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Faster help for citizens in crisis
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Applicable Industries
- Cities & Municipalities
- National Security & Defense
Applicable Functions
- Human Resources
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
- Public Warning & Emergency Response
Services
- System Integration
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
The Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services was facing a challenge with its 20+ year-old mainframe application. The Ministry processes more than 80,000 cases per year, serving citizens via ministry departments and local authorities, associations and organizations. The legacy system was developed 20 years ago using Natural, Natural Construct and Adabas. The Ministry was using 20+ year-old, green-screen application technology and there was no way to open it up to the municipalities using the internet. The hundreds of municipalities that handled the cases had to file them with the Ministry through a mostly manual process. This slowed the processing down and sometimes left people at risk. Paper forms were being passed from the municipalities to the Ministry and back again, often requiring five different signatures for approval each time. Some individual cases took up to six months to process and, sometimes, cases would get completely lost in the shuffle.
About The Customer
The Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services is a government body that assists people in crisis. Whether it is a disabled citizen seeking urgent housing, or a person who is being discriminated against, the Ministry is there to help. With a population of more than 9 million that is ethnically and spiritually diverse, Israel’s standard of living is significantly higher than many other countries in the region. Nevertheless, the country still has issues with employment and social welfare which must be dealt with expeditiously. This falls to the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services. The Ministry receives tens of thousands of requests from citizens for assistance each year. Departments from Developmental Mental Disability to Social Services and Youth at Risk are served by the Ministry. And often, there are situations that have to be dealt with urgently.
The Solution
The Ministry chose EntireX to successfully turn the older program into a web service. ApplinX was used to create a graphical user interface that can be used via the web. To improve performance, the Ministry had upgraded its IBM®Z platform from z/VM to z/OS. This new operating system provided increased accessibility and openness to its systems, giving the Ministry the ability it needed to open it up to its users. The new functionality made it possible to not only perform the existing roles of the application, but also to apply new features. One of these features is handling the forms processing. Historically, if a form had an error in it, it would be sent back to the user as soon as the error had been detected—ignoring the remainder of the form. As a result users had to re-send the form many times. Now, the entire form is checked before returning to the user and allows the user to re-send the corrected form only once.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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