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CWAC/POS SACWIS Advisory Committee
May 4, 1999 Meeting Minutes

Members in Attendance
Jan Schoening - CCA
Jeff Buhrmann - DCFS
Kevin Singletary - CSS Peoria
Pat Devin - DCFS/Spectrum
Valerie Riley - Centers for New Horizons
Steven Minter - DCFS
Darlene Sweeney - Allendale
Ken Dee - CHASI
Ciony Gawat - New Life Social Svcs. Zack Schrantz - Uhlich
Priscilla Parker - LCFS
Debi Santini - CCA
George Thibeault - Chicago Catholic Charities
Jimmy Lago - Chicago Catholic Charities
Foster Centola - DCFS
Sue Grady - YSB of Illinois Valley

Members Absent
Illeana Gomez - Casa Central
Bishop Aaron Holmes - Reaching the Mark
Kevin Velten - DCFS
Sam Traylor - DCFS
France Pace Barnes - VOA of Illinois
Carol Winn - Ada S. McKinley
Tom Teague - DCFS
Richard Calica - Juvenile Prot. Assn.
Bob Lloyd - DCFS
Greg Dew - DCFS/Spectrum
Rebecca Cook - IARF
Deverrick Crawford - Lakeside
Sally Verhelle - Firman

Meeting Minutes

The meeting opened at approximately 10:50 a.m. Copies of the current DCFS SACWIS newsletter were distributed to all present and the agenda for the meeting was reviewed. 100+ copies of the newsletter were given to Debi Santini for mailing to CCA member agencies.

The minutes of the April 6th meeting held in Chicago were unanimously approved.

Some discussion of DCFS's Y2K readiness was held. Jeff reported that Y2K testing and certification of all DCFS systems is currently underway. Sam Traylor will be invited to present a Y2K update at our next meeting on June 8th.

 

Jeff reported that the current AS400 systems will be removed with the implementation of the new infrastructure equipment. This raised the issue of how agencies participating in the exemplar project would have access to MARS information. Jeff suggested that this issue would have to go back before the CWAC Finance and Administration committee for resolution.

Jan Schoening and Jeff Buhrmann provided updates on a variety of SACWIS-related projects and RFP's:

RFP's:

Jeff reported that CMS has completed its review of the bid submitted by Wang Global Services for the infrastructure RFP. IBM's protest was denied by CMS so negotiations with Wang will be moving forward. DCFS will be contracting with WANG through 6/30/2002. Part of the infrastructure RFP will fund the development of a 'consolidated service desk' (CSD) which will provide a centralized help desk to solve network, hardware, software and end-user problems. The CSD is projected to be in place in September of 1999. In response to questions, Jeff Buhrmann clarified that the CSD will also answer private agency calls for help once SACWIS is up and running. SACWIS implementation is currently scheduled to take place between March and August of 2001. The implementation will most likely be done geographically - all private agency and state users in a given geographic area will be brought online at one time.

Vendor presentations for the application development RFP have concluded. DCFS is considering whether to go through the 'Best and Final Offer' (BAFO) process, and if they do, how many vendors to request BAFO's from. Going through the BAFO process will delay the RFP process somewhat, which would mean that a vendor would be on board by October or November of 1999 instead of September.

Templates - Jeff Buhrmann reported that DCFS reviewed the template security issue again. DCFS decided that since the templates are public forms there would be no security needed. However, they will have a disclaimer on their web site regarding the downloading and use of the templates, which are projected to be ready for download on July 1, 1999 at www.state.il.us/DCFS.

Discussions with Federal officials - Jeff reported that no discussions have been held with federal officials yet to explain the relationship between private agencies and DCFS in Illinois. Jeff has prepared for Director Jess McDonald a document outlining the issues to be discussed with the Illinois delegation. The document is currently being reviewed by DCFS legal staff to make sure that the federal representatives cannot contest it. DCFS plans to have the paper completed by Friday, May 7th. It is Jeff's understanding that Director McDonald will then talk with Ron Moorman and Jimmy Lago regarding the next steps. Jeff will provide a copy of the final document to us if Director McDonald permits him to. It was again stressed that these discussions must happen before SACWIS development advances to the point that it is too late for private agencies to impact the process with these critical issues.

POS Involvement - Jan reported that an ad was run in the Springfield paper seeking applicants for the position but no 'quality' responses were received. She also reported that an interview with a promising candidate was scheduled and that she would advise Jeff of the status of the search soon. Jeff offered to sit down with the steering committee to discuss any options or issues.

SACWIS Presentations for POS Agencies: - The Central Region presentation scheduled for May 3rd was canceled due to an agenda change initiated by Director McDonald. Jeff Buhrmann distributed a schedule of dates for upcoming regional meetings where SACWIS information can be presented. The meetings currently scheduled include: Northern Region, July 8th; Central Region, July 9th; Cook North Region, July 21st; Cook Central Region, August 18th; and Cook South Region, September 15th. The date for the Southern Region is to be announced at a later date. Presenters for these meetings will be scheduled at the next committee meeting on June 8th.

Jan noted that the private agency presentation was currently being reviewed and revised. Jeff asked that he be given a copy of the private agency presentation to review and comment on. Jan agreed to give Jeff a copy before the June 8th meeting.

Alternative Financing Strategies: Jeff reported that he is currently working on a document for Director McDonald on alternative financing options for private agencies. DCFS's budget office seems to agree that a 'rate strategy' would be preferable. However, Director McDonald has asked Jeff to defer further discussions on this until after the FY2000 budget is finalized, since a variety of finance and budget discussions are currently underway and he would like those finalized before dealing with this issue.

George stressed that rate adjustments must be in place well before the implementation of SACWIS in order to give private agencies adequate time to purchase equipment, get cabling done, get office automation software in use, etc.

George also stressed that it is critical for all private agencies to have a full understanding of SACWIS and its expectations, as well as how the financing of equipment, training and ongoing support and maintenance will be handled, so that they can make an educated decision on whether to continue contracting with DCFS to provide services.

"Bridge" JAD: The bridge JAD is scheduled for May 5th in Springfield. Foster Centola is the DCFS contact person for this and Jan Schoening is the private agency contact person. Foster distributed a preliminary agenda for the JAD which was reviewed by all present. George asked about the sections of the Application Development RFP that explicitly exclude the vendor from the responsibility of creating a private agency interface. Jeff assured the committee that the interface could be created under the RFP's "uniform interfaces" section.

Zack stressed that the primary questions that need to be answered by the bridge JAD are: 1) Why do agencies need their own systems?; and 2) Where does SACWIS stop?

The meeting schedule for the first half of FY2000 was set as follows:

	July 13, 1999 in Springfield
	August 3, 1999 in Chicago
	September 14, 1999 in Springfield
	October 5, 1999 in Chicago
	November 2, 1999 in Springfield
	December 7, 1999 in Chicago

The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

The next meeting will be held June 8, 1999 at a location in Chicago to be determined.[foot.htm]