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Summary
In the fall of 1974, the Social Security Administration (SSA) began
planning a complete redesign of its data processing and internal
communications systems, based largely on modern computer technology.
The effort was undertaken to improve the speed, accuracy, efficiency,
and responsiveness of its day-to-day operations. The need for such
improvement and modernization had become apparent with the increases in
employees and computers. The latter were normally added in an unplanned,
ad hoc way, with little emphasis on cost effectiveness, in order to keep
pace with the expanding workload of new programs and more clients.
Earlier in 1974, after examining the problems of the SSA, the
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ that the agency should estab-
li So a unit to devise a long-range plan for designing, developing, and
implementing a new information processing system that takes full advan-
tage of the capabilities of advanced computer-communications technology.
In December of the same year, President Ford directed the SSA to use the
best possible automatic data processing techniques to improve its opera-
tional efficiency.
By June 1975, the agency's Office of Advanced Systems (OAS) had
issued a "Master Plan for the Development of the Future SSA Process."
This called for a six-year effort--from July 1975 to June 1981--with
four overlapping~phases. At the end of 1976, the GAS was completing
Phase I, Conceptualization, and was beginning Phase II, Requirements
Definition, when it asked the National Research Council to review its
f^'m=H he Oh's Nnti anal Research Council conducted its
General Accounting Office had recommended
work. The panel ~~ ~ ~ ~
review through the third quarter of 1977.
While the SSA clearly has an enormous data base, consisting of the
records of some 240 million individuals, alive and dead, and some 1
trillion .' bytes °' or characters of information in its computers, it does
not face an unprecedented problem for modern computer-communications
technology. The panel reviewed the "fixed requirements" set by the OAS's
master plan for the projected process and found most of these to be
reasonable and beneficial. The panel took exception to the SSA fixed
requirements the, the computer facilities be centralized at the SSA's
headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, and that the new process not
depend on new authorization or legislative action for any fundamental
part of the design. The panel also suggested that the useful lifespan of
3
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4
the new system run through the end of the century rather than only to
the end of the 1980's.
The panel found it important for the SSA to design and implement
a modular design, making use of the ever-increasing capabilities of
minicomputers, microprocessors-, "intelligent" interactive terminals,
and high capacity communications in a flexible, dynamic, distributed
system concept. The cornerstone of the SSA system should be modularity,
with the total process segmented into clearly separable subsystems
possessing well defined interfaces. The communications subsystem could
be designed and developed concurrently, for example, but relatively
independent from the other parts of the system. The data base subsys-
tem, which the panel recommends should be designed with an on-line
capability, will require several basic decisions involving the total
system, such as:
How will the data base be organized physically?
O How will it be organized functionally?
In what sequence will portions of the data base be converted
to the new system?
In addition, the panel diverged from the concept of a centralized
data base. It considered decentralization of the system as essential to
help avoid breakdowns in service by providing for redundancy of equip-
ment and records as well as to help assure adequate safeguards of
security and confidentiality. The modular concept, the panel observed,
enables the system to be designed with enough flexibility to adapt to
or incorporate advances in technology as well as new requirements and
responsibilities imposed upon the agency by the Congress or the Executive
Branch. Another important advantage of this approach is that the system
can be reasonably expected to fleet the requirements of the SSA through
the rest of the century.
The following are the panel's major conclusions and recommendations:
No major breakthroughs in technology or techniques are considered
necessary to design, develop, and implement the SSAts advanced
new operational process. Custom-made components are not required
because the system can be adequately served by today's advanced
technology. Even if the new system consists of hardware now in
general use, it can be designed for easy upgrading as more cost
effective components are developed and proved. -
The data base needs to be structured so that, after an initial
period of operation in a centralized mode, it can be distributed
geographically with sufficient redundancy to safeguard against a
major failure or breakdown of the system. The on-line data base
should be directly accessible by between 10,000 and 30,000 ter- ';.;.
minals in the future system, many of them consisting of keyboards
and video displays, at the central, regional, and local offices.
. ::
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5
It also should be accessible to the dispersed computer system
elements so that they can contribute to the system's functional
modularity.
.
.
The communications subsystem will serve a critical function in
the total system. It should be a sophisticated and flexible
subsystem that provides high transmission reliability, minimum
cost, and ample equipment and operational adaptability. It
should provide both long distance and local communications, in
both packet-switched and line-switched modes to transmit
information in a wide range of speeds. Because integrity of
transmission is essential, the network should incorporate redun-
dant pathways for circuit reliability and techniques for error
detection. The communications subsystem should be designed so
that it will have minimal effect on other functional parts of
the entire system. Attention needs to be given in the subsystem
to resolving such problems as terminal entry aids, screen for-
mats, records editing, encryption, and decryption.
The panel generally favors the concept of the communications
subsystem being a "transparent conduit," thereby enabling
communication to take place among a wide range of incompatible
terminals and computers with differing protocols, formats,
speeds, and codes. The cost of the communications subsystem is
not a dominant factor in the complete system and should not bias
any major considerations, such as regionalized data base storage.
This subsystem can be adapted to any concept without a significant
variation in cost, particularly in relation to the total cost of
the projected SSA system.
The transitional stage from the existing SSA process to the
future one should be given high priority--certainly equivalent to
the priority that is being given to the design of the future SSA
process. One element in the transition involves the assurance
of accuracy and authenticity of the social security number (SSN).
This is essential to the successful inclusion of subsequent
elements in the orderly transition to the new process. Thus, the
panel recommends that enumeration, meaning the inclusion of the
SSN, be made operational and stabilized prior to the initiation
of other functional conversions.
The communications network and terminals might be deployed
and in operation prior to the initiation of the enumeration
process, so that the district offices have access to both SSN
identity information and earnings data, once those processes are
converted. Distributed processing will probably be used to
support the claims procedures and eventually the updating of SSN
and earnings data. Therefore, the panel recommends that the
distributed process be deployed just prior to conversion of the
claims process. In addition, the panel recommends that the
conversion first be completed within a single center, even if it
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_ 6
.
.
is later decided to deploy the system to regional centers for
security reasons.
Computer-based modeling techniques are deemed necessary by the
panel to further the development of the whole system, as an aid
to design, evaluation, management, and training. Some subsystems
could profit from modeling, especially the operation of the data
base under varying conditions, the flow of clients, inquiries,
and other elements of the workload in field offices, and the
functioning of the nationwide communication network under a range
of traffic loads.
· Consideration of human factors in the future process is vital
because millions of individuals depend on the services of the
SSA to assure their welfare. Because nearly everyone is
involved with the social security system in one way or another,
its disruption needs to be avoided. It is central to the
concept, therefore, that human factors be in the mainstream of
the system development. In addition, the panel recommends that,
as a human factor applicable within the agency, early steps
should be taken in the planning process to get an adequate
training program unc er way.
Respect for the rights of clients to confidentiality and security
of information needs to be assured in the basic architecture and
design of the future SSA process. There is no way to achieve an
acceptable level of privacy and security by adding features or
techniques after the design is completed. Safeguards to attain
privacy and security of the data or access to the system include
encryption/decryption, authentication, and key distribution
methods. Special attention should be given to computer security
techniques and operations security protocols, which are now
evolving. In addition, the panel recommends that the future
process have the capability for detailed audit trails of the use
of records and data.
Reliability, availability, and maintainability should be essen-
tial objectives and, as such, need to be emphasized in all
phases of system planning, design, testing, and evaluation.
Development and implementation of the future SSA process should
be in the hands of top management within the agency. Responsi-
bility for the planning, development, and implementation of the
process cannot be bestowed on or abdicated to a contractor. One
major task for the top management is to organize a coherent and
expert team. Other tasks include strengthening and utilizing
in-house SSA knowledge and expertise, making good use of consult-
ants, and contracting for support and equipment from companies
in the computer, communications, and system architect-engineering
fields. The entire program to modernize the process needs to be
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closely monitored and controlled by the SSA. The panel is
sanguine about the inherent capability of computer and com-
munications technology to support the future process. Yet,
because of repeated examples of grossly mismanaged large-scale
systems, the panel considers it essential that able people and
a good management structure be mobilized to carry out this
development with a maximum guarantee against schedule slippages,
cost overruns, and transition problems.
In most of its conclusions and recommendations, the panel has
re-emphasized the SSA's own ideas and plans. Differences between the
panel's conclusions about the system and the agency's 8' fixed require-
ments" have 'been noted in the summary and the text following. The panel
also has noted in the text that certain matters should receive higher
priorities in the SSA's planning--notably the importance of commercially
available equipment, privacy and security, and human factors.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
communications subsystem
