Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program Initial Evaluation Report

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assistance to field offices and external entities serving beneficiaries in the region, and acts as
the communication link between central office and the field. Regional offices have also
played a role in monitoring field processing of EN payment cases. In addition, central office
staff will sometimes contact the regional office to inquire about the status of the processing
of earnings issues for a particular EN payment case. With the implementation of the Area
Work Incentive Coordinator position, SSA expects that regional office staff will become less
involved in these activities. One of the roles of the coordinators will be to monitor the
processing of disability work issue workloads in the field, both for EN payment and general
workload processing purposes.
Field office interviewees note that the SSA central office has placed a high priority on
preparing field staff for TTW. A series of 40 interactive video training programs were
broadcast to field offices on work incentive provisions. One field office manager
interviewed notes that in his 20 years with SSA, he has never before seen as much training
and emphasis on work incentive issues. Nevertheless, the emphasis on the training did vary
from office to office, and some staff did not attend the training.
In addition to the training on TTW and work incentives, field office staff have been
affected by the implementation of the DCF. According to regional and field office
interviewees, field staff encountered difficulties with the system when it was first
implemented. Some found the interactive video training on the DCF confusing and overly
detailed. Others were frustrated by the system’s limitations and the need to duplicate some
data entry because of the lack of integration with MRTW. Many of the problems field staff
experienced with the DCF are being addressed by the eWork initiative and other
enhancements being developed. Field office staff believe that the upcoming release of the
integrated system will significantly reduce the burden and complexity of work CDRs and
contribute to the timely processing of this workload.
At present, field office staff report that they are spending their TTW-related time
gathering and documenting earnings information. Although there have been relatively few
EN payment claims to date at any particular field office, the ones that have been received are
often complicated and require extensive effort to address. In some offices, requests are
being received from BPAOs and ENs for wage and benefit information that can be used in
benefits counseling. Early in Phase 1, such requests were most notable in offices that had an
Employment Support Representative.
2. Program Manager
a. Implementation Challenges
MAXIMUS signed a contract with SSA on September 29, 2000, and began operating as
the Ticket Program Manager. As with SSA, the Program Manager had to expend a large
effort to establish the infrastructure needed to administer TTW. Program Manager
interviewees note several challenges associated with the initial implementation.
III: TTW Early Implementation