In this issue:

Welcome

Founded in 1996, On Point Technology has grown steadily to become the largest independent solution provider dedicated to state workforce agencies.

Visit On Point Technology in 2006

On Point Technology will be exhibiting at conferences from coast to coast in 2006, starting with the NASWA Winter Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. in February. We hope you'll take the opportunity to visit us at one of the following events:

NASWA Winter Policy Forum
2/27-3/1, Washington, D.C.

National UI Integrity Professional Development Conference
4/3-4/5, Chicago, IL

UWC National UI Issues Conference
5/1-5/3, Portland, OR

UI Technology Conference
6/4-6/8, Indianapolis, IN

NASWA Annual Conference
9/5-9/8, Boise, ID

National UI Directors' Conference
10/30-11/2, Denver, CO

On Point Products

On Point Technology is the only company that develops software exclusively for state workforce agencies. Our product line includes Barts and Aware.

For improved fraud detection of individual fraud and enhanced case management, states choose Barts.

For sophisticated ad hoc workforce reporting and detection of organized fraud, states choose Aware.

Coming Next Issue

Learn all about On Point Technology’s newest software application, designed to improve the efficiency of one of your agency’s most important functions!

www.onpointtech.com
708-482-0189

On Point Technology, Inc.
©Copyright 2006
All Rights Reserved.

Welcome to the February 14, 2006, issue of BullsEye, the On Point Technology newsletter. Our goal is to keep you up-to-date on the latest unemployment insurance news and developments at On Point Technology.

On Point Technology gears up for exciting exhibit at NASWA Winter Policy Forum

On Point Technology will kick off its 2006 exhibition schedule at the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) Winter Policy Forum at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., February 27 through March 1.

The company is attending the event as a Washington-level sponsor, and will be exhibiting Barts and Aware—our packaged software products developed to detect UI benefits and tax fraud, identity theft and overpayments, as well as enhance case management. We are especially excited to announce that we will be unveiling a brand new application designed to help state workforce agencies maintain the integrity of their UI trust funds. Forum attendees will be the first to experience this new program!

Our representatives will conduct demonstrations in the exhibit area on February 28 from 7 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. and on March 1 from 7 a.m. until noon. These product demos will relate directly to several key issues currently facing state workforce agencies, including UI benefits and tax fraud, identity theft, SUTA dumping and UI information theft and abuse. We invite you to stop by the On Point Technology exhibit and pick up information and some new and unusual promotional items we’ve specially selected for this event. This will also be a great opportunity to schedule an onsite demonstration at your agency, so staff members unable to attend the Forum can see our products in action.

We look forward to meeting with you at this exciting event in our nation’s capital, where state workforce agency administrators from around the country have the opportunity to share ideas, policies and best practices.

New On Point Technology white paper offers guidance to UI decision makers

In our continued effort to provide state workforce agency administrators and decision makers with key information on our packaged software products, On Point Technology has published a new white paper entitled, "Guidance for Unemployment Insurance Decision Makers." The document offers guidance on how to ensure that decisions on whether or not to implement packaged software—regardless of other ongoing IT projects—are made in the best interests of the agency.

The paper examines several common arguments made by internal agency staff and external consultants objecting to the deployment of off-the-shelf packaged software and explores the possible motivations and rationales behind those arguments. It then presents a series of steps to help determine whether objections are based on facts rather than opinions and misperceptions. Read "Guidance for Unemployment Insurance Decision Makers" online at On Point Technology's Web site.

Industry News

Washington State plans aggressive campaign against UI cheaters — The Washington State Employment Security Department (WESD), long at the forefront of the country’s effort to combat fraud, has proposed an ambitious legislative agenda for 2006. WESD has submitted two bills and a $1.8 million supplemental budget request with the goal of significantly improving its ability to prevent, detect and punish employers who don’t pay their taxes and individuals who claim benefits not owed to them.

The first proposal addresses the state’s need to crack down on businesses that engage in SUTA dumping and to develop better procedures for detecting illegal tax-evasion schemes. The second proposal seeks to eliminate penalty inequities for employers by establishing a fixed penalty rate. WESD plans to invest the $1.8 million in additional staff who will implement new technology-based fraud-detection tools and investigate the additional cases; perform audits on employers who don’t properly file the required reports and taxes; and identify, audit and collect from SUTA dumping violators. WESD anticipates that these proposals will lead to the collection of an estimated $14.2 million in overpayments, taxes and penalties the first year.

Do you have a fraud story you'd like to share?
Let us know.

Did You Know?

For many years, the users of automated systems, including workforce agencies, were not in the practice of saving transaction data for later analysis. The cost of memory and storage was deemed too expensive, so data files were erased.

However, with the dramatic drop in storage costs and the advent of new technologies like Infobase, which powers On Point Technology’s Aware software, it is now economically feasible for agencies to retain transaction data until they’ve had the chance to analyze the files and search out instances of possible internal fraud in both UI benefits and tax operations.

Agencies can analyze transaction data files for indicators of possible internal UI benefits fraud, such as:

  • More address changes made on claims than expected
  • Addresses switched from a street to a post office box, and back again
  • Manually inserted increases in benefit amounts or durations
  • Claims converted from ineligible to eligible status
  • Names switched on active claims

The files may also point to internal UI tax fraud, with such signals as:

  • Manually lowered tax rates
  • Funds transfer that lowers a tax rate
  • Removal of benefit charges
  • Change of report from late to timely
  • Posting of voluntary contributions that lowers a tax rate

These are just a few examples of the many potential audits an agency can implement—if they preserve the data and have a tool, such as Aware, capable of performing the analyses. While these analyses won’t necessarily find fraud every time, they will serve to establish patterns of predictability and delimit the number of situations to be investigated. And, very importantly, just the knowledge that an agency is performing an analysis of transactions will have a deterrent effect on staff who might be tempted to commit internal fraud.

For more information on transaction data analysis or On Point Technology’s Aware software application, contact Bob Yokavonus at 908-526-0426 or e-mail robert.yokavonus@onpointtech.com.