Policy Content at SSA … an update, and sharing questions Policy Content at SSA using XML and Semantic Metadata 9.14.2005 Policy Content at SSA … an update, and sharing questions Bruce Dull, Director, IT Support Services, Office of Disability and Income Security Programs, SSA Duane Degler, Strategic Designer, Lockheed Martin/IPGems SICoP Public Meeting Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 9.14.2005 Dull/Hynes/Degler for SSA, Lockheed Martin, IPGems, all rights reserved

Introduction to the Social Security Administration The scope of Social Security National operations with many local offices Over 1,300 field offices, 140 hearing offices, 100 DDS sites Overall about 80,000 staff serving 45m+ members of the public State-managed claim processing for disability Many relationships with other agencies New challenges all the time Baby boom, retirement wave, changing legislation New electronic case processing New disability processes Impact of Katrina on procedures and staff 9.14.2005

Project Goals Business goals Technical goals Simpler, more usable instructions for front-line staff Greater standardization of instructions Better integration across various types of content More flexible/efficient authoring process Technical goals Effective, usable and accessible interfaces Metadata-driven information management More granular, sharable, standards-based content More modular, responsive architecture 9.14.2005

Task-Focused Overview User Challenge Seeking / Selecting Info Site Search Navigate Bookmark … related to what I’m doing? Doing Learning Detailed Info Step 2 Process Procedure Trouble-shooting Look-up User I’m stuck ! List “Relevant” item 1 “Relevant” item 2 … “Relevant” item 1,623 Help Support Alert Links Task-Focused Overview Policy, memory-jog, summarize, advise Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Help (technical system advice) Training Reference Links 9.14.2005

How useful in your work? (5 is highest score) User Feedback Recent usability testing 7 states, 12 offices, 73 users Key messages Contextual access to information is very beneficial Simplify, simplify, simplify… but don’t remove the value of context Make sure that all relevant information is available How useful in your work? (5 is highest score) 9.14.2005

Simplifying and Integrating Ontology & Search More refined use of ontology when presented to users, blending free text and term selection 9.14.2005

Some Challenges with “Search” Example search strings for the same information: “Scan” “Put paper in EF” “How do I add additional medical evidence to the electronic folder?” 9.14.2005

Success with Multiple “Views” Stylesheet-driven layouts for different user needs … can this be extended to other “adaptive” elements? Low Vision Standard View Print View Screen Reader 9.14.2005

Additional Considerations for Blind Users? Clear, simple vocabulary – mixing JAWS and Braille More detailed tutorial Help build a mental model of the site and its behavior … and thus also its vocabulary Help interpret the many links and selection options on pages How to be contextual and adaptive to context… and also predictable to users? 9.14.2005

Questions Related to Ongoing Site Design How to show… or hide… vocabulary change? Whose context? (for example, “State”) The user (staff) The claimant/beneficiary The Agency How to make context identification simpler? Policy as “context-sensitive help” Requires a close relationship with transactional systems Requires a semantic relationship with the data values, not just the data types 9.14.2005

Questions Relating to Ontology Development How best to grow the ontology? Terminology within content Business context applied to content What is the role of concept extraction? Short-term… and ongoing What level of facilitation is required to get results? How to create sustainable organizational ownership? Subject specialists and/or staff ontologist(s)? Is it possible to “train” someone to think this way? 9.14.2005

Policy Content at SSA using XML and Semantic Metadata 9.14.2005 Thank you Bruce Dull, Director, IT Support Services, Office of Disability and Income Security Programs, SSA Duane Degler, Strategic Designer, Lockheed Martin/IPGems 9.14.2005 Dull/Hynes/Degler for SSA, Lockheed Martin, IPGems, all rights reserved