Policy & Practice December 2017

CCWIS-compliant system module in the country. Called the backbone of Colorado’s child welfare system, the legacy 13-year-old system was a critical com- ponent in need of a major overhaul. The project’s objective was to keep the concept of Colorado’s SACWIS, better known as Trails, as an enterprise- wide human services application while using more modern technology. In addition, it was the desire of the state of Colorado and the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) to create and deploy in a modular fashion a system that met current and future needs of the agency and its clients. Trails had been in use since 2001, when it was transferred from another state and tailored to fit Colorado’s needs. The system served approxi- mately 6,000 users in the Division of Child Welfare, the Division of Youth Services, the Office of Early Childhood, the Administrative Review Division, and the Office of Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman. The system was also used by 64 county depart- ments of human and social services, 22 judicial districts, and certain con- tracted providers. In addition, Trails was the reporting system for federal requirements, and integrated with 11 other systems via 87 unique interfaces within CDHS and other state agencies. Limitations of the legacy system included disparate and outdated archi- tecture, limited mobile system access, redundant data entry, missing data interfaces, data integrity, inability to augment case data with attachments, and ad-hoc reporting capabilities. Users were often required to enter the same information in more than one area, and had difficulty navigating a complex system. It was hoped that an upgrade to Trails would simplify navigation, provide greater access to the system for the use of mobile tech- nology, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of services and outcomes. Work on the three-year project to upgrade the system began in 2016, when the state announced the selec- tion of CGI to work with Colorado to

Supporting work on the ground would soon become the mission of states and their technology partners under new child welfare regula- tions requiring Comprehensive Child Welfare Information Systems (CCWIS). Under a final HHS rule, CCWIS took effect in August 2016, replacing what was known as Statewide and Tribal Automated Child Welfare Information Systems (S/TACWIS). At issue were regulations that had not been updated since 1993. Since then, technology

had advanced to allow data sharing among service providers, HHS systems, education, and court systems. Regulators and program directors alike believed enhanced data sharing was among the capa- bilities—enabled

The Coloradomodernization project is rebuilding the Trails systemusing web andmobile technology through an innovative, agile approach that is unprecedented in the field, and caseworkerswill begin to see improvements long before the project is fully complete in 2019.

by new tech- nology—that would lead to better outcomes for children and families. The new rule called for a modular approach to the implementation of CCWIS systems, eschewing the large and complex “big bang” tech- nology rollouts that, in the past, had presented numerous challenges to state and local agencies. The CCWIS modular approach allowed agencies of various sizes to build more effec- tive and less expensive IT systems designed and implemented to meet the specific needs of each state’s child welfare program. States had 24 months to decide whether their existing systems could be transitioned to CCWIS, or whether a complete replacement was required. Presented with the oppor- tunity to build innovative modular and agile systems, the rule energized the states, including Colorado, which partnered with CGI to build and deploy, for agency-wide use, the first

Molly O’Neill is a Vice President at CGI.

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