SOSCARE support and maintenance

The SOSCARE application serving a business area that is wide, varied and complex in nature.

Page 4 to 8

It covers areas such as:

• Looked After Children
• Child Protection
• Foster Parent Enquires and Approvals
• Fostering Finance payment to Foster Parents
• Adoption
• Home Care services including :

o rostering of staff

o production of the correct working/leave hours data file for direct transfer to HRPTS for

payment of Trust home helps every fortnight .

The application also links to other business systems such as LCID and eNISAT for additional

functionality such as assessment outcomes, as well as providing key risk data to the ECR

application for the Out of Hours Social Work Service and hospital-based staff.

The system is critical to the safe delivery of services and any system errors/failures or delays

can have far reaching implications for both HSC employees and the service users and

providers.

BRM have an excellent understanding of the technology underpinning the SOSCARE

application having worked for over 17 years in the social services business area and with the

UNIDATA/UniBasic technology. In that time, BRM staff turnover was minimal.

Crucially, over the 17 years, BRM have built up extensive business knowledge across all

programmes of social care. They have an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the

intricate rules and associated inter-dependencies that apply to the planning and delivery of

the social work service. They are acutely aware of the reliance trust staff place on the system

and have grown the capability to accurately and quickly design and deliver system

enhancements as well as quickly and accurately resolve incidents as and when they arise.

(This has been particularly valuable during the COVID-19 period when enhancements were

requested for delivery in a very short timeframe)

The older PICK-based technology used within the application, an toolset which dates from

1985, means that the skillset required to support it is extremely difficult to source especially

at the level of expertise required to support an application as complex as SOSCARE.

Given the technology and the bespoke nature of the application, it would not be possible to

find a replacement supplier capable to providing the required services. Further, to build the

required level of expertise and knowledge into a replacement supplier would be an extremely

long process and would require substantial input from BRM, as the main source, over a long

period of time. This task, assuming BRM were agreeable, would take several years.

Whilst BSO staff would be able to support certain elements of the application, it does not

have the skillset or experience to support large components of the system.

A strategic decision has been made to replace the core functionality provided by the

SOSCARE application with encompass, which has now been procured. However encompass

has confirmed that the replacement of the Domiciliary/Home Care module of SOSCARE will

not form part of the encompass implementation and will be achieved via a new, separate

project. Detailed business knowledge will be required to help encompass and any other

supplier to deliver the new solutions in their required timescales.

There is documentation on many of the modules within SOSCARE but it is requires a level of

system and business knowledge to ensure the correct understanding. Only BRM can supply

the detailed level of knowledge and the details of the intricacies involved across the various

SOSCARE modules to ensure a successful service delivery

In conclusion, only BRM has the requisite knowledge and experience to support the

SOSCARE system.