Dealing With State Government Online
Submitted by scharrison on Sun, 01/04/2009 - 6:00pm
Recently I considered "less ranting" for possible inclusion on a list of New Year's Resolutions. I am going to adopt Dan's already broken "stop sleeping late" resolution, at least until tomorrow anyway. But going rantless or even "rant-lite" is going to have to wait until at least a year from now, because I've got a rant that's been building since early last year, and previous mini-rants on this subject haven't sufficiently scratched my rant itch. For those familiar with earlier rants, I'll do the freshest rant first, so you can avoid any rerun rants.
For the last 3 1/2 hours I've been trying to file my required weekly certification with the Employment Security Commission so I can get paid. It's not an overly complex procedure, which I give them good marks for. But it requires a login, go to the page, click a few yes/no's, submit, verify, and finish. In the past three months that I've been filing weekly, I've been booted out somewhere in the process about every other week. Then I can't get back in and have to come back later and try again. Today I've been disconnected about 12 times, and I've locked up and had to reboot 3 times. I still haven't completed the certification.
As some of you recall, I had a hell of a time voting in the Primary. The State BOE database kept returning bogus search results from my name and voter registration number, until we (me and the poor lady working the polls) finally found the proper listing by using my birthdate, and then scrolling through the twenty or so names of people who share the same birthdate until we found me. When I early-voted in the main election and the guy searching for me frowned, I told him how to find me. Which brought another frown, but I got my permission slip anyway.
A few weeks before the Primary, I tried to make my state income tax payment online. I actually got to the page where you put in your credit card info, which I did, and when I clicked the "submit" button, the system got stuck in an endless page-loading loop. No confirmation page, no, "Thanks for the money, Steve!" e-mail. Knowing how sometimes messages are sent and payments get transacted even when such problems occur, I realized I needed to find out what happened before sending an actual check as payment.
Since this was the evening of 4/14, the night before "Oh Shit!" day, I waited until the morning of the 15th and called the N.C. Department of Revenue. After being shuttled around to five different people, I was finally advised that the system had been down (and still was), and no payments had gone through the 14th or the 15th. Of April...
What's my point in all of this? In order for state government (or any large entity) to operate properly, communications is paramount. Doing the state's business online saves tens of millions in revenue dollars and citizens' out-of-pocket expenses, so if anybody thinks that saving a few bucks on hardware and/or maintenance is a good idea, think again. I don't believe in coincidences, and my experiences tell me that information technology in this state has some serious problems.
I went to the state's IT website, clicked on a pdf that was supposedly a copy of a report to the IT oversight committee, and my computer locked up...
There are some days when technology is just flat out against us.
Those are the days I decide to take a walk.
I definitely need to do that
If this site is still acting stupid in the morning, I'm going to take a walk in the woods before I call anybody. Talk to the squirrels and birds, hug a few trees, and get my chi squared away. It's definitely ruffled right now. ;(
Sorry for your situation....
Sharrison, sorry for the unemployment situation you're involved in. I had to file once and decided to do it by computer but when I had problems, I called the NCESC toll free number and did it by phone.
Try that, my friend. If you don't have the number, I'll research my records and find it for ya.
Smitty
The best thinking is independent thinking.
More info on NCESC
Here's the toll free number to call to file the weekly unemployment certification:
1-888-372-3453. Today might not be the applicable day to file, but if it isn't, you'll be told which day to file by phone if you can't get through by computer on the internet on www.ncesc.com.
Hope this helps.
The best thinking is independent thinking.
Thanks, Smitty
I've got the number on some paperwork I was issued when I first filed. Those who do so telephonically have to call on Monday or Tuesday, depending on whether your SSN ends in an odd number (Mon) or even number (Tues). You can do it online any day, between specific hours.
I'll try again a little later, then start over in the morning.
eta: I fixed the odd/even number thingie
You read something like this
and it explains why the GOP has an easy time convincing people that government is inefficient. Imagine when we start the debate over national health care.
No matter how much hard data and statistics we throw out can be rebutted when someone can say "the government can't even maintain a working website, and you want them deciding who gives me an organ transplant?!"
While a person who follows politics closely would see that this argument is a stretch, the guy who doesn't watch the news and spends all day looking for work to come home and find out that he can't even file his weekly unemployment certification and may not get his check next week to feed his family has little time for nuance.
He is already pissed because the economy is in the tank. The Republicans will be telling him that government intrusion and unions are to blame for him losing his job. A situation like this make it easy to connect their dots.
Finally, before anyone calls me an elitist, that's not true. I was this person. Take away the fact that I enjoy reading about politics and current events, and I still am that person.
Yeah, but you know what's funny?
A lot of times these problems crop up when budgets are cut and/or the functions are outsourced to the private sector, which is something Republicans push for in government.
That's true
It's a never ending cycle. A group that hates government asks people to elect them to government office then blame the government for their failures.
Then, when they outsource to the private sector, they blame government interference in the private sector for that failure.
Would you hire me to run your widget company if I told you in the job interview that widgets are destroying the country and promise to deliver less widgets to your customers?
Let's say you are insane enough to do just that. Then I go in a screw up the entire widget operation. We both play CYA. I say that I told you I hated widgets up front and warned you of the danger of widgets. You become defensive and say that while I warned you, you never thought that I would destroy the entire company just to prove my point.
So where is our middle ground? I still say widgets are bad. You say that widgets are still good, but acknowledge that they could be better. After all, even after the disaster you still have to sell widgets.
So what is my point? Republicans, and just look at the data, want you to lower your expectations of government to the point where there is a constant and permanent antipathy. Once that seed is planted, a Democrat has no choice but to hesitate on any government expansion.
This is what stalls progress. This is what leads to centrism and polarization. And when the electorate appears to be overcoming that meme, the discussion moves to abortion and gay marriage.
Then the same group, the same group mind you, that told you government is the problem now wants government to step into your bedroom and doctor's office.
And you thought you were on a rant!
Ouch...ouch...OOO...OOO
Wow !! Man oh man !! My repubs are taking a hell of a beating here !! I guess I could come up with a scenario on the other side, but it wouldn't serve any purpose. I do know I HATE widgets, though :)
I'm not a neocon or a RHINO or whatever other name you guys like to brand some of us....but I do believe less government intervention into our lives is best. We need the ESC and we need VHA and we need just SO many of the agencies that exist currently. No problem with that, my friend. I DON'T think that government is the answer to everyone's situation/problem in America, however. And, one reason (of many reasons) is exactly what is presented here on how inefficient government normally is. More government programs just isn't always the answer.
And, I'm with ya on the gay marriage and abortion thing. I'd walk shoulder-to-shoulder with the dems on main street with CNN cameras pointed right at me if it could end those "issues" in our national discourse. Those are personal issues and I'm sick and tired of all the hate that gets included in that.
The best thinking is independent thinking.
This is an inefficency problem
not a repug/Dem problem. The IT folks for our state government might not be the best in the world or they are not allocated the money to get the best equipment etc.
The technology is out there to perform this service so why is it failing in NC?
It must be something else. There are enough 6 month classes to train people on how to be an IT weeny. When was the last time the equipment was overhauled, replaced, etc. Is all the equipment in sync. Sounds like it is not.
Something this important, unemployment filing, should be rated high on the state governments list of services that have to work correctly, unless they want it to be difficult so ppl do not file? Less people filing, less dollars out, less people "unemployed" the smaller the unemployment rate, the "better" government and the state looks?
How could we keep folks moving into our state if we had an unemployment rate of larger then being reported?
Now is this a conscience decision on someones part? I doubt it. I think its just crappy equipment, or a minor tweak that needs to be done, but no one knows what the tweak is.
Turn Betsy and her gang loose on it for a week and I bet the problem would be solved.
Well, at least I know
it's not just me and my wimpy computer:
Thanks for this message, even though I had to reload the page twice just so I could read it...
Mission accomplished. I think...
I finally got through all the steps, although I had to reload a few of the pages in the process. I'll double-check in a few days to see if the direct deposit went through (it usually takes a couple of days).
note: as an addendum to this, I did some Googling last night on state IT issues. It appears that, beginning back in 2002, a process of consolidating IT operations amongst the state agencies was initiated, with an eye towards bringing them into more centralized server farms to save money on hardware (servers) and use labor (IT techs) more efficiently.
I don't know if the issues I've brought up are associated with this process, but if anybody reading this is involved in the state IT program, I sure would like some primary source feedback on this. It very well may be that the myriad demands from various entities on how they want their sites to function is the real issue: I've sat on a few IT committees myself, and I know how users are prone to demand their bells and whistles. Talk to us, anonymously or openly.
I heard on the radio today (WUNC)
that the server crashed yesterday because 74,000 people tried to access the site, so I guess I was "part of the problem" or whatever. Yes, there are quite a few of us without work, but it's not a "stunning new revelation" or anything.
Considering the previous access issues I've had, I have a hunch that poor server's been crying out in pain for some time now, with root doctors and Hospice hanging around the death bed. Tragic.