GCP – Oklahoma transforms data access and boosts employer trust with Google Cloud

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) is responsible for managing critical services for its citizens, including unemployment insurance benefits and employer tax collection. However, its core operating system resided on an aging mainframe with a 40-year-old data structure. This legacy system created significant roadblocks. The data schema was unintelligible, making it nearly impossible to access, verify, or analyze information efficiently. A single data request could take a technical team six months to fulfill, delivering a static data dump that was often obsolete by the time it arrived.

This meant that operational decisions were being made with outdated information. Added to that, critical reporting for the Department of Labor (DoL) was a resource-intensive, time-consuming process. The agency needed to move beyond its aging mainframe to a more modern, future-ready foundation. They turned to Google Public Sector to help.

A modern data platform to drive insight and efficiency

To prepare for their mainframe migration, unlock value from their data, and create a modern data platform, OESC partnered with Google Public Sector and a consulting partner, Phase2. The goal was to transform the agency’s data into more accurate, accessible insights that could support its mission in near real-time. By leveraging the power of Google Cloud, OESC could empower its teams with self-service analytics to dramatically improve data accuracy and build a “gold standard” data model for the future.

A foundation built on BigQuery

The adoption of BigQuery was central to this transformation. It allowed for rapid iteration of the data and the development of the gold standard data model by enabling efficient ingest and processing. This, in turn, allowed for the development of higher-quality data sets, the ability to verify data quality, and rapid report development.

Critically, using various Google Cloud services including BigQuery, the team created the ability to track point-in-time data—a capability impossible with the legacy system. This feature has enabled powerful reporting, leading to:

• Data quality improvements
• Deep trend metrics
• Report creation for any historical point in the past
• Improved audit capabilities
• Improved fraud detection

Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s modern data journey on Google Cloud: A multi-step transformation

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s initiative to move beyond the mainframe was not a single, abrupt migration but a multi-step modernization journey with a future-ready foundation built on trust and accessibility. This partnership has already delivered a massive shift in operational capabilities.

From weeks to hours: a new era for critical reporting

Google Cloud technology is powering a new wave of transformation and modernization. With BigQuery, the agency is able to ingest and process data more efficiently allowing for rapid iteration and the development of higher-quality, reliable datasets. The most immediate impact has been on DoL reporting processes that previously took weeks or even months of manual effort by understaffed IT teams were reduced to just hours. Additionally, with Looker, business stakeholders can now self-serve these reports and gain access to critical data with vastly improved accuracy. This includes critical reports such as:

• Claims and payment activities (monthly)
• Advance weekly initial and continued claims report (weekly)
• Time-lapse data for UI benefit payments (monthly)

Tax and employer core measures

Tasks that once took weeks or months due to inaccessible data are now delivered to business stakeholders within hours or days, or, where possible, through self-service dashboards. Key metrics that are now accessible include:

• Number of active employers over time
• Amount of outstanding taxes
• Modern searching for application features, such as when a benefits claimant looks for a separating employer

Uncovering insights and improving services for Oklahoma employers

A critical capability unlocked by BigQuery was the ability to track point-in-time data, something impossible with the legacy system. Using years of daily snapshots, OESC conducted a historical analysis of employer tax rates. This enabled the agency to directly explore the data, helping to identify opportunities. These opportunities led to assisting in creating new legislation and driving down employer taxes. As one user stated, “Having access to this data is a gamechanger.”

Laying the groundwork for a mainframe-free future

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission’s modernization journey was a deliberate, multi-step process designed to build a solid foundation. The data was reorganized from its mainframe-mimicking format into a modern, intuitive, and efficient schema within BigQuery. This new structure is the stepping stone that enables real-time reporting powered by Looker and lays the essential groundwork for a much smoother transition off the mainframe. The new platform also paves the way for advanced capabilities like accelerated fraud detection and future AI use cases.

Google Public Sector’s approach involved a multi-step process to successfully modernize this data:

1. Understanding the legacy: Significant manual effort was required to understand the complex, mainframe-mimicking schema in the existing Postgres database.
2. Reorganizing data into a modern schema: The data was then organized into a modern, intuitive, and efficient schema within BigQuery. This was a major stepping stone, moving away from a file-system architecture to a structure designed for analytic performance.
3. Enabling real-time access and reporting: Once the data was structured in BigQuery, it could be exposed through tools like Looker. This transformed the six-month reporting process into collaborative sessions where reports are created, providing access to near real-time data for operational decisions and helping improve service accuracy.
4. Preparing for the future (mainframe transition): Actively defining the future schema of the modern production database and populating it with new data alongside the old. This multi-year progress will allow OESC to transition off the mainframe much more smoothly in the future.

A vision for secure, statewide data collaboration

OESC’s partnership with Google Public Sector and adoption of the latest data and AI innovations aligns with Oklahoma’s broader data management and sharing initiatives. Their modern data platform, built on a well-designed schema in BigQuery, allows their data to be easily and securely shared with other state agencies via Analytics Hub. This positions OESC to lead in creating a more connected, data-driven government while maintaining robust control and governance.

Continue your agency’s innovation journey

Google Public Sector is dedicated to helping public sector agencies understand and apply transformative cloud, AI, data and security solutions. Join us at the Google Public Sector Summit on October 29th in Washington D.C., to discover how your agency can leverage the latest technologies to tackle your biggest challenges and drive your agency forward.