<p>To most efficiently realize cost savings with an IT transformation, the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) decided against digitizing paper benefit eligibility forms the agency has been accumulating for years. Instead, starting early last year, the department started digitizing all new eligibility forms.</p><p>DHS secretary Michelle R.B. Saddler said the agency, which is responsible for providing integrated services through 100 Family and Community Resource Centers, generates 7 million paper forms a year. Given recent leadership changes at the state level, Saddler said the agency began looking for a new way to reduce paper and improve file management while maintaining cost efficiency.</p><p>"Part of the initiative led to discussion of needing to digitize file cabinets, but digitizing and imaging for the thousands of file cabinets that we have was really cost prohibitive," Saddler said.</p><p>DHS CIO Doug Kasamis then spearheaded efforts to digitize and store three types of benefit eligibility determination forms, which collectively make up nearly 70 percent of the agency's total form volume. These forms are currently created on the department's mainframe technology.</p><p><a href="http://www.govtech.com/policy-management/Illinois-DHS-Digitizes-Forms-Leverages-Mainframe-Technology.html">Keep reading...</a></p>