Social Security Administration Electronic Service Provision A Strategic Assessment (2007) / Chapter Skim
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3 The Social Security Administration's Information Technology - Present and Future
3 The Social Security Administration's Information Technology - Present and Future
Pages 54-90
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From page 54... ...
This chapter provides a high-level assessment and set of impressions regarding the SSA's current IT infrastructure, its database technology and conversion strategy in particular, external technological trends, a brief overview of user expectations and projected demographics, and how they all can affect prospects for effective electronic services, now and in the future. 1 See the discussion of Pew Internet and American Life Project survey data later in this chapter.
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From page 55... ...
A comprehensive assessment of such a large organization's IT infrastructure was outside the scope of this committee's activities; the committee tried to focus particularly on the capabilities and functionalities related to electronic services provision. 3 Factual details about the SSA's IT infrastructure in this section are from Social Security Administration, Information Resources Management Strategic Plan (00)
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From page 56... ...
software currently restricts the SSA to IBM mainframes for the bulk of its programmatic data. As discussed below, migrating these data to a relational database system would offer the SSA an opportunity to consider hardware alternatives with more performance at a much lower cost.
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From page 57... ...
almost 500 terabytes (TB) of operational data stored on its 1,000 processor Teradata configuration.4 Other scalable database alternatives include IBM's relational database system product DB2/PE (Parallel Edition)
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From page 58... ...
However, in the committee's view, realizing a modern data-replication and disaster recovery strategy could be significantly hindered by the SSA's use of decades-old database technology for storing the majority of its programmatic data (see the discussion of MADAM in the following sections)
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From page 59... ...
. The programmatic databases are organized into separate operational data stores; they include Title II (administering disability, old age, and survivor benefits)
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From page 60... ...
NOTE: SSI, Supplemental Security Income; PEBES, Personal Earnings and Benefit Estimate Statement; SSN, Social Security number; ADMIN/MI, administrative and management information; RDBMS, relational database management system; IWS/LAN, intelligent workstation/local area network. SOURCE: Social Security Administration, "SSA Data Architecture," Version 1.0, Dec.
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From page 61... ...
The main reason for this difference is that the database requests against a relational database system are written in SQL, the declarative data manipulation language that is the mainstay of relational databases and modern IT organizations. Simply put, SQL allows applications developers to request data by saying "what" they want, not "how" they want the system to obtain the data.
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From page 62... ...
MADAM and the MADAM Conversion Process The SSA's Master Data Access Method, MADAM, is a database system that was developed in-house by SSA staff in the early 1980s when the SSA converted from tape to disk storage for its data sets. In 1986, the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)
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From page 63... ...
. The large batch window is required to update the MADAM database daily; this scheduled downtime makes 24/7 operation of online services impossible without the implementation of some sort of complex caching and merging mechanism that could allow online services to overlap the batch window.
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From page 64... ...
telecommunications company, consists of 50 billion records and 47 TB, and this database does not include data concerning the company's wireless customers.10 Verizon's database is currently housed on a cluster of Windows Servers running Microsoft SQL Server -- using commercial off-the-shelf relational database technology. Moreover, the annual Winter survey11 lists a number of commercial relational database instances in the 20 TB to 100 TB range, and these databases are all managed by standard relational database products, each typically housed on Unix or Windows clusters.
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From page 65... ...
During the process of selecting its conversion strategy for MADAM, the SSA appears to have relied on one contractor for technical expertise. In January 2003, the SSA took delivery of a study entitled MADAM Alternatie Ealuation, conducted by the consulting firm YL&A.15 This study focused on alternative strategies for converting the SSA's master files, which are currently managed by the MADAM software, to DB2, IBM's relational database system product.
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From page 66... ...
(See the next section for more on architecture.) A second, 2004 report from YL&A entitled SSR Master File to DB Conersion Delierables Detail Document18 describes the results of the POC study recommended by YL&A in its January 2003 report to convert a portion of the records in the SSR master file to DB2.
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From page 67... ...
Another issue is the apparent failure of the YL&A studies to consider other large-scale relational database management system (RDBMS) technologies.
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From page 68... ...
In addition, the approach precludes the use of valuable new technological capabilities and requires interruptions in service for batch updates, both of which impede the provision of desirable new e-services. Recommendation: As it makes decisions about future directions for its database technology, the SSA should give considerable weight to the implications of those decisions for the effectiveness and efficiency of current and future electronic service delivery and should be open to the introduction of new technologies.
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From page 69... ...
While the SSA has some modern technology components -- for example, its Web site and security practices -- the core technologies, such as data management, are outdated and pose significant risks and limitations to the SSA's operations and impose constraints on the SSA's ability to achieve an electronic services strategy comparable with those in the private sector (see Chapter 2)
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From page 70... ...
Finding: The scope and scale of the challenges that the SSA faces with regard to its database conversion strategy merit the input of a broad range of expertise. Recommendation: In continuing to develop its conversion strategy and long-term services strategy, the SSA should draw on a broad range of technical expertise -- including but not limited to database software experts, software engineers, software security experts, financial services experts, large-scale commercial service providers, and systems architecture experts -- and put systematic mechanisms in place so that it can hear and learn from outside advisers.
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From page 71... ...
In contrast to transferring the electronic case files used for "paperless" claims processing, locating and physically transferring paper files when a disability claimant requests a hearing used to take a month or more. The SSA describes its eDIB and paperless processing approaches in Social Security Administration, Information Resources Management Strategic Plan (00)
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From page 72... ...
Although the previous components of the agency's IT infrastructure all play a role in electronic service provision -- the database technologies and architectures in particular are key -- the Web site typically provides the first impression and the bulk of the interaction experience for most users. Thus, attention to interface considerations, information architecture, and an intuitive and informative user experience is critical.
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From page 73... ...
php? wg_abbrev=soa-rm, accessed June 20, 2007.
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From page 74... ...
. The SOA trend and its associated tools are likely to be very relevant to the SSA, providing high-productivity tools for service-enabling the agency's existing applications and for using and/or reusing the resulting component services in constructing new online services and internal applications.
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From page 75... ...
Rather than building and selling software packages that enterprises must then install, manage, and maintain or upgrade, a number of companies are starting to offer "software as a service" -- they build and manage vertical applications that are available to enterprises through a combination of Web services and interactive Web pages.31 Another relevant example is in the tax preparation software market, where companies including H&R Block and TurboTax are now offering tax preparation online as well as through client-installed software packages. The types of services and interactive client applications that these industries are now offering are not unlike the services needed by SSA partners and clients, particularly for complex functions such as disability-claim preparation and planning, "what if" planning for various benefits (such as online retirement planning, assistance with prescription drug program selection, and impact analysis of change in employment status)
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From page 76... ...
As discussed elsewhere in the report, relational database system technology has made huge strides in the 35 years since its inception, having gone from theoretical speculation in 1970 to serious commercial offerings in 1980 to a booming industry in 1990 to the heart of almost every serious enterprise's IT infrastructure today. Telecommunications and financial services companies manage many terabytes of data today using commercial off-the-shelf relational database management systems.
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From page 77... ...
• The execute group implements the organization's security policies in software and architecture. • The oersight group ensures that SSA IT projects use the appropri 33 "WhitePaper: Cyber-Security and the Insider Threat to Classified Information," a nonreviewed summary prepared by the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, 2001, available at http://cstb.org/whitepaper_insiderthreat, accessed June 15, 2007.
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From page 78... ...
These security approaches are aimed at, among other things, protecting the integrity and confidentiality of the data that SSA maintains. In terms of SSA's approach to privacy from a policy standpoint, the SSA Web site states that with regard to government information exchange, "The privacy of all personal information SSA maintains in its databases is protected and controlled by a number of Federal statutes, including section 1106 of the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act of 1974, section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, and related Social Security regulations and policies."34 In the case of the SSA's electronic services in particular, the issue of privacy typically revolves around how and why individual data are accessed or disclosed and to what extent individuals can control access to their data.
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From page 79... ...
Once a beneficiary has a temporary PRC, he or she can use it to create a permanent password. Logging in allows a person to check personal information and benefits; see his or her address, telephone number, direct deposit, and Medicare and payment information; change the address and/or telephone number in the SSA's records; request or change direct deposit; start direct deposit of checks or change 35 National Research Council, Who Goes There?
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From page 80... ...
the current direct deposit to another account or financial institution; and change the password.36 36 Information obtained from the SSA's Web site at https://s3abaca.ssa.gov/pro/passregi/ passserv.shtml, accessed June 23, 2006. In June 2007, the SSA's updated Web site has new information indicating that a current beneficiary or a person who has recently applied for benefits can request a password.
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From page 81... ...
In 2007, as in 2006, the password request functions are not available 24/7, and the SSA's Web site indicates that the waiting period for receiving a temporary PRC by mail can be up to 15 days. See https://s044a90.ssa.gov/apps6z/ACU_ LDPG/landingpage, accessed June 20, 2007.
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From page 82... ...
In particular, the SSA's entire e-government approach must view security, privacy, and authentication policies in the context of the agency as a whole, with electronic services as part of an overall service-delivery strategy (see Chapter 4)
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ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF? A-14-03-13047.pdf, accessed June 29, 2006.
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From page 84... ...
• Holistic approach. An organization may interact with many private-sector organizations (including financial institutions)
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From page 85... ...
For example, encrypted data may require the cus 39 Michael Adler and Paul Henman, with Jackie Gulland and Sharon Gaby, Computerisation and E-Goernment in Social Security: A Comparatie International Study, Washington, D.C.: IBM Center for the Business of Government, July 2005; Council for Excellence in Government, Hart-Teeter on behalf of the Council for Excellence in Government, The New E-Goernment Equation: Ease, Engagement, Priacy and Protection, Washington, D.C.: Council for Excellence in Government, April 2003, available from http://www.excelgov.org/usermedia/images/ uploads/PDFs/egovpoll2003.pdf, accessed June 19, 2007; Internal Revenue Service, Findings from the 00 Wae of e-file Taxpayer Attitudinal Tracking Research, 2002, available at http:// www.irs.gov/taxpros/display/0,,i1%3D5%26genericId%3D10121,00.html, accessed May 23, 2002; Nielsen/NetRatings, More Than One Third of All Online Users Log on to Goernment Sites, New York: Nielsen/Net Ratings Press Release, March 17, 2003, available at http://www. nielsen-netratings.com/press.jsp?
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From page 86... ...
who will not use electronic services despite efforts to make these services accessible and easy to use. However, other people or institutions may be assisting users with these electronic services; thus, the SSA's electronic services are not just for use by individual clients, but also by the states, other government agencies, and employers, among others.
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From page 87... ...
Only 17 percent of those age 69 and older use the Internet. The older boomers are very much like the younger, Generation X, "eager users." They embrace e-mail, use instant messaging, 41 Susannah Fox, Older Americans and the Internet, Pew Internet and American Life Project, Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C., March 25, 2004 (hereafter cited as Susannah Fox, Older Americans and the Internet)
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From page 88... ...
Just as the financial services institutions discussed in Chapter 2 do not remove all access channels other than electronic services, so the SSA will need to retain and support more traditional approaches to service provision. Even if older people access Web sites on the Internet, many are difficult to use.44 The Nielsen/Norman Group, a usability consulting firm, has declared that Web sites are twice as hard for older people in general as for younger people to use.
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From page 89... ...
Increasingly functional access using handheld devices is available through 3G cellular networks. Although personal computers (whose prices, both absolute and performance-adjusted, have steadily dropped)
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From page 90... ...
18, 2005, available at http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/ essays/archives/000385.php, accessed June 20, 2007. The most familiar example of AJAX technology is probably Google maps (http://maps.google.com)
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