Project Overview

ISAWS, originally named NAPAS, was developed as an on-line interactive automated eligibility system to provide public assistance benefits. NAPAS was selected as the pilot for statewide implementation and was renamed ISAWS in January 1994. Deloitte and Touche developed system enhancements to allow for multi-county implementation; included in these enhancements were development of statewide interfaces such as Statewide Client Index (SCI), MEDS, Child Support and Child Welfare and subsequently the development of additional Interfaces; IEVS, WDTIP, SFIS and EBT.

Upon completion of the initial enhancements, the ISAWS application was successfully implemented in fourteen counties. The ISAWS application was then implemented in twenty additional counties. It is currently operational in thirty five counties. (Appendix A)

The ISAWS Application provides uniformity and consistency in the application of public assistance programs and policies through the use of interactive screens with a full complement of case action support tools. ISAWS currently supports the CalWORKs, Food Stamp, Medi-Cal (including Medi-Cal Section 1931-b), County Medi-Cal Services Program (CMSP), Foster Care, Homeless and Refugee Assistance programs. The ISAWS application contains over 6000 eligibility rules which are used in making the eligibility determination for these public assistance programs. This application is written and maintained in Unisys based MAPPER Software.

The WTW Application was developed to assist counties meet the demands of Welfare Reform and the Welfare to Work program. The WTW Application provides basic case management, benefit issuance, tracking, and reporting capabilities for the Welfare to Work program. The application was developed on a client/server platform, but it interfaces and acts as a sister application to the ISAWS Application. The system is divided into modules, each meeting a unique set of county business requirements. This application is written and maintained in Client/Server architecture using Power-Builder, Citrix, Tuxedo and an Oracle Database.

ISAWS System Support (ISS) is responsible for updating the ISAWS Application with current regulation changes and/or policy interpretations as they arise. The Maintenance Change Request (MCR) process steers these changes. Issues discovered in the counties drive corrections to system functionality not specifically relating to a regulation change. County submitted issues are documented and monitored in partnership with ISS utilizing the Customer Support problem ticket application, TIPS.