Human services, Massachusetts social services, Massachusetts DCF, Department of Children and Families, DCF mobile strategies, mobile social workers, human services workers, human services mobile strategy

1. Massachusetts Department
of Children and Families
Mobile Strategy

2. 2Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Massachusetts Department of
Children and Families (MA DCF)
employs more than 2,500 social
workers. On any given day, these
resources work with more than
50,000 Massachusetts children
and their families.
Massachusetts Department of Children and Families overview

3. 3Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Every day, human services
workers—including the child welfare
workforce—connect with people
during visits, in the car, at court
and from home. When your office
is everywhere and face-to-face
connections mean everything,
mobile devices are more than
cool gadgets; they are lifelines
for delivering human
services outcomes.
MA DCF and mobile

4. 4Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Accenture began by assessing MA DCF’s existing capabilities and learned that:
Accenture studied the landscape / opportunities
There was broad social
worker & management
support for mobile
technologies
MA DCF’s social
workers were tapping
into only a subset of
the potential benefits
of existing devices
Creative ideas and
best practices were
not being shared
More definition was
needed regarding how
best to use mobile
devices at work
Supervisors needed
support in learning
how to lead and
manage via mobile

5. 5Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
The Accenture team created
an actionable blueprint that:
Accenture’s mobile solution
• Defined a ‘future-state’ governance model
• Integrated with MA DCF’s underlying
IT and operational infrastructure
• Defined the capabilities needed to
maintain a long-term mobile model
• Designed the agency’s roadmap for
bringing the mobile program to life

6. 6Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
MA DCF’s mobile program:
The mobile benefit
Provides an opportunity to strengthen the safety net,
keeping children safe and families strong
Increases compliance and communication by
enabling workers in the field to enter data in real time
Improves contacts and engagement between social
workers and families
Enables more collaboration with
colleagues and families
Gives social workers immediate access to
information on a family’s case
Provides timely and efficient access
to information and services

7. 7Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
MA DCF’s mobile program:
The business outcome for the department
Establishes mobile as a meaningful
component of future agency operations
Is contributing to the responsible
stewardship of Commonwealth
information and resources
Positions Massachusetts Department
of Children and Families as a leading
human services agency nationally

8. 8Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
Five lessons for any human services agency
Look beyond the device—focus on the mission.
Agencies must develop mobile workforce programs with
a perspective on how mobile can drive the mission forward,
tying mobile metrics to case practice metrics.
Bring the office to the field—break down the walls.
Now that the human services workforce has mobile devices to
interact, communicate, report and serve, traditional in-office
mandates can be too limiting.
Think infrastructure—not just tools.
As human services agencies make mobile the main technology
platform for the workforce, hardware and software investments
must reflect this fact.
Look beyond your agency—don’t go it alone.
Departments across all levels of government are focused on
mobility. This creates an opportunity to look outside individual
agency boundaries for support.
Get input from the field—early and often.
The human services workforce knows best when it comes
to mobile devices. As such, agencies should start with the
field—what do social workers need?
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9. 9Copyright © 2016 Accenture All rights reserved.
To learn more about how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of
Children and Families took steps to maximize the potential of mobile human
services technology, read Forging a new model for a mobile-enabled workforce.