Using Information to Drive Positive Results for Social Services Recipients

Business Intelligence

The County of Bucks – Division of Human Services

We are data rich, but information poor– No practical, objective methods of measuring the outcome of clients, performance of social service agencies, or individual professionals

Solution– Leverage existing and previously uncaptured data to create meaningful information to monitor, evaluate, and uplift the effectiveness of social service programs and caregiversWho we are and what we

need

Business Intelligence (BI)Liberate our data to inform us

– Automatically “digest” relevant data and make it meaningful– Create practical reports and graphic dashboards

• Show key performance indicators (KPIs) – Identify new opportunities for implementing proper and effective change

– Provide County’s senior management with service insights and ability to bolster worthy programs with long-term, justifiable funding streams

Opportunity via Business Intelligence

Functionality

Functional Comparisons

Current Children &

Youth System

Current Behavioral Health System

Current Drug & Alcohol System

Proposed Unified

Intelligent System

Integrates w/other systems - - - X

Measures client progress - X - XTracks provider success X X - XMobile-ready X - - XNon-proprietary code - - X XVendor independent - - X XMetric/Report generating - - - XWeb-base business intelligence DB - - - X

General IntakeMetrics

Various Service

Provisions

Regional, State, and National

data

Client Feedback

Collection and IntegrationCreate common threads between systems

– Currently all systems are separate and non-report generating.

– Create SQL unified repository for client intake – to feed all other systems

– Add fields in all systems for duration of service, frequency of contact, escalation/de-escalation, recidivism, graduation, familial unification, etc.

Data Collection

Report, Review, Compare, Train, Justify, Realign

Anticipated Results

Intuitive Status Reporting

Limitations of the BI solution

Perpetual Review and EnhancementNo system is perfect – especially in the beginning

– Human Services management will tutor IT in the processes and deliverables of each agency, to enable proper builds

– Not every function will be captured in Version 1.0– Priority will be given to the highest vulnerabilities for version 1.0

– Regardless of systemic/programmatic success, the structured data and reports delivered will require perpetual review and revision by SME’s to enable proper use in the otherwise unstructured world of senior management