Ventura County Information Systems Department CalWIN Implementation

The CalWIN Project timeline and milestones for the consortium are as follows: • The project commenced in March 2000 • The requirements for the system were validated March to July 2000 • General system design took place August to October 2000 • Detailed system design took place November 2000 to May 2001 • Coding and unit testing took place June to November 2001 • System testing took place December 2001 to May 2002 • User acceptance testing took place June 2002 to November 2004 • Pilot rollout in Placer and Sacramento counties was January and March 2005 • Ventura County implementation was April 2006

The CalWIN Project budget for all 18 counties is broken down as follows: • Total nine year State welfare automation cost is $800 million • Ventura County portion is $21,560,736 • Actual cost to Ventura County is $436,000 Much of the cost of the project was covered by federal/state government funding.

The CalWIN System is used by over 650 Ventura County employees on a daily basis.

The CalWIN System services over 52,000 cases per month.

The CalWIN System handles food stamps, foster care, the Medi-Cal health insurance program, and the CalWORKS program which provides temporary financial assistance, job counseling, and work training to families with children.

The ISD/CalWIN project team effectively used state-of-the-art project management software to track every detail of this project.

The ISD/CalWIN project team completed the project on schedule and within budget.

The ISD/CalWIN project team held regularly scheduled meetings where all tasks were discussed, progress was monitored, and solutions to potential problems were discussed and adopted.

The Grand Jury found that the CalWIN software training provided by the project team for HSA employees was adequate.

The Grand Jury found that CalWIN created a “one stop” process with the system evaluating the potential recipient’s entire needs and eligibility for services. The “one stop” process is designed to reduce the chance of fraud, however the “one stop” process means that most HSA employees needed expanded knowledge beyond their specialty.

The Grand Jury found that HSA employees who previously specialized in one of three major service areas (food stamps, Medi-Cal and Cal-Works) are now required to be knowledgeable in all three areas. Their training in the areas other than their previous specialty was not conducted early enough in the transition, nor was it sufficiently thorough.

Grand Jury interviews confirmed that the CalWIN software is performing as designed and has so far delivered the expected results. Conclusions C-01. The CalWIN project is a very large project effecting hundreds of HSA employees. (F-01, F-02, F-03, F-04, F-05) C-02. The CalWIN project was well organized and well managed. The project was delivered on schedule and within budget. (F-06, F-07, F-08) C-03. Training for the CalWIN software was adequate and complete. (F-09) C-04. The chance of fraud is greatly reduced because of system integration, internal system processes, and the elimination of much of the paperwork. (F-10, F-12) C-05. HSA employee interviews pointed to a need for better cross training in all CalWIN services to meet the needs of the “one stop” process that the CalWIN software provides. (F-11) C-06. The CalWIN software performed as expected and delivered the expected benefits. (F-12) Recommendations