1. Workforce Technology Division
NMDWS Consortium Project (New Mexico, Massachusetts and Florida)
PCC Project Close
July 22, 2015
Workforce Technology Division

2. Consortium History & Vision
The Consortium arose from the common objectives and goals reflected in the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system modernization efforts of the State of Florida, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New Mexico
During the 2012 Supplemental Budget Request, The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (DWS) was awarded $1,996,299 to develop a proof of concept project environment that would enable DWS to provide a Center of Competency (CoC) for UI modernization activities
The CoC provides a means to share information related to the mutually shared application framework, creation of “best practices”, and to establish an arena for UI demonstration projects
The Consortium exists to provide mutual support for its member’s modernization efforts, to discuss shared challenges, and create solutions to common problems

3. Consortium Objectives
Business Objective #1
REDUCE THE COST OF NEW ENHANCEMENT DEVELOPMENT RELATED TO SPECIFIC PROJECTS BASED ON CODE SHARING AND COLLABORATION A Sandbox environment was created which promotes re-use of design and code as applicable
Some key examples of component, infrastructure, or functional sharing, including design, code, testing, and documentation:
TOP (Treasury Offset Program)
SIDES (State Information Data Exchanges System)
ICON (Interstate Connectivity System)
1099 Format
Interfaces
Monetary and Employer processing
TRA/TAA (Trade Readjustment Assistance/Trade Adjustment Assistance)
Security controls

4. Consortium Objectives
Business Objective #2
Improve modernization efforts and ensure continual improvement by providing support for other state organizations based on best practices and lessons learned Created a DotNetNuke secured web content management based-system to provide a mechanism to share information with both current and potential consortium members, and to generally assist states nationwide in UI IT Modernization planning and execution. The repository includes requirements documentation, use cases, actual coding modules and lessons learned.
Inter-Consortium sharing of successful practices, design, code of functionality, defects, data migration issues. Also, helped each other with overall communication methods and processes (internal, external, web)
New Mexico, along with ITSC, has led a number of webinars with States like Oregon and New York showcasing our application and how it works.
New Mexico also hosted Connecticut for a week long in person review of the application, our operations, and an overview of our UI Modernization project.

5. Consortium Objectives
Technical Objective #1
Provide means to conduct joint demonstration projects in isolated environment to improve application functionality and address common critical failures/issues Through the build-out of a secure sandbox loaded with the NMDWS application (current code base and data), the Consortium established a “play pen” whereby proof of concept projects can be demonstrated, adjusted, and tuned as needed.
The architecture is a scaled version of the NMDWS production system but not connected in any way to the production systems or network. Access to the sandbox is controlled through individual IP addresses and application roles assigned to individuals.

6. Consortium Objectives
Technical Objective #2
Improve UIA performance through sharing of common configuration settings and resulting outcomes The secure sandbox environment provides the Consortium states an opportunity to tune and optimize performance for common UFACTS architecture components such as FileNet, Oracle, Batch processing, NAS, SAN, and load balancer.

7. Consortium Timeline

8. Consortium Key Milestones
Key Milestones Target Date Implementation Date
Consortium Web Portal – Design 5/01/ /01/2013
Consortium Web Portal – Development 6/30/ /30/2013
Consortium Web Portal – Launch 7/31/ /31/2013
Consortium Application – Development 5/30/ /30/2014
Consortium Application – Launch 6/30/ /01/2014
Consortium Application – Demonstration 9/01/ /1/ Implementation
Development of “Best Practices” in: /31/ /31/ Definition & use of application Roles, Data encryption and masking, Security reporting

9. Consortium Accomplishments
An exact replica of the current NM UIA base code and supporting services including the Filenet workflow system and the backend Oracle database has been created. This site is used to demonstrate functionality in a prototype arena and is entirely separate from each state’s production UI systems.
Setup of the Consortium Portal has been built using DotNetNuke, which is a web content management system based on Microsoft .NET. The site currently stores all UIA Use Case requirements, samples of various UI reports, and example code requested by one state to see how another state implemented a specific feature. This is a stand alone system with controlled access to approved users and it doesn’t communicate with any other systems or applications.
Jointly developed “best practices” related to UI security. These practices cover: 1) Definition and use of system Roles 2) Reports needed to meet security requirements 3) Definition of data masking and data encryption approach needed to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
Sharing of code for various UI functional modules including Military-State Data Exchange Systems (MSDES), State Information Data Exchange Marketing (SIDES), Benefits Accuracy Measurement (BAM) and Treasury Off Set Program (TOPS) along with sharing of test scripts already in use by Massachusetts

10. Consortium Sand Box Environment

11. Consortium Lessons Learned
Project Successes
The overall Consortium effort had visibility to other states outside of Florida and Massachusetts. Because of our joint success we had inquiries from and shared information with other UI departments in Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana, Oregon and New York. Individuals from those states were given login access to the Web Portal so they could view system documentation and program specifications.
Assigning application roles giving team members from each state full access up front ensured quick engagement and ability to use the sandbox environment easily.
Having each state review a common functional area walking through the data entry screens and discussing their business process was valuable to understand the differences and similarities between both software and business processes between each state.
It was enlightening to realize that other states faced similar problems that we do in dealing with UI issues. Having the ability to work with other states and ask question about how they handle specific issues has been very helpful.

12. Consortium Lessons Learned
Project Challenges and Recommendations
Competing challenges within each of the state organizations and acknowledging the "maturity level" with the new UI software was different at each state posed challenges to engaging and participating in the project. Acknowledge the challenges and continue moving forward and making progress. Potentially leverage other resources when possible.
Establishing a sandbox environment interfacing with three separate states was challenging. Not enough time was allocated for the initial setup of hardware. Firewall challenges (both with the Consortium Sand Box firewall and each state's individual firewalls) and determining the proper hardware needed (used old hardware initially) to support the application caused the setup of the environment to take longer than originally planned. This was the initial attempt at setting up a sandbox environment for three different states and we now better understand the firewall restrictions for interfacing and appropriate hardware requirements. Spend more time defining hardware requirements and allowing time for proper setup and testing of hardware.

13. Consortium Lessons Learned
Project Challenges and Recommendations (continued)
There was very little project documentation handed off from the previous project manager. Determining the original goals and plans was difficult and there was no one central place that project documents were stored. Establish a central location accessible to all team members for all project documents. The Web Portal is available to all team members and would be a good place to define a folder for project documentation.

14. Consortium Future Initiatives
Application of data masking and randomization to protect PII data in the “sand box” environment
Identification and development of joint customization efforts for targeted demonstration projects between the member states
Periodic updates to NM UIA production system applied to the Consortium “sand box” system
Creation of a Consortium Steering Committee to develop strategic goals and initiatives to support the addition of new member states
The demonstration or “sand box” application is dependent on continued USDOL funding and / or funding from contributory states to pay for yearly licensing fees – however as is use is expected to continue to support ongoing operational tactical planning.

15. Benefits for all Stakeholders
Shared Code Base
Enhanced Configurability
Shared Enhancements and Maintenance
R & D; New Projects
Continual Improvements
Stable, Long-term Support
Lower risk
Better investment
Faster modernization
Faster UI Modernization
Shared Maintenance and Enhancement Cost
Expanded Configuration Capabilities
Shared Maintenance and Enhancement Cost
New State FL MA MA

16. Consortium Presentation
Questions