One of the things which has always perplexed me is the vast amount of dollars expended on technology each year by local, city, district, state, political subdivisions of the state, public service agencies, government agencies, public service agencies, and etc.. The issue which perplexes me the most is with all this money expended why can't all these systems talk to each other? It is not an argument it is a recommendation.
It would greatly improve the level and quality of services they provide to their citizens. Imagine how frustrated someone is who when they start a new job an agency like Child Support Enforcement is alerted within three days they now have a new job. In turn Child Support Enforcement can immediately begin collection actions.
Can you imagine their same frustration when this same technology can't send an alert nor makes any type of adjustment when they get fired or laid off? Then what is even more discouraging is when they get a job at a lower wage because in this economy it is all they can get and their payments are not adjusted accordingly. After thousands upon thousands in arrears can you understand their frustration in not wanting to work anywhere?
Now this person owes a certain dollar amount in arrears and their driver's license is no longer valid. Now they can't get to the lower paying job which is not conveniently located to where they live. Okay they can pay a few dollars to get to work one way and probably walk back home because making minimum wage and having two-thirds of their check going to child support they now cannot afford to use public transportation both ways.
Do the people who are sitting making these policies in an air-conditioned office making a decent salary with retirement benefits care? If they cared would there be so many cases escalating to this magnitude?
Some agencies act like it will almost take an act from a higher power to get these systems to communicate to do good for the people they label as the deadbeats in society. Why should they look out for the underdog when they are the big dog?
They can communicate via human interaction but to communicate via technology would require legislative approval. It's too bad communication with the citizens they are put in place to serve doesn't require a Memorandum Of Understanding or a Memorandum of Agreement for citizens to be treated with basic respect of persons. The deadbeat person normally has to kiss butt to try and get anything resolved.
A valid system, as a basic part of its integrity, should be designed to work fair and equitably for all involved parties. Not to wreak havoc on the ones with the less resources to defend themselves. All it does is increase the caseload for the applicable agencies which gets out of control and then they complain about not having enough funds. Systems designed to work for the common good of everyone with the least amount of human intervention required work best. It frees the case workers time up to do other things.
It is great some agencies are doing 360 degree evaluations on employees. I think it would be even better if they included doing 360 degree evaluations on their technology and its processes. You can cover the human factor to the bone but how is your technology working if you take it out of the context of people it should work full circle. As the leader of any organization have you checked to see if you are spending crazy money on troubleshooting and maintaining old legacy systems? Can all that money be used to provide new systems which are a whole lot less costly? There are newer and less costly systems which not only house data but provide more meaningful measurement tools, planning tools, operational effectiveness, citizen input, increased collaboration, and less headaches for everyone. You're causing your citizens a grave disservice. If you're providing statistics off raw data with no integration into modern systems. Your citizens deserve your technology working for them in a full circle (360 degrees) as well.
There should be internal controls in place to ensure everyone is being treated fair and equitably. Systems of today should be designed to address everyone and automatically generate exception reports which get handled by a chain of command and documented in the system. There should not be a breakdown in opportunities available to everyone because their is a unnecessary breakdown due to human control. Too many citizens are still complaining they are not being treated fair. Are you listening?
One case in point is one person who doesn't have the resources to write a blog was incarcerated for non-payment of child support. The arrears were for approximately $4,000. The person had to remain in jail and was placed on a work release program until the arrears were paid. A friend paid the balance of the arrears so the person could be released. The work release job was insufficient to cover the mandated monthly child support payments and it would have taken about eighteen months to cover the arrears. The cost of being incarcerated was deducted off the top. Any court costs, fines, and fees were being extracted first as well. The interest accumulating on the unpaid support balance and the additional support being added on during the period of incarceration at the same rate. Cumulatively the person was in deep water without an oxygen mask.
Thankfully there are angels among us and the arrears were caught up. A receipt is issued and has to be presented as a condition of the release. Now the arrears are paid an adjustment can be granted. The adjustment is granted and agreed to by all parties. The person is laid off the minimum wage job and has no income. A hold is placed on the child support account.
Later the person finds out not only were the child support payments not adjusted but they also do not have record of the $4,000 in arrears which had to be paid as a condition of release from the jail time they spent.
Some of these systems just leave way too much room for corruption at the level of commingling. It is a travesty. Now the person gets dragged back into court for non-payment of support owing five times as much as they originally owed and who cares? Who is going to listen? The case is continued by the agency until the "right" judge hears it.
Then we as a society wonder why people have substance abuse problems. I think if I was caught up in a situation like that it would drive me to drink.
Now I'm wondering why in a technology age like today the local newspapers don't have a technology section addressing critical issues like this which are affecting people. There is enough going on to have a news article of this nature at least weekly. They go after the cases individually in the hundreds of millions of dollars but don't address the cases which collectively add up to this type of money makes no sense to me.
It always makes me wonder who is doing who. You never know so you have to sort of be careful as to what you say and in what arena you say it in.
One thing an old friend told me is I should get into politics. He had a female friend in politics and his words to me were she didn't have anything on me. He says I'm a strong black woman and she is where she is because of reasons unrelated to a political agenda. He only knows because he drove her and the guy she was having an affair with around. Of course according to his account he was never involved with her intimately. No. I'm not standing on my head in belief of that right now. They apparently didn't realize he received an award as "most talkative" in high school. A whole other matter.
If I were to hold a legislative position I wouldn't be waiting on my constituents to present issues I know need correction. In fact if I worked for an agency and we had crazy problems I would be trying to implement policies and procedures to live in the solution versus living in the problems. I would be just asking for the support of the people I serve to help me make a difference for positive change. Not only during election or budget times but all the time.
Too often politicians rely on the reports presented by the different organizations. They don't get out in the trenches and ask the citizens, especially those who are undergoing the same problems a lot of the people in the system are having how is the system failing you and what improvements would you like to see?
They go to the people who are "pleasant" to hear the traditional "oh nothing." Their round table discussions, panel discussions, and audiences are full of the yes people. The typical "A" students who are well-educated, versed, and poised. Most people with a stance know they are unwanted and so they don't attend town hall meetings, civic meetings, conferences designed with the appearance to help a group of people. They know beforehand it is all a front to keep funding going and not a medium for change. When an audience is severely under represented by the population of society affected by their issue it sends a loud message in and of it itself.
I serve a risen savior and I pray for change one day. The sooner the better then once people are uplifted and feel the system works for them everybody can celebrate.
It would greatly improve the level and quality of services they provide to their citizens. Imagine how frustrated someone is who when they start a new job an agency like Child Support Enforcement is alerted within three days they now have a new job. In turn Child Support Enforcement can immediately begin collection actions.
Can you imagine their same frustration when this same technology can't send an alert nor makes any type of adjustment when they get fired or laid off? Then what is even more discouraging is when they get a job at a lower wage because in this economy it is all they can get and their payments are not adjusted accordingly. After thousands upon thousands in arrears can you understand their frustration in not wanting to work anywhere?
Now this person owes a certain dollar amount in arrears and their driver's license is no longer valid. Now they can't get to the lower paying job which is not conveniently located to where they live. Okay they can pay a few dollars to get to work one way and probably walk back home because making minimum wage and having two-thirds of their check going to child support they now cannot afford to use public transportation both ways.
Do the people who are sitting making these policies in an air-conditioned office making a decent salary with retirement benefits care? If they cared would there be so many cases escalating to this magnitude?
Some agencies act like it will almost take an act from a higher power to get these systems to communicate to do good for the people they label as the deadbeats in society. Why should they look out for the underdog when they are the big dog?
They can communicate via human interaction but to communicate via technology would require legislative approval. It's too bad communication with the citizens they are put in place to serve doesn't require a Memorandum Of Understanding or a Memorandum of Agreement for citizens to be treated with basic respect of persons. The deadbeat person normally has to kiss butt to try and get anything resolved.
A valid system, as a basic part of its integrity, should be designed to work fair and equitably for all involved parties. Not to wreak havoc on the ones with the less resources to defend themselves. All it does is increase the caseload for the applicable agencies which gets out of control and then they complain about not having enough funds. Systems designed to work for the common good of everyone with the least amount of human intervention required work best. It frees the case workers time up to do other things.
It is great some agencies are doing 360 degree evaluations on employees. I think it would be even better if they included doing 360 degree evaluations on their technology and its processes. You can cover the human factor to the bone but how is your technology working if you take it out of the context of people it should work full circle. As the leader of any organization have you checked to see if you are spending crazy money on troubleshooting and maintaining old legacy systems? Can all that money be used to provide new systems which are a whole lot less costly? There are newer and less costly systems which not only house data but provide more meaningful measurement tools, planning tools, operational effectiveness, citizen input, increased collaboration, and less headaches for everyone. You're causing your citizens a grave disservice. If you're providing statistics off raw data with no integration into modern systems. Your citizens deserve your technology working for them in a full circle (360 degrees) as well.
There should be internal controls in place to ensure everyone is being treated fair and equitably. Systems of today should be designed to address everyone and automatically generate exception reports which get handled by a chain of command and documented in the system. There should not be a breakdown in opportunities available to everyone because their is a unnecessary breakdown due to human control. Too many citizens are still complaining they are not being treated fair. Are you listening?
One case in point is one person who doesn't have the resources to write a blog was incarcerated for non-payment of child support. The arrears were for approximately $4,000. The person had to remain in jail and was placed on a work release program until the arrears were paid. A friend paid the balance of the arrears so the person could be released. The work release job was insufficient to cover the mandated monthly child support payments and it would have taken about eighteen months to cover the arrears. The cost of being incarcerated was deducted off the top. Any court costs, fines, and fees were being extracted first as well. The interest accumulating on the unpaid support balance and the additional support being added on during the period of incarceration at the same rate. Cumulatively the person was in deep water without an oxygen mask.
Thankfully there are angels among us and the arrears were caught up. A receipt is issued and has to be presented as a condition of the release. Now the arrears are paid an adjustment can be granted. The adjustment is granted and agreed to by all parties. The person is laid off the minimum wage job and has no income. A hold is placed on the child support account.
Later the person finds out not only were the child support payments not adjusted but they also do not have record of the $4,000 in arrears which had to be paid as a condition of release from the jail time they spent.
Some of these systems just leave way too much room for corruption at the level of commingling. It is a travesty. Now the person gets dragged back into court for non-payment of support owing five times as much as they originally owed and who cares? Who is going to listen? The case is continued by the agency until the "right" judge hears it.
Then we as a society wonder why people have substance abuse problems. I think if I was caught up in a situation like that it would drive me to drink.
Now I'm wondering why in a technology age like today the local newspapers don't have a technology section addressing critical issues like this which are affecting people. There is enough going on to have a news article of this nature at least weekly. They go after the cases individually in the hundreds of millions of dollars but don't address the cases which collectively add up to this type of money makes no sense to me.
It always makes me wonder who is doing who. You never know so you have to sort of be careful as to what you say and in what arena you say it in.
One thing an old friend told me is I should get into politics. He had a female friend in politics and his words to me were she didn't have anything on me. He says I'm a strong black woman and she is where she is because of reasons unrelated to a political agenda. He only knows because he drove her and the guy she was having an affair with around. Of course according to his account he was never involved with her intimately. No. I'm not standing on my head in belief of that right now. They apparently didn't realize he received an award as "most talkative" in high school. A whole other matter.
If I were to hold a legislative position I wouldn't be waiting on my constituents to present issues I know need correction. In fact if I worked for an agency and we had crazy problems I would be trying to implement policies and procedures to live in the solution versus living in the problems. I would be just asking for the support of the people I serve to help me make a difference for positive change. Not only during election or budget times but all the time.
Too often politicians rely on the reports presented by the different organizations. They don't get out in the trenches and ask the citizens, especially those who are undergoing the same problems a lot of the people in the system are having how is the system failing you and what improvements would you like to see?
They go to the people who are "pleasant" to hear the traditional "oh nothing." Their round table discussions, panel discussions, and audiences are full of the yes people. The typical "A" students who are well-educated, versed, and poised. Most people with a stance know they are unwanted and so they don't attend town hall meetings, civic meetings, conferences designed with the appearance to help a group of people. They know beforehand it is all a front to keep funding going and not a medium for change. When an audience is severely under represented by the population of society affected by their issue it sends a loud message in and of it itself.
I serve a risen savior and I pray for change one day. The sooner the better then once people are uplifted and feel the system works for them everybody can celebrate.
