2023 - 1st Quarter
The Modernization Project continues in the Analysis & Design Phase following an agile project execution approach.
In the last quarter there was strong engagement and partnership in the Joint Analysis and Design (JAD) working sessions held during this time. Multiple JAD and Service Design working sessions were conducted with Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), Docket Clerks, and DWC Subject Matter Experts, performing a deep dive into Adjudication product features.
There were also multiple Service Design sessions focusing on First Report of Injury (FROI), Customer Service Functions, Self Service Portal and Enterprise Functions.
The team began dedicated data engineering sessions focusing on data migration and other data management activities; and held working sessions with EDI vendor Verisk to discuss FROI product features. They also joined the DWC team in working sessions with Verisk for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) discussions and the Subsequent Report of Injury (SROI) process overview.
Detailed product requirements were discussed and documented, and user experience and design considerations were presented following a Design Thinking approach.
Multiple joint Sprint planning, product backlog and grooming sessions were held to discuss and prioritize user stories capturing the desired product functionalities for Adjudication, Dispute Resolution and Bankruptcy. Sprint deliverables included Business rules, User Interface (UI) Design, UI Screen Flow, UI Field Level Validation, Services and Database/Data Design.
Work continues on multiple fronts with a design deliverable goal of early November 2023.
Currently, plans are underway for an information and demo session with the ALJs the end of June and at the DWC Annual Educational Conference August 8 and 9.
2022 - 3rd Quarter
The Department of Labor’s Division of Workers’ Compensation launched Phase 1 of their modernized workers’ compensation system, Work Comp Connect. A kick-off meeting with remarks from DWC Director Pamela Lewis, DOLIR Director Anna Hui, ITSD Deputy CIO Paula Peterson, and the Modernization Project Director Harsh Bhasin, was held Tuesday, August 30.
DWC’s modernization effort seeks to better achieve our mission by:
- ensuring the injured workers of Missouri receive the benefits to which they are entitled
- by enhancing the stakeholder experience
- increasing the efficiency of DWC operations
- ensuring consistency of process within the Division
- and allowing DWC to leverage data to promote operational excellence and workers’ safety
Planned features of the new system include:
- electronic submission of case filings and documents
- quicker resolution of claims
- enhanced self-service options
- improved analytics and reporting, and decreased costs
The modernization effort is supported by a culture of innovation and continuous improvement that cultivates trust and inclusion, agile team building, and establishing avenues for generating new ideas and solutions to meet citizen expectations.
The significant investment in this modernized system is crucial to our state’s ability to improve customer outcomes and extract the maximum value from taxpayer dollars and surcharge assessments. While many hours have already gone in to streamlining processes and building workflows for the future state design, considerable work is planned. In the coming weeks and months DWC staff and contractors will partner with the system integrator, Objectstream, Inc., in bringing our vision of a modernized workers’ comp system to fruition for the citizens of the State of Missouri.