Directors Guild of America Health Plan Eligibility: An IS Analysis and Design Case

1. BACKGROUND The Directors Guild of America Health Plan was founded in 1969 to provide health insurance coverage for eligible Directors Guild of America (DGA or Guild) union members and their beneficiaries. It was a natural extension of the original DGA Pension Plan that had been instituted in 1960 to provide retirement and disability benefits for the DGA members as part of the effort to provide additional services to workers in the growing media industry. Although the DGA Health and Pension Plans (DGA Plans) are two are different legal entities, they occupy the same facility with common management and shared information systems. Today, the DGA union represents more than 14,000 members throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Guild is headquartered in Los Angeles with satellite offices in Chicago and New York. The union itself was first established in 1936 with the charter of protecting the creative and economic rights of members working in feature film, television, documentary, and other media. DGA members include Directors, Assistant Directors, Unit Production Managers, Associate Directors, Stage Managers and Production Associates. The DGA negotiates collective bargaining agreements with entertainment production companies. These agreements make various stipulations covering pay and working conditions for DGA members, and require that all those employed in the relevant fields on a film/show/project made by that company are Guild members. DGA members are generally prevented from working for companies that have not signed an agreement. Stipulations in current agreements include requiring signatory companies to make monthly contributions toward the health and pension benefits for any DGA member they employ. The DGA union office is located about five miles from the DGA Plans office. The DGA Plans are totally separate from DGA union although some information is exchanged. This case focuses on the core IS applications development concepts of i) data flow diagramming, ii) database design, iii) user interface design, and iii) program design. It provides a test bed to turn what students had learned of these concepts in class into practice through analysis and design of a system that will support the DGA Plans in its efforts to collect funds from production companies earmarked for providing health insurance coverage and pension benefits of DGA members. The system will also determine which DGA members are eligible for health benefits. DGA Plans purchases health insurance policies from Anthem Blue Cross for eligible members and their spouses, domestic partners and any dependents who are under 26 years of age. 2. CASE DESCRIPTION 2.1 DGA to DGA Plans Electronic Data Interface The DGA manages the union's membership activities and provides services that facilitate employment opportunities for directors. It also enters into agreements with production companies covering rules of employment. DGA Plans, on the other hand, focuses on managing pension and insurance coverage for union members. In its operations, DGA Plans depends on DGA for up to date information on both production companies and membership rosters. This information is currently provided through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The process is described in more detail in the following Sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. 2.1.1 Production Companies: There are approximately 2,000 film, television and other media companies, both large and small, that have signed agreements at some time during the history of the DGA. Any production company wishing to employ DGA members must first sign such an agreement with the DGA. The company/employer is required to provide information regarding company name, signatory officer, address, contact information, phone number, email and federal tax identification. There are several different types of agreements depending upon the media and type of project. These agreements include Basic, Commercial, Documentary, Freelance Live and Tape, Network, etc. …