Current Status

November 2006

Major Milestones and Achievements in ORCA Development

During the period of March 2003 through February 2005, the following key activities and deliverables were undertaken by OCS ORCA project staff working with CGI Group (contractor) to design, develop, and implement ORCA.
 

 
In September 2004, the ORCA system was delivered to OCS with the deployment of the case management functionality, followed five months later with the rollout of the financial management functionality in February 2005.   As a technically-advanced, web-based Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) system, ORCA includes the designs of new components that extend the existing functionality of the transfer system.
Since February 2005 warranty and maintenance work has been provided by CGI Group. 

Historical Release Versions:
Version 1.2 (9/10/04) - ORCA release 1.2 deployed on September 10, 2004 consisted of updates to the overall system functionality.

Version 1.3 (11/5/04) – ORCA release 1.3 deployed on November 5, 2004 consisted of design changes and updates to the overall system functionality.

Version 1.4 (2/23/05) – ORCA release 1.4 deployed on February 23, 2005 consisted of updates to the functionality for process payments, placement and services, provider licensing and post termination of parental rights.

Version 1.5 (3/22/05) – ORCA release 1.5 deployed on March 22, 2005 consisted of updates to the overall system functionality.

Version 1.6 (5/3/05) – ORCA release 1.6 deployed on May 3, 2005 consisted of updates to the overall system functionality.

Version 1.7 (6/29/05) – ORCA release 1.7 deployed on June 29, 2005 consisted of changes to case notes functionality and other updates to the overall system functionality.

Version 1.8 (9/20//05) – ORCA release 1.8 deployed on September 20, 2005 consisted of overall system functionality updates with emphasis on discovery and tablet (mobile computing).

Version 1.9 (12/21/05) – ORCA release 1.9 deployed on December 21, 2005 consisted of overall system functionality updates with emphasis on Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) and other required interface updates.

Version 2.0 (4/28/06) – ORCA release 2.0 deployed on April 28, 2006 consisted of updates to overall system functionality and archiving with heavy emphasis on financials and interfaces.

Version 2.1 (6/27/06) – ORCA release 2.1 deployed on June 27, 2006 consisted of updates to overall system functionality updates with heavy emphasis on financials.

Version 2.3 (scheduled for 12/2006) – ORCA release 2.3 to be deployed December 2006 consisted of overall system functionality updates with emphasis on financials, service management and AFCARS adoption.

ORCA Project History

March 17, 2003

OCS staff named to support ORCA development project

OCS Acting Director Tom Cherian has announced the assignment of six OCS staff members to support the ORCA management information system project. Tim Huffman, Dave Salmon, Cheryl Buchanan, Dave Cote, and Linnea Osborne will be assigned to ORCA for the project's duration, leading the development team for the division. The project is expected to be an 18-month assignment for the project team members, who will be working in concert with development contractor American Management Systems (AMS).

The assigned staff will be dedicated to the project full-time and will be located at the OCS Central Office In Juneau. While these staff will be dedicated to the project full time, it is anticipated that a larger cross section of OCS employees and other stakeholders will participate in the development process. The full time staff is needed to insure that contractor deliverables are reviewed and approved by the division in a timely manner to maintain the aggressive 18-month development schedule.

Following are profiles of the OCS staff assigned to the project development team.

Tim Huffman - Social Worker V- Anchorage; Tim has 15 years of experience as a OCS line worker in the Anchorage field office. His experience includes working in intake, investigations, and permanency planning. Tim has also supervised an investigation unit and was recently named one of the staff managers for the Anchorage OCS office.

David Salmon - Social Worker II - Anchorage Field Office; Dave has four years experience as a OCS front line Social Worker, with two years of experience as an investigator and two as an ongoing case Social Worker. He has worked in the Palmer and Juneau field offices and until recently was a Mental Health Probation Officer with DJJ. His previous experience is in sex offender treatment with adults and adolescents in correctional, residential and community settings and in residential treatment with emotionally-disturbed children.

Cheryl Buchanan - Social Worker II - Juneau Field Office; Cheryl has four years experience as a OCS front line Social Worker, with two years of experience in intake and investigations and two as an ongoing case Social Worker. Previously to working at OCS, Cheryl was a therapist at Juneau Recovery Hospital for six years.

Dave Cote - Program Officer Juneau State Office- Dave has twelve years experience performing a variety of accounting/fiscal activities in the OCS Central Office. He started at OCS as the Provider Payment Section supervisor. Currently he heads the Federal Finance Unit which has the goal of maximizing federal revenues through the Title IV-E, Medicaid, Social Security, and Child Support programs.

Linnea Osborne - Program Coordinator - Juneau State Office; Linnea has over 7 years working in the OCS fiscal section and she is currently working with the federal revenue unit on Title IV-E issues.  Linnea also supervised the provider payment system for approximately 6 years.  Her prior experience includes working in the private sector in Medicaid reimbursement and general accounting for a Southeast Alaskan Tribal Corporation.

DHSS  Signs Agreement with AMS for ORCA Development

Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel Gilbertson recently signed a contract with American Management Systems (AMS) of Fairfax, Virginia to design, develop and implement the Office of Children's Services proposed On-Line Resources for the Children of Alaska (ORCA) child welfare management information system. 

Commissioner Gilbertson said that the signing of the contract with AMS underscores the Department's commitment to protecting Alaska's children and families while meeting the challenges of Alaska fiscal realities

The contract calls for AMS and OCS to jointly develop a comprehensive management information system for OCS that automates the agencies child protection, provider licensing and financial management functions. The joint work plan, scheduled to begin on March 17, calls for an aggressive 18-month project schedule. Implementation of the new system in scheduled for September 2004.

AMS is recognized as a national leader in the design and development of state child welfare systems. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Mexico and most recently Wisconsin have all successfully implemented child protection information systems using the AMS system as a foundation and modifying the system to meet their practice needs. AMS has also led child protection system development projects in Illinois and Louisiana.

AMS will base their project management, design, training and implementation staff in Juneau for the project. Peak AMS staff supporting the project in Alaska is expected to reach 20. Analyst/Programmers supporting the development project will be based in Madison, Wisconsin.

DHSS  Extends Agreement with MTG Management Consultants for Quality Assurance Work

Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel Gilbertson recently signed a contractual extension  MTG Management Consultants  (MTG) of Seattle, Washington to provide quality assurance services for the State during the ORCA development contract.

The contract calls for MTG to provide OCS a variety of support during the development cycle of the project, including:

• Deliverable review, coordination and management
• Technical Assistance and Project Management support
• Provision of a cultural Change Management plan
• Provision of a OCS Staff Training plan
• Identification of Risks and development of risk mitigation strategies for the project. 

MTG will base their primary staff member supporting the quality assurance services in Juneau. Jason Powers, who served as a key MTG staff member during the Business Process Review portion of the ORCA project, will return to the project as a key staff member. Christopher Reh, who has been with the ORCA project since August of 2001, will also continue as a key project resource.

October 29, 2002

OCS Selects American Management Systems AMS Proposal to Design, Develop and Implement ORCA

 The Office of Children's Services recently selected the proposal from American Management Systems (AMS) of Fairfax, Virginia to design, develop and implement the division's proposed On-Line Resources for the Children of Alaska (ORCA) child welfare management information system. The Notice of Intent to Award was released on October 15, after a competitive two and one-half month selection process.

 The selection of the American Management System child welfare system as the foundation for ORCA puts Alaska among a group of states that have selected and subsequently successfully implemented the AMS child welfare system. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Mexico and Wisconsin have all implemented child protection information systems using the AMS system as a foundation and changing the system to meet their practice needs. Selection of a system that has proven itself to be adaptable to different state practices was one important criteria that the proposal evaluation committee looked for in the ORCA proposals. A system that has proven its transferability significantly reduces the risk to the project that can be encountered in a custom software development.

 OCS and AMS have begun the process of negotiating terms and conditions of the contract, which in turn will need approval from state and federal funding authorities. This process could take two to three months, but the negotiation teams are hoping to expedite the process. Should  negotiations fail to result in an agreement, OCS will open negotiations with the vendor with the second highest scoring proposal.

 Upon successful negotiation of the contract and approval by state and federal authorities, the ORCA Project will begin the design and development phase of the project. According to current timelines, if development work began by January 2003, the schedule calls for an implementation date of mid to late 2004.

July 15, 2002

ORCA Pre-proposal Conference Held in Juneau June 25

On Tuesday June 25, more than twenty vendors attended a pre-proposal conference for the ORCA system RFP 2002-0600-3464. The conference was hosted by the ORCA project team, and attracted vendors from all over the nation who are interested in making a proposal on Alaska's SACWIS Implementation project.

OCS Director Theresa Tanoury gave the keynote address, and attended the meeting via a video teleconferencing even though it occurred during the same week as Alaska's Children and Family Services Review.

Project Director John Boucher followed Director Tanoury's remarks with a presentation outlining the OCS organization, current data processing environment and the project's goals. A copy of the presentation and handouts (MS PowerPoint) are available for downloading.

Following the presentation, the project team fielded questions from vendors about the RFP, OCS and the project.

A transcript of the proceedings is available for download as well as the two sets of questions and answers that have been sent to vendors as of July 15.

OCS Pre-proposal Conference Transcript

Project Director's Presentation

Questions July 5

Questions July 15

The next critical dates for the ORCA project are:

July 17- Deadline for suggested letter of intent to propose July 31- Deadline for submittal of proposals to RFP 2002-0600-3464

May 31, 2002

ORCA RFP Released

The Office of Children's Services released a Request for Proposal for Implementation of a Statewide Automated Child Welfare System (SACWIS) on May 31, 2002. The RFP release of the RFP culminated a nearly nine-month effort on the part of the division to assess the division's business process, evaluate other state systems, conduct vendor demonstrations and gather information and requirements from OCS staff. 

A draft of the RFP was sent to the Administration of Children and Families in early April, and the Division received its letter of approval on May 31, in time for the targeted release of the RFP. 

OCS is also happy to announce that it received nearly full funding of its requested budget increment from the Alaska legislature. This year's capital appropriation, combined with a previous capital project appropriation from the legislature will put the ORCA project on solid financial footing. 

To access the ORCA RFP, go to the State of Alaska's Online Public Notice site at http://notes.state.ak.us/pn. The RFP can be found by searching on the keyword SACWIS. If you have problems viewing the RFP, please contact the OCS procurement officer Kim McCray at 907-465-3469or the Project Director John Boucher 907-465-8598.

January 10, 2002

Three Vendors to Demonstrate Systems in Anchorage

In December, the ORCA Project Team solicited the vendor community for interest in providing demonstrations of an existing Child Welfare information (SACWIS) system.

OCS has accepted the offers of three vendors to demonstrate their systems the week of January 21 in Anchorage.

The vendors are:

• January 22- American Management Systems
• January 23- MAXIMUS
• January 24- Inter-West Technology Group

The demonstrations will be held at the OCS office, first floor conference room, 550 West 8th St. in Anchorage

The plan is to provide the vendors up to six hours to conduct their system demonstration

Topics addressed in the demonstration will include:

• A discussion led by the state on the unique attributes of the Alaskan environment and a summary of the OCS organization
• A demonstration of the vendor's SACWIS system. The demonstration should include all major functional areas, navigation, and illustrate the integration of the information between functional areas
• A description and/or demonstration of other technologies that the vendor has recently used that could be applied to a SACWIS system
• A discussion of the pros and cons of different SACWIS implementation strategies based on the vendor's experience in implementing SACWIS or similar systems

December 31, 2001

ORCA Team Pulling Together System Requirements

During the last quarter of the year, the ORCA team has been pulling together a system requirements document that will serve as a key piece of the RFP that will solicit vendors to build the ORCA system.

The requirements document is being built using the following method:

• Using information gathered from OCS workers during the five weeks of interviews conducted during the Business Process Review
• Reviewing requirements documents from other state's Child Welfare Information System projects
• Conducting requirements validation sessions at the four regional offices of OCS
• Visiting two states identified as potential good matches for Alaska and evaluating their systems and system features
• Soliciting vendors with existing SACWIS systems to provide a demonstration of their system in Anchorage

Using this method, the team expects to have a rich set of system requirements to incorporate into the eventual RFP that will be let to the development contractor.

October 15, 2001

Business Process Review Team Wraps Up Interviews with visits to Anchorage, Kenai, Kodiak, and Palmer

The ORCA Project team wrapped up the first task of the Business Process Review the week of October 8. The ORCA team conducted interviews during office visits to Anchorage, Kenai, Kodiak, and Palmer last week.

During the last five weeks the ORCA Project team has conducted visits to more than a third of the OCS office sites which represent over three-fourths of the overall employees in OCS.

Throughout the process, the ORCA project team found OCS employees enthusiastic and frank in sharing their ideas about how to improve the Division's business processes. Workers willingly shared the obstacles that they face and the tools that they use to help them get their jobs done.

Near the end of October, the project team will have some preliminary business process flows for the division to review. The business process review will help identify two things for the division: Opportunities for process efficiencies that could be gained in a new management information system; And provide a baseline of requirements information to help evaluate other state's child welfare information systems for potential transfer to Alaska.

In November, the project team expects to take to the road again in four regional requirements building sessions. These sessions have not been scheduled, but they will result in some critical elements that will be included in the Request for Proposal that will be produced early next year to acquire an implementation contractor.

October 8, 2001

Business Process Review Team Hits Barrow, Fairbanks, and Central Office

The last two weeks have seen the ORCA Project team conduct office visits in Barrow, Fairbanks and the Central Office in Juneau. The Barrow and Northern Region offices visits were extremely useful in helping the team understand the many facets of the OCS business processes.

After an extremely productive week in Fairbanks, the team spent last week in Juneau at the Central Office getting familiar with the business processes that are unique to that segment of the OCS business process.

September 17, 2001

ORCA Business Process Review Interview Schedule Remains on Track

The recent tragic terrorist attacks, and the resulting measures put in place relating to air travel have not disrupted the schedule for interviews for the ORCA Business Process Review. On Sunday September 16, members of the ORCA team met with the consultants from MTG Management Consultants,  Seattle, Washington and confirmed that travel arrangements for the scheduled interviews for the week of September 17 would be possible. The team agreed to move ahead with scheduled interviews in the Bethel and Saint Mary's OCS offices.

September 6, 2001

ORCA Team Conducts First Office Visit

The ORCA team and representatives from MTG conducted the first interviews for the OCS Business Process Review (BPR) at the Southeast Regional Office in Juneau September 4-6. Interviews were held with regional and field office staff based in Juneau, and several Ketchikan staffers participated in the meetings via teleconference. The meetings were a trial run of the interview process, with the next interviews scheduled for Bethel and Saint Mary's the week of September 16.

During the interviews, ORCA team members met with staff representing a variety of job functions in the division including:

• Regional office administrative staff
• Clerical support
• Intake and Investigations
• Permanency Planning
• Supervisors
• Community Care Licensing
• Adoptions
• Indian Child Welfare Act specialist
• Mental Health Clinician

The region's Psychiatric Nurse interview will be rescheduled for a later date due to scheduling problems.

The ORCA staff is extremely grateful to the SERO staff that spent time with them to describe what their work entails, and would like to thank all those folks who participated.

August 28, 2001

BPR Site Coordinators Teleconference

The ORCA team and representatives from MTG Management Consultants, Seattle, Washington (MTG) conducted a teleconference for the Business Process Review (BPR) site coordinators on August 23.

The goals of the meeting were to:

• Inform team members of what their role is expected to be during the BPR process
• Raise the level of awareness about the BPR and how it fits in to ORCA development
• Generate some excitement about the ORCA project

The following team members attended:

After introductions, Christopher Reeve of MTG walked through a PowerPoint presentation outlining the site visit plans and explaining the role of the Business Process Review in the overall ORCA development process. The Business Process Review will be the foundation from which the system requirements for ORCA will be developed.

During the meeting a number of questions came up. For a transcript of the questions and answers, please visit the ORCA comments/questions page.

BPR Schedule Overview

Office Dates Office Leads ORCA Staff
Revised 8/23/2001