Rhode Island’s 1950s Technology is Slowing Processing and Payment of Unemployment Claims
Friday, April 10, 2020
Rhode Island is one of a half dozen states using outdated computer language to process unemployment claims during the coronavirus crisis. In 2018, a GoLocal report unveiled the outdated system and its lack of scalability and back up.
Unemployment claim filings are hitting record highs nationally, and in Rhode Island, the latest numbers show that more than 175,000 in Rhode Island are out of work.
That outdated system is slowing down the processing of claims and delaying payments to out of work Rhode Islanders.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRhode Islanders are filing more claims in a day than the state has ever received in a month -- Rhode Island’s technology is obsolete, using what is termed “obscure” COBOL computer language ,which was developed in 1959.
“Wanted urgently: People who know a half-century-old computer language so states can process unemployment claims,” wrote CNN on Thursday.
“Obsolete 1950s computer code is causing unemployment chaos amid huge lines: Appeal for retired programmers who know obscure COBOL language to fix outdated computer system in states across U.S,” reported the Daily Mail, who wrote that officials in New Jersey, Kansas, Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Mississippi, and Oklahoma have "all admitted struggling to [process] growing applications."
Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training spokesperson Angelika Pellegrino told GoLocal on Thursday, “Rhode Island’s system does currently require programmers with COBOL proficiency,"
"We currently have 4 COBOL programmers, and are looking to increase capacity," she added.
1950s Computer Language
According to Wikipedia:
COBOL was designed in 1959 by CODASYL and was partly based on previous programming language design work by Grace Hopper, commonly referred to as "the (grand)mother of COBOL." It was created as part of a US Department of Defense effort to create a portable programming language for data processing.
It was originally seen as a stopgap, but the Department of Defense promptly forced computer manufacturers to provide it, resulting in its widespread adoption
2018 Flood Nearly Destroyed DLT's Tech Infrastructure
For years DLT officials knew their system was decades outdated, non-scalable and failed to have basic backup.
“While the state continues to upgrade its IT systems to modern, cloud-based environments over time, there are numerous legacy systems that still exist. The Department of Labor & Training IT system is one of those legacy systems. We continue to evaluate all options for hosting, management and disaster recovery to ensure cost-efficient, safe and secure protection of the state’s data," Brenna McCabe of the Raimondo administration told GoLocal in 2018.
The disclosure unveiled that Rhode Island has been operating an outdated and highly vulnerable technology infrastructure in many agencies.
DLT Knocked Offline
As GoLocal reported in 2018:
“Flooding from the overnight storm has put key customer-facing websites — including the Teleserve system that provides telephone and Internet access to Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims — temporarily offline," the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT).
"Rainwater seeped into DLT’s data center at 1511 Pontiac Avenue in Cranston, powering off computer systems automatically. The state Department of Administration is working with DLT to assess the full impact and restore power as soon as possible,’ said the agency.
According to multiple sources, DLT officials were panicked that critical data was lost. The backup protocols are outdated and incomplete.
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