT knowledge differences between everybody working on the project. A couple of organizational factors that can contribute to these
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issues are poor communication skills throughout the different departments/stakeholders and bureaucracy. How Could the Risks Be Mitigated as well as the recommendation’s Strengths and Weaknesses
There are multiple ways the risks could be mitigated. Some ways the risks could be mitigated are by: Making risk identification a team activity; determine how to deal with risks; develop a feasible plan to address risks; etcetera. Making risk identification a team activity is where you involve your entire team in identifying the potential risks associated with the project. A strength for this is that it ensures that everybody on the team is on the same page and that everybody has a chance to contribute their ideas. A weakness to this is that the team has to agree on which risks should be prioritized, which is a potential issue to do with a larger group of people. Determining how to deal with risks is where you take the risk and its severity and either develop a strategy; transfer risk to another party or accept the risk. A strength for this is that you can keep project risks under control and minimize the chances of surprises. A weakness for this is that these risks are manually decided by people, so there may be a different risk that should have been higher priority that was missed and messes up the entire project. Developing a feasible
plan to address risks is where you make a plan to deal with the risks that includes a timeline, a purpose, a responsible person, and a communication plan. A strength for this is that you can avoid any project management risk by focusing on the positives. A weakness for this is that these
plans need to be followed exactly as described. If the decided plan gets sidetracked in anyway, then the risk is not being mitigated properly and may ruin the entire project.
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References
Davidson, R. (2023, October 20). 10 Popular ERP Features: List of Key Capabilities
. Software Connect. https://softwareconnect.com/learn/popular-erp-features/
(2012, October 1). Delivering large-scale IT projects on time, on budget, and on value
. McKinsey Digital. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-
insights/delivering-large-scale-it-projects-on-time-on-budget-and-on-value
(n.d.). ERP System Integration Solutions: The Ultimate Guide
. Corning Data. https://corningdata.com/erp-integration-solutions/#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20most
%20common%20ERP%20integration%20solutions,enforce%20security%2C%20among%20other
%20functions.%20...%20More%20items
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2021). Managing Information Systems (17th ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/books/9780136971627
(n.d.). What is a Framework?
Geeks for Geeks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/what-is-a-
framework/