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| (From left) Mr Toh Kon Sing (Application
Service Manager, Information Technology Division), Ms Nancy
Ng (Chairperson of the ICMS Working Committee) and Ms Ng Peck
Hoon (Manager, Family and Child Protection and Welfare Branch)
received the CIO 100 Award on behalf of MCYS in August 2005. |
 CYS
recently reaped a bumper crop of IT awards and acknowledgements.
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CIO
100 Award 2005
Most noteworthy was the international CIO 100 Award. CIO is
a premier IT regular publication for Chief Information Officers
and each year, its August issue honours the top 100 companies
around the world that demonstrate excellence and achievement
in a chosen theme.
This year, MCYS’ Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) was
selected by the judging panel as one of the top 100. The ICMS,
an initiative led by Director of Social Welfare Ms Ang Bee Lian,
leverages on IT to enable a |
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| collaborative multi-agency, cross-disciplinary
approach to be taken in holistically addressing the protection
and rehabilitation needs of not just the clients at risk, but
also their family members. |
MIS Asia IT Excellence
Award - Finalists
MIS Asia, Asia's leading IT management magazine, organises the
MIS Asia IT Summit on a yearly basis. Not one but two of MCYS
IT systems, ICMS and the Directory of Family and Community Services
on the MCYS website, were shortlisted as finalists in the ‘Best
Business Enabler – Government’ category.
United Nations Public Services Award:
eGovernment Category
In recognition of its efforts to streamline, simplify and integrate
the application of licenses from various agencies, Singapore's
Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) was conferred the 2005
United Nations Public Service Award under the category "Application
of information and communication technology (ICT) in Government:
eGovernment".
OBLS is a cross-agency collaboration project, led by MTI under
the eCitizen Business eTown. MCYS’ Family Services Department
as a key online licensing agency in OBLS worked closely with
IDA to streamline its childcare licensing process. MCYS was
presented the token of appreciation by Ng Wai Choong, Deputy
Secretary (Industry) for Trade and Industry at Treasury Auditorium
at a celebration ceremony on 1 September.
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Why
ICMS
is a winner... |
Case management made easy, effective and efficient
- thanks to the power of IT
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Before the ICMS system was set up,
whenever Rozita Anwar, an Assistant Manager at the Residential
and Aftercare Services Branch wanted to check if any of
her clients had existing records with other branches in
the division, she would have to refer to the clients’
self-report, retrieve old documents and make phone calls
to verify information - a very tedious and manual process.
With ICMS, case managers can now check their clients'
records by accessing other database systems with a click
of the mouse, and the whole process takes place over a
secure IT system that safeguards all information exchanged.
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"With ICMS, I am able to screen my case
or their family members within the division and via the prison
interface, and be able to get a more holistic view of the case
in terms of known family members in these systems. Such information
is valuable for interagency collaborations for better case management
and sharing of resources in helping the family as a whole,”
said Rozita.
“The system captures clients' information
systematically, so it's convenient to retrieve and update.”
In the past, effective case management and speedy retrieval
of information was hampered by the fact that information resided
not only in ten different IT systems but in different branches
as well. Complete information on clients and their families
was often a tedious and time-consuming process to churn out.
“It allows me to easily check if
my cases are known to other RPD branches and to exchange info
with other colleagues.”
After a series of brainstorming sessions between RPD and ITD,
the idea to develop an integrated system was born. ICMS is a
centralized system that integrates data of juvenile offenders,
children in need of protection and families and individuals
in need of intervention. The ICMS system allows officers to
effectively track and manage its clients and cases from child
protection to juvenile justice to family protection. Case officers
are provided with real-time access to comprehensive client information,
complete case histories and genogram. This enables them to address
specific client’s needs with more timely and appropriate rehabilitative
programmes.
“Now I can refer my cases for programmes
and monitor the attendance without much paperwork.”
More than just facilitating officers in their areas of work,
the system also allows select external agencies like the prisons,
police, voluntary children’s homes and hospitals to access pre-determined
client data from ICMS. This is a boost to both parties as it
speeds up information retrieval and helps the Ministry weed
out potential early child abuse cases.
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“The ICMS as
a business support system was most timely as it supported the
re-engineering process that we were putting in place. What we
have is a coming together of a business review of our social
service specialism, supported by a friendly data management
system.” Ms Ang Bee Lian, Director for the Rehabilitation
and Protection Division.  |
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