Dictionary

Casework services provided by employment officers, counselors, or specialists, usually at local employment offices, often with individualized action plans (IAPs), co-responsibilities, and monitoring of progress on IAPs and compliance with co-responsibilities.

(aka workfare programs)

Programs that typically provide cash benefits (such as unemployment benefits or social assistance) with monitored individualized action plans and co-responsibilities (such as availability to work, job search, participation in ALMPs).

Interventions aimed at the improvement of the beneficiaries’ prospects of finding gainful employment, in other words, to enhance their employability. They typically include training, services and incentives to promote entrepreneurships or start-ups, job creation (including public works), wage subsidies to incentivize hiring of unemployed workers, first-time job seekers, disabled workers, or other target groups.

The Administrative divisions of the social services (usually Municipalities or smaller divisions like the Italian "Municipi").

(aka supply-driven approach or en masse registration approach)

Approaches sometimes used to register groups of households to be assessed and considered for potential inclusion in one or more programs. Three key features characterize administrator-driven approaches: (1) the impetus for initiating the engagement is driven by administrators, not the people being registered (state ≥ people); (2) registration is usually carried out en masse (groups or cohorts of households); and (3) timing: the timetable for administrator-driven approaches is typically driven by financing and capacity, not by the timing or needs of specific households. See also the on-demand approach.

Individuals, families, or households who apply for benefits and services at their own initiative. See also registrants.

A set of functions and procedures for integrating application components. APIs allow software applications to communicate with each other without having to know how they are implemented.

Source: Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems

Or

IBM has a more detailed and tech-oriented definition: An application programming interface, or API, enables companies to open up their applications’ data and functionality to external third-party developers, business partners, and internal departments within their companies. This allows services and products to communicate with each other and leverage each other’s data and functionality through a documented interface. Developers don't need to know how an API is implemented; they simply use the interface to communicate with other products and services. API use has surged over the past decade, to the degree that many of the most popular web applications today would not be possible without APIs.

Source: What is an Application Programming Interface (API) | IBM

Systematic processes for determining the needs and conditions of registered individuals, families, or households for the purposes of (1) determining potential eligibility for specific programs and/or (2) informing the determination of benefits and services that may be rendered by the programs.

The focus of an intervention. It can be an individual, a family, or a household.

Process of establishing confidence that a person is who they claim to be. Digital authentication generally involves a person electronically presenting one or more “authentication factors” to “assert” their identity—that is, to prove that they are the same person to whom the identity or credential was originally issued.

Individuals, families, or households who are enrolled in a program which are recipients of a benefit or service.

A database of beneficiaries of a social protection program. It is also a component of the beneficiary operations management system. These beneficiary registries contain information on program beneficiaries. Registries that contain information on beneficiaries of multiple programs are known as integrated beneficiary registries.

Something tangible that is given by social protection programs to individuals, families, or households. They may be in the form of cash transfers or in-kind (such as food stamps, food rations, and subsidies). They may be noncontributory social assistance programs that are financed by general revenues, or they may be financed by direct contributions as a form of social insurance.

The term "case management" is particularly problematic as it is used differently by various professions (for example, by social workers, health care workers, and IT specialists). Further, some may use the term “case management” to mean what we call beneficiary operations management. Some practitioners use the term case management to mean social work (covering awareness, intermediation, referrals, and counseling).

Others use the term to refer to an integrated approach to managing clients all along the delivery chain (through the entire “life of the case,” as some practitioners call it). To avoid confusion, we avoid the term.

Source: book on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems

or

A process to plan, seek, advocate for, and monitor services from different social services or health care organizations and staff on behalf of a client. The process enables social workers in an organization, or in different organizations, to coordinate their efforts to serve a given client through professional teamwork, thus expanding the range of needed services offered. Case management limits problems arising from fragmentation of services, staff turnover, and inadequate coordination among providers. Case management can occur within a single, large organization or within a community program that coordinates services among settings (Barker, 2003)-

Source: NASW Standards

Money distributed to individuals, families, or households. Cash transfers are direct, regular, and predictable noncontributory cash payments that help beneficiaries to raise and smooth incomes. The term encompasses a range of instruments (e.g., social pensions, child grants, public works programs, unconditional or conditional cash transfers, etc.) and a spectrum of design, implementation, and financing options.

A targeting mechanism in which eligibility is defined for groups of the population on the basis of specific observable characteristics, such as age. Examples include social pensions for the elderly, child allowances, birth allowances, family allowances, and orphan benefits.

A cash benefit provided to families based on the presence and number of children in the family. The benefit may vary by the ordinal position of the child, the age of the child, or the employment status of the parent. Eligibility can be universal or based on an assessment of socioeconomic status (such as means testing).

Services provided for the protection of children who are at risk of, or experiencing, neglect (physical or emotional) or abuse (physical, sexual, or emotional). The focus is on the safety of the child, but support may also be provided to parents or other family members to strengthen families and promote safe, nurturing homes for the children.

Financial support provided by a nonresident, noncustodial parent for the support of a child.

Social services for children at-risk and their families, including child protective services, adoption and foster care, family preservation, and care services (home, community, or residential/ institutional care).

Out-of-home care of children, usually for children under compulsory school age, or of primary-school age children when school is not in session. Childcare services include preschool, childcare centers, day care in providers’ homes, and before- and after-school services.

The continuous, permanent, compulsory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (e.g., live births, deaths, fetal deaths, marriages, and divorces) and other civil status events pertaining to the population as provided by decree, law, or regulation, in accordance with the legal requirements in each country.

The term client refers to the individual or family who is the recipient of case management services—in other words, whose goals, needs, and strengths constitute the primary focus of case management. (Within these standards, client often refers to an individual; the term family may be substituted if applicable, however.) Each organization’s mission usually defines its clientele; funding sources may also play a role in this determination. In some practice settings or case management models, beneficiary, consumer, patient, peer, resident, or other terms may be used in lieu of client. The client system includes both the client and members of the client’s support network (such as family members, friends, religious communities, or service providers).

The physical or digital access point or interaction between people (individuals, families, and households) and social protection delivery systems.

A mechanism by which local communities are given discretion to determine which individuals, families, or households will be selected as beneficiaries of a particular program—or to determine which would be registered into a social registry for further assessment of their needs and conditions and eventual consideration for potential eligibility in social programs.

Compliance refers to the carrying out of specific conditionalities or co-responsibilities required for participation in the program by beneficiaries. Noncompliance refers to the failure to carry out said conditionalities.

The period in each conditionalities monitoring cycle during which beneficiaries would be observed for compliance monitoring (in other words, when they would be expected to comply).

A performance indicator that measures the number of individuals complying with required conditionalities for a program (numerator) as a share (%) of total individuals monitored (denominator). This indicator is usually monitored for individuals within a specific categorical group, such as school-age children, pregnant/lactating mothers, and so on.

The time period during which compliance verification processing is carried out within each conditionalities monitoring cycle. The allotted period may differ from the actual time taken to carry out all the steps, which would be measured through a process evaluation (and could be more or less than the time allotted).

The process of verifying that beneficiaries have complied with program conditionalities. This process could include preparation and distribution of beneficiary lists; gathering, recording, entering, processing, and transmittal of data on compliance (or on noncompliance); and taking decisions as to whether beneficiaries have complied with the conditionalities.

Social assistance programs that make receipt of benefits conditional upon beneficiary actions (such as school attendance or health care visits), typically with the objectives of reducing poverty and providing incentives for investing in human capital.

Conditionalities (aka “co-responsibilities”). The set of obligations that each beneficiary household must comply with in order to continue receiving cash benefits. Common examples include school attendance, health visits, and labor/work efforts.

The monitoring of beneficiary household members’ compliance with conditionalities and processing of associated data. This is the “umbrella term” that covers compliance monitoring periods and compliance verification periods/processes.

The recurring period that begins with the latest roster of beneficiary households, with information on pertinent family members (inputs), and ends with a revised beneficiary roster that updates with information on compliance for that cycle, as well as any decisions on consequences for noncompliance (outputs), which would link back to the payroll for the next payment cycle (outputs). The conditionalities monitoring cycle includes both the compliance period and the compliance verification period.

A performance indicator that measures the number of individuals for which the program monitors conditionalities compliance information (numerator) as a share (percent) of total individuals in that category (denominator). This indicator is usually monitored for individuals within a specific categorical group, such as school-age children, pregnant/ lactating mothers, and so on.

“The process by which individuals and systems respond respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, languages, classes, races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and other diversity factors [including, but not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, and family status] in a manner that recognizes, affirms, and values the worth of individuals, families, and communities and protects and preserves the dignity of each” (NASW, 2007, pp. 12–13).

Culture influences the values, perceptions, and goals every social worker and client brings to case management. Cultural identification may include, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, and national origin; migration background, degree of acculturation, and documentation status; socioeconomic class; age; gender, gender identity, and gender expression; sexual orientation; family status; spiritual, religious, and political belief or affiliation; physical, psychiatric, and cognitive ability; and literacy, including health, behavioral health, and financial literacy.

or homegrown software or bespoke software.

Software developed specifically for an organization or user.

Includes configuration, modification, and enhancements made to the software application.

• Configuration. The process of selecting from an assortment of options, such as defining values of parameters in a software package, without writing specific code to meet requirements of the application.
• Enhancement. The process of adding program code or program modules to provide additional functionality to software. It does not alter existing processes. It adds to them.
• Modification. The process of changing program code to alter the existing form of processing. Modifications may be discouraged and unsupported by packaged software vendors, and in many cases the code may not be accessible. It can cause problems when the organization decides to install an upgraded version of the software.

A value or set of values representing a specific concept or concepts. Data becomes “information” when analyzed and possibly combined with other data in order to extract meaning and to provide context. The meaning of data can vary depending on its context and is often used interchangeably with information.

Helps you find answers to a set of defined questions. It includes the generation, aggregation, analysis, and visualization of data to inform and facilitate business management and strategy. Includes data visualization, data mining, reporting, time series analysis (including predictive techniques), online analytical processing (OLAP), and statistical analysis.

Combines data from different sources and provides users with a unified view of these data for service integration. When services are provided by multiple suppliers, the service integration challenge is to seamlessly integrate them into end-to-end services that operate as a single IT service delivery model. Data integration involves the practice of applying architectural techniques and tools to provide access and delivery of data with varied data types and structures in order to meet the data needs of the applications and business processes within an organization.

Helps find answers you did not know you were looking for beforehand. An analytical process that attempts to find correlations or patterns in large data sets for the purpose of data or knowledge discovery.13 A famous legend from the retail industry was the discovery that men between ages 30 and 40 who purchased diapers on a Friday night would most likely also have beer in their cart, which led the retailer to move diapers and beer closer to each other. Data mining has now upgraded to “big data.”

The appropriate and permissioned use and governance of personal data.

The securing of collected information. Data protection is fundamental to ensuring data privacy. Data privacy, a process and legal matter, focuses on who has authorized access, whereas data protection is more a technical matter.

Quality control processes to ensure that data are valid (complete, accurate, and consistent). It is the process of comparing data with a set of rules to find out if data are reasonable. There are many types of data validation, including the following: Format check. Data are formatted correctly (e.g., date format of dd/mm/yyyy). Presence check. Data has been entered into a field. Range check. Value falls within the specified range (e.g., IB grades can only range between 0 and 7). Type check. Correct data type has been entered (e.g., age should be a number).

Quality control processes to ensure that data values match information in other administrative systems (via cross-checking). It is the process of checking that the data entered exactly matches the original/ authoritative source to find out if data are accurate.

A subject-oriented, nonvolatile, time-variant collection of data in support of management’s decisions. It typically draws its content from a large number of operational and external databases and uses a federated architecture approach for implementation.

A large organized collection of information that is accessed via software.

A software package designed to define, manipulate, retrieve, and manage data in a database.14 It has four components: an application programming interface (API), a query interface, an administrative interface, and an underlying set of data access programs and subroutines. Application programs never access the physical data store directly. They tell an appropriate DBMS interface what data they need to read and write, using names defined in the schema.

A technique to detect duplicate identity records. Biometric data—including fingerprints and iris scans—are commonly used to de-duplicate identities in order to identify false or inconsistent identity claims and to establish uniqueness.

Assignment of policy responsibility and/or decision-making authority to a subnational (state, regional) or local (municipality, county) level of government from a higher level of government (including a transfer of such responsibilities from central to subnational or from subnational to local).

The process whereby a central organization transfers some of its responsibilities to lower-level units within its jurisdiction.

Social protection (including labor) benefits and services pass through common implementation phases along the delivery chain, including outreach, intake and registration, assessment of needs and conditions, eligibility and enrollment decisions, determination of benefits or service package, notification and onboarding, provision of payments or services, and beneficiary operations management.

A management tool for mapping the sequencing of implementation processes across actors (institutions) or levels of government. Important for establishing uniqueness and clarity of roles, and useful for mapping the “as-is” processes and potential “to-be” vision for reforms. In addition to mapping the sequencing by actor, there may be a time dimension (calendar of implementation cycles).

The individual in the beneficiary family or household who is designated as the grantee or recipient of benefits when they are paid out (for authentication and payment purposes). A designated recipient should be named for all benefits for which the assistance unit is a group (family or household). A designated recipient may also be needed for individual-based benefits if the beneficiary requires some guardian to act on their behalf (such as with orphans or severely disabled individuals).

When individuals, families, or households are presenting themselves in a Social Services service point (usually a Municipality office), seeking assistance, benefits, services, information or orientation, their registration (intake) in the system is direct. In this scenario, the user of the system (intake worker, reception or even a case manager), registers the information of the individual(s) in the system and depending on the case management methodology a case may be created. During the direct registration, the system may take advantage of any existing interoperable registry (e.g. Social Registry, Citizens registry, etc).
This scenario of direct registration or intake, is different from the indirect registration or intake where the individual(s) is referred to the system by another system with electronic means (files import or interoperability). Sometimes the indirect registration is completed with additional information that is typed-in by the user at a later stage in the workflow (e.g. when they start the case management).

Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others (International Labour Organization). An individual with a disability is defined as a person who (1) has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; (2) has a record of such an impairment; or (3) is regarded as having such an impairment.

An integrated collection of databases that is physically distributed across sites in a computer network. A distributed database management system (DDBMS) is the software system that manages a distributed database such that the distribution aspects are transparent to the users.

Data that changes as a result of an event (a transaction). The data have a time dimension, a numerical value, and refer to one or more reference data objects such as orders, invoices, and payments.

It is central to the performance of delivery systems. As defined by the OECD/DAC (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development/ Development Assistance Committee) evaluation criteria, effectiveness is a measure of the extent to which a program or activity attains its objective. In this Sourcebook, an effective system is not only one that reaches, registers, and provides benefits and services to most of the intended population, but is also a system that is inclusive because it accommodates the specific needs of vulnerable populations and those who face access barriers. Consequently, the evaluation criterion of inclusion is embedded within effectiveness to reflect this logic.

Another important dimension of the performance of delivery systems, albeit one that is difficult to measure. Ensuring that outcomes are achieved at reasonable costs, including moving clients through the various phases of the delivery chain at minimal cost in terms of time and money both for administrators and clients, is critical to evaluating performance. Alternative measures of efficiency include processing times for various phases or stages along the delivery chain.

A state in which individuals, families, or households are entitled or qualified to receive a benefit or service because they satisfy certain criteria.

Factors used to determine whether an individual, family, or household is eligible (inclusion criteria) or not eligible (exclusion criteria) to participate in a program.

Measures aimed at enabling people with disabilities to secure, retain, and advance in suitable employment and thereby to further such person’s integration or reintegration into society. Rehabilitation covers measures providing rehabilitation for persons with a reduced working capacity (temporary or permanent) and that aim to help participants adjust to their disability or condition and develop competencies that prepare them to move on to work. Rehabilitation refers to vocational rehabilitation only.

Services provided to job seekers, the unemployed or inactive, disabled workers, or others to help them find gainful employment. They typically include: (1) self-service online tools; (2) job search and placement services; (3) casework and career coaching services often guided by: Individual Action Plans (IAPs); (3) career counseling services and vocational advice; (4) other specialized services.

Takes delivery chain process mapping to an even deeper level by mapping the sequence of all process steps (detailed) plus the actors, inputs, and resources, and time taken for each step—for all phases along the delivery chain (end to end).

Decisions taken by social program administrators to admit individuals, families, and/or households into that specific program. Those decisions usually consider the assessment of needs and conditions, eligibility criteria, as well as other program-specific factors (such as fiscal space).

Can be considered as a superset of business, data, application, and technology architecture. See TOGAF for more detail.

• Application architecture. A description of the structure and interaction of the applications as groups of capabilities that provide key business functions and manage the data assets.
• Data architecture. A description of the structure and interaction of the enterprise’s major types and sources of data, logical data assets, physical data assets, and data management resources.
• Technology architecture. A description of the structure and interaction of the technology services and technology components.

Error is an unintentional violation of program or benefit rules that results in the wrong benefit amount being paid or in payment to an ineligible applicant.

A family is defined for operational purposes as “a group of two people or more related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.” See also a similar concept: household

See child allowance.

Family involvement in case management varies greatly across client populations and practice settings. The term family is defined by each individual and may refer to family of origin, spouses or domestic partners, children, extended family, friends, community elders, or other individuals who support the client participating in case management services. Similar to individual case management clients, family members may cross the life span from childhood to advanced age. Families may support each other emotionally, financially, medically, physically, practically, socially, and spiritually. They may also provide assistance with decision making related to health care, support services, financial or legal matters, and life span planning. Such support, which individuals and families may or may not identify as caregiving, may be provided on an intermittent, part-time, or full-time basis and at close proximity or at a distance from the client participating in case management services. Furthermore, some family members may receive remuneration for caregiving services through consumer-directed programs. The family system includes both the client and the family. For the purposes of these standards, however, the family system does not include individuals whose primary relationship with the client is based on a financial or professional agreement. Nonetheless, such individuals (including, but not limited to, health care professionals, home care workers, attorneys, fiduciary agents, guardians, other service providers, and case managers themselves) constitute an important part of the client system.

A system for proving (or “authenticating”) an individual’s unique identity. It uses a minimal set of attributes, such as biographic and biometric data, to exclusively describe an individual and, on that basis, to provide government-recognized identity credentials. It is “foundational” relative to various functional systems and databases (e.g., education, health) on which it relies, but it is a parallel and complementary component (along with, for instance, the civil registration system) of the larger ecosystem.

Occurs when a claimant deliberately makes a false statement or conceals or distorts relevant information regarding program eligibility or level of benefits.

A formalized way to accept, sort, assess, and resolve complaints, appeals, and queries from the program beneficiaries and other stakeholders. The GRM is composed of a set of institutional structures, mandated rules, procedures, and processes through which complaints, appeals, and queries about the social protection program(s) are resolved.

Social assistance programs that differentiate benefit amounts according to the difference between specific incomes of each beneficiary household and an established amount, with the objective of ensuring at least that “guaranteed minimum income” level.

Any individual or group of individuals who are living as one economic unit, who buy food and make meals together.

The continual process of understanding and meeting user needs. More specifically, human-centered design is a multidisciplinary approach to solving the needs and problems of the end-user (people) and the government’s capabilities for transformation.

A type of socioeconomic assessment that combines means testing with proxy means testing by gathering information on a household’s observable income as verifiable welfare (as in means testing) and information on certain household assets to predict nonverifiable welfare (as in proxy means testing).

Action or process of identifying a person (cf. “authentication”). In its initial occurrence, it typically involves the assignation of an identity number (which is often unique) and the issuance of an identity credential which, alone or with the support of some other authentication factor (e.g., biometrics), is subsequently used to prove or authenticate a person’s identity.

Attribute, or set of attributes, that uniquely describe(s) a subject within a given context.

Ability to determine with a degree of certainty—or level of assurance (LoA)—that a claim to a particular identity made by some person or entity can be trusted to actually be the claimant’s “true” identity.

Process of establishing that a subject is who he or she claims to be.

When individuals, families, or households are referred to the system (CMIS) by another system with electronic means (files import or interoperability), their registration (intake) in the system is indirect. Please also see Direct registration.

Also referred to as a service plan, family action plan, mutual responsibilities agreement, or personal progression plan, it is an agreement between a caseworker and beneficiary that typically includes a summary of the individual assessment including profiling results; goals and agreed steps toward the goals; benefits (if any); the list of services assigned or referred; required actions and commitments of both parties (the beneficiary and the caseworker); rules and procedures regarding sanctions for noncompliance with required actions; beneficiary rights and responsibilities; and information on grievance redress mechanism (GRM) procedures. During the enrollment onboarding phase, the IAP would be signed by both the beneficiary and the caseworker.

Data becomes “information” when analyzed and possibly combined with other data in order to extract meaning and to provide context.

At the most basic level, the service provider or a virtual platform provides information and orientation to the client about the other services and benefits generally available.

The practice of defending electronic or physical information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording, or destruction. Information security relates to the preservation of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information, in addition to other properties such as authenticity, accountability, nonrepudiation and reliability (ISO/IEC 27000:2009). Information security ensures that only authorized users (confidentiality) have access to accurate and complete information (integrity) when required (availability).

Mechanisms that allow for information exchange vary significantly according to the type of content and the degree of information technology (IT) development. Efficient sharing of information would avoid duplications in information gathering efforts and support coordinated actions for the benefit of the client, at all stages of the service provision.

Source: Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems

or

A discrete set of information resources, such as personnel, equipment, funds, and information technology, organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information. & Interdependent groups of elements that function together to accomplish some predefined goal (or to solve an organizational problem) by collecting, organizing, storing, processing, creating, and distributing information. To accomplish that goal, an information system makes use of a variety of system elements, namely, the following:

• Database. A large organized collection of information that is accessed via software.
• Documentation. Manuals, forms, and other descriptive information that portray the use and/or operation of the system.
• Hardware. A comprehensive term for electronic and electromechanical devices that comprise the physical parts of a computer. The internal parts of a computer (CPU, hard drive, RAM) are referred to as components and the external parts (mouse, keyboard, printers, scanners) are referred to as peripherals.
• People. Users or operators of elements of the system.
• Procedures. The steps that define the specific use of each system element or the procedural context in which the system resides.
• Software. Characterized by (1) a set of machine-readable instructions (lines of code) that when executed provide desired features, functions, and performance; (2) data structures that enable the instructions to manipulate information; and (3) descriptive information in both hard copy and virtual forms that describe the operation and use of the instructions. Application software are stand-alone programs that solve a specific business need. Such applications process business and technical data in a way that facilitates business operations or management/technical decision making.

Source: Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems

Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by the executive agency

A type of treatment provided to an individual in a formal residential environment by an institute, other family, or other organized form aiming at providing care services (social or health services).

The process of initiating contact, engaging with the client(s), and gathering information for the purposes of assessing their needs and conditions for potential eligibility for benefits or services. The point of entry may be via a specific program or a multiprogram access point (such as a social welfare agency, public employment service, or social registry). The case compass team distinguishes two categories of intake (also known as “registration”): the direct intake and the indirect.

A framework that integrates all of an organization's systems and processes, enabling an organization to work as a single unit with unified objective. It links information across different services/systems and integrates information across agencies for a given user.

Integration and interoperability are often conflated, but they mean two different things. Integration is the process of linking independently designed applications to work together as one system, so that the data contained in each becomes part of a larger, more comprehensive system that quickly and easily shares data when needed. Integration also enables access to data and functionality from such independent applications through a single interface or service.

The group of individuals, families, or households who are meant to be included as potential beneficiaries of a program. Also referred to as a "target group."

An integrated service-provision approach used in both labor and social services. Intermediation is a service in its own right—and it also connects people (workers) to other services. It is the process of informing clients about a range of benefits and services relevant to their needs, and directing them to the corresponding access point, based on agreed protocols with service provider agencies, sometimes with individualized action plans (IAPs), to help them overcome multiple socioeconomic barriers. Intermediation connects the demand and supply of social or labor services. The role of the mediator (social caseworker or public employment officer) is to correctly identify the needs of the participant (demand side—through risk screening and profiling) and then to identify the availability of services and service providers (supply side) and then connect them with referrals and counter-referrals (monitoring and follow-up) on the basis of an action plan, protocols, service contracts, and service standards.

The ability of organizations to interact toward mutually beneficial goals, involving the sharing of information and knowledge between organizations, through the business processes they support, by means of exchange of data with other systems using common standards.Interoperability also includes the ability of systems to provide and receive services from other systems and to use the services so interchanged to enable them to operate effectively together.

An agreed approach for interoperability for organizations that wish to work together toward the joint delivery of public services (without having to integrate all of their subsystems into one large system).

Share of population that is employed, unemployed, and inactive, for all 15+ population. "Employed" is defined as anyone who has worked at least one hour during the previous week for pay, profit, or family gain. A person is defined as unemployed if he or she is presently not working but is actively seeking a job or ways to start an enterprise. Those who are neither employed nor unemployed are inactive. A person is defined as “inactive non-student” if he or she is inactive and not attending school.

Actual pools of skilled or unskilled labor available within local, national, or global economies, and activities intended to reduce risk and to improve the efficiency of the labor market and to increase the employability of workers, including employment security and protection. Includes employment and advisory services, training and retraining, and labor market information systems, including the design, purchase, and implementation of computer software and hardware.

Job-seeker profiling is a diagnostic method to assess the prospects of unemployed people to resume work. Profiling can help public employment services (PES) to segment job seekers into groups with similar likelihoods of work-resumption, and in turn to determine their level of access to different levels of treatment. In addition, profiling can guide the resource allocation process within PES and assigning of appropriate packages of benefits, employment services and ALMPs.

A legislative or legal framework that sheds light on the use and governance of laws—as well as decrees, regulations, and other legal or policy documents—and provides a foundation for the implementation of policies and programs undertaken to achieve strategic plans and outcomes.

Refers to the range of services designed to support people who are unable to perform physical and cognitive functions, measured through ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Individuals may need LTC due to limited functional ability, chronic conditions, trauma, or illness that limit their ability to carry out basic self-care or personal tasks that must be performed each day. LTC refers to family-based care in the home and community, as well as institutional care. It is quite distinct from health care, in that while health care services seek to change the health condition (from unwell to well), LTC services seek to make the current condition (unwell) more bearable.

Refers to those who have been unemployed for more than a certain time period, such as 52 weeks (1 year, International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) or 27 weeks (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Modification of a software after delivery to correct faults, to improve performance or other attributes, or to adapt the application to a changed environment.

A single source of common business data that are agreed upon and shared across the organization, and are used across multiple systems, applications, and processes. Examples include data about customers, products, employees, suppliers, materials, vendors, and so on.

A methodology that determines potential eligibility or computes benefit levels based upon some assessment of the incomes and assets of a family or household.

Data that describes other data.

Or simply microservices, is a variant of service-oriented architecture that has grown in popularity in recent years. Microservices are an architectural and organizational approach to software development where software is composed of small independent services that communicate over well-defined application programming interfaces (APIs). These services are owned by small, self-contained teams. Microservices architectures make applications easier to scale and faster to develop, enabling innovation and accelerating timeto-market for new features. It is a method of developing software applications as a suite of loosely coupled, independently deployable, modular services in which each service runs a unique process and communicates through a well-defined, lightweight mechanism to serve a business goal. The opposite of this is the monolithic architectural style. For example, Amazon has migrated to microservice architecture. Amazon gets countless calls from a variety of applications—including applications that manage the web service API as well as the website itself—which would have been simply impossible for their old, two-tiered architecture to handle. In a microservice application, each service usually manages its unique database. See Werner Vogels video for more detail (https://vimeo.com/29719577).

The term “app” has evolved to specifically connote software that is designed to reside on a mobile platform such as a tablet or mobile phone. It encompasses a user interface that interoperates with web-based resources that provide access to a wide array of information that is relevant to the app and local processing capabilities that collect, analyze, and format information in a manner best suited to the mobile platform. Additionally, a mobile app provides persistent storage capabilities within the platform. Mobile apps are generally downloaded from application distribution platforms that are operated by the owner of the mobile operating system, such as the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store.

Unlike microservices, a monolith application is always built as a single, autonomous unit. In a client-server model, the server-side application is a monolith that handles the HTTP requests, executes logic, and retrieves/updates the data in the underlying database. The problem with a monolithic architecture, though, is that all change cycles usually end up being tied to one another. A modification made to a small section of an application might require building and deploying an entirely new version. If you need to scale specific functions of an application, you may have to scale the entire application instead of just the desired components. Monolithic systems use a single logical database across different applications.

In multi-tenant software architecture —also called software multi-tenancy— a single instance of a software application (and its underlying database and hardware) serves multiple tenants (or user accounts) at a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery. A tenant usually is a group of users—such as a customer organization—that shares common access to and privileges within the application instance. Each tenant’s data is isolated from, and invisible to, the other tenants sharing the application instance, ensuring data security and privacy for all tenants. In the most common usage scenarios, the CMIS will mainly be used by municipality (the user's organizational unit) staff. Depending on the implementing country, municipalities may need to be isolated from the other municipalities. There are also cases (like the Italian case), where data isolation is needed for a group (a cluster) of municipalities (in Italy these groups are called "Ambiti"). There are cases of specific cities (like Rome) that are single Municipalities but have smaller administrative divisions (called “Municipi”). So, an Ambito of Rome consists of “Municipi” and not Municipalities. Nevertheless, there are other cases where there is no need for data isolation between the municipalities and the data is shared among all organization units (like the Greek example). Therefore, the Case Compass prototype is developed as a multi-tenant web application. In cases where there is no need for data isolation among the organizational units, a single tenant can be used by all users. In the Case Compass, the term "administrative unit" is used for the administrative divisions (Municipalities or smaller divisions like the Italian "Municipi"). So a tenant's data can refer to one or more (a group of) administrative units (it is up to the client to define what an administrative unit refers to).

A class of database management systems (DBMS) that do not follow all of the rules of a relational DBMS and cannot use traditional SQL to query data.16 In the 21st century, NoSQL database management systems have evolved, where data is modeled in means other than tabular relations, which is particularly useful for real-time web applications and for big data. NoSQLbased systems are typically used in very large databases, which are particularly prone to performance problems caused by the limitations of SQL and the relational model of databases. Many think of NoSQL as the modern database of choice that scales with web requirements. Some notable implementations of NoSQL are Facebook’s Cassandra database, Google’s BigTable, and Amazon’s SimpleDB and Dynamo.

Notification involves informing applicants of their enrollment decisions (in, wait-listed, or out), and onboarding involves finalizing the enrollment process for those who have been selected (conducting orientation, collecting additional information, providing option to opt-out, etc.).

Approach that allows anyone to apply and register their information to be considered for potential inclusion in one or more programs. Three key features characterize on-demand approaches: (1) the impetus for initiating the engagement is driven by the clients (not the “state”), who take the initiative to apply; (2) specific clients engage on their own; and (3) timing: with the on-demand approach, specific clients engage in intake and registration on their own timing. While on-demand approaches are driven largely by the way intake and registration is carried out, they also influence other phases of the delivery chain. See also administrator-driven approach.

One form of “integrated service provision” whereby all services are co-located, so the client needs to go to only one place for support. In some cases, these may be for both labor and social benefits and services together. In other cases, they may be for labor services separately (e.g., job centers). Other modalities combine social and health benefits and services (such as the “department of health and human services” that is common in the United States and Australia).

A data structure that allows fast analytical processing from multiple perspectives, usually using star or snowflake schema, stored as metadata, from which one can pivot the data in many ways.

Software developed by informal collaborative networks of programmers and are usually free. Anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, distribute, and change the software in any way, and the source code is openly shared so that people are encouraged to voluntarily improve the design of the software. For more details and examples of open-source software, visit https://opensource.com/ resources/what-open-source

• Free and open source (FOSS). Refers to user’s freedom to copy and reuse the software.
• Free/libre open source software (FLOSS). Emphasizes the value of libre (free), that is, with few or no restrictions.

Deliberate efforts to reach and inform intended populations and vulnerable groups about social protection programs and delivery systems so that they are aware, informed, able, and encouraged to engage.

An arrangement where an entity decides to contract out the supply of services (sometimes goods) necessary to its operation to another entity, which then carries out the work using its own staff and equipment.

Measures, tools, and systems to prevent, detect, deter, and monitor error, fraud, and corruption (EFC).

The required steps to transfer cash to beneficiaries or into the beneficiaries’ accounts. Payments administration includes establishing and verifying the payroll and setting up the payment schedule, requesting the inter-account transfer (by the overseeing ministry to the treasury), issuing the inter-account payment order (by the treasury to the payment service provider), issuing the payment instruction (by the overseeing ministry to the payment service provider), and providing the payments to the beneficiaries (by the payment service provider).

Serves three main purposes. First, performance indicators that are monitored regularly can help diagnose bottlenecks in the delivery chain early on and help correct course to prevent systemic challenges. Second, paired with other evaluative techniques, performance indicator frameworks can also help identify alternative channels, processes, or practices that enable the system to be more effective or save clients time or money. Performance measures of delivery systems can feed into a broader set of evaluative evidence on the program, including impact evaluations, and contribute to a broader learning agenda to refine and improve a program’s impact. Third, a performance measurement system is an important part of a wider oversight function for social protection programs, ensuring that public funds are allocated effectively.

Any information relating to an individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier (e.g., name, identification number, location data, online identifier, or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that individual).

Software protected by intellectual property rights; generally requires purchase of a license to use by payment of a one-time fee or recurring fees, and the source code is typically hidden from users

See service provision.

A tool used to assess a family’s socioeconomic status using a composite measure that calculates a weighted score based on observable household characteristics, such as demographic structures, education levels, location and quality of the household’s dwelling, and ownership of durable goods and other assets. These variables are all considered “proxies” for incomes or consumption, which may be more difficult to measure and observe in situations of high informality.

See employment services.

When a beneficiary repeatedly fails to comply with conditionalities or co-responsibilities in a conditional cash transfer program, some countries impose a penalty on benefits, meaning that the beneficiary will lose all or part of the household benefits for some period until compliance resumes.

These mechanisms work based on service protocols with each of the service providers, which are formalized based on inter-agency agreements. Those protocols must define roles and responsibilities for each provider, as well as the rules for maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of information.

Someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence.

Individuals, families, or households who have provided their information during the intake and registration phase of the delivery chain. They may have provided their information at their own initiative (on demand; see applicants) or at the initiative of a public agency or program (as in the case of en masse registration/census sweeps). In the latter case, we do not call them applicants because they did not technically “apply” for benefits and services.

The process of recording and verifying the information collected from the intake process. It can also involve pulling additional information from other administrative systems. Intake and registration usually happen simultaneously.

Explicit caps (limits) on the number of households that can be registered in a specific district.

Planned number of households that would be registered in a specific district, but without operating as a fixed or rigid quota (cap or limit).

First developed in the 1970s, it is a DBMS that organizes stored data into structures called tables, or relations. The common difference between DBMS and RDBMS is that DBMS just provide an environment where people can conveniently store and retrieve information with the presence of redundant data. On the other hand, RDBMS uses normalization to eliminate the data redundancy. Examples include MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, ORACLE, My-SQL, and Microsoft Access.

A form of unstructured data that do not conform with the formal structure of data models but contain tags, metadata, or markers to separate semantic elements and to enforce hierarchies of records and fields within the data. Examples include XML (extensible markup language) data and JSON (JavaScript Object Notation).

A catalog or inventory of the local supply of services and benefits, both public and private, is updated on a periodic basis.

Provision of social or labor services to individuals, families, or households—either as individual services or as integrated service packages.

An architectural style based on the use of services to produce interoperable, modular systems that are easier to use and maintain. These services carry out a small function such as data validation that can be reused by software applications or combined with a number of other services to provide the functionality of a large software application.

Intangible acts, activities, or works provided to, or with the participation of, beneficiaries as a contribution to their well-being (such as to reduce poverty, provide opportunities, enhance employability, reduce social risks, etc.). They may be administered by public agencies or outsourced to third parties using government funding. See also definitions of employment services, active labor market programs, and social services.

Dossier of information about a person that is shared by all agencies involved in the multi-disciplinary intervention, and that allows for keeping track of the different supports. The dossier should allow for alerts in terms of attention and case management. It requires a joint agreement among agencies about the way information is shared and updated, and it does not substitute for the specific registries that agencies keep internally for management.

Social safety net programs that are noncontributory transfers in cash or in-kind and are usually targeted to the poor and vulnerable but may also support other groups (such as the long-term unemployed, disabled, etc.). Some programs are focused on improving chronic poverty or providing equality of opportunity; others more on protecting families from shocks and longstanding losses they can inflict for the unprotected poor. These programs, also known as social welfare, include cash transfers (conditional and unconditional), in-kind transfers, such as school feeding and targeted food assistance, and near cash benefits such as fee waivers and food vouchers.

Composed of programs that minimize the negative impact of economic shocks on individuals and families. They include publicly provided or mandated insurance schemes against old age, disability, death of the main household provider, maternity leave and sickness cash benefits, and social health insurance. Social insurance programs are contributory, and beneficiaries receive benefits or services in recognition of contributions to an insurance scheme.

Social assistance (noncontributory) benefits paid to categorical groups of the population, such as the elderly or disabled. They may be universal (paid to all in that category) or targeted (paid to those in that category who are also poor).

Systems that help individuals, families, and households, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope with crises and shocks, find jobs, invest in the health and education of their children, and protect the aging population.

The transfer of cash or near cash to social protection program recipients (whether contributory or noncontributory programs). They include government-to-person (G2P) and personto-government (P2G) payments.

The operating environment for implementing social protection (including labor) benefits and services, including the implementation phases and processes along the delivery chain, main actors (people and institutions), and enabling factors (communications, information systems, and technology).

Information systems that support the processes of outreach, intake and registration, and assessment of needs and conditions to determine potential eligibility for social programs. They maintain information on all registered households regardless of whether they eventually benefit from a social program. As such, we do not refer to households in social registries as “beneficiaries” but as “registered households.

A wide variety of programs made available by public or private agencies to support individuals or families in addressing their particular risks and improving their overall well-being.

Within the United States, social worker refers to an individual who possesses a baccalaureate or master’s degree in social work from a school or program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. Although all 50 states and the District of Columbia license or certify social workers, licensure and certification laws vary by state. Each social worker should be licensed or certified, as applicable and required, at the level appropriate to her or his scope of practice in the practitioner’s jurisdiction(s).

Information with a high degree of organization, such that it can be stored in a relational database and is readily searchable using algorithms or operations. An example is data in spreadsheets.

See intended population.

A policy that seeks to direct an intervention (benefit or service) to the intended population, to minimize the coverage of those not intended to be beneficiaries (errors of inclusion) and the noncoverage of intended beneficiaries (errors of exclusion). (We prefer to avoid using the term targeting in relation to an act of implementation.)

See eligibility criteria.

See multi-tenancy.

When a beneficiary continuously fails to comply with conditionalities or co-responsibilities over a longer period, some countries cancel or terminate benefits and exit the family from the program (usually permanently or for a significant duration of time before one can reapply, barring appeals).

A client-server architecture that is made up of three layers: the data layer, business logic layer, and presentation layer. This is also known as model view controller (MVC) architecture.

• Business logic layer. The layer that contains the programs (lines of code) that implement the logic of the application’s core functionality.
• Data layer. The layer that contains the database in which information is stored and from which it is retrieved. Data in this layer is kept independent of business logic.
• Presentation layer. The part that constitutes the front-end layer of the application and contains the user interface with which end-users interact through a web-based application to access the information system.

Measures that aim to improve employability and are financed by public bodies. All training measures should include some evidence of classroom teaching, or if in the workplace, supervision specifically for the purpose of instruction. Includes institutional training, and workplace training, alternate training, and apprenticeships.

A complete system solution, including software and hardware, that is sold to the purchasing organization as a complete product without the need for additional configuration and can be used immediately once installed or implemented.

Programs that provide cash transfer benefits to individuals, families, or households without imposing any conditions on the beneficiaries.

All forms of cash benefit to compensate for unemployment, including unemployment assistance (noncontributory) or unemployment insurance (based on contributions and earning history). Benefits may be included as components of activation programs.

People who are jobless, actively looking for work, and currently available for work. See also long-term unemployment.

Data that do not have a predefined data model and are not organized in a predefined format. Examples include text documents, video, audio, mobile activity, social media activity, and satellite imagery.

Information systems are developed over time using different DBMSs and may be owned by different parts of an organization. As a result, data are fragmented across a number of systems, organizational, and geographic boundaries. A virtual database is a type of database management system that serves as a container to transparently view and query several other databases through a uniform application programming interface (API) that culls from multiple sources as if they were a single entity. These databases are connected via a computer network and then accessed as if they are from a single database. The goal for a virtual database is to be able to view and access data in a unified way without needing to copy and duplicate it in several databases or manually combine the results from many queries. They are also known as federated databases.

Government payments to employers offering work to the unemployed and other vulnerable groups in the labor market. See also recruitment incentives.

A notification transmitted to beneficiaries if one or more family members are recorded as not complying with the conditionalities or co-responsibilities of a program (such as a conditional cash transfer program).