About Your SSA – What We Do In Public Service Social Insurance – In an Age of Big Data Charting SSA’s Path in Big Data – Becoming a More Data-driven Enterprise

1. 3/27/2014 1
Social Security
Administration
Herb Strauss
Assistant Deputy Commissioner
for Systems and Deputy CIO
Social Insurance in the Age of Big Data
March 26, 2014
The Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.

2. Key Topics
2
1. About Your SSA – What We Do In Public Service
2. Social Insurance – In an Age of Big Data
3. Charting SSA’s Path in Big Data – Becoming a More Data-driven
Enterprise

3. Deliver Social Security services that meet
the changing needs of the public
MISSION
Provide the highest standard of considerate
and thoughtful service for generations to come
VISION
SSA Mission and Vision
3

4. SSA Benefits and Services
( C o r e W o r k l o a d s )
 Issue Social Security Numbers and
Cards
 Verify Eligibility
 Accept, Verify, Process and Correct
Earnings Information
 Accept Application for Benefits
 Verify Identity
 Determine Entitlement
 Determine Benefit
 Pay Beneficiary
 Verify Continued Entitlement
 Accept Application for Benefit Payment
 Verify Identity
 Determine Non-Medical Eligibility
 Determine Medical Eligibility
 Determine Payment
 Pay Beneficiary/Recipient
(Under Disability/SSI Program)
 Verify Continued Eligibility
 Accept Application for Insurance
Coverage
 Verify Identity
 Determine Eligibility
 Determine Low Income Subsidy
Eligibility
 Collect Insurance Premium
 Accept Application for Payment
 Verify Identity
 Determine Eligibility
 Determine Payment
 Pay Recipient
 Verify Continued Eligibility
Supplemental Security Income
EarningsEnumeration
Disability
Medicare
Retirement and Survivors
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 Provide Data Exchange
 Verify SSNs
Data Sharing
 Conduct Hearings and Appeals
 Validate Program Integrity
Other

5. Where We Are
Field Offices
1,220
Teleservice
Centers
30
Disability
Determination
Services
54
National
Hearing
Centers
5
5
Hearings
Offices
162
Regions
10
Foreign
Offices
21

6. About 1 in 4 households
receives income form
Social Security:
 36.9 million retired
workers
 8.8 million disabled
workers
 4.3 million widows and
widowers
 2.4 million spouses
 1.0 million adults
disabled since
childhood
 3.4 million children
Last year, SSA paid over $850
billion to almost 63 million
people for Social Security
benefits, in one of three
categories:
Retirement insurance
Survivor insurance
Disability insurance
6
SSA Benefits America

7.  SSA handled over 53 million transactions on our
National 800 Number Network;
 Received over 68 million calls to field offices
nationwide;
 Served about 43 million visitors in over 1,200 field
offices nationwide;
 Completed over 8 million claims for benefits
and 794,000 hearing dispositions; and
 Completed over 429,000 full medical continuing
disability reviews (CDRs).
7
SSA Connects
with America
WE COLLECT, ANALYZE AND RETAIN AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF DATA
THROUGH THESE TRANSACTIONS

8. SOCIAL INSURANCE IN THE AGE OF
BIG DATA
VOLUME, VARIETY, VELOCITY AND VERACITY
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Systems
and Chief Information Officer
8

9. Big Data?…Analytics?
Big Data Analytics
The use of data and related
insights developed through
applied disciplines (e.g.
statistical, contextual, quantit
ative, predictive, cognitive
and other models) to drive
fact-based
planning, decisions, execution
, management, measurement
and learning. Analytics may
be descriptive, predictive or
prescriptive.
9
High-volume, high-
velocity and high-variety
information assets that
demand cost-
effective, innovative
forms of information
processing for enhanced
insight and decision
making.

10. Volume, Variety, Vel
ocity, Veracity
10
Data Is Growing
Exponentially
Along With Demand to Use It
Transactional Data
Documents
Video
Text
Audio
Images
IT/OT

11. 11
ENTERPRISE ELEMENTS
Blended IT Workforce: 4,000
Databases: IDMS, DB2, Oracle
Data Stores: 24 Petabytes
Software Applications: 700
BI Architecture/Big Data Lab
Computing Platforms:
• Mainframe Servers
• Mid-range Servers
• Commodity x86 Servers
Network – SSANet
• Eithernet LANs
• MPLS WANs
IT Security- 2 24/7 SOCs
Continuous Monitoring
The SSA Enterprise
“Big Data is in our DNA”

12. BIG DATA CREATES VALUE
IN SEVERAL WAYS
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More easily accessible to relevant stakeholders in a timely
manner -- fosters transparency
Enables experimentation
Create highly specific segmentations to customize actions
Improve decision making, minimize risks, and unearth valuable
insights
Innovate new business models and services
Detect and predict fraud and other crimes

13. CHARTING SSA’S PATH IN BIG
DATA
BECOMING A MORE DATA-DRIVEN ENTERPRISE
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Systems
and Chief Information Officer
13

14. Data-driven
Organization
Manage the Data Understand the Data Act on the Data
Information Management Analytics Skills and Tools Data-driven Culture
Mature information
foundation.
Develop analytic skills as a
core discipline.
Fact-driven leadership
Standardize data
management practices.
Enabled by a robust set of
tools and solutions.
Use Analytics as a strategic
asset.
Make insights accessible
and available.
Develop action-oriented
insights.
Data-driven insights guide
strategy and operations.
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 Map the Business Processes
 Gather Actionable Data
 Analyze and Visualize Data
 Experiment With Analyses
 Improve Heuristics
 Review and Act on Results

15. 15
Enterprise Information: Adopt A
Management Framework
Source: Gartner 2014
Information management competency: The use of
methodologies, techniques and technologies that address data
architecture, extraction, transformation, movement, storage, integration and
governance of enterprise information and master data management.

16. 16
SSA’s Path to
Big Data Transformation
Source: MIT Sloan Management Review. Analytics the Widening Divide Fall, 2011

17. 17
Our Challenge: Balance
Modernization & Transformation

18. • Big Data and Business Analytics offer SSA new and
enhanced capabilities across our programmatic and
administrative missions.
• Big Data and Business Analytics are transformative –
business-driven -- change management is critical.
• New management methods and thinking are as vital as
tools, techniques and technology investments are in
realizing successful outcomes.
• Recent experiments validate further investment.
• In-house knowledge and experience is nascent; industry
and academe knowhow is vital.
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Closing Comments

19. 3/27/2014 19
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
YOUR QUESTIONS PLEASE
19
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Office of the Deputy Commissioner
for Systems and CIO
6401 Security Boulevard
Baltimore, MD 21235
www.SSA.Gov