Policy & Practice December 2018

be prepared to see and hear things differently than we ever have before.” The leaders in Ohio realized that this must be true and so they asked CGI to propose new ideas to support the research and design of their CCWIS. These ideas translated into modern approaches to design, such as inclusion of eth- nographic research techniques, user-centered design, and user-focused cognitive walk- throughs of proposed solutions. Ohio and CGI found that engaging child welfare workers both energized the project team and honored county workers. The approach to understanding county workers’ pain points, and solving problems based on their direct feedback, created an important mindset shift about everyone’s roles in the solution. Centering the process on the county workers’ experiences and challenges helped to prepare the project team, as well as Ohio state leadership, to see and hear things differently. Ohio would come to realize that the benefits of this new approach to research and design were far greater than they could ever have expected at the outset. Ethnographic research is a qualitative research method involving observation and interac- tion with people in their real-life environment. Ethnography is used by a wide range of social services workers in order to understand and solve their clients’ needs. In light of this, it made sense to use similar techniques to help social services workers and the project teammembers to better understand the challenges and improve the expe- rience within the child welfare system. One of the reasons CGI proposed ethnographic research is that it can help identify and analyze unexpected issues experienced by end users. CGI has seen that traditional software design methods, not based on observation and interac- tion, often miss challenges that arise outside of a tightly controlled development process. These misses can happen because the right questions are not asked, and users feel that they do not have the authority to mention problems outside the scope of the issue at hand. An ethnographic researcher’s in-situ presence allows direct observation of users’ challenges and the impact software has on their workflow. It often makes these adjacent issues readily apparent with con- tinued dialog with the end user. Within the modern practice of user-centered design, ethnographic research is used by designers to form a deeper understanding of the design problem. The goal of this research within a human services software project is to become fully immersed in the design problem, with all of the complexities that a user actually experi- ences within their environment, not simply complexities presented on-screen. It is hoped

In December 2017, child welfare workers in Ohio gained access to a new genogram technology tool—an auto- mated and visual representation of the family unit—that helped change the landscape of how caseworkers view the family dynamic. Generally drawn by hand each time a family encounters a new caseworker, a genogram is a picture of the often complicated relationships and descriptions of an extended family unit. Automating this process saves caseworkers valuable time, provides an updated record of the current state of family relationships, and ensures that anyone viewing the case has the same consistent understanding of the family relationships. CGI’s unique process of engaging staff to identify practice and staff needs and technology solutions surfaced this opportunity. Equally as novel as the tool itself, was the process of identifying the need for it. In 2015, Ohio and CGI began a new journey, endeavoring to find solu- tions together to improve child welfare intake functionality. Determined to co- create the best solutions possible using modern processes and technology, they discovered it takes more than meets the eye. It takes both intention- ality and discipline to create room for co-creation; the people involved need to be empowered. My own experience in California during this same period reinforced for me that for ideas to co- emerge, it is imperative that leaders make space for it to happen. In her “President’s Memo” last year, APHSA’s Tracy Wareing Evans said, “…to do so requires humility and a willingness to be vulnerable because we must both acknowledge what we do not know and

Peter Kelly is a Director of Consulting Services at CGI and the former Chief Deputy Director and Chief Information Officer for the California Health and Human Services Agency’s Office of Systems Integration.

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Policy&Practice December 2018