Commonwealth Front Doorpowered by RingMDMassachusetts configuration preview · Synthetic data
Massachusetts configuration preview

Approach

How the Commonwealth Front Door would be built, governed and piloted. Everything here is a proposal to confirm with EOHHS; timings are weeks from award, not dates.

Architecture

1 · Channels
  • One number (IVR, natural-language voice)
  • Web chat and voice in any browser
  • Text recap and reminders, by consent
2 · Front Door Guide
  • Speech to text and text to speech
  • Language understanding, one request at a time
  • Language detection · English and Spanish
  • Safety-language detection
3 · Guardrails
  • No eligibility decisions
  • Approved sources only, shown with each answer
  • No identifiers collected by the guide
  • Confidence threshold hands off to a person
  • Safety stops the normal flow
4 · Routing
  • Health Connector · Member Services
  • MassHealth · Eligibility & Enrollment
  • DTA · SNAP & Cash Assistance
  • Callback instead of hold
  • Authorized safety paths: 911, 988, EPS, DCF, DPPC
5 · Specialists and operations
  • Caller context, identity check, assist, wrap-up
  • Live board, sessions and request records
  • QA review, safety review, reports and trends
6 · Integration and governance
  • Case updates to each program's case management system (interface per system)
  • Role-based access · recording retention per Commonwealth policy
  • AI model card · per-feature kill switch
Audit logEvery layer writes to one audit log: each answer and its source, each routing decision, each human approval, each case update and its receipt.

Governance

Security and architectureArchitecture and security review with EOHHS and the Commonwealth's technology office before pilot launch; integration points and data flows documented; U.S. hosting.
AccessibilitySection 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA: accessibility conformance report, keyboard navigation, screen-reader testing, captions and transcripts, TTY 711 on the phone line.
AI governanceModel card on file; approved sources stewarded by each program; human escalation policy; per-feature kill switch; the guide cannot complete an eligibility decision.
Data handlingThe guide collects no identifiers; case updates only after a specialist's identity check; recordings kept for quality review per Commonwealth retention; leadership exports exclude transcripts and recordings.

90-day pilot

Phase 0 · Mobilize
Security and architecture review, approved sources and owners, routing and safety taxonomy, synthetic test data
Weeks 0–2
Phase 1 · Guide live
Web and phone guide for the top intents in all three programs, English and Spanish
Weeks 2–6
Phase 2 · Specialists and dashboard
Specialist panels, callbacks, case updates for the pilot teams, live board, QA
Weeks 4–8
Phase 3 · Pilot launch and hypercare
One queue per program, or one region, with daily review
Weeks 8–10
Phase 4 · Evaluate and expand
Measure against the baseline, then widen intents, teams and languages
Weeks 10–13
wk 0wk 2wk 4wk 6wk 8wk 10wk 13

Milestones (coral): Guide live week 6 · Specialist panels and dashboard week 8 · Pilot launch week 10

Launch depends on the security and architecture review, approved sources from each program, and the interface for each case management system.

Pilot success targets

AreaTarget
ResolutionRequest-level resolution ≥ 80% · multi-request sessions fully completed ≥ 70%
AccessWait for a specialist, abandoned calls and repeat contacts within 7 days all down against the 4-week baseline
SafetyZero automatic closes of safety sessions · acknowledgement within 2 minutes
QualityQA pass rate ≥ 90% · personal-details capture incidents near zero · WCAG 2.1 AA verified
ExperienceSatisfaction up against the baseline · right team first time up

Partner roles

RingMDFront Door Guide, routing, specialist panels, case-update delivery, dashboards, QA and safety tooling, audit
Health Connector, MassHealth, DTAProgram ownership, approved content, routing and safety taxonomy, specialist teams, UAT
EOHHS and Commonwealth ITArchitecture and security review, identity, integration approval, accessibility sign-off
Contact-center partnersExisting telephony platforms and staffing, where Massachusetts directs

Discovery topics

  1. Which approved sources each program will expose first, and who owns each
  2. The interface for each case management system, and what a case note may contain
  3. Each program's identity checklist for specialists
  4. Pilot shape: one queue per program, or one region
  5. Safety taxonomy, including the domestic violence path
  6. Languages beyond English and Spanish, and recording retention