SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Chapter S4

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, SYSTEMS

I. Mission

The Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Systems (ODCS) directs the conduct of systems and operational integration and strategic planning processes, and the implementation of a comprehensive systems configuration management, data base management and data administration program. Initiates software and hardware acquisition for SSA and oversees software and hardware acquisition procedures, policies and activities. Directs the development of operational and programmatic specifications for new and modified systems, and oversees development, validation and implementation phases.

II. Organization

A. The Deputy Commissioner, Systems (S4).

B. The Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Systems (S4).

C. The Immediate Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Systems (S4C)

1. The Budget Staff (S4C-1)

2. The Planning Staff (S4C-2)

3. The Systems Acquisition and Contract Management Staff (S4C-3)

D. The Office of Telecommunications and Systems Operations (S4E)

E. The Office of Systems Electronic Services (S4M)

F. The Office of Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R)

G. The Office of Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S)

H. The Office of Enterprise Support Architecture and Engineering (S4V)

I. The Office of Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W).

J. The Office of Disability Systems (S4X).

III. Functions

A. The Deputy Commissioner, Systems (S4) is directly responsible to the Commissioner for carrying out the ODCS mission and providing general supervision to the major components of ODCS.

B. The Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Systems (S4) assists the Deputy Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities, and performs other duties as the Deputy Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Systems provides the Deputy Commissioner with management support on the full range of his/her responsibilities to include budget, planning, systems acquisition, audit liaison, and recruitment, administrative, and senior technical support.

1. The Budget Staff (S4C-1) develops the Information Technology systems Budget for Systems, prepares the detailed budget submission and develops monitoring and tracking systems.

2. The Planning Staff (S4C-2) directs and conducts comprehensive integration and systems planning processes and is responsible for long-range planning and analyses to define new and improved systems processes in support of Agency requirements and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system requirement specifications.

3. The Systems Acquisition and Contract Management Staff (S4C-3) is responsible for the technical and business review of Information Technology acquisitions and for the management of major Information Technology support service contracts for the Deputy Commissioner for Systems.

D. The Office of Telecommunications and System Operations (OTSO)(S4E) directs, manages and coordinates the planning, acquisition, implementation, security, operation and maintenance of SSA's computer systems operations, and plans, implements and evaluates SSA’s communications technology and systems. It directs and coordinates the transition, implementation and operation of current/ongoing operating systems support software, including diagnostic software. It is responsible for evaluating current and emerging communications technologies and for designing, acquiring, implementing, operating and maintaining new integrated telecommunications systems combining voice, data, video, facsimile and other SSA communications requirements. OTSO directs, manages and coordinates the planning, analysis, design, acquisition, implementation, operation and maintenance of SSA's existing telecommunications systems. It manages the telecommunications operations complexes located at the Central Office, Regional Offices and field sites. It is responsible for SSA's comprehensive voice communication management program. OTSO interfaces with other systems components in the transition and implementation of redesigned programmatic and administrative systems to progressively replace existing application systems. It manages the computer operations complex which processes SSA's programmatic support, administrative, management information and statistical application systems. OTSO conducts continuing assessments and engineering analyses of the computer operations, as well as equipment performance analyses and coordinates the implementation of necessary improvements to existing resources. It directs and coordinates the activities associated with the planning, management, acquisition, procurement and renewal of ADP equipment, software and technical services for SSA to maintain operational systems and to prevent progressive deterioration. OTSO develops, controls and implements operational plans which include the preparing of technical specifications, evaluation criteria, acceptance test criteria, facilities engineering plans and budget estimates to maintain operational systems. It advises the Deputy Commissioner, SSA Executive Staff and external monitoring authorities such as the General Services Administration, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget and Congress on SSA's computer systems operations.

E. The Office of Systems Electronic Services (OSES) (S4M) directs the development of the SSA-wide mission critical software applications that support the Agency’s Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) initiatives. It performs long range planning and analysis, and the design, development, implementation and maintenance of eGovernment solutions in support of SSA's social insurance and income maintenance programs. These applications will provide access to SSA services over such service delivery channels as the Internet, Extranet, 800# and direct service data collection channels. It provides a means for the public to have direct access to selected SSA services. It participates in the coordination of general systems requirements definition among key SSA stakeholders, and representatives of the user community. It maintains a comprehensive software engineering program that provides tools, and a software infrastructure in support of SSA's eGovernment development goals. It defines the agency standards for Internet software development. It conducts software validation and testing for all Internet software solutions required to run on, or extract data from, any of SSA's host processor's or its mission critical systems and creates the necessary ESD management information to satisfy SSA’s global management information requirements.

F. The Office of Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (OASSIS) (S4R) directs, develops and coordinates information technology requirements, application programs and management information systems for new and modified systems in direct support of the SSI, Quality Assurance, Customer Help Information and Representative (Rep) Payee programs. OASSIS is responsible for most phases in the systems development life cycle. These responsibilities include determining automation solutions for user needs, developing software systems specifications, analyzing existing computer applications, preparing recommendations (including costs and benefits of alternatives), software design and development, testing and validating systems, implementing security standards, documenting systems, accepting systems on behalf of SSA's user community and conducting post-installation evaluation. OASSIS is responsible for long-range planning and analyses to define new and improved systems processes for OASSIS in support of Agency needs and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system requirement specifications and software programs. OASSIS implements systems required by new legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. Based on input from users, OASSIS translates organizational information requirements and priorities into plans and, develops and maintains systems plans. OASSIS validates computer programs that are part of SSA's large, integrated, programmatic systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria, and approves the resulting system for operational acceptance. It develops procedures and instructions to support user needs in effective implementation of all systems.

G. The Office of Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (OEEAS) (S4S) designs, develops, and maintains SSA’s earnings, enumeration and administrative systems. Responsibilities include the development of functional requirements for new systems and modifications to existing systems. The office evaluates the effect of proposed legislation, policies, regulations and management initiatives to determine the impact on these systems and develops information requirements and procedures as they relate to such legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. It directs the coordination of user requirements with SSA central and regional operations to ensure that user needs are accurately captured and defined. The office develops automated solutions, including the procurement of commercial software products. It tests and validates software to assure that user requirements have been met, and conducts post-implementation reviews of new systems. The broad systems areas for which OEEAS is responsible include: enumeration (SSN) and verification, earnings establishment and employer data, integrity review and audit, work measurement, financial processing and accounting, human resource and payroll, a variety of workload control and tracking applications, and data exchanges with external entities.

H. The Office of Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (OESAE) (S4V) identifies the strategic information technology resources needed to support SSA business processes and operations and the transition processes for researching, demonstrating and implementing new technologies in response to the Agency’s strategic vision. The office develops policies and procedures to implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Agency-wide. It incorporates user-centered design principles and techniques, accessibility requirements, inclusion of assistive device technology and standards and usability testing and accessibility testing as an integral part of the systems development life cycle to ensure that the requirements of SSA’s customers and users are being met. It directs the design, development and maintenance of SSA’s information technology architecture program and directs SSA’s data base integration activities to improve the administration of SSA’s Programmatic and Management Information/Administrative data bases and to implement modern data base management systems technology. The office directs a comprehensive information technology architecture program, including the SSA notices architecture, to modernize the Agency’s infrastructure and establishes enterprise policies for the management of all hardware and software. The office designs, develops and implements the architectures used to manage the storage and routing of document images along with the retention information for these electronic images as they relate to official Agency records. OESAE reviews legislative proposals and monitors the implementation of legislation for the Office of Systems. The office serves as the Systems’ lead for Continuity of Operations Planning, Federal Information Security Management Act, Financial Management System Reviews and Data Protection activities and coordinates Executive Assurance processes and procedures. It is the external liaison with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. OESAE manages the development and implementation of standards, methods and procedures for software planning, tracking, requirements, design, development, validation and change control. OESAE plans and directs multi-platform enterprise software development facilities to support applications development and validation personnel. The office designs, develops, implements and maintains automated test methods, test data systems and test utilities for systems-level functional and user acceptance testing of programmatic, administrative and management information systems. It provides support for program/project management and control and resource management. OESAE develops the requirements for security, functional security, and access control and conducts independent validation testing to ensure that the requirements have been properly integrated with SSA’s programmatic systems. The office plans for, acquires and administers project management and information technology training for systems and non-systems personnel and manages the Systems’ recruitment initiative.

I. The Office of Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (ORSIS) (S4W) is responsible for programmatic and management information systems which support the Nation’s Retirement and Survivors Insurance program and Medicare enrollment, including initial claims, post-entitlement, payments, audit, integrity review, Treasury operations and notices. ORSIS designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automation needs in the broad area of title II programmatic processes for such areas as earnings, eligibility/entitlement, pay/computations and debt management. The Office is responsible for long-range planning and analysis to modify existing systems and define new systems for ORSIS in support of the Agency’s mission and operational and management information needs. It evaluates the effect of proposed legislation, policies, regulations and management initiatives to determine the impact on these systems and develops requirements and procedures to implement required changes. ORSIS is responsible for both programmatic and management information applications through each stage of the systems lifecycle, including: determining automation solutions for user needs; developing software specifications; designing and developing software programs; testing and validating systems against user-defined requirements; conducting post-implementation reviews; implementing security standards; and maintaining a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of systems requirements, specifications and software documentation. Procedures and instructions are developed to support users in effectively implementing all systems.

J. The Office of Disability Systems (S4X) directs, develops, implements and maintains systems that support the agency’s new and modified Disability and health insurance programs. In addition, ODS supports the Increase Employment Opportunity effort by maintaining and enhancing the Ticket to Work Program automation. ODS is responsible for all phases in the systems development life cycle. These responsibilities include determining automation solutions for user needs, developing software systems specifications, analyzing existing computer applications, preparing recommendations (including costs and benefits of alternatives), designing and developing software, testing and validating systems, implementing security standards, documenting systems, accepting systems on behalf of SSA's user community, implementing and installing new and modified systems and conducting post-installation evaluation. ODS is responsible for long-range planning and analyses to define new and improved systems processes in support of Agency needs and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system requirement specifications and software programs. ODS implements systems required by new legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. Based on input from users, ODS translates organizational information requirements and priorities into plans and, develops and maintains systems plans. ODS validates computer programs that are part of SSA's large, integrated, programmatic systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria, and approves the resulting system for operational acceptance. It develops procedures and instructions to support user needs in effective implementation of all Disability systems.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4E

OFFICE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND SYSTEMS OPERATIONS

I. Mission

The Officeof Telecommunications and Systems Operations (OTSO) (S4E) directs, manages and coordinates the planning, acquisition, implementation, security, operation and maintenance of SSA's computer systems, networks, telecommunications, and video systems.

OTSO is responsible for SSA’s comprehensive voice communication management program. It designs, implements and manages the critical interface between telecommunications facilities and the Agency’s teleprocessing complexes located at Central Office, Regional Offices and field sites. OTSO is responsible for evaluating current and emerging communications technologies and for designing, acquiring, implementing, operating and maintaining new and integrated telecommunications network systems – combining the voice, data, video, facsimile, and other SSA communications requirements.

OTSO is responsible for directing and coordinating the transition, implementation and operation of current/ongoing operating systems support and diagnostic software on all network platforms and interfaces other Office of Systems components in the transition, implementation and progressive replacement of redesigned programmatic and administrative applications and systems.

OTSO administers all activities pertaining to Configuration Management, Change Management and Problem Management with respect to the Agency’s operating IT systems, networks and telecommunications operations. It manages the computer operations complex that processes SSA's programmatic support, administrative, Management Information and statistical application systems.

OTSO conducts continuous assessment and engineering analysis of the Agency's computer systems and operations, and equipment performance. It coordinates the implementation of necessary improvements to the Agency's IT environment and its basic infrastructure and resources. It directs and coordinates the planning, acquisition, procurement, management and renewal of all automated data processing (ADP) equipment, as well as software and technical services needed to maintain SSA's operational and telecommunications systems and to prevent progressive deterioration in the capacity, availability and reliability of the Agency's IT systems.

OTSO develops, controls and implements systems operational plans which include the preparation of technical specifications, evaluation criteria, acceptance test criteria, facilities engineering plans and budget estimates to maintain the Agency's IT systems, networks, operational and telecommunications capabilities and services. It advises the Deputy Commissioner, SSA Executive Staff and external monitoring authorities such as the General Services Administration, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget and Congress on SSA's computer systems operations.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Telecommunications and Systems Operations (S4E).

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Telecommunications and Systems Operations (S4E).

C. The Assistant Associate Commissioner for Enterprise IT Operations and Security (S4EU).

D. The Assistant Associate Commissioner for Infrastructure Architecture and Configuration (S4EV).

E. The Assistant Associate Commissioner for Enterprise IT Services Management (S4EW).

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Telecommunications and Systems Operations (S4E) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner for Systems for carrying out the OTSO mission and providing general supervision to the major organizational components of OTSO.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Telecommunications and Systems Operations (S4E) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Assistant Associate Commissioner for Enterprise IT Operations and Security serves as an advisor and consultant to the Associate Commissioner and/or Deputy Associate Commissioner on the 24x7 operations stability, availability, and security of the Agency’s IT infrastructure and environment. Functional responsibilities include:

1. Project and Administrative Oversight for five divisions (DNNSO, DBOPC, DOSDO, DIET, DISSAO), and Program Management of the Data Center’s Operations.

2. Executive COOP Role: Execution of the Disaster Recovery Plan at the target failover site.

3. Management of cyber security issues, mandated and government-wide IT security responses, and requirements for classified operations separate from IT functions.

4. Management and coordination of IT audits in the security, management, and contracting arenas – utilizing changes in IT audit criteria that establish more stringent threshold requirements for performance reports that are without reportable conditions or findings – i.e., that are “finding-free”.

5. Oversight of the testing environment that has been doubled in capacity to support a rapidly increasing stream of applications being released into the Agency’s production environment.

6. Coordination and oversight of the expansion of services to “guaranteed” 7X24 levels of availability for Internet, SSN verification workloads, business and third party overnight data exchanges.

7. Coordination of “continuous availability” (i.e., no visible outages) productivity-driving workloads.

8. Oversight of the deployment of HSPD-12 and use of government-wide identification credentials for use by SSA systems.

9. Oversight of the Agency’s network operations which has become increasingly significant as the vital link connecting SSA/DDS field employees and all electronic services residing at SSA’s data centers.

10. Management and coordination of new technology operations in SSA’s production environment (i.e., VOIP, MQSeries, iSeries platforms, master files in DB2, new monitoring tolls, unified messaging, eDiscovery, etc.)

11. Managing and coordinating OTSO’s response to the growth in volume and complexity in managed data center workloads resulting from “paperless” processing functionality.

12. Serves as the principal executive liaison for telecommunications and systems operations to counterpart offices of the Deputy Commissioner of Operations.

D. The Assistant Associate Commissioner for Infrastructure Architecture and Configuration serves as an advisor and consultant to the Associate Commissioner and/or Deputy Associate Commissioner on the planning and configuration of the IT infrastructure, architecture and configuration. Functional responsibilities include:

Project and Administrative Oversight for five divisions (DNE, DIIAS, DITM, DCSI, DMSS), and the Program Manager for Security.
Executive COOP Role: Failed site-damage assessment and recovery of assets.
Definition and management of OTSO's Technical Reference Models and OMB Enterprise Architecture submittals.
Growth in the deployment of, and budget for, the Agency's networks.
Implementation of new mainframe roles in hosting SSA's Internet and Intranet applications.
Managing Agency requirements for video services such as: teleconferencing in ODAR and DCO; Video-on-Demand for training; production and serving of "webinars" for outside SSA contacts; messaging boards in FO waiting rooms; IVT technology upgrade, etc.
Engineering and testing of expanded platforms for applications.
Implementation of a national telephone platform and elimination of standalone, office-managed systems.
Evolution of technical response and ongoing operational procedures within OTSO in response to Personally Identifiable Information security requirements.
Re-competition and transition of all SSA data and voice services to new contracts.
Managing the number, as well as the capacity, of servers in SSA’s field operations to ensure and enhance greater reliability; growth in “images” of servers through virtualization technologies to provide greater performance from IT investments; consolidation of IT equipment into OTSO-managed data center areas.
Management of comprehensive site change and relocation requirements involving voice, video, data, workstation, server, IVT, HSPD-12 and multi-vendor network components.
Principal executive liaison for telecommunications and systems operations to counterpart offices in Headquarters components and SSA’s external user community (on the Internet).

Project and Administrative Oversight for four divisions and one staff (DRMA, DSPSM, DSUSF, DSSM, SIIMS) and the Program Manager for Data Center Transitions.
Ensures systems security provisions are developed, applied, and enforced for OTSO contractor personnel.
Executive COOP Role: Site-identification, planning and restoration of permanent services from the failed center.
Office consolidation, analysis and presentation (with Associate Commissioner) of the OTSO IT budget.
Executive responsibility for OTSO OMB-300 and Earned Value Management Systems programs.
Business case and procurement review of acquisitions’ strategies, term and conditions and contracts exceeding $1 Million.
Opening of second data center in FY09; construction/move planning for the NCC; strategic planning for third data center.
Management of the introduction and growth of SSA’s electronic imaging and image management/image serving capabilities.
Management of increases in data storage, storage management and storage options provided in the IT architecture on all server platforms.
Management of expanded engineering requirements in backup/recovery methods for large data stores.
Ensuring mainframe capacity to service SSA workloads.
Management and oversight of IT architecture options demanding increased and varied expertise in capacity planning and performance testing.
Management of the significantly expanded facilities responsibilities for multiple data centers and the exploration of data center configuration and management options.
Principal executive liaison for telecommunications and systems operations to counterpart offices in the DDS’s, ODAR, OQP and regional offices.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4M

OFFICE OF SYSTEMS ELECTRONIC SERVICES

I. Mission

The Office of Systems Electronic Services (OSES) directs the development of the SSA-wide mission critical software applications that support the Agency’s Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) initiatives. It performs long range planning and analysis, and the design, development, implementation and maintenance of eGovernment solutions in support of SSA's social insurance and income maintenance programs. These applications will provide access to SSA services over such service delivery channels as the Internet, Extranet, 800# and direct service data collection channels. It provides a means for the public to have direct access to selected SSA services. It participates in the coordination of general systems requirements definition among key SSA stakeholders, and representatives of the user community. It maintains a comprehensive software engineering program that provides tools, and a software infrastructure in support of SSA's eGovernment development goals. It defines the Agency standards for Internet software development. It conducts software validation and testing for all Internet software solutions required to run on, or extract data from, any of SSA's host processor's or its mission critical systems and creates the necessary ESD management information to satisfy SSA's global management information requirements. It develops policies and procedures to implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Agency-wide. It incorporates user-centered design principles and techniques, accessibility requirements, inclusion of assistive device technology and standards and usability testing and accessibility testing as an integral part of the systems development life cycle to ensure that the requirements of SSA’s customers and users are being met.

II.  Organization

A.  The Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M).

B.  The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M).

C.  The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M).

D. The Division of Architecture and Support Software Development (S4MA).

E.  The Division of Quality, Testing and Validation (S4MC).

F.   The Division of Usability, Accessibility, and Project Support (S4MJ).

G. The Division of Benefits Software Development (S4MG).

H   The Division of Non-Benefits Software Development (S4MH).

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems, for carrying out the OSES mission and providing general supervision to the major components of OSES.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Systems Electronic Services (S4M) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner with administrative staff assistance, technology leadership, planning and customer relations support on the full range of his/her responsibilities.

D. The Division of Architecture and Support Software Development (S4MA).

1. Develops and maintains the software engineering architecture appropriate for delivering eGovernment services to SSA's customers in accordance with the Agency's Electronic Service Delivery (ESD) Strategy.

2. Designs, develops and maintains eGovernment framework components of the architecture for data interface, security, authentication, management information, audit and messaging objects.

3. Researches, evaluates and analyzes current and emerging technologies relevant to SSA's eGovernment architecture.

4. Plans, designs, develops and maintains registration and authentication internet software integral to SSA's eGovernment Internet strategy.

5. Defines functional specifications in support of SSA's registration and authentication eGovernment applications.

6. Coordinates SSA's registration and authentication Internet applications development with legacy and management information.

E. The Division of Quality, Testing and Validation (S4MC).

1. Develops project specific test plans for applications developed in support of SSA's eGovernment strategy.

2. Performs front-end systems validations as necessary to support implementation of eGovernment software.

3. Develops, maintains, and implements quality control and usability standards in support of the development of eGovernment software.

4. Designs, develops and maintains software for the testing, validation and quality control of eGovernment applications.

5. Incorporates user input into the design of eGovernment software prior to implementation.

F. The Division of Usability, Accessibility, and Project Support (S4MJ)

1. Analyzes eGovernment requirements and needs of other OSES components, and provides appropriate project support capability.

2. Provides standards, procedures, systems support and technical assistance to OSES project managers to facilitate preparation of work plans.

3. Directs review of project work plans to ensure completeness, compatibility with standards and managerial directives, and requirements and conformity to the ADP Plan and other management decisions.

4. Monitors OSES workloads, resource estimates and resource usage for eGovernment applications. Provides comprehensive resource information to DCS management to support workload priority decisions. Directs resource estimation and reporting processes for OSES.

5. Coordinates OSES input to Agency and DCS planning processes and provides IT budget acquisition and contract support for OSES divisions.

6. Provides network software development tool and components security support for the OSES organization.

7. Establishes and coordinates efforts on Section 508 compliance and serves as a principal planner and advisor in the development of Agency and government-wide Section 508 directives, standards, specifications, policies, implementation strategies, management guidelines, procedures, practices and new development and advanced techniques. Directs and conducts accessibility testing of in-house developed software, commercial off-the-shelf software and other electronic information technology.

8. Performs a key role in very difficult assignments with responsibility and accountability as a technical authority and advisory in information technology accessibility, covering a wide range of technology and applications.

9. Integrates Section 508 accessibility needs into Agency budget plans, strategic plans and information technology capital plans.

10. Directs the user-centered design processes including usability testing for software and web-based applications.

11. Provides technical editing and publication control and preparation for the Modernized Systems Operations Manual (MSOM).

G. The Division of Benefits Software Development (S4MG).

1. Plans, designs, develops and maintains benefits Internet, extranet and telephone software integral to SSA's eGovernment strategy which includes supporting Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business initiatives.

2. Defines functional specifications in support of benefits internet, extranet and telephone eGovernment applications to support Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Governmnet-to-Business initiatives.

3. Coordinates benefits eGovernment applications development with legacy and management information systems to support Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business initiatives.

H. The Division of Non-Benefits Software Development (S4MH).

1. Plans, designs, develops and maintains non-benefits internet, extranet and telephone software integral to SSA's eGovernment strategy which includes supporting Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business initiatives.

2. Defines functional specifications in support of non-benefits internet, extranet and telephone eGovernment applications to support Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business initiatives

3. Coordinates non-benefits eGovernment applications development with legacy and management information systems to support Government-to-Client, Government-to-Government and Government-to-Business initiatives.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4R

OFFICE OF APPLICATIONS AND SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME SYSTEMS

I. Mission

The Office of Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (OASSIS) directs, develops and coordinates information technology requirements, application programs and management information systems for new and modified systems in direct support of the SSI, Representative (Rep) Payee and Quality Assurance programs. In addition, OASSIS is responsible for development and maintenance of management information systems for SSI, Rep Payee and Disability programs. OASSIS is responsible for most phases in the systems development life cycle. These responsibilities include determining automation solutions for user needs, developing software systems specifications, analyzing existing computer applications, preparing recommendations (including costs and benefits of alternatives), software design and development, testing and validating systems, implementing security standards, documenting systems, accepting systems on behalf of SSA's user community and conducting post-installation evaluation. OASSIS is responsible for long-range planning and analyses to define new and improved systems processes for OASSIS in support of agency needs and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system requirement specifications and software programs. OASSIS implements systems required by new legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. Based on input from users, OASSIS translates organizational information requirements and priorities into plans and develops and maintains systems plans. OASSIS validates computer programs that are part of SSA's large, integrated, programmatic systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria, and approves the resulting system for operational acceptance. It develops procedures and instructions to support user needs in effective implementation of all systems.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R).

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R).

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R).

D. The Division of SSI Processing Systems (S4RA).

E. The Division of SSI Management Systems (S4RB).

F. The Division of Management Information Systems (S4RC).

G. The Division of Applications Development. (S4RH).

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems, for carrying out the OASSIS mission and providing general supervision to the major components of OASSIS.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Applications and Supplemental Security Income Systems (S4R) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner with administrative staff assistance, technology leadership, planning and customer relations support on the full range of their responsibilities.

D. The Division of SSI Processing Systems (S4RA)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, implements and evaluates programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, software, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) in conformance with SSA’s software engineering environment for title XVI (SSI) and title XVIII processes. Edits new records and transactions; maintains and updates the SSI Master File to reflect changes; computes both the Federal SSI benefit and State supplementary payments; identifies and controls overpayment activity; and controls diaries.

2. With the technical assistance of the Office of Enterprise Support and Architecture Engineering (OESAE), plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

3. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-term SSI programmatic initiatives for Initial Claims and Post-entitlement Updates and Computations.

4. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation and requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria and certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

5. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for SSI initial claims and post-eligibility operations, computation and record balancing operations.

6. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting SSI and title VIII processes. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

7. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing SSI and title VIII process with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

8. Coordinates user requirements with SSA central and field offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

E. The Division of SSI Management Systems (S4RB)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, implements and evaluates programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, software, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) in conformance with SSA’s software engineering environment for title XVI (SSI) and title XVIII processes including payment, interfaces, due process, notices, queries and redetermination operations. This includes updates to and selections from the Supplemental Security Income Record (SSR).

2. With the technical assistance of OESAE, plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

3. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic systems. Develops plans as they relate to SSI and title VIII redeterminations, interfaces, notices, queries, due process and payments.

5. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for SSI redeterminations, interfaces, queries, due process and payments.

6. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting SSI and title VIII processes. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

7. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing SSI and title VIII process with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

8. Coordinates user requirements with SSA central and field offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

9. Coordinates the development and testing of Continuity of Operation Plans (COOP).

10. Manages routine and complex security-related compliance activities and develops sensitive standardized security profiles procedures.

11. Grants and approves the administrative and physical controls to SSA systems to prevent unauthorized access and physical damage, disclosure and destruction to SSA’s system of records.

12. Develops and maintains system security risk assessments and security plans implementing security standards, regulations, requirements and any additional changes in legislative policy or procedure.

F. The Division of Management Information Systems (S4RC)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, implements and evaluates programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) in conformance with SSA’s software engineering environment, for titles XVI (SSI) and VIII Special Veterans Benefits (SVB), Disability, Appeals and Representative Payee Management Information Systems.

2. With the technical assistance of OESAE Validation staff, plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

3. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development as they relate to SSI Disability, Appeals and Representative Payee and SVB Management Information. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of all SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

5. Produces automated solutions that provide management information (MI) supporting the Agency’s Supplemental Security Income program. Designs, develops and maintains computer systems that collect, process and distribute SSI MI.

6. Produces automated solutions that provide management information (MI) supporting the Agency’s Special Veterans Benefits program. Designs, develops and maintains computer systems that collect, process and distribute SVB MI.

7. Produces automated solutions that provide MI supporting the Agency’s Disability Insurance program. Designs, develops and maintains computer systems that collect, process and distribute Disability MI.

8. Produces automated solutions that provide MI supporting the Agency’s Hearings, Appeals and Litigation workloads. Designs, develops and maintains computer systems that collect, process and distribute Title II and Title XVI Hearings, Appeals and Litigation MI.

9. Produces automated solutions that provide MI supporting the Agency’s Representative Payment program. Designs, develops and maintains computer systems that collect, process and distribute Representative Payment MI.

10. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting SSI Disability, Appeals, and Representative Payment Management Information. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

11. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing SSI Disability, Appeals and Representative Payment Management Information systems processes with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

12. Coordinates user requirements with SSA central and field offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

G. The Division of Applications Development (S4RH)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, implements and maintains new or redesigned quality assurance systems in support of the Office of Quality Assurance. These systems support Title II, Title XVI and disability workloads and monitor all levels (initial, reconsideration and hearing) of Social Security program administration, including the federally legislated pre-effectuation (PER) review.

2. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, and implements new or redesigned software to meet the needs of the SSA Rep Payee Program and the Customer Help and Information Program (CHIP). Also, evaluates programmatic information and data requirements, writes functional specifications, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) for the disability program.

3. With the technical assistance of the OESAE, plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

4. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development as they relate to Rep Payee, Quality Assurance and CHIP. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of all SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

5. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation, source code for programmatic software and requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria and certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

6. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs, determines system design alternatives and documents requirements for automated data processing services for Rep Payee, Quality Assurance and CHIP.

7. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting Rep Payee, Quality Assurance and CHIP. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short and long-range plans.

8. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing Rep Payee, Quality Assurance and CHIP processes with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4S

OFFICE OF EARNINGS, ENUMERATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS

I. Mission

The Office of Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (OEEAS) is responsible for the design, development, and maintenance of SSA’s earnings, enumeration and administrative systems. Responsibilities include the development of functional requirements for new systems and modifications to existing systems. The office evaluates the effect of proposed legislation, policies, regulations and management initiatives to determine the impact on these systems and develops information requirements and procedures as they relate to such legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. It directs the coordination of user requirements with SSA central and regional operations to ensure that user needs are accurately captured and defined. The office develops automated solutions, including the procurement of commercial software products. It tests and validates software to assure that user requirements have been met, and conducts post-implementation reviews of new systems. The broad systems areas for which OEEAS is responsible include: enumeration (SSN) and verification, earnings establishment and employer data, integrity review and audit, work measurement, financial processing and accounting, human resource and payroll, a variety of workload control and tracking applications, and data exchanges with external entities.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S).

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S).

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S).

D. The Division of Measurement and Control Systems (S4SA).

E. The Division of Information and Integrity Systems (S4SB).

F. The Division of Financial and Human Resource Systems (S4SC).

G. The Division of Enumeration and Death Alerts (S4SE).

H. The Division of Annual Wage Reporting and Balancing (S4SG).

I. The Division of Earnings Correction and Use (S4SH).

J. The Division of Information, Verification and Exchange Services (S4SJ).

K. The Division of Business Services and Technology Support (S4SK).

III. III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (OEEAS) (S4S) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems for carrying out OEEAS’ mission and provides general supervision to the major components of OEEAS.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Earnings, Enumeration and Administrative Systems (S4S) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner with administrative staff assistance, planning and customer relations support on the full range of his/her responsibilities.

D. The Division of Measurement and Control Systems (S4SA).

1. Performs requirements analyses and software development activities for

control and tracking systems, and other administrative support systems.

2. Develops functional requirements and validations for audit and integrity review systems within programmatic applications and for SSA-wide work measurement systems.

3. Performs requirements analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes and reports on the impact on existing processes and systems. Evaluates the need to develop new software.

4. Develops design specifications and software programs to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

5. Plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications.

6. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation, requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

E. The Division of Information and Integrity Systems (S4SB)

1. Designs, develops, and implements application systems and enhancements to existing systems to support work measurement, quality assurance, integrity reviews and audit and internal controls.

2. Responsible for data warehouse development and maintenance in support of Agency systems. Maintains the data warehouse repository which houses data definition, calculations, and transformation and business rules in support of performance measures. Runs data mining software to identify patterns for potential fraud.

4. Develops design specifications and software programs to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

F. The Division of Financial and Human Resource Systems (S4SC).

1. Designs, develops, and implements administrative application systems and enhancements to existing systems in the broad areas of financial/budget, human resources and payroll processes.

2. Performs requirements analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes and reports on the impact on existing processes and systems. Evaluates the need to develop new software. Evaluates the potential application of Commercial-off-the-Shelf and Government-developed-off-the-Shelf software.

3. Develops design specifications and software programs to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

4. Plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications.

5. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation, requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

G. The Division of Enumeration and Death Alerts (S4SE).

1. Designs, develops and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the broad area of enumeration.

2. Performs requirements analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for enumeration. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes and reports on the impact on existing processes and systems. Evaluates the need to develop new software.

3. Develops design specifications and software programs to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

6. Performs requirements analyses and develops earnings enumeration management information application systems and enhancements to existing systems.

H. The Division of Annual Wage Reporting and Balancing (S4SG).

1. Designs, develops and implements new or redesigned systems to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the broad area of annual employer wage reporting.

3. Develops design specifications and systems to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

I. The Division of Earnings Correction and Use (S4SH).

1. Designs, develops, and implements new or redesigned systems to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the broad area of correcting, maintaining and using earnings and employer data.

3. Develops design specifications and systems to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

J. The Division of Information, Verification and Exchange Services (S4SJ).

1. Designs, develops and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA's automated data processing needs in the broad area of data exchanges.

2. Performs requirements analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for data exchanges. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes and reports on the impact on existing processes and systems. Evaluates the need to develop new software.

3. Develops design specifications and software programs to satisfy user needs as defined in requirements documentation.

K. The Division of Business Services and Technology Support (S4SK)

1. Provides technical support of end-users and developers in the use of commercial reporting software. Directs the development of support procedures to monitor user problem resolution and the implementation of software upgrades.

2. Provides technical direction to OEEAS developers in web design and development activities, and in the design of user interfaces. Researches and applies user-centered interface design techniques and serves as the OEEAS expert on usability and human-computer interface issues. Serves as the focal point within OEEAS for the oversight and integration of web-based information delivery and presentation mechanisms for OEEAS applications.

3. Performs and coordinates studies, and researches software and hardware solutions to overarching OEEAS technical issues. Provides high-level analytical expertise for a variety of complex assignments of OEEAS and enterprise-wide scope, such as the technical assessment of proposed IT investments for alignment with and support of SSA's strategic plan, and advance planning for implementation of major new systems integration initiatives.

4. Provides technical support to OEEAS developers in the security area.

5. Provides leadership, guidance and direction to subordinate organizations in OEEAS service areas including personnel, budget, labor relations, training, awards, space management and various support type functions.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4V

OFFICE OF ENTERPRISE SUPPORT, ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING

I. Mission

The Office of Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (OESAE) identifies the strategic information technology resources needed to support SSA business processes and operations and the transition processes for researching, demonstrating and implementing new technologies in response to the Agency’s strategic vision. The office develops policies and procedures to implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Agency-wide. It incorporates user-centered design principles and techniques, accessibility requirements, inclusion of assistive device technology and standards and usability testing and accessibility testing as an integral part of the systems development life cycle to ensure that the requirements of SSA’s customers and users are being met. It directs the design, development and maintenance of SSA’s information technology architecture program and directs SSA’s data base integration activities to improve the administration of SSA’s Programmatic and Management Information/Administrative data bases and to implement modern data base management systems technology. The office directs a comprehensive information technology architecture program, including the SSA notices architecture, to modernize the Agency’s infrastructure and establishes enterprise policies for the management of all hardware and software. The office designs, develops and implements the architectures used to manage the storage and routing of document images along with the retention information for these electronic images as they relate to official Agency records. OESAE reviews legislative proposals and monitors the implementation of legislation for the Office of Systems. The office serves as the Systems’ lead for Continuity of Operations Planning, Federal Information Security Management Act, Financial Management System Reviews and Data Protection activities and coordinates Executive Assurance processes and procedures. It is the external liaison with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. OESAE manages the development and implementation of standards, methods and procedures for software planning, tracking, requirements, design, development, validation and change control. OESAE plans and directs multi-platform enterprise software development facilities to support applications development and validation personnel. The office designs, develops, implements and maintains automated test methods, test data systems and test utilities for systems-level functional and user acceptance testing of programmatic, administrative and management information systems. It provides support for program/project management and control and resource management. OESAE develops the requirements for security, functional security, and access control and conducts independent validation testing to ensure that the requirements have been properly integrated with SSA’s programmatic systems. The office plans for, acquires and administers project management and information technology training for systems and non-systems personnel and manages the Systems’ recruitment initiative.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V).

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioners for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V).

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V).

D. The Division of Enterprise Architecture and Data Administration (S4VA).

E. The Division of Data Base Systems (S4VB).

F. The Division of Enterprise Software Engineering Infrastructure (S4VC).

G. The Division of Information Security and Assurance (S4VG).

H. The Division of Validation and Testing Technology (S4VH).

I. The Division of Process Engineering, Project and Customer Services (S4VJ).

J. The Division of Electronic Document Management Systems (S4VK)

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems, for carrying out the OESAE mission and providing general supervision to the major components of OESAE.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioners for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V) assist the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and perform other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Enterprise Support, Architecture and Engineering (S4V) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioners with senior technical support, management assistance, technology leadership and planning and support for legislation and other initiatives on the full range of their responsibilities.

D. The Division of Enterprise Architecture and Data Administration (S4VA).

1. Works with SSA technical staff to define application, data and infrastructure architectures.

2. Develops and provides the infrastructure to generate notices that meet SSA standards.

3. Maintains the Central Language Repository for all notice language used by SSA.

4. Provides notice generation and formatting of manual notice processing.

5. Works with business components to identify and coordinate enterprise-wide technology needs and projects.

6. Directs the development of Systems-wide data administration policies, procedures and standards for the specific phases of the life cycle development process and development of methods to assure the quality of systems products.

7. Directs the integration of data and process models, as well as software designs.

8. Directs the development of requirements for standardizing data collection, storage and use across application areas.

9. Provides data administratioan program expertise, process management direction and oversight for crosscutting segments for all SSA systems initiatives, legislative initiatives or projects involving the initiation, interpretation and/or the implementation of administrative and programmatic systems.

10. Provides data administration and enterprise architecture services as well as a variety of high level coordinative, analytical, consultative and advisory services to SSA as a whole relative to highly visible and complex systems initiatives.

11. Develops and maintains the Data Resource Management System which is the official repository of data and metadata for SSA systems.

12. Directs the establishment of automated documentation products and analytical products to support software engineering and data base integration.

13. Provides direction in identifying techniques and tools that support data resource management as well as evaluating new data resource technology to the SSA environment.

14. Provides the oversight of configuration management activities for the Application Inventory and Reusable Component inventories which are official, baseline documents developed during Application Portfolio Management (APM) activities. The inventories are published on the EA website and cannot be changed without Architecture Review Board approval.

15. Oversees the suite of software engineering tools that must be controlled and supported by centralized mechanisms, the Enterprise Software Engineering Tools (ESET) Management Board. While any tool used to produce software can be described as a “software engineering tool,” only those tools determined to need central support are “Enterprise Software Engineering Tools (ESET). One of the most important tasks controlled by this process is making those determinations.

16. Provides Global Reference Table (GRT) support maintaining value set, tables as defined by policy owners/sponsors and maintains GRT Portal software.

17. Supports the Source Code Process which generates code that provides access to SSA’s programmatic master files and IDMS data bases, maintains data integrity of IDMS data bases and provides CICS screen mapping for SSA programmatic application areas.

E. The Division of Data Base Systems (S4VB).

1. Develops and maintains the Master Data Access Method (MADAM) software that manages the major programmatic master files.

2. Directs the development and enforcement of technical standards and data resource policies.

3. Directs the definition of data storage architectures to support data management based upon performance characteristics and capabilities required in the SSA environment.

4. Directs the design, development (or acquisition), validation, and implementation of data base management systems and data support software.

5. Directs the design and development of new or modified software for accessing SSA data bases and files used in ADP processes; and directs the selection and implementation of commercial packages for this purpose.

6. Provides direction in the design, development and implementation of applications support software to facilitate interaction between data bases and applications software.

7. Provides overall management and development of access to SSA’s major master files.

8. Performs design, data base administration, and technical support of the major master files, and auxiliary programmatic applications files and data bases using multiple commercial database management systems.

9. Directs the analyses of SSA processes and software related to data usage and administration.

10. Directs the development of project plans reflecting the tasks and schedules required to implement data base management and data administration projects as designated by SSA’s Software Modernization Plan.

F. The Division of Enterprise Software Engineering Infrastructure (S4VC).

1. Manages the multi-platform Software Engineering Facility (SEF) environment which includes Mainframe, Client Server/Web (Internet/Intranet) platforms, Server/Workstation and mobile computing configurations, SEF environment electronic mail, transaction processing software configurations (e.g., CICS, WMQ), multi-platform source code management, WebSphere (z/OS and Solaris) to provide an integrated set of automated tools, techniques and services in support of SSA’s application development and validation community.

2. Administers and engineers software engineering laboratory (SEL) facilities which provide a wide range of IWS/LAN based hardware and software solutions for developers and validators of Client/Server and Web-based (Internet/Intranet) applications. SEL provides test sites for Client/Server and web ideas, concepts, news technology and code without interfering with production Client/Server or Web-based systems. Facilities include a simulated internet inside the firewall allowing for complete multi-platform internet applications to be built.

3. Administers and engineers ESEF environment servers, workstations, and mobile devices such as laptops for the software engineering components in Systems. This includes both hardware and software configurations used by application software engineers and their management.

4. Manages the Information Center Services (ICS) Help Desk Initiatives Support Services (HDISS) contract. The ICS HDISS contract provides technical resources and support for SSA’s standard desktop and laptop software to all SSA employees and contractors, desktop support and network administration to the Office of the Commissioner and various Agency-level offices and technical assistance to the SSA developers in the design and development of applications using web-based software tools.

5. Provides technical guidance and infrastructure support for multi-platform programmatic and management information applications throughout each phase of the systems development life cycle including analysis, design, development, validation, testing, production and maintenance.

6. Provides automated software configuration management, quality control and library migration for all ESEF multi-platform software development and validation activities.

7. Provides assistance to users of the ESEF environment by staffing a Help Desk that performs real time monitoring, automated call tracking, and technical assistance in the use of the ESEF software/hardware infrastructure. Disseminates technical information relative to the ESEF software/hardware infrastructure.

8. Serves as liaison between the ESEF user community and the computer center to ensure that user needs are being met and that all operating system and vendor software is fully tested before implementation to alleviate adverse impact on ESEF users.

9. Conducts performance evaluation, monitoring and capacity planning for ESEF environment hardware and software to ensure that appropriate service levels are continuously maintained. Projects future capacity needs to meet software development goals and projects.

10. Conducts testing and performance impact analysis of new or upgraded software engineering tools before they are installed in the ESEF environment to ensure optimum ESEF performance.

11. Manages the ESEF multi-platform storage environment (tape, DASD on distributed platform and mainframe).

12. Coordinates and conducts multi-platform disaster recovery testing of the ESEF, including Continuity of Operation Planning (COOP) for multi-platform ESEF infrastructure.

13. Establishes and maintains a multi-platform WebSphere infrastructure to support the Development and Validation stages of the life cycle.

14. Designs, develops, maintains and oversees automated software migration methods to ensure segregation of duties in the software development, validation, integration and production stages of the life cycle, under the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA).

15. Installs, tests, implements and, sometimes procures, third party productivity tools to support the multi-platform development and validation stages of the software development life cycle. Manages the maintenance of this software to ensure that it is up to date. Assists users to effectively utilize the tools.

G. The Division of Information Security and Assurance (S4VG).

1. Interprets SSA and Federal security policies and regulations and directs implementation for the Office of Systems (OS).

2. Establishes and manages the Information Security program for the OS; developing and maintaining consistent and compliant standards and procedures.

3. Establishes and develops the OS Information security awareness and training program and curriculum, including developing and delivering some courses.

4. Provides a focal point for audits and reviews not under the jurisdiction of the DCS audit liaison.

5. Directs and manages the OS activities to support Agency Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP), Critical Federal Infrastructure Protection (CFIP), Certification & Accreditation, FISMA, and HSPD-12.

6. Makes recommendations on security, audit, and internal control issues for all SSA programmatic systems and ensures the implementation of security standards within all areas of component functional responsibilities; Develops standards and methods to improve control and security features based on established standards and cost/benefit considerations.

7. Leads or coordinates reviews of programmatic processes and systems to identify weaknesses in control, audit-ability and security. Makes recommendations for improvement and coordinates activities with other SSA components to ensure that approved recommendations are implemented.

8. Manages and maintains a secure, service-oriented test facility responsible for providing automated support for investigations and audits; conducts special studies and transactional analyses for all levels of SSA management, OIG, GAO and other federal agencies and law enforcement entities.

9. Develops requirements and conducts validation for security and access controls to ensure that appropriate controls have been integrated into SSA’s programmatic systems.

10. Develops, implements and maintains software applications, such as the Top Secret Tracking System (TSTRAC), to support automated control of TOP SECRET security matrix changes and other security related service requests; provides technical assistance and training to users.

11. Manages and coordinates a security program for the Enterprise Software Engineering Facility (ESEF) environment which includes administration, configuration, and management of ESEF security software, control of access to ESEF resources and security auditing; maintenance of the OS Security and Access website; and coordination of security initiatives with other components.

12. Develops and manages the security assessment verification process to support SSA’s Certification and Accreditation process for OS sponsored General Support Systems and Major Applications.

13. Manages and directs the implementation of requests for systems access including TOP SECRET and other SSA-approved access control applications.

14. Manages and directs the implementation of SSA’s HSPD-12 project for the OS; ensures integration of the software development and infrastructure processes into SSA’s OS environment.

15. Directs, develops, and maintains the OESAE COOP program, including periodic testing and training.

16. Directs the Agency’s FISMA program and requirements compliance for the OS.

17. Develops, implements and maintains Tri-Annual Certification (TEC) , a utility that assists managers with assessing accuracy of employee systems access; and the Automated Resource Access System (ARAS), a utility currently under development to assist employees with requesting and processing requests for systems access.

H. The Division of Validation and Testing Technology (S4VH).

1. Designs, develops, implements, and maintains automated test methods, techniques, and procedures, test files, test databases, and tester productivity tools used in the systems-level functional, integration, acceptance and usability testing of SSA’s programmatic, administrative and management information systems.

2. Builds test systems that simulate the target production system within the parameters of SSA’s Electronic Software Engineering Facility using in-house and commercially available software development tools and products.

3. Controls and executes systems-level functional tests of programmatic, administrative, and management information systems; ensures that the correct software versions are under test and provides appropriate test output for evaluation and systems acceptance and certification.

4. Develops test procedure specifications and test design specifications for use in systems-level functional testing.

5. Designs, develops, implements and maintains automated test case design tools for regression testing of mainframe and web-based (intranet) applications.

6. Performs software quality assurance and quality control regarding test coverage and test risk analysis as they relate to management decisions to release new or modified software to the production environment.

7. Develops standards of functional testing and software validation for the Office of Systems.

8. Develops and manages the environment in which functional testing occurs.

9. Develops, implements and maintains the Validation Planning System to support the mandatory requirement to create Validation Plans for SSA developed software.

10. Develops, implements and maintains the Problem and Issues Reporting System (PAIRS) and Validation Transaction Tracking System (VTTS) applications to support the software development and validation environments.

11. Develops and maintains a universal email notification process of systems CICS changes (i.e., Systems’ Change Review for Email Event Notification).

12. Develops and maintains JUDGE (i.e., JAWS Using a Data Generated Environment), a utility that makes CICS screens compatible with the JAWS screen reader, used by the visually impaired staff. This provides an alternative to expensive screen redesign and application changes.

13. Develops and maintains a validation data base (VDB) that is a coordinated collection of data selected from production records, sanitized and used as test cases to fill specific validation equirements.

14. Manages and coordinates the Quality Center and Quick Test Pro test tool environments to support systems-wide client-server and web-based validation testing of software.

I. The Division of Process Engineering, Project and Customer Services (S4VJ).

1. Provides guidance to the Systems organization on the development of improved project management, software development and systems engineering practices.

2. Coordinates the planning and implementation of project management, software development and systems engineering processes and standards.

3. Evaluates process maturity of the Systems organization.

4. Maintains or coordinates a library of organizational process, measurement and engineering assets.

5. Provides oversight for the Systems executive staff on component customer service.

6. Coordinates the evaluation and implementation of the Systems focus on customer service.

7. Provides Information Technology project prioritization support for OESAE areas of responsibility.

8. Maintains the Systems IT Planning Database and related support software.

9. Provides the focus and coordination for OESAE Information Technology planning.

10. Provides process orientation in all areas of DPEPCS responsibility for project managers, team members and sponsor representatives.

11. Assesses new technologies and plans for, acquires and administers information technology and project management training for systems personnel.

12. Maintains and operates the Systems training facilities.

13. Maintains the Systems training data base of Project Management and Technical training curriculums.

14. Develops and implements web-based systems and subsystems to communicate status, progress and problems for all “key” programs/projects.

15. Provides process analysis, re-engineering and web development in support of the Systems Customer Service, Training, Requirements Engineering and Systems Process Improvement (SPI) initiatives.

16. Provides the facility and technical expertise to facilitate on-site and remote electronic meetings.

17. Develops, maintains and provides support to project teams in the execution of requirements engineering and requirements management processes.

18. Provides a wide range of support for knowledge engineering tools used for requirements definition, management and analysis. Support includes defining requirements, procuring, testing, upgrading and integrating requirement support tools into SSA environment and lifecycle.

19. Develops guidelines, procedure manuals and course materials; provides direct consultative services to project teams; assists project teams in generating their lifecycle documentation and reports; and provides ongoing training related to requirements documentation.

20. Manages a modern multi-media center for the Deputy Commissioner for Systems. Schedules and provides technical support for meetings, conferences, teleconferencing/videoconferencing, vendor product demonstrations, etc.

21. Develops multi-media presentations and productions.

22. Provides QA oversight review for the Systems Process Improvement Program.

23. Develops the Systems global software change control policies and practices.

24. Designs, develops, maintains and manages global repositories of systems development life cycle products.

25. Records and reports the status of software change request items and verifies the completeness of life cycle products.

26. Provides life cycle documentation to internal and external auditors on request.

27. Supports the Systems and component recruitment initiatives.

28. Maintains a data base of recruitment candidates for review by Systems components.

J. The Division of Electronic Document Management Systems (S4VK).

1. Serves as the Agency focal point for technologies related to document imaging, electronic document management and records management.

2. Manages the repositories responsible for housing unstructured data such as images, documents, digital recordings plus other types of multimedia.

3. Provides the capability to view and/or manipulate documents housed in image repositories supported by SSA.

4. Provides the capability to capture and index scanned or faxed documents for storage into an image repository.

5. Directs the design and implementation of the architectures needed to efficiently manage and provide access to document images.

6. Provides direction in the design, development and implementation of applications that support software to facilitate interaction between document imaging and applications software.

7. Directs the agency in the design and implementation of an architecture(s) that will sufficiently meet NARA guidelines for proper management of the agency’s official electronic records.

8. Develops the infrastructure to support the architecture for management of the Agency’s official electronic records.

9. Designs and develops the software needed to place any official agency electronic record under the control of a records management system.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4W

OFFICE OF RETIREMENT AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE SYSTEMS

I. Mission

The Office of Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (ORSIS) is responsible for programmatic and management information systems which support the Nation’s Retirement and Survivors Insurance program and Medicare enrollment, including initial claims, post-entitlement, payments, audit, integrity review, Treasury operations and notices. ORSIS designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automation needs in the broad area of title II programmatic processes for such areas as earnings, eligibility/entitlement, redeterminations, subsidy determinations, pay/computations and debt management. The Office is responsible for long-range planning and analysis to modify existing systems and define new systems for ORSIS in support of the Agency’s mission and operational and management information needs. ORSIS evaluates the effect of proposed legislation, policies, regulations and management initiatives to determine the impact on these systems and develops requirements and procedures to implement required changes. ORSIS is responsible for both programmatic and management information applications through each stage of the systems lifecycle, including: determining automation solutions for user needs; developing software specifications; designing and developing software programs; testing and validating systems against user-defined requirements; conducting post-implementation reviews; implementing security standards; and maintaining a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of systems requirements, specifications and software documentation. Procedures and instructions are developed to support users in effectively implementing all systems.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W).

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W).

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W).

D. The Division of Notices and Management Information Systems (S4WA).

E. The Division of Payments and Accounting (S4WB).

F. The Division of Medicare Processes and Title II Sypport (S4WC).

G. The Division of Title II Processing (S4WE).

H. The Division of Title II Control and Queries (S4WG).

I. The Division of Title II Release Services (S4WH).

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems, for carrying out the ORSIS mission and providing general supervision to the major components of ORSIS.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems (S4W) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner with administrative staff assistance, technology leadership, systems security support, project management and customer relations support on the full range of their responsibilities.

D. The Division of Notices and Management Information Systems (S4WA).

1. Designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the broad area of specialized support for Notices.

2. Provides support for notice language development and maintenance, notice generation and formatting, manual notice processing and notice storage and retrieval.

3. Develops SSA-wide work measurement and performance management systems, as well as component work measurement systems for the field, State agencies and Regional Program and Integrity Review offices.

4. Develops audit and analyses of management information systems and reports to ensure adherence to users' and Agency needs, Federal and SSA guidelines and integrity standards.

5. Plans, develops and coordinates management information policy and integration among all involved SSA components, and plans for the transition to, and integration with, current SSA automated information systems and with those of the future.

6. Designs, develops, coordinates and implements new management information application systems and enhancements to existing systems which include workload management, work measurement, program demographics, earnings and employee/employer statistics, support quality assurance, audit, investigations, action tracking, and actuarial activities.

7. Designs, develops and implements enterprise-wide assignment tracking and document management applications in the IWS/LAN environment.

8. Develops systems to support the quality assurance and quality control reviews performed by the Office of Quality Assurance and Performance Assessment at the central office, regional office and satellite office level.

9. Manages the planning, validation and implementation of the broad range of systems, methods and procedures necessary to support the administrative or programmatic management information systems processes.

10. Performs user needs analyses and develops detailed functional requirements for SSA’s mainframe and client server programmatic and administrative systems.

11. Manages ORSIS’ project management process; provides standards, procedures, training and technical assistance to project managers.

E. The Division of Payments and Accounting (S4WB).

1. Responsible for the planning and analysis, design, development, testing, validation, implementation and evaluation of programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, new or redesigned software, instructions, procedures and standards needed to support title II infrastructure, Master Beneficiary Record updates, payments & accounting and debt management.

2. Designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or revised software to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the area of data gathering, data base establishment and maintenance for programmatic post-entitlement, payments, debt management and Treasury operations.

3. Designs software to edit transactions, control in-process and stored transactions, produce monthly benefit payment information and yearly benefit payment statements and provide Treasury data.

4. Manages the planning, validation and implementation of the broad range of systems methods and procedures necessary to maintain payment and accounting systems.

5. Performs user needs analysis and develops detailed functional requirements for SSA’s title II mainframe systems. Conducts liaison with other SSA components and Federal agencies to determine feasibility and to plan development and implementation activities.

F. The Division of Medicare Processesa and Title II Support (S4WC).

1. Responsible for planning, analysis, design, development, testing, validation, implementation and evaluation of programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, new or redesigned software, instructions, procedures, and standards (including security and fraud detection), for title II (RSI) initial claims and post-entitlement systems processing. Also responsible for enrollment, withdrawal, termination, redeterminations, subsidy determinations, Income Related Monthly Adjusted Amounts (IRMAA) and data exchange actions for title XVIII Medicare. Coordinates such processes with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).

2. Plans and conducts unit tests and system-wide functional validation tests of newly developed title II and title XVIII systems software, and modifications to existing systems software, against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures of both CMS and SSA.

3. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development (the systems Information Technology (IT) Plans) as they relate to title II initial claims and post-entitlement and to title XVIII Medicare systems. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of all SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

4. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation and requirements specifications, software libraries, and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria, and certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

5. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for title II initial claims and post-entitlement systems and title XVIII Medicare systems. Prepares and performs service impact assessments, and software development plans for title II initial claims and post-entitlement systems and title XVIII Medicare systems.

6. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations, and policy changes affecting the title II initial claims and post-entitlement systems processes, and title XVIII Medicare systems processes. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on short-term and long-range plans.

7. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing title II initial claims and post-entitlement process, or title XVIII Medicare systems processes, with representatives of other Office of Systems components and other Agencies.

8. Coordinates user requirements and software delivery with SSA central and field offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

G. The Division of Title II Processing (S4WE).

1. Designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA's automated data processing needs in the broad area of title II (Retirement and Survivors) programmatic processes for such areas as earnings eligibility/ entitlement and pay/computations.

2. Provides the software to process the annual benefit rate increase (BRI)
for all title II beneficiaries, the automated earning reappraisal operations (AERO) and the earnings enforcement operations.

3. Provides certified earnings records for the field offices and outside agencies.

4. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for title II initial claims and post-entitlement systems. Prepares and performs service impact assessments and software development plans for title II initial claims and post-entitlement systems.

H. The Division of Title II Control and Queries (S4WG).

1. Designs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automated data processing needs in the broad area of RSDI processing including batch transaction processing, PSC Action Control and data exchange for other SSA and non-SSA systems.

2. Designs software to edit incoming new records and transactions; control in-process transactions including PSC Action Control and ODAR Case Control.

3. Develops queries and extracts software to retrieve and display transactions and Master Beneficiary Record-related data both in on-line and off-line environments.

4. Develops software to suspend benefits and produce alerts and notices for prisoners and pay bounties to prisons.

5. Develops software to update and maintain a variety of records which provide management, statistical and actuarial study data including epidemiological information.

I. The Division of Title II Release Services (S4WH).

1. Researches industry and the Office of Systems for tools and best practices to improve ORSIS’ business practices.

2. Develops and maintains ORSIS’ “toolkit” of processes and best practices for developing quality software projects.

3. Represents ORSIS and provides expertise on inter-component and inter-agency teams for process and tool integration.

4. Develop ORSIS’ strategy for compliance with external authorities and standards (e.g., Architecture Review Board (ARB), Chief Information Officer (CIO) and industry).

5. Provides guidance to project team design discussions, identifying opportunities for core services applications.

6. Ensures that software engineering standards and Software Process Improvement (SPI) documentation requirements are being followed.

7. Provides customer support standards for increased user involvement in planning, construction and validation lifecycle phases.

8. Coordinates release software migration through the development testing, validation, training and integration environments with Systems partners.

9. Provides consistent and timely management information regarding software defects for software releases.

10. Facilitates post-implementation reviews for ORSIS.

SSA ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Subchapter S4X

OFFICE OF DISABILITY SYSTEMS

I. Mission

The Office of Disability Systems (ODS) is responsible for the design, development and maintenance of information technology requirements to meet SSA’s Disability Program needs including the electronic disability, and the hearings/appeals processes. ODS directs, develops, coordinates and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA’s automation needs for such areas as electronic disability collection system, the ODAR Case Processing and Management System, continuing disability reviews, integrated disability management system, national and state disability determination services and electronic forms. ODS is responsible for a variety of phases in the systems development life cycle. These responsibilities include determining automated solutions for user needs, developing software systems specifications, analyzing existing computer applications, preparing recommendations (including costs and benefits of alternatives), software design and development, testing and validating systems, implementing security standards, documenting systems, accepting systems on behalf of SSA's user community and conducting post-installation evaluation. ODS is responsible for long-range planning and analyses to define new and improved systems processes in support of agency needs and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system requirement specifications and software programs. ODS implements systems required by new legislation, regulations and SSA policy directives. Based on input from users, ODS translates organizational information requirements and priorities into plans and develops and maintains systems plans. ODS validates computer programs that are part of SSA's large, integrated, programmatic systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria, and approves the resulting system for operational acceptance. It develops procedures and instructions to support user needs in effective implementation of all disability processes.

II. Organization

A. The Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (S4X)

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (S4X)

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (S4X)

D. The Division of Disability Processing Systems (S4XA)

E. The Division of Disability Systems and Implementation (S4XB)

F. The Division of Disability Post Entitlement and Documentation (S4XC)

G. The Division of Electronic Processing Support (S4XE)

III. Functions

A. The Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (ODS) (S4X) is directly responsible to the Deputy Commissioner, Systems, for carrying out the ODS mission and providing general supervision to the major components of ODS.

B. The Deputy Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (S4X) assists the Associate Commissioner in carrying out his/her responsibilities and performs other duties as the Associate Commissioner may prescribe.

C. The Immediate Office of the Associate Commissioner for Disability Systems (S4X) provides the Associate Commissioner and Deputy Associate Commissioner with administrative staff assistance, technology leadership, planning and customer relations support on the full range of their responsibilities. Supports individual State Disability Determination Services offices automated systems development by establishing national practices and contracts and optional local area software. Evaluates State Disability Determination Services development requests with the objective of integrating State efforts into overall SSA automation plans.

D. The Division of Disability Processing Systems (S4XA)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA Disability Program needs. Also, evaluates programmatic information and data requirements, writes functional specifications, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) for the Disability program.

2. With the technical assistance of other Office of Systems components, plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

4. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation, source code for programmatic software and requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria and certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

5. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs, determines system design alternatives and documents requirements for automated data processing services for Disability.

6. Coordinates user requirements with all SSA offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

7. Resolves systems discrepancies and performance issues for all SSA and DDS offices, Federal and State. The State DDS systems interface with SSA central systems. The division is responsible for testing and validation of applications software that exchanges the required disability data between the offices involved.

8. Builds software in accordance with agency and federal standards including CMM and Section 508 compliancy.

Division of Disability Systems and Implementation (S4XB)

2. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, and implements new or redesigned software to meet SSA Disability Program needs. Also, evaluates programmatic information and data requirements, writes functional specifications, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) for the Disability program, including service to the State Disability Determination Services (DDS) offices.

3. Plans and conducts unit testing, integrated testing and unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

4. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development as they relate to Disability program case processing. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

5. Supports individual State Disability Determination Service offices automated systems testing, training and acceptance by establishing national procedures and providing direct assistance in conducting testing. The Division evaluates State Disability Determination Services development requests with the objective of integrating State efforts into overall SSA automation plans.

6. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability.

7. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting Disability software. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

8. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing Disability processes with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

F. The Division of Disability Post Entitlement and Documentation (S4XC)

1. With the technical assistance of the OESAE, plans and conducts unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

2. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development as they relate to disability. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of all SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

3. Develops and maintains a comprehensive, updated and integrated set of system documentation, source code for programmatic software and requirements specifications and validation tests of systems changes against user requirements and performance criteria and certifies that changes are in conformance with specifications for assigned areas of responsibility.

4. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs, determines system design alternatives and documents requirements for automated data processing services for Disability.

5. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting disability. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

6. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing disability process with representatives of other Office of Systems components.

7. Coordinates user requirements with SSA central and field offices and Federal and State agencies to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of program information needs and overall systems support.

8. Resolves systems discrepancies and performance issues for all DDS offices, Federal and State. The State DDS systems interface with SSA central systems. The division is responsible for testing and validation of applications software that exchanges the required disability data between the offices involved.

G. The Division of Electronic Processing Support (S4XE)

1. Plans, analyzes, designs, develops, tests, validates, implements and evaluates programmatic data requirements, functional specifications, procedures, instructions and standards (including security and fraud detection) in conformance with SSA’s software engineering environment for Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability.

2. Plans and conducts unit testing, integrated testing and unit and system-wide functional validation tests of newly-developed systems and modifications to existing systems against user-defined requirements and performance criteria. Certifies that the changes are in conformance with functional specifications and with Agency regulations, policies, and procedures.

3. Participates in the development, maintenance and coordination of the overall approved SSA plans for fulfilling short-term and long-range programmatic system development as they relate to Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability. This includes determining, classifying and ranking systems needs of all SSA components, and recommending final priorities for approval.

5. Performs requirement analyses, defining SSA-approved user needs and requirements for automated data processing services for Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability.

6. Evaluates legislative proposals, regulations and policy changes affecting Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability software. Reports on the impact to those processes as well as on the short- and long-range plans.

7. Intercedes on behalf of users in resolving system discrepancies and errors relating to the existing Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Disability processes with representatives of other Office of Systems components.


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Organizational Structure of the Social Security Administration

I. The Division of Earnings Correction and Use (S4SH).

Organizational Structure of the
Social Security Administration