Government Technology - September 2008 - (Page 48)

social services S TAT E | L O C A L | F E D E R A L j j Synopsis: The Center for Technology in Government (CTG) recounts New York state’s testing of mobile devices for CPS caseworkers. Mobility BY MEGHAN COOK | CONTRIBUTING WRITER The Case for Agencies: New York state Office of Children and Family Services, 23 local departments of social service, New York City Administration for Children Services. Technologies: BlackBerry smartphones, QuickPAD word processors. Cook, CTG, mcook@ ctg.albany.edu. Contact: Meghan I SEPT_08 n 2006, the New York Legislature began funding the deployment and testing of mobile technologies to help child protective services (CPS) caseworkers deal with their caseloads. The project was a joint effort among the New York Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), 23 local departments of social service, New York City’s Administration for Children Services (ACS), and the University at Albany’s Center for Technology in Government (CTG). The organizations developed a strategy to deploy and assess the technologies to inform decision-making for future IT investments. The tests covered three successive technology deployments that provided the OCFS with useful data about how mobile technology impacts child welfare work in New York state. The two-year phased deployment allowed CPS caseworkers to influence technology investments that will impact their profession. Through surveys, focus groups and workshops, caseworkers informed decisionmakers about the pros and cons of using different mobile technologies to support their work. Groups tested laptops and tablet PCs to access case information, BlackBerrys for email, digital pens to take notes and telephone dictation services for case documentation. The results gave New York a substantial knowledge base to maked informed decisions about the large-scale acquisition and deployment of new devices for CPS fieldwork. “By investing in systematic testing along with phased deployment, the OCFS has gained valuable experience and a rich store of impact data to guide further implementation of mobile strategies,” said Anthony Cresswell, the CTG’s interim director. New York state tests mobile technologies for child protective services. Through each phase, assessment findings were presented to the agency. The first phase involved the aforementioned mobile technologies deployed in three social service districts. Findings from the first phase showed laptops with wireless connectivity offer the most functionality for casework in the field, as there are more than 200 caseworkers in Manhattan and Staten Island. Most recently, statewide laptop testing followed; more than 500 laptops and tablets were deployed to 23 local social service departments across New York. The OCFS has long recognized and attempted to support the field-intensive nature of casework. In conjunction with the initial rollout of automated equipment into the field in the mid-1990s, the OCFS provided laptops to after-hours and on-call caseworkers and supervisors so they could connect to the system via dial-up. This decade, the OCFS provided portable data entry devices (QuickPADs) to every CPS worker in the state. This was followed by the deployment of voice recognition software licenses, primarily to CPS caseworkers, supervisors and managers. Not all chose to use the technology, but those who did used it for case note documentation. Findings CPS caseworkers’ job responsibilities typically fall into three main areas: investigating child abuse claims, documenting information in the state’s central child welfare information system, and preparing for and appearing in court. Typically caseworkers spend a large portion of their office time performing tasks related to these functions: reviewing case history before investigating claims, docu- 48 http://www.govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - September 2008

Government Technology - September 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for... Up Close Fork in the Road On Time and On Target On the Record, Off the Charts Government’s Greatest Asset? Easy Access Finding the Money Security in the Wireless World The Case for Mobility Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise Digital Communities Contents A New Government Paradigm News is Now Transformation Web 2.0 Style Protecting Community Media Thinking Regionally Government at La-Z-Boy Speed

Government Technology - September 2008

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