The Challenge

Every ten years, the United States Census Bureau undertakes one of the nation’s most complex and constitutionally mandated operations – counting every person living in the United States. This massive undertaking requires the rapid hiring, training, and management of hundreds of thousands of temporary workers across the country.

For the 2020 Census, the Bureau faced an extraordinary staffing challenge: hiring and managing a temporary workforce that would peak at over 500,000 people. This workforce would need to be recruited, onboarded, trained, paid, and eventually offboarded within a condensed timeframe and in accordance with federal employment regulations.

The Bureau’s legacy systems were insufficient for this mammoth task. They lacked the scalability to process hundreds of thousands of applicants, couldn’t support modern mobile recruitment efforts, and weren’t integrated with other critical systems. Furthermore, the systems needed to handle complex business rules for pay rates that varied by location, position, and other factors while ensuring compliance with federal regulations.

As the 2020 Census approached, the Bureau needed a comprehensive solution that could support this once-a-decade personnel surge while maintaining strict accuracy, security, and compliance standards.

Our Solution

Prime Source Technologies partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to develop and implement the Decennial Applicant, Personnel and Payroll System (DAPPS) – a comprehensive platform designed to manage the entire employment lifecycle for temporary census workers.

A Comprehensive Approach
DAPPS was designed as an end-to-end solution covering every aspect of workforce management:

1. Recruitment and Application Processing: The system handled millions of applications, with sophisticated filtering tools to identify qualified candidates based on location, availability, skills, and other factors. Integrated with the Census Hiring and Employment Check (CHEC) system, it streamlined background checks and eligibility verification.
2. Onboarding and Training Management: DAPPS managed the complex onboarding process for temporary employees, including documentation, orientation scheduling, and training assignment. The system tracked training completion to ensure all field staff were properly prepared before deployment.
3. Payroll Processing and Time Management: At the core of DAPPS was a sophisticated payroll engine that processed time entries for hundreds of thousands of employees, calculating compensation based on complex rules that accounted for location, position type, overtime, and special circumstances. The system handled millions of transactions with precision and in compliance with federal requirements.
4. Personnel Management: Supervisors and managers used DAPPS to track employee performance, manage assignments, process administrative changes, and handle separations when employees completed their temporary assignments.
5. Reporting and Analytics: The system provided comprehensive reporting capabilities, giving Bureau leadership visibility into hiring progress, workforce distribution, payroll expenses, and other critical metrics needed to manage this massive operation.

Technical Implementation

To deliver this mission-critical system, PST leveraged its expertise in federal systems development and enterprise software integration:

Oracle Technology Stack: DAPPS was built on Oracle PeopleSoft HRMS (Human Resources Management System), extensively customized to meet the unique requirements of decennial census operations. The implementation included Oracle Database, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle Fusion Middleware components.

Systems Integration: Our team created seamless integrations with other Census Bureau systems including the Census Hiring and Employment Check (CHEC) system, the Census Human Resources Information System (CHRIS), and various financial and administrative systems.

Security and Compliance: Given the sensitive nature of personnel data, DAPPS implemented robust security features to protect personally identifiable information (PII) while meeting all federal requirements for information systems security.

Scalability and Performance: The system was engineered to handle extreme surges in activity during peak hiring periods, with an architecture that could scale to process thousands of transactions simultaneously without performance degradation.

Mobile Compatibility: Recognizing the increasingly mobile workforce, DAPPS supported responsive design principles to ensure field supervisors could access critical functions from various devices and locations.

Project Execution

PST provided complete DAPPS support through all project phases:

Requirements Analysis and Design: Our team worked closely with Census Bureau stakeholders to understand the unique requirements of decennial operations, conducting extensive workshops to document and validate system requirements.

Development and Customization: We performed extensive customization of the Oracle PeopleSoft platform, developing specialized modules to handle the unique aspects of temporary census employment.

Testing and Quality Assurance: Given the mission-critical nature of the system, we implemented comprehensive testing protocols including unit testing, integration testing, performance testing, and user acceptance testing.

Training and Knowledge Transfer: We developed detailed documentation and conducted extensive training sessions to prepare Census Bureau staff to effectively use the system.

Operational Support: During the 2020 Census operations, our team provided ongoing support and rapid issue resolution to ensure continuous system availability during this critical national operation.

The Results

DAPPS successfully supported one of the largest civilian mobilizations in American history, delivering significant benefits to the Census Bureau:

• Massive Scale Achieved: The system processed millions of applications and successfully managed the employment of over 500,000 temporary workers at its peak, enabling the Bureau to meet its staffing requirements across all regions of the country.
• Improved Efficiency: Automated workflows and digital processes dramatically reduced the administrative burden for both census field offices and headquarters staff. What previously required extensive paperwork and manual processing was transformed into streamlined digital workflows.
• Enhanced Accuracy: Automated calculations and validations significantly reduced errors in payroll processing, ensuring accurate and timely payment for hundreds of thousands of temporary employees.
• Real-Time Visibility: Bureau leadership had unprecedented insights into hiring progress, workforce distribution, and operational costs, enabling more informed decision-making throughout the decennial operation.
• Regulatory Compliance: The system successfully enforced complex federal employment regulations and policies, ensuring the massive temporary workforce was managed in full compliance with government requirements.
• Cost Control: Improved tracking and automation helped the Bureau better manage labor costs, one of the largest expense categories in the decennial census operation.

The Bigger Picture

The successful implementation of DAPPS demonstrates PST’s ability to develop and support mission-critical systems that enable major government operations. By efficiently managing the massive temporary workforce required for the 2020 Census, DAPPS played a crucial role in supporting the constitutional mandate to count every person in the United States.

“The 2020 Census presented unprecedented challenges, from the pandemic to natural disasters,” noted a Census Bureau official. “Having a robust, reliable system to manage our temporary workforce was essential to our ability to complete the count under these difficult circumstances.”

The DAPPS project showcases PST’s expertise in large-scale system implementation, federal human resources systems, and mission-critical application support. It highlights our commitment to delivering solutions that enable government agencies to fulfill their most important responsibilities to the American people.