NEWS 2003

May 2003

Maryland Goes Statewide with AWARE™

A two-year project with the State of Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) is nearing completion! The project began with a vision of an integrated case and service management system that, in the words of their Director, Robert Burns, would use “High tech to achieve high impact in the lives of people with disabilities”.

The “countdown” began in January when the Pilot Team began their training. DORS Project Manager, Glenn Donithan later sent out this message regarding the status of the Pilot:

“Yesterday was a "payday" for me with regard to AWARE. There was a great deal of activity with AWARE and dozens of DORS staff were involved. As I walked around the building I saw:
 

• All of Region IV staff receiving hands-on training as they prepare to enter pilot-testing.

• 32 WTC staff receiving hands-on training on the Center Services module.

• Training Team members confidently teaching AWARE to their colleagues.

• MIS Development staff installing the latest version of AWARE into the Pilot environment and
  preparing to convert Region IV R13 data into AWARE.

I could not have been more proud of everyone involved with the project.”

After a year and a half of analysis, development, planning and training, Maryland Field Staff began using AWARE in production the first week of April. Staff in their comprehensive rehabilitation and training center, the Workforce and Technology Center, began using the new AWARE Service Module in early May.

In addition to the goal of streamlining, the agency had these key objectives they achieved through the use of AWARE:
 

• Integrating Field and Center’s service delivery into a single statewide database.

• Having a more accessible system and information

• De-centralizing data entry

• Having a faster payment process

The Field Pilot was highly successful. When asked about the benefits, the Pilot leads talked about the time the staff in their regions are saving, and how great it is to be able to go right in and look up needed information. They love the Service Authorization (used to refer participants to the Workforce and Technology Center), the time savings in the Authorization and Payment processes, and the ability to sit down with a client and enter information directly. This report from a Pilot team lead really illustrates the impact AWARE was making:

“A counselor who is blind came to my office one day with a big smile on his face, and said, ‘This is an AWARE smile!’ He is absolutely loving this system! ILPs take no time at all because they are mostly check-offs, he can read his own files, he can issue his own authorizations, and he can navigate his files independently without waiting for a sighted person to read them to him! This is what we have been wanting for a long time, and now it's here. So, when you get discouraged by glitches or feel that this is all just too overwhelming, pull out this e-mail and read it again and again. This is WHY we're going through all of this!”

In April, the first of the 260 users started using AWARE. The next “test” was the accounting interface. From the outset, the one possible ‘showstopper’ was the ability of the AWARE authorization and payment data to interface correctly with Maryland’s financial management services system. By using AWARE, the time it takes to process payments to vendors has gone from almost 30 days to about 6 days. This feedback was received from the DORS Financial office:

“Early this morning our first official accounting file interfaced with FMIS [the statewide accounting system]. The file contained 59 initial encumbrances, 31 adjustments, and 95 payments. There were no AWARE issues that we encountered with the transmittal.

Please let everyone on the team know that they did a fabulous job on this part of the project. Please share my sincere thanks with everyone who made this part of the project work so well. The accounting interface was the one true show stopper because there was no work arounds or interim steps that could have been taken if it did not work.

Alliance congratulates Maryland on this major step in their agency-wide implementation! The strong, interactive partnership with the DORS teams played a critical role in the success of a smooth implementation!

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February 2004

Infrastructure Strategy for the Future

Alliance is pleased to announce that our Consulting Division now offers Infrastructure Assessments. These assessments assist our customers in assessing and planning for the performance, management, security and recovery of vital information and resources. Alliance has been very successful managing Infrastructure Assessments for our state agency clients and has demonstrated a set of Alliance core competencies that has distinguished the organization.

Alliance is recognized by the Information Processing Management Association (IPMA) and the Washington State information technology community as an information technology professional. IPMA sponsored a panel discussion inviting Alliance Enterprises to speak. Rick Gifford, Chief Technology Officer answered questions and provided resources and commentary on "Threats, Implementation and Administration" relative to building a network security program.

Internet security for the Alliance network is achieved through use of a Perimeter Network. Bounded on both sides by hardened state-of-the-art firewalls, this separate physical network sits between the Internet and the Alliance internal network. The technology provides multiple layer protection and intrusion attempt detection and alerting capabilities. All Internet accessible Alliance resources reside securely behind the first firewall. All internal Alliance and customer data resides behind the second firewall for maximum protection.

In today’s business environment, it is critical to protect your organization’s vital information and resources. An Infrastructure Assessment allows you to see where you may be at risk. Based on the outcome of your assessment, you can move toward having your information and resources available, unrestricted to authorized users while remaining free of interference from outside threats or capacity limitations. Alliance welcomes any discussion with your organization about your technology needs.

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January 2003

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