Intro

“The issue between IT and Programs is, IT doesn’t understand the business process. They (IT) just say ‘tell us what you need’. And Programs don’t know enough about technology, so they don’t know either.” -Executive Leadership

“One of things we need more of in IT is Program knowledge. What I have heard from the executives and Program directors is that they want more people in IT who want them to have more understanding of Programs.” -IT Leadership

Current Landscape

There’s a disconnect between IT and HSA Programs around sfhsa.org. A lack of website ownership has resulted in a continual back-and-forth of responsibilities. Ambiguity in these roles have caused the website content to become outdated and confusing. Both departments are essential for the sustainability of the site and need to agree on a cohesive process for content strategy and technical maintenance.

Needs

  • Website Ownership

    • In order for the new website to be successful, HSA IT and HSA Programs must set clear guidelines on ownership.

    • See HSA Website Ownership Analysis for potential scenarios.

  • Best Practices

    • HSA IT and Programs need to implement best practices for content creation, a formal governance process for web content publishing and approval, maintenance, and sustainability.

  • Training

    • Guidance in using sfhsa.org should be streamlined, resulting in fewer gaps in upkeep.

Security

“With security, our IT goes above and beyond. The state is implementing an email notification program, but SF HSA IT is pushing back on that.” -Program Staff

“Fresno or LA has a portal to upload documents from their phone or to a digital format. SF HSA IT is not ready for that because of the need for security—it’s good for privacy of a client, but not for their use of the program.” -Program Staff

“There’s not a great strategy here of where data resides. Application databases containing confidential information, client and applicant information (are) jumbled in email, databases, file shares, on desktop workstations.” -IT Leadership

Current Landscape

Security for the Agency is nuanced. A large concern is security around technology choices: what technology is becoming obsolete, what’s secure, how to keep integrity of information so vulnerabilities are not introduced. For example, the intranet is used by Programs to post files that contain clients’ personally identifiable information (PII) accessible to other HSA staff. Internally hosted and behind a firewall, access controls and permissions are used for internal networks only.

Distinct from security, compliance regulations are dictated by external agencies (eg: state, federal). HSA IT can do a good job with security, but the Agency doesn’t consistently comply with state and federal guidelines.

Why it Matters

HSA security is essential for protecting client confidentiality, personally identifiable information and maintaining compliance standards.

Needs

  • If security is organizationally optimized, then HSA will be in compliance with state and federal mandates.

  • PII data must have rigorous security reviews and safeguards.

The Big Disconnect

Siloing/Communication Within the Agency

“Typical for any case – my department doesn’t talk to your department but we all work together.” -Program Leadership

“My sense (is) that people don’t go to the intranet for any purpose.” -Program Leader

“There are all kinds of business function that we are still doing offline, it’s ridiculous! How much time correcting and going over time sheets; a lot of other examples like that. Timestamping, getting signed up to use a car… Little stuff that sucks the time out of everyone. Ordering supplies (can) last 6 months.” -Program Leadership

Current Landscape

Communications within the 2,000+ person Agency is disjointed. Departments are not communicating with one another. Institutional knowledge is held by a small number of people and isn’t always communicated to the rest of HSA staff or the Agency. Meetings are often in-person, perpetuating the siloing of information.

Internally, there is not a centralized location for Agency information. Standard forms and general Agency information is lost amid the noise of the HSA intranet. Two unofficial HSA facebook pages act as a pseudo intranet communications amongst staff.

Why it Matters

Streamlined communication channels on teams, between departments, and throughout the Agency will put everyone in sync and foster a more collaborative, transparent culture. Internally, there is a need for more efficiency on standard, widely used information, such as forms and phone numbers. By understanding the Agency overall, staff would be better able to help clients access and receive services.

Needs

  • A centralized tool for communications and feedback throughout the Agency that is:
    • Up to date
    • Relevant
    • Useful
    • Transactional: forms, booking meeting rooms, etc
    • Secure: PII data needs to be protected
  • A well designed, intuitive, helpful, and up-to-date intranet created in a user-friendly Content Management System (CMS).

HSA and Clients

Poor Feedback Loop Between HSA and Clients

“There has to be loopback. If you are sending stuff to clients – you want some sense of ‘Are they opening your message?” -Program Leadership

“If they put information all in one space, we could help them apply for all services, including services outside HSA. We are in a pivotal place.“ -Program Leadership

What We Heard from Clients

Clients shared their experiences and impressions on the current Human Services Agency website:

“HSA sends so many messages when they need something from you but they are not responsive when you have questions or need information from them.”

“It’s a game. You leave a message, if they don’t want to see…most of the time it’s red tape and bureaucracy. (They) never call back.”

“I waited to see them in person, but was made to feel rushed. I know they have a lot of others on their caseload, but I need time.”

“I need clarity on next steps from being a user of (HSA) services/how to get out of needing services.”

Client Needs

Clients shared ideas on how HSA could better use the website, mobile phones, and other technologies to help them find information:

  • Make it simpler (so anybody could understand it).

    • More languages

    • More visuals

  • More human (live) contact.

    • Additional contact information (eg: email address).

  • Training/Instructions to use the website.

Clients shared ideas on how communicating and asking questions with HSA staff might be easier through the website, mobile phones, and other technologies:

  • Staff need to become more educated in their field/departments, so the client can have a better understanding of what to do.

  • Less automated contact: allowing the client to speak to one staff member and have a more personal relationship with the client.

    • Direct link from website to a live person: chat online for unresolved questions or confused clients.

  • Phone as a back-up.

    • Direct dial 311 (they cover everything).

Why it Matters

HSA serves over 200,000 clients. Communications need to be conveyed in a clear, consistent and accessible way, to ensure that clients are receiving the necessary information and services the Agency offers. Clients need a feedback loop from HSA so they are reassured that their services are in place. Clients should also be able to provide feedback throughout the process of applying for, being enrolled in, maintaining or exiting their service relationship with the Agency. These data can inform opportunities for bettering two-way communication and overall improvement of services.

HSA and CBOS

Community Based Organizations (CBOs) like the Food Bank, Children’s Council, Good Samaritan, Institute of Aging, Meals On Wheels, Wu Yee Children’s Services, along with The San Francisco Department of Public Health, attended a public workshop to share their current expereinces with sfhsa.org and improvements for the future.

CBOs shared ideas on how communicating and asking questions with Human Services Agency staff might be easier through the website, mobile phones, and other technologies:

“You almost need an intranet that other agencies could use: A private facing intranet for HSA and partner organizations to communicate to each other and access documents. There is a lot of information that the public shouldn’t have access to or is not important.” -Community Based Organization

  • Better Phone and Email Communications

    • Voice message of resources, eligibility, requirements, status application, etc…in various languages.

    • Create a telephone hotline for people to be able to ask questions anonymously if they want.

    • On-demand phone interviews to receive benefits…less scheduling.

    • Text (and email) reminders about renewals or other Agency requests.

    • Access information on mobile-friendly devices.

    • Live Chat

  • Improved feedback loop: consumers/caregivers/case managers. Contact via web or email-both to and from.

  • Have kiosks or in-person access throughout the city

    • Online application kiosks at HSA offices (and maybe at public libraries)

  • Distribute access points around the city-at schools, senior and community centers, etc with people who can help navigate.

    • A live person whenever possible to answer questions or coordinate services.

CBOs shared ideas on how the sfhsa.org (and other technologies) can be used in the future to improve contractual/billing/administrative business.

  • The HSA could have a basic site for client needs and one to dive deep if you are different stakeholders.

  • Shared access across (program/service) platforms.

  • Making a client profile visible to everyone who needs it.

  • Electronic contracts and placements for partner organizations.

Current Landscape

There is frustration from CBOs around sfhsa.org. Information is not always easy to locate or is outdated. Shared access is needed across (program/service) platforms. Being “locked into” HSA application processes can be limiting.

Why it Matters

CBOs are an integral liaison between HSA and clients, helping with program information, referrals, services, and benefits. Providing updated, easy to locate website content will help CBOs aid community recipients with information and services. HSA delivers service in collaboration with 113 Community Based Organizations.

What’s Happening in Other Places

San Francisco Department of the Environment partners with community stakeholders to hold Twitter chats about various environmental topics.

Riverside

Santa Clara

  • Procure-to-Pay:
    • Automates the procurement function across the County. The SAP/Ariba Project is an externally-hosted system that is cost effective to implement and maintain and will provide the automation, streamlined processes and quick information access

Further Reading

British Columbia Government Citizen Engagement and Social Media Citizen Engagement Handbook

HSA and the City

Current Landscape

The Public Information Office (PIO) is the official communications liaison with the city. The office is responsible for communications work, screening incoming media inquiries and works closely with Mayor’s office on events that involve HSA in the media. There’s an outreach team for public events like street fairs, with Program representatives to man the booths. Individual departments do small marketing things.

Social Media

“Social media is a way to mobilize… I think there are places for it if we want more awareness.” -Program Leadership

“Use (social media) for outreach, communication purposes; we can define project changes or community news, but that needs to be messaged really carefully.” -Program Leadership

Current Landscape

Currently, there’s a media policy that says no HSA staff should speak directly to the media. However, it’s a challenge for the Agency to keep a message it wants to communicate, as demonstrated by rogue social media pages. A Social Media Strategy can help align the Agency with guidelines for what and how to communicate.

There isn’t an official HSA social media presence. However, we found two unofficial SF HSA facebook pages. HSA staff and clients are using Facebook for announcements and communications, acting as an informal intranet.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-Human-Services-Agency/154286677927498

and:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Department-of-Human-Services/107847512607372

Why it Matters

In order for HSA to have a distinct voice and messaging, communications must comes from one place: the PIO office. Administration and staff need to know what’s happening and be in sync. Social media should be centralized and not owned by individual Programs because it goes out to the public.

What’s Happening in Other Agencies

Locally

San Francisco social media practices in government vary depending upon the Agency. Most agencies that have a social media presence use it to broadcast information, but few take full advantage of social media’s capacity to engage with residents. A few notable exceptions are The City and County of San Francisco and SF Department of the Environment, who regularly post and respond to the questions and concerns of residents who follow their media streams. For example, the Chief information officer of The City and County of San Francisco, Miguel Gamiño Jr., personally monitors Twitter for comments about their #SFWiFi service and has had direct interactions with customers and used their feedback to instigate service improvements. The City and County of San Francisco is also establishing a social media team in their department that is focused on toolsets, standards, policies and best practices.

There are other instances where agencies are great with some of their social media usage, but neglect other social media pages they create, giving the impression of lack of clear strategy or cohesive vision. For examples Department of Children, Youth & Their Families (DCYF) has a very active Twitter page with almost daily posts with over 800 followers. It’s important for any social media to be active otherwise it discourages audiences and lowers traffic. In contrast to their Twitter account, DCYF’s Youtube Channel is updated infrequently — a few times a year — and has low video views (one video was only seen 8 times). Dcyf.org’s social media has large presence on their main page with link to their monthly newsletter and weekly news feeds and several icon links to other social media platform they use.

SF Department of the Environment (SF Environment) (Twitter guidelines pdf)

“The thing about (social media) channels is that you have to post relevant info all of the time. You can’t go silent.” -Senior Marketing Specialist, San Francisco Department of the Environment

“On good days, we post approximately 1-2 Facebook posts and about 5 tweets/retweets. The department sends out the most tweets and Facebook posts on weekdays, though it’s also good to schedule a lighthearted tweet or two during the weekends if you have content.” -Senior Marketing Specialist, SF Environment

At SF Environment, there is one person dedicated to social media. Dealing with social media is a full time job, “Multiple people trying to post doesn’t work — sounds like multiple voices and they may schedule posts on top of each other.” The person who heads the department is also the City Hall liaison and department spokesperson, who deals with the press along with a support person.

SF Environment partners with community stakeholders to hold Twitter chats about various environmental topics and strategically uses hashtags to reach users outside their typical audience. They track and measure outcomes with the typical analytics offered by the Twitter and Facebook, in addition to overall followers and retweeted content being retweeted.

SF311 Twitter

Residents of San Francisco can send public requests for information and services through 311’s twitter feed by including “@SF311” in their tweet. Because of the default public nature of twitter, anyone can view requests and responses between other users and SF311. If your tweet is not sensitive this can eliminate the need for 311 staff to answer the same question twice, expediting the time it takes a resident to find what they need.

To keep twitter communication private with 311, users can send a Direct Message. Direct messaging requires a short setup in order to take advantage of the service. Users add this ability by first following SF311 and tweeting “@SF311 Follow Back Request.” SF311 replies to the twitter user to confirm set-up. HSA could apply this Direct Message approach to its social media strategy to address program specific client needs. This would require each program to have their own specific twitter channels.

Nationally

Another good example social media usage is the **U.S. Department of Education’s **Twitter feed. It uses social media to answer questions on a monthly basis from students and parents with the hashtag #AskFAFSA. They directly engage residents’ questions on Twitter about student aid forms and other college financing processes. It also captures all of the questions and answers on Storify, for those who may not have participated on Twitter, but want to read through the responses and educate themselves creating an archive and secondary source for the information requested and shared through Twitter.

Further Reading

The Federal SocialGov Community unites almost 1000 digital managers and specialists at more than 160 agencies and offices in a collaborative program aimed at improving the creation, adoption and evaluation of digital engagement programs.

Comparative Analysis: Best Practices from Other HSA Websites

A comparative analysis of sfhsa.org was done alongside the websites from four Human Service organization located regional in other California counties (Santa Clara, Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino) in addition to websites representing some of the best digital practices across the country in New York City’s Human Resources Agency website and outside the Unites States with Gov.uk in England.

What it Means

Best practices for digital social services were found in three areas.

Informative and actionable resources include maps that clients can use to locate offices and service locations, and downloadable pdf’s of applications that can be filled out and returned. Showing a video of the process to access and use services gives clients and residents an understanding of how service works and steps they need to take to start, access, manage, and continue or exit the service.

Accessibility of online services. To accommodate different abilities and technology access of residents and clients, it is important to have a website that can adapt. Having a website that is responsive, multilingual and has scalable text makes access easier for those who use a mobile device to get online, for the visually impaired and for people who understand information better in a language other than English,

Interacting and sharing through the website and social media are opportunities for communication and feedback between social service organizations and its clients and other residents. Digital tools to maximize these opportunities include embedding feedback surveys onto a website to capture the experience a user is having; real-time chat between a site user and the Agency to assist with services and the website; and makes resources or information sharable with others through email or social media.

Why it Matters

Analysis of these websites showcases great ways to improve the user experience online. San Francisco currently employs only two of these ten best practices.