Anxiety runs high as Pa. begins massive overhaul of 60-year-old unemployment computer system

[TexasTowelie]

The unemployed in Pennsylvania — pregnant people, parents unable to pay child support, nursing students, and adult children caring for disabled parents, among many others — have spent months over the last year waiting to receive benefits they are entitled to from the state Department of Labor and Industry, to little avail.

And depending whom you ask, some much-needed relief — or added suffering — is imminent.

This week, the state’s 60-year-old unemployment benefits computer system will temporarily go dark as officials roll out a massive upgrade to a new, cloud-based program. The project, nearly two decades in the making, is being hailed by the Wolf administration as the long-awaited fix to problems that have stymied state benefit claimants during the pandemic, and for years before it.

But technology experts and unemployment advocates are warning that the state’s decision to shift now, while so many Pennsylvanians are still relying on the benefits, is irresponsible. It could exacerbate existing problems as well as divert resources from helping those who are stuck in a backlog. People’s lives have already been disrupted by the Department of Labor and Industry’s missteps, advocates said, and the stakes are too high.

Read more: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2021/05/pa-unemployment-claims-overhaul-ibm-gsi-benefits-labor-industry/

[Wicked Blue]

1. I didn't realize there were 60-year-old computer systems

but eh, what do I know?

[TexasTowelie]

2. The hamsters on the treadmill are ready to retire. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

3. Ha ha heh...that's probably what they are using to power this system ... gee, can you imagine

what the software engineers/hardware engineers are going to have to shift through, in resolving patch after patch after patch added in the 60 years or so to keep this system going? Let alone examining the specs that will be delivered to the technicians (if such a document is delivered).

Wow...I wouldn't want to be part of this process, being that more than likely, documentation is patchy, and a multitude of languages and/or database structures were used as time went on in coding this system (or patch work of systems)? Perhaps it's a tribute to those who struggled to keep this going without the adequate resources to upgrade the system finally to a more efficient system. How do they even find software engineers who still know how to code in assembler or other languages?

[Wicked Blue]

4. They contact them through a ouija board

or seances

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

5. Probably not assembly language, more likely COBOL.

If you need it to readable, some flavor of BASIC (IMO) works.
If you need it fast, assembly or compiled C++.
If you need it compact, assembly.
If you need it powerful, cryptic, abbreviated and dangerous, Linux shell command line is best.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Been there, done that.

I was on the Y2K team and ended up migrating a COBOL program into VBA. It took me about six weeks to complete the project by myself, but I probably saved nearly $100,000 for the agency as the need to communicate the progress on the project via email was eliminated. My employer did not realize the quality of my work until after they left the agency and it required three employees to replace me. The agency is using my programming two decades later.

[SWBTATTReg]

7. A nice complement to your skills and enduring skills, isn't it? I still get students on some of

my IT classes I taught coming to me over 35 years later, and tell me that my problems and/or solutions are still part of the course agenda (JCL, COBOL, PL1, Assembler, Utilities and IBM Utilities, etc.). It's a nice feeling.

I had to laugh too, I remember w/ baited breath (we all did) as the year 2000 rolled into place...millions of us in IT land. What an once in a lifetime experience.

[FakeNoose]

8. If nothing else, please upgrade the computer security

The entire system is out of date, so I can imagine how bad the privacy security is. Too many innocent people are harmed when identity theft happens, and hackers are everywhere.