TOBDNCNG@aol.com Member
Posts: 100
Joined: Jan 2004
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Monday June 09, 2008 2:23 PM
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The latest announcement about EAMS.
Newsline 33-08
June 9, 2008
Division of Workers Compensation to begin testing the Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS) at district offices June 27.
The Division of Workers Compensation (DWC) will start a series of pilot tests for its Electronic Adjudication Management System (EAMS) on Friday, June 27. Testing will take place during regular business hours at DWCs 24 statewide district offices between June and August.
EAMS has just passed through a series of rigorous tests in an internal test environment, said DWC Court Administrator Keven Star. Now its time to take it into the field and see how it performs in an environment almost identical to the real world. This is the equivalent to what many people are referring to as the beta testing.
Between March and May of 2008, EAMS underwent user-acceptance testing (UAT), during which a group of DWC employees began testing EAMS at headquarters in Oakland. The UAT process put the system through its paces using test data. In the pilot process, EAMS will be tested using real data provided by around 40 external users whove volunteered to participate. The external user pilot group includes law firms, claims administrators and injured workers.
Because real case information and transactions are being used to test EAMS in the pilot, the DWC is conducting parallel processing, in which the data is simultaneously being processed by EAMS and captured in the current system of record, which allows the cases being used to continue moving through the system.
Our staff will not only do a regular workload in the WCAB on-line computer system but will also process about 20 percent of identical beta test work in the EAMS environment during pilot, said Star. Because of this, and because EAMS will be new for our staff, those who use the services of the district offices should expect some minor delays. We ask for patience as we move our antiquated system into the 21st century.
Prior to the pilot period at each district office, DWC employees in those offices will participate in training to learn the new system. During DWC employee traininga vital step toward successful implementationall offices will remain open. Judges will be available for walk-through of settlements, and hearings and trials will be set, but at a reduced level. Half of the judges will be in training each day and the other half will be in the district offices.
Expedited hearings will continue to be scheduled as a priority. During training, DWC expects to continue to hold such hearings and issue decisions within 30 days from the filing of a Declaration of Readiness to Proceed as required by the Labor Code.
DWC has chosen its busiest office, Van Nuys, as one of the first to be tested in the pilot period to get a sense of challenges posed by EAMS implementation. As with the introduction of any new process or system some slowdown is anticipated. However, subsequent to the pilots DWC will have an opportunity to assess and address any problems or glitches in the system long before the internal go-live date of Aug. 25.
The first pilot tests are scheduled at the Oakland, Redding, San Francisco and Van Nuys district offices on June 27. The tests will conclude July 11.
The second set of tests will begin July 21 in Anaheim, Grover Beach, Goleta, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Marina del Rey, San Bernardino (call center only), and Santa Ana. The tests will conclude July 25.
The third set of tests will begin July 28 in Fresno, Sacramento and San Diego and conclude August 1.
The fourth and final offices tested will be Bakersfield, Eureka, Oxnard, Pomona, Riverside, Salinas, San Bernardino (district office only), San Jose, Santa Rosa and Stockton between August 11 and 15.
The full training and pilot schedule for all offices was also distributed in the May edition of EAMS Insider, the divisions EAMS newsletter.
EAMS is a computer-based program that will improve the workers compensation system by replacing the divisions outdated court technology and supporting infrastructure with a modern case management application.
For more information about EAMS, point your browser to the DWCs EAMS Web page which includes an overview of the system and the newsletter EAMS Insider.
Glowing,
Marygrace~
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