Online Resources for the Children of Alaska

How long will it take to build ORCA?

Speculating on a delivery date at this point in time is risky at best. However, the current target is for a 24-month development cycle once the contractor is on board. If this first phase of requirements process comes in on schedule and we hit all our target dates, an RFP would be on the street by the end of the current fiscal year.

What does SACWIS stand for?

Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System.

SACWIS is the acronym coined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to describe child welfare information systems that it participates in funding. When a state decides to build a SACWIS system, it receives enhanced funding, however it must meet certain requirements as a condition of accepting the funding. ORCA has received funding at the enhanced rate and therefore must be a SACWIS compliant system.

Are we starting the whole design process over? Where does the work done for the first ORCA fit in?

The materials from the first ORCA project will be examined and used where appropriate. However, since there has been some significant changes in the organization since the last design of ORCA, we anticipate that there will be many areas of the process that will have changed.

Our office isn't on the list of offices for the BPR, why is that?

Not all OCS offices are part of the Business Process Review. Primarily due to resources, the decision was made to select a relatively broad sample of OCS offices to define the division's business processes. The choice was: How much resources do we devote to documenting a business process that we have every intention of overhauling? The ORCA team will involve the offices outside of the Business Process Review project by having them review and provide input to the final business process model.

Can we get a copy and review the materials that will be used during the BPR interview process?

Yes. Interview Guides are being developed by MTG and will be provided to site leaders for comment prior to finalization. Initial drafts of the Interview Guides are scheduled for delivery the week of the August 27. A test run of the Interview Guide will be done in Juneau at the SERO office and the Juneau field office the week of September 4. The following week will be used to refine and finalize the interview process.

How does DJJ fit into the process? Particularly in regard to cases/clients that we co-manage? How does PROBER fit into the current plans for DJJ/OCS?

DJJ plans to have their new information system, JOMIS, in place by the end of this calendar year. When JOMIS goes on-line, PROBER will no longer be the case management system for DJJ. DJJ employees will not update clients in PROBER. For a period of time, DJJ employees will use JOMIS but will have access to PROBER. OCS staff will continue to use PROBER, but will need access to JOMIS. DJJ development staff have been working with OCS data processing staff to coordinate this effort. With the advent of JOMIS, the case information management systems for the two divisions will be separated, and workers will have to use two information sources to gather information on common clients.

Will DJJ continue to use the Provider Payments system when JOMIS is deployed?

Yes.

What about other groups outside of OCS?

SACWIS compliant systems, which ORCA will be, require some interfaces be present in the system (Public Assistance, Child Support Enforcement & Medicaid a some) There are also some stakeholder groups such as, the Court System, Public Safety and Service Providers that are part of the OCS business process. The process for including these stakeholders has not been defined at this point.

Does the BPR include the budgeting functions of OCS?

From a strict budgeting perspective, no. However the Business Process Review will identify the information managers need to allocate resources across the division. The information system must provide managers data which support the resource management and allocation process.

Can we reschedule the Fairbanks office visit?

After concurrence with the coordinators for Bethel and St. Mary's, the week 1 schedule, which was planned for Barrow/Fairbanks, was traded with the week 2 schedule, Bethel/Saint Marys.

What about the conflict between the October Management Team Meeting and the Business Process Reviews in Anchorage and Palmer the week of October 8?

This is a valid concern. The ORCA team will make a special effort to get input from Anchorage and SCRO office managers despite the scheduled Management Team Meeting activities. If that proves an impractical approach, follow-up meetings will be scheduled with the Anchorage and SCRO office managers. That would probably occur Friday of that week or early the following week

Where do the Training Academy's activities fit into the BPR process?

A visit to the Training Academy is not planned by the BPR team at this point in time. However, members of the Academy will sit in on the Anchorage group sessions of the Business Process Review to provide their perspective to the business process.

In reviewing the list of Subject Matter Experts, I see program areas that are omitted, does that mean they are out of scope of the Business Process Review?

No. The Subject Matter Expert list currently in circulation is a draft. Please provide any comments on the list to the ORCA team.