The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) in Canada contracted us to serve as lead functional designer of a new social service information system. The Department administered program payments to residents of this northern Territory, but found it difficult to uniquely identify indigenous recipients – which led to fraud and duplicated expenditure. Our role was to translate the government’s objectives into a software and data design subsequently implemented by a Canadian technology company.
Our design integrated several data sources that made it possible for front-line social service workers to definitively link government-issued identity cards to the addresses and demographics associated with various program enrollments. GNWT was able to identify and stop incorrect payments amounting to 30% of distributed benefits in the first year of operation.