Stanislaus
County Implements "Best" Solution
By Sonja Hazzard of Data
Image Systems
Family
Support Services
employees all over the United States are aware of new
Federal Regulations becoming effective October 1, 1998.
For the rest of us, essentially, the regulations involve
more stringent policies regarding the timelines and
procedures involved with receiving and dispersing Child
Support Payments.
A
particular policy, mandated to counties within California,
is to migrate all existing Child Support Payment systems
to one system. Unfortunately, the software designed
to comply (SACSS) cannot be implemented within all of
California’s counties by the Federal deadline. End result...several
Child Support Services are not only left without a viable
system, they are unable to comply with Federal mandates
as well. Additionally, little time is available to develop
or migrate to a new system. Born from this dilemma are
several Consortiums consisting of various counties with
compliant or near compliant systems working together
to make one scheme work for everyone.
Alameda
County created BEST, a child support system that complies
with federal law. Two of our DISC FS (Family
Support Application) customers (Stanislaus and Contra
Costa counties) wanted to convert to the BEST system.
Our challenge was to find an effective means of integrating
DISC FS with BEST for our customers.
When
integrating our Imaging/Payment Processing Software
with existing Accounting Packages such as BEST, we usually
discover that both systems overlap functions. The key
is to determine which system can perform which task
better. We consider current functionality, available
technology, as well as accounting principles. In many
cases, it comes down to key discussions such as "if
deposits are made within the Imaging software, it creates
a separation of duties between cash handling and payment
processing."
For
Stanislaus, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, we asked
the three counties to help design the most effective
solution. The outcome was a new version of DISC FS
that interfaces with BEST via DDE and requires
absolutely no changes to that system. The solution takes
advantage of the cash handling controls of DISC FS
and the timely payment identification within BEST.
On
Monday August 3rd, Stanislaus County went live on the
BEST-DISC FS integration. According to officials
in the county, the BEST Solution is "simple
and user friendly," and because of the one link
the systems share, their "security measures are
easy to implement and maintain."
Data
Image Systems
is proud to have participated in this system’s integration;
helping families and communities.
Note:
DISC FS utilizes InveStore Storage Management Software
to connect and control optical devices.
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