Case Update Tracking & Eligibility (CUTE) System

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, dedicated to providing cash assistance and training to individuals and families in need, designed and developed the Case Update Tracking & Eligibility System to automate outdated manual processes used to track, investigate, and ultimately prosecute persons who have committed fraudulent activities against the department and public funds. CUTE was designed to complement and enhance the capabilities of CalWIN Case Management System used to determine program eligibility, by automating previously manual processes, utilizing data from numerous sources including local county, state, and federal agencies, and CalWIN itself, centralizing solutions and reporting for line staff and all levels of management to improve the accuracy of case information, and recipient eligibility. The Department has always been subject to fraudulent enrollments and activity at a high cost to taxpayers that directly impacts the resources available to those truly in need. Though every effort has been made to address and eliminate fraud, it was challenging because much of the information necessary to make these determinations required manual research and the sources of this information were wide ranging. A central source charged with gathering and correlating this information never existed. Sacramento County is one of 18 California counties using CalWIN. While it represents significant improvements over the previous case management system, it still has many shortcomings.