Faster help for citizens in crisis

The Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services was facing a challenge with its 20+ year-old mainframe application. The Ministry processes more than 80,000 cases per year, serving citizens via ministry departments and local authorities, associations and organizations. The legacy system was developed 20 years ago using Natural, Natural Construct and Adabas. The Ministry was using 20+ year-old, green-screen application technology and there was no way to open it up to the municipalities using the internet. The hundreds of municipalities that handled the cases had to file them with the Ministry through a mostly manual process. This slowed the processing down and sometimes left people at risk. Paper forms were being passed from the municipalities to the Ministry and back again, often requiring five different signatures for approval each time. Some individual cases took up to six months to process and, sometimes, cases would get completely lost in the shuffle.

The Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services is a government body that assists people in crisis. Whether it is a disabled citizen seeking urgent housing, or a person who is being discriminated against, the Ministry is there to help. With a population of more than 9 million that is ethnically and spiritually diverse, Israel’s standard of living is significantly higher than many other countries in the region. Nevertheless, the country still has issues with employment and social welfare which must be dealt with expeditiously. This falls to the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services. The Ministry receives tens of thousands of requests from citizens for assistance each year. Departments from Developmental Mental Disability to Social Services and Youth at Risk are served by the Ministry. And often, there are situations that have to be dealt with urgently.