Case Study:
The Low-Income House Energy Assistance Program
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) grants are available to assist eligible households to meet the costs of home energy. The LIHEAP program required an audit system for providing energy assistance to the needy of Pennsylvania.
Info-Matrix understands the business process and interaction of all stakeholders in this application. There are five major entities involved:
- OIS
- OIM/CAO
- Department of the Treasury
- Energy Vendors
- Energy Recipients
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Currently, the County Assistance Offices use the LIHEAP application in a data entry role to determine eligibility and to select programs for payment. Everyday a batch cycle creates current day and year to date activity reports. The weekly process selects payments entered from the previous period. The cycle generates reports that include weekly and year to date totals. A file is sent to the treasury for checks to be generated. Energy vendors receive bulk payment with a list of energy recipients included in that payment cycle. To complicate matters, some recipients receive checks directly. A large portion of the Crisis segment of the LIHEAP program is contracted to private agencies.
The LIHEAP system resides on a UNISYS 2200/ClearPath mainframe. DMS 1100 is the hierarchical database used to store data. There are currently over 100 batch and on-line programs involved with the LIHEAP application.
Info-Matrix is currently providing development support to redesign the LIHEAP application. The new platform will include a browser-based interface, data entry and retrieval screens, reports, and external data transfers using middleware technology to interface with the mainframe.
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