Test

LIFT

Operational Description
The Linking Information Families & Technology (LIFT) allows the Family Support Centers of Allegheny County to report on the clients they service at both the County and State level. The centers enter data on all aspects of family support including: family intake, planning, and services.

Technical Description
LIFT is an ASP.NET Web application. It uses a SQL Server 2000 database.

Field User
The field users of LIFT are Family Center staff, Lead Agency staff, Office of Child Development (OCD) staff and County staff.

Allegheny County/Department of Human Services Customer
The Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) is the customer of LIFT. LIFT directly serves DHS data collection and reporting needs.

Contractor
LIFT was the result of a SBIR grant that merged KIT Solutions’ proven technology framework (KIT Platform) with OCD’s Family Support Management Information System (FS MIS) to provide a web-based service using a state-of-the-art Microsoft .Net platform. The system and data requirements were provided by both OCD and DHS.

Source and Type of Input Data
Data is entered interactively by the center into the LIFT application. There are four data entry sections in the application (Family Information, Planning, Service and Administration). A number of modules are completed by each center under each section. Some of the data collected is then used to populate the County report monthly, quarterly and annual reports. Other data is used for populating the data extracts sent to the County and State.

Output Data and Consumer
The centers can access their own data either through standard template reports or via direct data export from the central server to its local desktop computer. Centers can also generate County reports and send them to DHS. Lead Agencies can access the data for center monitoring.

POCs
DHS: Leslie Reicher This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
OCD Support: Lucas Musewe This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
KIT Support: Jill Hancharick This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Current Status
LIFT went into production on July 2nd, 2007. A 2nd release of LIFT is currently under development and scheduled for mid 2008. This is to fully integrate the DHS Master Client Index – Interactive Web Service (MCI-IWS) into the LIFT system. Additional development for this release is still under way.

Migration Strategy
LIFT is a new system. A migration strategy does not apply at the present time.