About the ITSC - Unemployment Insurance Information Technology Support Center

The Information Technology Support Center was established as a national resource by the United States Department of Labor, to assist all state Unemployment Insurance agencies in the area of Unemployment Insurance Information Technology.

Learn About ITSC

• ITSC Mission
• ITSC Vision
• ITSC Guiding Principles
• ITSC Core Services
• ITSC Core Products

Meet the ITSC

• ITSC Personnel

ITSC Partners

• United States Department of Labor
• Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation
• National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA)
• Center for Employment Security Education and Research (CESER)
• Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS)

Background

The ITSC began in 1994 to advance the appropriate application of information technology solutions to provide more accurate, efficient, cost-effective, and timely service for state UI Agencies. It operates as a national technical information and knowledge repository, applying best practice solutions, approaches, and technologies, to limit risks, and increase IT compatibility among states.

The ITSC has been assisting state UI Agencies for over 15 years with successful projects concentrating on IT needs that enhance the delivery of UI services. The ITSC was created and chartered to leverage UI IT knowledge and efforts for the benefit of all state UI Agencies. The ITSC occupies a unique position in the UI arena, with knowledge of both the UI domain and the IT technology. ITSC has developed a uniquely strong working knowledge of UI functions, UI laws, UI operational issues, and state UI automation architectures throughout the nation. This has been accomplished through their work with USDOL and individual state UI Agencies.

ITSC has supported numerous state Modernization efforts, ranging from Strategic Planning initiatives, RFI and RFP support, Proposal Evaluations, Use Case/Requirements development, fit-gap assessments, contract negotiations, hands-on QA/IV&V and program management support during development of modernized UI systems. ITSC has detailed UI business domain expertise, along with the ability to apply Information Technology to solve UI business problems.

The ITSC receives direction and priorities through the ITSC Steering Committee. The STCO functions as a Board of Governors in guiding the ITSC work and initiatives. The STCO is composed of two State Administrators, three State UI Directors, three State Information Technology Directors, a host state (Maryland) representative, an at large state member and two USDOL representatives.

ITSC has built a unique, online repository, or Electronic Library, of UI IT System Modernization artifacts, documents, models, and code, that aids in the sharing and reuse of data and information as related to UI IT System Modernization. ITSC is the sole organization that tracks and monitors the status UI IT Modernization Projects across the nation, including their costs (development Vendor, IV&V Vendor if applicable, infrastructure, staff augmentation), schedule/timelines, major functionality, staffing resources, and a substantial amount of other detailed information and data; all of this information is available in the Electronic Library. As participants on the behalf of UI Agencies in various UI IT Modernization procurements for states, ITSC has unique access to the very latest in the capabilities and limitations of the approaches, frameworks, and products promulgated by the Vendors who participate in the UI System development space.

ITSC has significant experience in developing software products for multi-state use, ranging from a SUTA dumping application, to a real-time job coding classification application, to most significantly the States Information Data Exchanges System (SIDES). SIDES is a web service-based transfer system between state UI agencies and Employers/Third Party Agents (TPAs) for the exchange of UI data. ITSC has been the leading entity from concept origination, through collaborative requirements development among many states and employers, to the design and implementation of the SIDES exchange.

Mission

The ITSC is a national collaboration of state workforce agencies and the US Department of Labor to maximize the sharing of UI Information Technology best practices and to facilitate the appropriate application of Information Technology in state Unemployment Insurance programs. The goal of ITSC is to provide accurate, efficient, cost effective and timely service to all Unemployment Insurance customers. ITSC partners with multi-state collaborative initiatives as well as single state project engagements to assist, aid, help ensure success, and to the promote the replication or sharing of these successes.

Vision

ITSC will provide best practice services and products that multi state consortiums and individual states can leverage cost-effectively. ITSC will lead states individually and through consortiums in the design and development of highly configurable and transferable Unemployment Insurance IT systems, subsystems and components. ITSC will be the trusted independent resource states and USDOL will turn to for guidance and support when modernizing Unemployment Insurance IT systems.

Guiding Principles of ITSC

• Leverage ITSC expertise in UI Modernization projects across the nation;
• Serve as a conduit between state and consortium projects to ensure lessons learned and methodologies are effectively shared;
• Create project management standards and procedures;
• Create application development standards and recommended architectures for states to model;
• Promote where applicable the use of open source design and development principles and tools for interoperability amongst states and to reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of UI IT systems;
• Encourage states to build non proprietary systems, subsystems, and components, and make these systems, subsystems, and components available to all states through the ITSC e-Library;
• Develop, distribute, and support UI components/modules, products or model projects for cost-effective multi-state use.

Core Services

Application Development

ITSC develops, distributes, and supports UI components and independent modules or products for high-payoff and cost-efficient multi-state use. ITSC develops RFPs to procure the required programming and other technical services.

Standards Development

ITSC in conjunction with the states develops suggested technical standards and guidelines to help states in developing systems that are highly configurable and can be used by multiple states and consortiums.

Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)

ITSC provides Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) consultative services to help states safeguard USDOL and State dollars.

UI Modernization Services

ITSC provides best practice services for UI Modernization initiatives, including:

• Strategic planning and visioning
• Business process re-engineering
• Pre-RFP requirements development
• RFI and RFP development
  • Evaluation criteria development
  • Proposal evaluation
  • Contract negotiations
• Hands-on Quality Assurance assistance
• Program Management Office support including Project Management

Advisory Services

ITSC provides advisory assessments of technologies that UI agencies may review and or adopt.

Core Products

ITSC Website

The ITSC website plays an important role in increasing communication and content sharing between states. The website provides a channel to keep abreast of current IT related issues and needs within the UI community. The website will be the main resource for states to access applications, shared state information and UI Modernization data. ITSC will leverage its partnership with NASWA-CESER to integrate the two unique websites with up to date and accurate information.

The ITSC core product suite including ITSC core applications and tools will be hosted, documented and made available to states through the ITSC.org website.

Project based collaborative workspaces or portals housed on the ITSC website serve as comprehensive online repositories for the project team. Real time, secure communication capabilities provide the opportunity for IT leaders to discuss active projects, the UI program and technical problems and solutions.

eLibrary

The eLibrary is a comprehensive repository of UI modernization documents including RFPs, Strategic Plans, Requirements, Use Cases, Technical Artifacts (e.g., data models, UML design constructs), Source Code and associated business and technical documentation. This searchable eLibrary provides electronic artifacts as well as “Best Practices” and lessons learned for both Tax and Benefits UI Modernization engagements. New features to be added to the eLibrary include technical standards and architecture to support common development and assist consortiums in working together. Bulletin board type services will allow states to communicate and share information more effectively.

OccuCoder/Autocoder

Occucoder/Autocoder is a software tool supported by the ITSC to provide accurate O*NET occupational coding. The tool can be used in the UI claims filing process to allow UI applicants to self code their work history to assist in the reemployment process. The tool can be incorporated into State or private job bank systems so that job orders can be coded with the appropriate O*Net occupational code. Automated matches of UI applicants to current job orders is one example of a reemployment application that can be automated through the use of this tool.

SUTA Dumping Detection System (SDDS)

SDDS is a web based SQLServer database tool developed for UI Tax staff and attorneys to aid in the analysis of employer UI Tax account information and employee movement across different UI employer accounts.

State Information Data Exchange System - UI SIDES

UI SIDES is a web services system that enables communications and transmission of UI separation information requests from UI agencies to different size employers including multi- state employers or Third Party Administrators. Large volume separation transactions are handled through a batch web service and smaller numbers of separations are communicated to and from employers through an Internet Website. Other types of transactions will be added to this infrastructure within the next few years including wage verification.

Interstate Connection Network (ICON)

ICON modernization is a project currently under development to process ICON based transactions through online web services.

Mass Unemployment Event Online Toolkit (MUE)

The MUE Toolkit provides self-directed guidance and checklists to help state UI agencies to continue delivering critical UI services during a disaster or other Mass Unemployment Event. The toolkit is utilized by the UI agency in a state impacted by a MUE and by those states willing and able to assist impacted states in the delivery of key UI services during and after the MUE. The toolkit includes the MUE Portal. The MUE portal consists of a set of web pages and four software applications that permit the UI community to: obtain a copy of the MUE Toolkit, download the MUE cost estimator tool, query the UI Assessment Database, look-up state and USDOL disaster planning personnel contacts, and share operational information between state UI agencies.

Integrated Adjudication System Arizona and North Carolina

The IAS is a web browser based application. It supports the Unemployment Insurance claims adjudication process by automatically gathering adjudication information in a central location, and by providing an organized user interface to help adjudicators review case information, and complete the non-monetary adjudication process in a timely, accurate fashion. IAS exchanges case data with central UI mainframe benefits systems. It also features automated adjudicator and case scheduling.