P&P August 2015

suggesting that social workers use them to enter real-time data into iFamilyNet, the state’s web-enabled SACWIS system. After rapidly deploying iPads to field staff, DCF teamed with Accenture to analyze the initial rollout and create a blueprint for future implementation. FIVE LESSONS LEARNED This analysis—and insights from DCF’s transformation experience— reveals five lessons for any human service agency developing or strength- ening its mobile workforce. 1. Look beyond the device—focus on the mission. Creating a mobile workforce is not just about distributing devices and watching results happen. Agencies must develop mobile workforce programs with a perspective on howmobile can drive the mission forward, tying mobile metrics to case practice metrics. DCF is making an important shift over time. Mobile devices are viewed as essential tools for essential work—from fieldwork to new employee training. By connecting mobility to the mission and wrapping cultural change around it, DCF is creating an environment where device development is a vital part of the future operating model.

agencies, such as juvenile justice and transitional assistance, as they con- template a move to a more mobile workforce. 5. Get input from the field—early and often. The workforce knows best when it comes to mobile devices. As such, agencies should start with the field: What do social workers need? Consider formal bidirectional feedback channels to ensure that leading practices are shared widely and consistently, that field feedback is gathered, and that innovation is not limited to silos. DCF staff uses the DCF app store to request apps to translate languages, look up medications, get weather alerts, enable dictation, and set up car seats correctly. DCF also conducts field surveys of their workforce to under- stand needs and practices. All of these suggestions support social workers’ needs in the field and help agency lead- ership better understand the potential of the devices. CONTINUING LEARNING The first agency-wide survey showed that 74 percent of the DCF work- force is comfortable with the mobile devices—66 percent feel more efficient using them. In addition, 87 percent of supervisors—who recently received iPads as part of the second round of deployments—think that social workers are more effective with them. DCF continues to enhance its mobility initiative as part of a port- folio of reforms aimed at program and organizational effectiveness. Plans are underway to make IT investments with a view toward an enterprise mobile approach and to align department policy, communication, and training strategies to reflect the new mobile environment. Like mobile technology itself, DCF is on the move. The agency has learned that the destination is not the device itself. Because empowering a human service mobile workforce, like empow- ering families, entails being flexible, responsive, and open to change.

2. Bring the office to the field—break down the walls. Mobile devices have provided social workers with flexibility and real-time access to information that is neces- sary for their work with children and families. Social workers already spend more time in the field than they do in the office. Now that they have mobile devices to interact, communicate, report, and serve, traditional in-office mandates can be too limiting. In providing social workers with mobile devices, agencies must address an issue with human resources (HR) policy and practice implications. DCF discovered the need to develop consis- tent HR policy to maximize the benefit of the mobile devices. 3. Think infrastructure—not just tools. No technology tool—including mobile devices—works in isolation. As human service agencies make mobile the main technology platform for the workforce, hardware and software investments must reflect this fact. A mindset shift among IT staff is key. At DCF, user interface design is increasingly about mobile user inter- face design. Developers need to think about how social workers access and use information on-the-go and the fact that they want to use mobile devices to facilitate service provision and interac- tions with families. 4. Look beyond your agency—don’t go it alone. Departments across all levels of gov- ernment are focused on mobility. This creates an opportunity to look outside individual agency boundaries for support. State-level information tech- nology systems and human resource agencies, in particular, can assist with procurement, security, application development, human resources policy development, and other operational needs. DCF has regular conversations with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, the Massachusetts Office of Information Technology, and the Massachusetts Human Resources Division to solicit and share information. DCF is also sharing lessons learned with its sister

Amy Kershaw is the assistant com- missioner for Policy and Practice at the

Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

Matthew Burnham is a Public Service Strategy executive at Accenture.

Reference Note 1. 2014 State CIO Survey, NASCIO/ TechAmerica/Grant Thornton

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Policy&Practice   August 2015