DPSS to Launch Pilot of New LEADER Replacement System (LRS)
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) recently announced the pilot launch of a new case management and benefits eligibility system known as the LEADER Replacement System (LRS). The largest system of its kind in the nation, LRS provides a modern, web-based tool for public assistance case workers in Los Angeles and neighboring counties to help improve service and enhance customer experience.
DPSS will pilot LRS in two public assistance district offices, one in West Los Angeles and one in South Los Angeles, with full countywide implementation planned in waves through late 2016. The new system will expand and accelerate service delivery using e-Government functionality, including self-screening, online enrollment, case information access and electronic customer communications.
“LRS will serve as a national model for excellence in automation and technology advancement in the human services industry,” says DPSS director Sheryl L. Spiller.
“This web-based system uses web browsers and mobile platforms to support and respond to ever-changing public assistance programs and evolving business needs of both DPSS and the Department of Children and Family Services.”
LRS was designed and developed in collaboration with the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) Consortium-IV (C-IV), one of three statewide welfare systems in California representing 39 counties, to eventually consolidate Los Angeles County and the SAWS C-IV into a single system serving 40 of California’s 58 counties.
“For the first time in our history, we have a leading edge system that will operate at full capacity 24 hours a day and provide continual case updates around the clock,” says Michael Sylvester, DPSS assistant director, Bureau of Contract and Technical Services.
When fully rolled out, LRS will replace several aged County systems, the largest of which is the LEADER (Los Angeles Eligibility, Automated Determination, Evaluation, and Reporting) system designed in the 90s and used for the past 14 years. Strategic visioning for LRS began back in 2007, followed by a robust competitive procurement and selection process, culminating in approval by the Board of Supervisors in November 2012 to commence LRS. Most recently, the LRS project successfully completed the User Acceptance Testing stage of the project on time and on budget and secured State and Federal approval to proceed with the pilot.
