Child Care Eligibility Wizard and Forms Matrix

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The mission of Suffolk County’s Department of Social Services (SCDSS) is to provide financial assistance and support services to eligible Suffolk County residents in a cost-effective and efficient manner, simultaneously protecting the vulnerable while encouraging their independence and self-sufficiency. To support our mission, SCDSS staff created an Online Child Care Eligibility Wizard that allows prospective applicants to enter information about their family circumstances and income to quickly ascertain if they may be eligible for a child care subsidy. This initiative was undertaken to enhance services to consumers and improve the administration of the county’s child care subsidy program by: • Making program information and eligibility criteria more accessible to potential consumers as well as child care providers and community advocates who assist consumers with the application process • Reducing staff workload associated with the number and duration of calls from consumers seeking information and eligibility criteria, as well as the superfluous processing of ineligible applications After going live in May 2015, the wizard was viewed 1,466 times during the seven-month period from June to December 2015. Consequently, SCDSS staff reported receiving fewer phone calls from inquiring consumers and that call duration was markedly reduced. To augment the Child Care Eligibility Wizard, SCDSS created the Forms Matrix, which is a computer-based program that automatically prefills Child Care eligibility-related forms with information already contained in New York State’s Welfare Management System database. The Forms Matrix was designed to alleviate child care workers repetitively re-entering basic case information (e.g., case name, number, address, worker, etc.) into multiple child care eligibility and undercare forms. The Forms Matrix went live in February 2017 and this efficiency improvement has contributed to a decrease in the amount of time required to process child care eligibility and undercare cases, which has directly resulted in clients receiving services more quickly.