Louisiana Department of Social Services Awarded With ISM Excellence in Human Services for Innovative Use of Information Builders WebFOCUS

Market Wire, August, 2008

Information Builders, the independent leader in operational business intelligence ( BI ) systems, today announced that its customer, Louisiana Department of Social Services' (DSS) Office of Community Services (OCS), was awarded the 2008 Recognition Award for Excellence in Human Services by the IT Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM) organization. The award recognizes the use of emerging information technologies in the arena of state and local human services. Louisiana's OCS Child Welfare Division won for its application of WebFOCUS BI technology from Information Builders, and geographic information system (GIS) software from ESRI. WebFOCUS complements the ESRI suite by extending reporting and analysis capabilities to mission-critical systems, such as child protection and foster care applications for capturing, managing, and displaying geographically-referenced child welfare information.

"The WebFOCUS/GIS system will become invaluable for the agency as it provides us with the management and planning tools we need to meet and exceed the needs of the children and the families we serve," said OCS Assistant Secretary Marketa Garner Gautreau. "We are honored to be recognized for our work, and value that through new technologies, we can continue to provide the best services for the public child welfare of Louisiana."

The WebFOCUS/GIS systems allows Louisiana's OCS management and administrative staff to easily input data from its databases, transform it into valuable information, and run graphical reports that allow them to interpret complex relationships that might be difficult to detect. Tracking and discerning trends are critical for OCS to accurately locate available foster placement resources for children, especially when the goal is to place them closer to the family from which they were removed. Keeping children close to home allows the OCS Child Welfare Division to keep them in the same school system, resulting in the fewest number of transitions and allowing for educational continuity; also, the OCS can more efficiently locate medical, psychological and educational services required by the child.

Being able to geographically view all these resources and visualize the relationships, connections, and patterns in large amounts of data, helps the agency make better informed decisions and significantly expedites issue resolution for the child, family and all placement resources involved. With fewer than two hours of training, agency workers are currently writing their own reports and productively using the application. They scan multiple areas within minutes, versus hours or days, for one location. The system is also extremely user-friendly and allows users to quickly drill down to specific pieces of information and view relationships between data points. From the map, users can separate areas that present red flags and drill down into the data to identify trends.

"We commend the exceptional work Louisiana Department of Social Services is doing to improve the delivery of child welfare services through the use of technology," said Marq Youngblood, chairperson of ISM. "By integrating BI and GIS solutions, Louisiana is truly able to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of their most vulnerable citizens -- their children."

"It is remarkable to witness all the innovative ways our customers are using business intelligence technology to provide for the public welfare," said Information Builders CEO and founder Gerald Cohen. "The work Louisiana DSS has done with today's leading business and location technologies to ensure children's needs are not being ignored is very deserving of this prestigious award."

Louisiana DSS will be presented with the award at the 41st ISM Conference in San Francisco, August 25, 2008, during Monday's opening session.

About the ISM

The Information Technology Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM), affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), has recognized and promoted excellence in human services information technology through its annual national conference. The ISM 2008 Recognition Awards for Excellence in Human Services Information Technology are intended to give national exposure to innovation in service delivery, application of new technologies, collaboration across traditional boundaries, and excellence in leadership in the application of information technology in support of state and local government human services. ISM is an association of State, Local and Federal Government Information Technology and Program professionals working in the Health and Human Services areas.

About ESRI

For more than 30 years, ESRI has been the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI software is used in all 200 of the largest cities in the United States and in more than 60 percent of counties and municipalities nationwide. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,600 business partners. ESRI's goal is to develop comprehensive tools that enable users to efficiently manage, use, and serve geographic information to make a difference in the world around them. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. ESRI can be found on the Web at www.esri.com .