Social Security Administration: Significant Progress Made in Year 2000
Effort, But Key Risks Remain (Letter Report, 10/22/97, GAO/AIMD-98-6).
Unless timely corrective action is taken to address the Year 2000
problem, the Social Security Administration (SSA), like other federal
agencies, could face critical computer system failures at the turn of
the century. In many systems, the year 2000 will be undistinguishable
from 1900. If left uncorrected, this could result in Social Security
benefit checks being issued incorrectly--or not on time--beginning in
January 2000. This report discusses the adequacy of steps taken by SSA
to ensure that computing problems arising from the year 2000 problem are
fully addressed, including SSA's oversight of state Disability
Determination Services' Year 2000 programs.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: AIMD-98-6
TITLE: Social Security Administration: Significant Progress Made
in Year 2000 Effort, But Key Risks Remain
DATE: 10/22/97
SUBJECT: Disability benefits
Systems conversions
Information resources management
Computer software
Information systems
Claims processing
Federal social security programs
Federal/state relations
Data bases
IDENTIFIER: SSA National Disability Determination Service System
SSA Year 2000 Program
SSA Automated Data Exchange Tracking System
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Report to Congressional Requesters
October 1997
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION -
SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE IN YEAR
2000 EFFORT, BUT KEY RISKS REMAIN
GAO/AIMD-98-6
SSA's Year 2000 Effort
(511215)
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
CIO - Chief Information Officer
DDS - Disability Determination Service
NDDSS - National Disability Determination Service System
OASDI - Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance
OMB - Office of Management and Budget
SSA - Social Security Administration
SSI - Supplemental Security Income
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-276351
October 22, 1997
The Honorable Jim Bunning
Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security
Committee on Ways and Means
House of Representatives
The Honorable Charles E. Grassley
Chairman
The Honorable John B. Breaux
Ranking Minority Member
Special Committee on Aging
United States Senate
Unless timely corrective action is taken, the Social Security
Administration (SSA), like other federal agencies, could face
critical computer system failures at the turn of the century due to
incorrect information processing relating to dates. In many systems,
the year 2000 will be indistinguishable from 1900. If left
uncorrected, this could result in Social Security benefit checks
being issued incorrectly--or not on time--beginning in January 2000
and in the malfunctioning of other beneficiary services supported by
automated systems. Because of the potential for serious
governmentwide disruption to critical functions and services from the
upcoming change of century, the Year 2000 computing problem has been
added to our list of high-risk issues.\1
In light of the critical challenge facing SSA, you requested that we
review the agency's actions to achieve Year 2000 information systems
compliance. Accordingly, this report discusses our assessment of the
adequacy of steps taken by SSA to ensure that computing problems
related to the year 2000 are fully addressed, including its oversight
of state Disability Determination Services' (DDS) Year 2000 program
activities.
--------------------
\1 High-Risk Series: Information Management and Technology
(GAO/HR-97-9, February 1997).
RESULTS IN BRIEF
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :1
SSA first recognized the potential impact of the Year 2000 problem
almost a decade ago and, in so doing, was able to launch an early
response to this challenge. It initiated early awareness activity
and has made significant progress in assessing and renovating
mission-critical mainframe software that enables it to provide Social
Security benefits and other assistance to the public. Because of the
knowledge and experience gained through its early Year 2000 efforts,
SSA has come to be regarded as a federal leader in addressing this
issue. SSA's Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Systems currently
chairs the Chief Information Officers Council's Subcommittee on the
Year 2000 and works with other federal agencies to address Year 2000
issues across government.
While SSA deserves credit for its leadership, the agency remains at
risk that not all of its mission-critical systems--those necessary to
prevent the disruption of benefits--will be corrected before January
1, 2000. At particular risk are the systems that have not yet been
assessed for the 54 state DDSs that provide vital support to SSA in
administering its disability insurance programs. Private contractors
SSA hired to make 42 of the 54 state DDS systems Year 2000 compliant
reported that these offices had at least 33 million additional lines
of software code that must be assessed and, where necessary,
renovated. Given the potential magnitude of this undertaking, SSA
could face major disruptions in its ability to process initial
disability claims for millions of individuals throughout the country
if these systems are not addressed in time for corrective action to
be completed before the change of century.
SSA also faces the challenge of ensuring that its critical data
exchanges with federal and state agencies and other businesses are
Year 2000 compliant. It has taken a number of positive steps in this
direction, such as identifying incoming and outgoing file exchanges
with the external business community and developing a database to
maintain information on the status of compliance activities.
However, because SSA must rely on the hundreds of federal and state
agencies and the thousands of businesses with which it exchanges
files to make their systems compliant, SSA faces a definite risk that
inaccurate data will be introduced into its databases. That risk
could be magnified if SSA does not develop contingency plans to
ensure the continuity of its critical systems and activities should
systems not be corrected in time.
BACKGROUND
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :2
SSA's programs touch the lives of almost every individual in this
country. Its Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
programs--which comprise what is commonly called Social
Security--provide benefits to retired and disabled workers and their
dependents and survivors; its Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
program provides assistance to aged, blind, and disabled individuals
with limited income and resources.\2
In addition to paying benefits, SSA issues Social Security numbers to
eligible individuals and maintains and provides earnings records for
individuals working under employment covered by the program. SSA
also helps process claims for black lung benefits and provides
support to other programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Railroad
Retirement. More than 50 million beneficiaries receive benefits and
services under SSA's programs, which in fiscal year 1996 accounted
for $386 billion--nearly one-quarter of the nation's $1.6 trillion in
federal expenditures.
SSA administers its programs through five core business
processes--enumeration, earnings, claims, postentitlement, and
informing the public. Through these processes, as shown in table 1,
SSA processes claims for benefits, adjudicates appeals on disputed
decisions, and handles the millions of actions required each year to
keep beneficiary records current and accurate.
Table 1
SSA Core Business Processes
Process and Fiscal
Year 1996 Workload Description
------------------ --------------------------------------------------
Enumeration Process through which SSA assigns Social Security
numbers to identify workers and beneficiaries,
16 million issues replacement cards to individuals with
requests for new existing numbers, and verifies Social Security
or replacement numbers for employers and government agencies.
Social Security
cards
Earnings Process used by SSA to establish and maintain a
record of an individual's earnings for use in
240 million determining insured status for entitlement to
earnings records retirement, survivors' disability, and health
processed insurance benefits and in calculating payment
amounts.
Claims Process comprising actions taken by SSA to
determine an individual's eligibility for
Initial Claims benefits, beginning with the individual's initial
contact with SSA and continuing through payment
OASDI: 5 million initiation or the three levels of administrative
SSI: 2 million appeal that a claimant may request.
Postentitlement Process involving actions that SSA takes after an
individual becomes entitled to Social Security or
99 million SSI benefits to ensure continuing eligibility and
transactions timely and correct payment of benefits, such as
changes of address, benefits recomputations, and
reviews of continuing eligibility.
Informing the Process used by SSA to disseminate information
Public about the programs it administers, including the
issuance of Personal Earnings & Benefit Estimate
9 million Statements.
statements issued
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: SSA.
SSA serves the public through its central office in Baltimore,
Maryland, and a network of field offices that includes 10 regional
offices, approximately 1,300 field offices, and a nationwide
toll-free telephone number. Field offices are located in cities and
rural communities across the nation and are the agency's physical
point of contact with beneficiaries and the public.
SSA also depends on 54 state DDS offices, along with one federally
administered DDS, to help process claims under its disability
insurance programs.\3 State DDSs provide crucial support to the
initial disability claims process--one that accounts for a large
proportion of SSA's workload--through their role in determining an
individual's medical eligibility for disability benefits. DDSs make
decisions regarding disability claims in accordance with federal
regulations and policies; the federal government reimburses 100
percent of all DDS costs in making disability determination
decisions. The DDSs, during fiscal year 1996, processed more than 2
million initial disability determination claims.
The process begins when individuals apply for disability benefits at
an SSA field office, where determinations are made on whether they
meet nonmedical criteria for eligibility. The field office then
forwards these applications to the appropriate state DDS, where a
disability examiner collects the necessary medical evidence to make
the initial determination of whether the applicant meets the
definition of disability. Once the applicant's medical eligibility
is determined, the DDS forwards this decision to SSA for final
processing.
Both SSA and the DDSs rely on information systems to support the
processing of benefits. SSA uses an information processing network
that links its distributed (field level) operations with its
centralized mainframe computers at headquarters. Each core process
is supported by hundreds of software programs that enable field
office staff to perform data collection and on-line editing of client
information, using either terminals or recently installed personal
computers\4 that communicate with SSA's centralized mainframe
computers. These mainframe computers establish and update
beneficiary claims, process applications for Social Security numbers,
and establish and maintain individuals' earnings histories. SSA's
Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides primary oversight of the
agency's information systems investments; the Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Systems (referred to as the Office of Systems) is
responsible for managing all facets of information systems planning,
development, acquisition, and operation.
State DDSs rely primarily on their internal systems to process
medical determinations. In general, DDS computers are comprised of
unique state-owned hardware of various ages and stages of completion
and with differing capacity and maintenance levels. Similarly, the
types of systems and levels of software used vary according to
individual state needs. The majority of the DDSs--42 of the 54--use
software developed by two private contractors, while the remaining 12
DDSs--referred to as independent DDSs--either process disability
claims manually or use software that they have developed. DDS
systems are linked to SSA's mainframe computers via the National
Disability Determination Service System (NDDSS). Records are
established on the NDDSS through direct input by DDS staff or by
uploading data from local databases. Since 1992, SSA's Office of
Systems has been responsible for disability system development. The
office serves as the focal point for all disability-related hardware
and software initiatives for the DDSs and is responsible for ensuring
the integration of these activities on an enterprise basis.
Because of its heavy reliance on technology, the Year 2000 problem
presents SSA with the enormous challenge of reviewing all of its
computer software and making the conversions required to ensure that
its systems can handle the first change to a new century since the
computer age began. The CIO has overall responsibility for the Year
2000 program; however, day-to-day responsibility for ensuring that
changes are made to all systems used by SSA and the DDSs to support
core business processes resides with the Office of Systems.
--------------------
\2 SSA's OASDI and SSI programs are authorized under Titles II and
XVI, respectively, of the Social Security Act.
\3 The DDSs include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam,
Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The federal DDS provides
back-up services to state DDSs when the state offices are unable to
keep up with workloads and serves as a model office for testing new
technologies and work processes.
\4 SSA's "dumb" terminals are connected to its mainframe computers
through its data network and are controlled by software executed on
the mainframes. Its personal computers, called intelligent
workstations, have their own data storage and processing
capabilities.
SCOPE AND METHODOLOGY
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :3
In assessing the actions taken by SSA to address the Year 2000
problem, we reviewed numerous documents, including its Year 2000
tactical plan, systems inventories, test plans, and implementation
schedules. We also analyzed internal tracking reports developed by
the agency to monitor the progress of its Year 2000 activities, as
well as its Year 2000 quarterly reports submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
We discussed SSA's Year 2000 program activities with officials in
various headquarters offices, including the Offices of the Deputy
Commissioners for Systems; Operations; Finance, Assessment, and
Management; and Programs and Policy. We also met with management and
staff at SSA's program service centers in Birmingham, Alabama, and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and at its regional office in Atlanta,
Georgia. In addition, we examined Year 2000 program activities at
DDS offices in Albany, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; and Decatur,
Georgia. We also interviewed representatives of the two private
contractors responsible for performing Year 2000 work at most of the
DDSs. We used our Year 2000 assessment guide in evaluating SSA's and
the DDSs' readiness to achieve Year 2000 compliance.\5
We conducted our review from January 1997 through September 1997, in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. We
requested comments on a draft of this report from the Commissioner of
Social Security or his designee. The Commissioner provided written
comments, which are discussed in the "Agency Comments" section and
are reprinted in appendix I.
--------------------
\5 Year 2000 Computing Crisis: An Assessment Guide
(GAO/AIMD-10.1.14, September 1997).
STRUCTURED APPROACH AND
RIGOROUS PROGRAM MANAGEMENT CAN
REDUCE YEAR 2000 RISK
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :4
At 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2000, many computer systems worldwide
could malfunction or produce inaccurate information simply because
the date has changed. Unless corrected, such failures could affect
SSA benefits payments received by millions of Americans.
The problem is rooted in how dates are recorded and computed. For
the past several decades, systems have typically used two digits to
represent the year--such as "97" for 1997--to save electronic storage
space and reduce operating costs. In such a format, however, 2000 is
indistinguishable from 1900. As an example of the potential impact
of this ambiguity, a beneficiary born in 1925 and therefore turning
75 in 2000 could be seen as being negative 25 years old (if "now" is
1900)--not even born yet--and therefore ineligible for benefits that
the individual had been receiving.
Correcting this problem will not be easy or inexpensive and must be
done while such systems continue to operate. Many of the
government's computer systems were developed 20 to 25 years ago, use
a wide array of computer languages, and lack full documentation.
Systems may contain up to several million lines of software code that
must be examined for potential date-format problems.
The enormous challenge involved in correcting these systems is
primarily managerial. Agencies' success or failure will be
determined largely by the quality of their program management and
executive leadership. Top agency officials must understand the
importance and urgency of this undertaking and communicate this to
all employees. The outcome of these efforts will also depend on the
extent to which agencies have institutionalized key
systems-development and program-management practices, and on their
experience with such large-scale software development or conversion
projects. Accordingly, agencies must assess their information
resources management capabilities and, where necessary, upgrade them.
In so doing, they should consider soliciting the assistance of other
organizations experienced in these endeavors.
To assist agencies with these tasks, our assessment guide\6 discusses
the scope of the challenge and offers a structured, step-by-step
approach for reviewing and assessing an agency's readiness to handle
the Year 2000 problem. The guide describes in detail five phases,
each of which represents a major Year 2000 program activity or
segment. These are the following:
-- Awareness. This is a critical first step. Although many people
may have heard about a Year 2000 problem, they may not know what
it entails or why it matters. For agency personnel, this
knowledge is imperative. This is also the phase in which the
team within the agency that will take the lead in correcting the
problem is identified. The team then examines the problem's
potential impact, gauges the adequacy of agency resources,
develops a strategy, and secures strong, visible executive
support.
-- Assessment. The main thrust of this phase is separating
mission-critical systems--which must be converted or
replaced--from important ones that should be converted or
replaced and marginal ones that may be addressed now or
deferred. Since the Year 2000 problem is primarily a business
problem, it is essential to assess its likely impact on the
agency's major business functions. Following this, information
systems in each business area should be inventoried and
prioritized; project teams are then established and program
plans devised. Testing strategies must be identified, and
contingency planning must be initiated as well.
-- Renovation. This phase deals with actual changes--converting,
replacing, or eliminating selected systems and applications. In
so doing, it is important to consider the complex
interdependencies among them. Changes must be consistent
agencywide and information about them clearly disseminated to
users.
-- Validation. Here, agencies test, verify, and validate all
converted or replaced systems and applications, ensuring that
they perform as expected. This critical phase may take over a
year and consume up to half of the Year 2000 program's budget
and resources. It is essential that agencies satisfy themselves
that their testing procedures can meet the challenge and that
their results can be trusted.
-- Implementation. Deploying and implementing Year 2000 compliant
systems and components requires extensive integration and
acceptance testing. And since not all agency systems will be
converted or replaced simultaneously, it may be wise to operate
in a parallel processing environment for a time, using old and
new systems side by side. Such redundancy can act as a
fail-safe mechanism until it is clear that all changed systems
are operating correctly.
In February 1997 OMB, in consultation with the CIO Council, set
governmentwide Year 2000 program milestones for completing the
majority of the work in each phase of an agency's Year 2000
activities. According to OMB's schedule, the assessment phase for
mission-critical systems, including performing an enterprisewide
inventory, was to be completed by the end of June 1997.
--------------------
\6 GAO/AIMD-10.1.14, September 1997.
SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE IN
AWARENESS, ASSESSMENT, AND
RENOVATION OF SSA'S
MISSION-CRITICAL MAINFRAME
SYSTEMS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :5
SSA began examining the Year 2000 problem almost a decade ago and
since then has taken various steps to raise agency awareness of the
issue. In addition, it has made significant progress in assessing
and renovating much of the software on its centralized mainframe
systems--the systems that are essential to processing beneficiary
claims and providing other services vital to the public.
SSA first became aware of the Year 2000 problem in 1989, when one of
the systems supporting its OASDI program experienced problems
projecting dates past 1999. Drawing from its experiences in
addressing this problem, SSA's Office of Systems took the lead in
raising awareness of the Year 2000 issue and its potential magnitude
and impact on the agency's operations. As part of these efforts, the
Office of Systems developed a Year 2000 tactical plan that presented
the agency's strategy for addressing the problem. It also
established a committee composed of senior management to gain
executive support for the project's activities, as well as a Year
2000 project team with responsibility for coordinating and reporting
on the status of activities.
During its assessment phase, SSA completed key steps necessary for
determining the extent to which its centralized mainframe systems
were Year 2000 compliant. These steps included developing an
inventory of these systems, procuring a software tool to assist in
identifying date fields that needed changing, and developing program
plans and schedules for addressing these systems. During this phase,
SSA also established a strategy for testing its system solutions.
According to the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Systems, SSA's
overall approach gave highest priority to the major databases and
mainframe systems developed and centrally managed by the Office of
Systems because systems officials believed that these systems
contained about 95 percent of all of the agency's mission-critical
software. The Assistant Deputy Commissioner defined the agency's
mission-critical software as being that which directly or indirectly
affects SSA's core business processes, such as the processing and
issuance of monthly beneficiary checks. According to internal
reports generated to track SSA's progress, these systems have about
24,000 software modules\7 and approximately 34 million lines of
computer code.
At the time of our review, SSA had made significant progress in the
renovation of its mission-critical mainframe systems. Specifically,
SSA reported that it had completed renovation and regression
testing\8 for almost 80 percent of its software modules. In
addition, it had developed a Year 2000 test facility, as well as
plans for conducting forward-date and integration testing. SSA
expects all of its mission-critical systems to be certified as Year
2000 compliant and implemented by January 1999.
--------------------
\7 SSA is tracking its Year 2000 project at the module level due to
the many systems that are integrated. SSA defines software modules
as units of computer code that, when compiled/assembled and executed,
perform a specific business function.
\8 SSA has identified three phases of validation testing for Year
2000 compliance: regression testing, forward-date testing at the
system unit level, and forward-date testing at its Year 2000 test
facility. Regression testing, as the first test phase, is done to
ensure that the basic functionality of the software still operates
correctly after changes are made and when it is integrated with other
software programs.
STATE DISABILITY DETERMINATION
SERVICES EXCLUDED FROM SSA'S
INITIAL YEAR 2000 ASSESSMENT
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :6
An agencywide assessment and inventory of information systems and
their components provide the necessary foundation for detailed Year
2000 program planning. A thorough analysis and inventory ensure that
all systems are identified and linked to a specific business area or
process and that all crosscutting systems are considered. Without a
complete agencywide assessment, SSA cannot give full consideration to
the extent of its Year 2000 problem and the level of effort required
to correct it. Moreover, until such an assessment has been
completed, SSA increases the risk that benefits and services will be
disrupted.
SSA did not include the DDS systems in its initial assessment of
systems that it considered a priority for correction. SSA
acknowledges that these systems are mission-critical because of their
importance in determining whether an individual is medically eligible
to receive disability payments. Accordingly, in December 1996 SSA
began taking steps to assess the level of effort required to address
the Year 2000 problem at the DDSs. These steps included contracting
with the two vendors that originally installed software in 42 of the
54 state DDSs to inventory, assess, renovate, and test this software
for Year 2000 compliance. Within these offices, the contractors also
are responsible for ensuring that the production databases and NDDSS
interfaces are Year 2000 compliant. SSA will require the 12
independent DDSs whose software was not installed by these
contractors to perform their own corrective actions or, in a limited
number of cases, will perform corrective actions for them.
Even with Year 2000 action now underway, however, the potential
magnitude of the DDS problem makes systems correction by January 1,
2000, a high-risk area. In particular, although Office of Systems
personnel believe that their assessment of centralized mainframe
systems considered about 95 percent of the agency's mission-critical
software, inventories and assessments for most DDSs have not yet been
completed. SSA therefore cannot yet know the full level of effort
that will be required to make these mission-critical systems Year
2000 compliant.
Estimates of the amount of software used by the DDSs suggest that
extensive work would be necessary to make them Year 2000 compliant.
Specifically, according to representatives of the two contractors,
among the 42 DDSs for which they are responsible, about 33 million
lines of software code must be considered for Year 2000 changes.
They explained that because the software used by these DDSs to
process disability claims has been modified over time to meet
individual state needs, 42 different systems must essentially be
assessed. In addition, although SSA did not have information on the
total amount of disability software used by the independent DDSs,
officials in just one of the offices that we visited said that they
will have to review approximately 600,000 lines of code, involving
over 400 programs, to determine where corrective action is needed.
Because DDS operations are vital to SSA's ability to process initial
disability claims, it is important that these systems be addressed as
soon as possible. Disruptions to this service due to incomplete Year
2000 conversions will prevent or delay SSA's assistance to millions
of individuals across the country. In discussing the status of Year
2000 activity for the DDSs, SSA's Assistant Deputy Commissioner for
Systems acknowledged the need for more diligence in assessing and
renovating the states' systems and said that SSA oversight of this
work will increase.
RESOLVING DATA EXCHANGE ISSUES
AND DEVELOPING CONTINGENCY
PLANS WILL HELP REDUCE RISK
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :7
An essential yet challenging aspect of SSA's Year 2000 work will be
ensuring that data exchanges with other federal and state agencies
and businesses are Year 2000 compliant. This will not be easy, and
cooperation and assistance from other agencies and organizations will
be crucial. However, given the vast number of entities with which
SSA exchanges data, it is a necessary step to avoid having SSA's own
data corrupted by noncompliant information from other sources. SSA
recognizes the importance of this matter and has taken a number of
steps to address it. Because many of these steps were under
development at the time of our review, we could not judge their
effectiveness. As the year 2000 rapidly approaches, however, SSA
must be diligent in implementing measures to monitor progress in this
area and, where necessary, protect the integrity and usefulness of
its data. At the same time, SSA needs to have contingency plans to
ensure that strategies exist for mitigating any risks associated with
this and any of the other Year 2000 related issues that can affect
the agency's ability to provide Social Security and other benefits
and services to the public.
DATA EXCHANGES PRESENT
CHALLENGES
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :7.1
In addressing the Year 2000 problem, agencies need assurance that
data received from other organizations are accurate. Even if an
agency has made its own systems Year 2000 compliant, they can still
be contaminated by incorrect data entering from external sources. To
combat this, agencies must inventory and assess all internal and
external data exchanges and coordinate Year 2000 compliance
activities, including, if necessary, the development of appropriate
bridges\9 to maintain the integrity of replaced or converted systems
and the data within them.
SSA exchanges data files with hundreds of federal and state agencies
and thousands of businesses. These files contain data from such
organizations as the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of the
Treasury, and the states. Such exchanges may involve, for example,
data reported on individuals' tax-withholding forms, or data
pertaining to state wages and unemployment compensation. Unless SSA
is able to exchange data that is Year 2000 compliant, program
benefits and eligibility computations that are derived from the data
provided through these exchanges may be compromised and SSA's
databases corrupted.
SSA has for some time recognized the seriousness of this problem and
is taking action to address it. In 1995, it began sending letters to
its data exchange partners to advise them of the Year 2000 issue and
the agency's plans for addressing it. During our review, SSA was in
the process of coordinating with external organizations on issues
concerning data formats, schedules for conversion and completion, and
the need for bridging to enable the exchange of data that are not
compliant. In addition, to facilitate data exchange compliance, SSA
has developed a database that maintains information on the status of
compliance activities related to all of its incoming and outgoing
file exchanges. At the time of our review, this database contained
information on over 6,700 files that are exchanged with external
organizations.\10
Given the magnitude of its data exchanges, one of SSA's biggest
challenges will be coordinating its compliance work with that of its
exchange partners and, where necessary, developing mechanisms to
ensure the continued processing of its data. It will be critical for
SSA to protect against the potential for introducing and propagating
errors from one organization to another. In discussing SSA's
strategy for addressing this matter, the Assistant Deputy
Commissioner for Systems stated that priority will be given to
ensuring the compliance of data files received from external sources
that affect SSA's ability to process and pay benefits. SSA has
identified approximately 100 files in this category, although the
Year 2000 project director stated that this number could change as
SSA continues to review and include compliance information in its
tracking system. Further, because the accuracy of the data SSA
receives is as important as whether the data are presented in the
correct format, the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Systems said
that SSA plans to develop, and subject all incoming data files to
"reasonableness" edit checks.\11
These are positive steps on SSA's behalf to ensure the integrity and
accuracy of its data after the year 2000 arrives. However, SSA must
be diligent in implementing strategies and measures that facilitate
its coordination of compliance activities with other agencies and
that give it precise knowledge of the status of its data exchanges.
--------------------
\9 Bridging involves receiving information in one format, modifying
it, and writing the output in another format, such as receiving the
year in a two-digit format, adding century information through the
use of an algorithm, then writing the output with a four-digit year.
\10 In addition to these external exchanges, SSA has about 4,200
additional file exchanges internal to its own operations or
transmitted through its data center. SSA reports that it has
included information in its database on the compliance status of 90
percent of these almost 11,000 total files.
\11 Reasonableness checks are tests applied to fields of data by
comparing them with other data of known validity within transaction
or master records.
CONTINGENCY PLANS NEEDED TO
HELP MITIGATE YEAR 2000
RISKS
---------------------------------------------------------- Letter :7.2
Contingency planning is essential to Year 2000 risk management. It
is the mechanism by which an organization ensures that its core
business processes will continue if corrective work has not been
completed. Agencies should develop realistic contingency plans,
including the use of manual or contract procedures, to ensure the
continuity of their major business processes.
At the time of our review, SSA officials acknowledged the importance
of contingency planning but had not developed specific plans to
address how SSA would continue to support its core business processes
if its Year 2000 conversion activities experienced unforeseen
disruptions. SSA officials believe that the agency's early start in
addressing the initiative will ensure that all systems are converted
before any system failures are experienced. In addition, SSA did not
believe it had an alternative to completing its Year 2000 work on
time since it cannot process and ensure the payment of benefits
without its many integrated systems. In response to our concerns
regarding the need for such plans, however, the Assistant Deputy
Commissioner for Systems said that SSA will develop contingency plans
to ensure the continued operation of systems supporting its core
business processes. In this regard, SSA established a Year 2000
contingency workgroup and has begun outlining a contingency strategy
for these processes.
CONCLUSIONS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :8
Like other federal agencies, SSA is vulnerable to systems failures
resulting from the computer software changes necessitated by the new
millennium. Given that SSA's programs touch virtually all of us, it
is especially vital that this agency make sufficient plans to ensure
that it achieves Year 2000 compliance on time.
SSA has made significant progress in addressing many of the systems
that are critical to its mission and is regarded by many as a leader
in the federal arena. Nonetheless, the agency is at risk of not
being able to adequately process disability benefits at the turn of
the century because it has not assessed and corrected systems used by
the state DDS offices to support the processing of initial disability
claims. Within the last year, SSA has begun to address the DDS
issue. But until it has made a full assessment of these systems, it
will not know the magnitude of the problem and, therefore, the level
of effort required to correct it. Further, while SSA officials
clearly recognize the importance of solving the Year 2000 problem, to
reduce the risk of failure with its own effort, it is vital that the
agency take every measure possible to ensure that it is well
positioned to deal with unexpected problems and delays. This
includes promptly addressing critical data exchange issues as well as
implementing Year 2000 contingency planning.
RECOMMENDATIONS
------------------------------------------------------------ Letter :9
In light of the importance of SSA's function to most Americans and
the risks associated with its Year 2000 program, we recommend that
the Commissioner of Social Security direct SSA's Chief Information
Officer, in conjunction with the Deputy Commissioner for Systems, to
take the following actions:
-- Require expeditious completion of the assessment of
mission-critical systems at all state DDS offices and use the
results of this assessment to develop a Year 2000 plan that
identifies, for each system, the specific tasks and resources
required and specific schedules and milestones for completing
all tasks and phases of the conversion for each state system.
-- Strengthen SSA's monitoring and oversight of all state DDS Year
2000 activities, including ensuring that all conversion
milestones are met and that contractors and independent states
submit biweekly reports that identify progress against
milestones in renovating all claims processing software,
databases, and data interfaces.
-- Include in SSA's quarterly reports to OMB information on the
status of DDS Year 2000 activities.
-- Require expeditious completion of the agency's Year 2000
compliance coordination with all data exchange partners and of
efforts to include specific information on the status of
compliance activities in the automated data exchange tracking
system. SSA should then use this system to measure and report
on the progress and coordination of its data exchange compliance
activities.
-- Develop contingency plans that articulate specific strategies
for ensuring the continued operation of core business functions
if planned corrections are not completed in time or if systems
fail to operate as intended. These plans should fully consider
the disability claims processing functions within the DDSs and
the development and activation of manual or contract procedures,
as appropriate.
AGENCY COMMENTS
----------------------------------------------------------- Letter :10
In commenting on a draft of this report, SSA agreed with all five of
our recommendations and identified specific actions that it will take
to ensure an adequate transition to the year 2000. SSA also offered
a specific comment directed to particular language in the draft
report, which we incorporated where appropriate.
--------------------------------------------------------- Letter :10.1
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the
contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution
until 30 days from its date. At that time, we will provide copies to
the Commissioner of Social Security; the Director, Office of
Management and Budget; appropriate congressional committees; and
other interested parties. Copies will also be made available to
others upon request.
Please contact me at (202) 512-6253 or by e-mail at
[email protected] if you have any questions concerning this
report. Major contributors to this report are listed in appendix II.
Joel C. Willemssen
Director, Information Resources Management
(See figure in printed edition.)Appendix I
COMMENTS FROM THE SOCIAL SECURITY
ADMINISTRATION
============================================================== Letter
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
(See figure in printed edition.)
Now on p. 9.
See comment 1.
The following is GAO's comment on the Social Security
Administration's letter of October 2, 1997.
GAO COMMENT
1. Report revised to reflect SSA's comment.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS REPORT
========================================================== Appendix II
ACCOUNTING AND INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT DIVISION, WASHINGTON,
D.C.
Valerie C. Melvin, Assistant Director
Mirko J. Dolak, Technical Assistant Director
William G. Barrick, Senior Information Systems Analyst
Michael A. Alexander, Senior Information Systems Analyst
William N. Isrin, Operations Research Analyst
Michael P. Fruitman, Communications Analyst
*** End of document. ***