Management Information System-Background

The Department of Social Development – Eastern Cape

SDIMS

(Social Development Information Management System)

1. BACKGROUND TO SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Approximately 2 years ago the department recognised management and monitoring challenges, which lead to the birth of the SDIMS (Social Development Information Management System). The types of challenges identified were inefficient processes, the inability to monitor and evaluate, litigation, lost application forms, poor administration and the inaccessibility to key information.

The department began the process by developing key performance indicators (KPI), +/- 72 in total. These indicators spanned various functions performed by the Department of Social Development. Some examples of these KPIs are the utilisation of staff, application intake rate, application turnaround time, application backlog estimates, social worker to population ratio and foster care re-unification rate. A series of input tools were then designed. These were required to ensure all information required to generate these key performance indicators would be captured. The department then set about the planning and implementation of the infrastructure required, as this is a lengthy and costly exercise.

The current SDIMS modules are being rolled out to the all the districts across the province. Additional modules are currently in development and are being rolled out as they are completed.

The core terms of reference for the SDIMS were that it had to be on a central database. Various reporting options had to be available, the key performance indicators being the primary form of initial reporting and ad-hoc, exception and geographic reporting had to be catered for. The system must utilise the existing hardware and networks within the department and the Province. A graphic user interface with a modularised system was essential, the modularised system allows for future growth of the system.

The approach that was followed for the development of the system allowed for maximum input from the potential users and experts. A series of workshops with nominated user groups (the experts from all parts of the province) were held where the manual input tools and KPIs were reviewed to ensure completeness. User specifications were compiled and presented at a workshop, the user group leaders then approved and finalised the specifications. Non-functional prototypes were then developed and on completion of these further workshops were held to gain input on colours, information flow and screen design. Functional prototypes were then extensively tested both internally and with the relevant user groups. On completion of the testing the system was signed-off by the user group leaders and the training and rollout of the system began.

The basic system architecture comprises of a series of back-end systems, e.g. Social Security Pension System (Socpen), Personnel and Salaries System (Persal), Home Affairs System and Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) System. In the future this will expand to include other essential systems. These systems are used mainly for verification and the data is downloaded either on a daily or monthly basis depending on the frequency of the data required.

2. SDIMS MODULES

The front-end system, SDIMS, is made up of various modules. Firstly the Community Based Services, which is mainly for the services that the social workers provide to the community. This module comprises of four individual modules of which the core is the Case Tracking System. All clients that require services from a social worker will be registered into the system through the Case Tracking System. If the client is a child and is abused it will be notified in the child in the Child Protection Register. This is a requirement in terms of the Child Care Act (No.74 of 1983) and the information that is collected through the Child Protection Register is in line with these requirements. The Foster Care Register is a register of all foster children. This information will be cross-analysed with the foster care grant information held by Social Security. The Reception Assessment and Referral (RAR) Register is a register of all children in trouble with the law. This information will allow probation officers to monitor and manage new and repeat offenders.

Secondly the Facilities Register is a comprehensive system that allows for the application, registration, assessment, service plans, client management, personnel management, claims and deregistration of various types of facilities, government and non-government owned. The facilities register includes a variety of facilities, e.g. Children’s homes, Places of Safety, Secure Care Centres, Homes for the Elderly and Hospices, Non-Residential Care Facilities and the infrastructure of the individual facilities. Many of these facilities share common information and thus the system was created allowing for all their uniqueness’. If a client is already registered in the case tracking system, then their details do not need to be entered again into the facilities register, the client will thus be required to be registered to that particular facility. All facilities are required to register with the department irrespective if they require a subsidy or not. The geographic locations of the facilities have already been mapped in a data collection and capture exercise involving department staff and local communities. This geographic information is used for generating statistical and geographical maps.

Thirdly the Community Development Module is a community project management tool. A series of community projects are managed on a 6 month to 3 year basis, the system allows for the capturing of the business plan, registration of the project, management of the finance and administration of these projects.

Fourthly the Social Security Module, which comprises of a series of sections. The first is the Workflow Monitoring within which there is a Form Management system and the File Registry system. The File Registry system was developed outside of this MIS project, it forms the final step of the Workflow Monitoring. The Workflow Monitoring system begins when the beneficiary walks in the door and makes an application with the attesting officer. The attesting officer currently fills in a manual register of the applications completed; the Workflow Monitoring system will replace the manual register. The attesting officer then helps the beneficiary fill in the form and will then complete basic information from the application on the system, including the form number. The attesting officer cannot use a form that has not been allocated to him as every form is pre-numbered and has a face value, much like a cheque in a chequebook, and therefore has to be accounted for. With the basic information about the applicant is filled in on the system and the system will do a number of attest checks, e.g. has the beneficiary already made an application and is the beneficiary a government employee. Three barcode labels are then printed, one for the receipt that the beneficiary receives, one for the application form and another for the file. Once the attesting officer is complete the verification officer is required to verify the application form. The form is scanned out from the attesting officer and in to the verification officer. This process ensures responsibility for an application form and allows the system to pinpoint exactly where an application form is at any point in time in the process. The application form then moves through a number of processes and at each point the application is scanned from one person to the next, until it is finally filed into the registry system. The scanning of responsibility is logged and this log is used to calculate various KPIs and this information will be able to assist management in establishing bottlenecks, track applications, establish staff shortages and surpluses, turnaround times and exceptions.

3. SDIMS, AN INNOVATIVE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

This customised system is the first developed in the country. It is a web based system which allows for accessibility across the entire province and there are no licensing problems. The interfaces with other government department systems e.g. SOCPEN, Persal, GEPF and Home Affairs, allows for comparisons of data to eliminate fraud. The system allows for the monitoring and evaluating of staff performance and requirements which has been impossible to measure accurately due to the number of offices and vastness of the province. The system facilitates the increased productivity and turnaround times for queries and applications which is critical to the service delivery of the department. The department now operates through a single point of entry for all its services and management information is available at the touch of a button.

4. SDIMS TARGET POPULATION

All the social security beneficiaries throughout the province.
NGOs including institutions that supply a service to the public on the department’s behalf.
Projects run by community liaison offices.
Department staff.
Social workers.
Any individuals seeking social worker support.
Departmental staff in institutions.
Beneficiaries of services provided by departmental institutions, e.g. hospices, homes for the aged, homes for the disabled, shelters, children’s homes, secure care centres and day care centres.

5. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE SUCCESS OF SDIMS

All department files, social security, personnel, NGO’s, payment vouchers and case files are now traceable and easily accessible. Physical files can now be found in a matter of minutes.
Access to all available information on the system through the intranet.
KPIs are generated to measure department performance.
Upliftment of staff IT skills.
Reduction in litigation.
Increased turnaround time of applications and timeous responses to queries.
Better quality of data due to control measures, e.g. the use of dropdown boxes to avoid erroneous data.

6. REPLICABILITY OF THE SDIMS

SDIMS are very replicable from one province to another with a few minor or cosmetic changes e.g. the name and logo of the province, as other provinces provide the identical services as the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development. A number of SDIMS modules can also be replicated in other departments within the Eastern Cape Province with a few minor adjustments.

To our knowledge there are no other jurisdictions or organisations that have a system like SDIMS, the Eastern Cape Province is a pioneer in this field.