Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Technology is essential to managing Social Security programs. If our systems are not functioning optimally, the productivity of our workforce immediately declines, resulting in diminished service. We must maintain strong IT performance despite rising IT demands, increasing cybersecurity risks, and constant changes in technology.
To meet our service delivery challenges, we rely upon a large and complex technology infrastructure that includes two data centers, extensive national databases, hundreds of software applications, large supporting computing platforms, and thousands of networked computers, printers, telephones, and other devices (e.g., smart phones). Change to our IT infrastructure is constant. We strive to ensure responsive, reliable performance to our customers and employees in the presence of this constant change.
Our two data centers, the National Computer Center (NCC) and the Second Support Center, maintain the demographic, wage, and benefit information that enables prompt and accurate benefit payments. The NCC has been in continuous operation as a data center since it opened in 1980. Congress approved our requested funding to build a new data center, the National Support Center (NSC), and extensive planning is underway for the move to this new facility. We will transition all operations from the existing NCC to the new NSC in FY 2015 and FY 2016. The NSC will provide increased capacity and improved operational reliability and efficiency.
Strategies:
- Successfully transition to the NSC; and
- Maintain responsive, reliable system performance.
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Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Our IT is evolving to incorporate stable, modern technologies that align with our business needs. We support and employ technologies championed by the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council and other Federal directives. Examples of these technologies include the Administration’s Digital Government Strategy, shared services, modular development, and cloud computing architecture.
As we carry out our investment management processes to determine how to use our limited IT resources, we strive for a balanced strategy of investing in new and improving existing business applications and infrastructure as funding permits. We incrementally modernize our applications based on business needs, technical advancement, and risk management. We will pursue the use of newer, more adaptable technologies, while maintaining the systems that support our mission.
We will improve and expand our telephone services by offering to transfer customers calling field offices to our National 800 Number Network. This network’s sophisticated software allows us to optimize the routing of our National 800 Number Network calls to reduce our customer wait time. We made this possible by the FY 2013 conversion of our National 800 Number Network to the Citizen Access Routing Enterprise through 2020 (CARE 2020) solution. The Care 2020 software will provide us with information to better optimize service and identify our customers’ needs in order to provide a world-class customer experience.
Strategies:
- Refresh IT planning activities to effectively prioritize and manage IT investments;
- Employ technology to extend service, mitigate risk, and reduce cost; and
- Assess application portfolios, focusing on cost, business value, and technology sustainability.
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Statement:No Data Available
Description:
Technology transforms how we conduct business. As the Federal Digital Government Strategy notes, advances in computer technology, the increase of high-speed networks, and mobile innovation have introduced new products and reshaped existing service options. Growing customer expectations drive us to consider an expanding number of service delivery options.
We will actively participate in the Federal CIO Council, leverage the expertise of industry IT experts and technical consultants, remain attentive to emerging technologies, and benchmark with other public and private organizations that innovate through technology. We will harness appropriate innovations to create effective and efficient service delivery options, maximizing the return on our IT investments.
Our business and technical staffs will work together to develop new, more flexible and efficient ways to perform our work, focusing on areas where reengineering is most needed. We will develop and maintain effective IT solutions for our customers and our employees.
Strategies
- Deliver accurate, convenient, and flexible agency systems and services in a cost- conscious manner;
- Explore the use of emerging technologies to improve service and increase efficiency; and
- Engage and benchmark private and public IT communities to ensure the timely identification of important new technologies and best practices.
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Statement:No Data Available
Description:
We maintain a comprehensive, agency-wide information security program of controls that protect our information and communications assets. We review policies and processes regularly, taking appropriate corrective action to prevent misuse and unauthorized access to assets and sensitive data, including personally identifiable information. Given the highly sensitive nature of the personal information within our systems, data integrity and security, as well as the protection of individual privacy, must be our main IT service focus. New services and delivery options expose us to new threats. We must be vigilant and strengthen our cybersecurity intelligence and protections.
Strategies:
- Maintain information security preparedness;
- Continually adjust security processes and procedures to reflect changes in technology, the sensitivity of our data and systems, and awareness of actual and potential internal and external threats;
- Perform risk-based systems reviews to enhance continuous-monitoring and data-loss-prevention strategies; and
- Enhance our audit trail, integrity review, and fraud-prevention processes.
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