Progress of any country is largely dependent on the "well-being" of people who constitute its population
In other words, in order to determine "how far" and "how well" the country climbs the "improvement ladder" is a cumulative reflector of how well did the people do. It goes without saying that nations whose inhabitants are "capable" and are fed with sufficient "opportunities" will stand the test of times and move ahead. A land housed by well equipped people will make the "essential" contributions for improving their national economic condition. This in turn, asks for providing the needed assistance in situations like unemployment, old age, poverty, retirement and disability etc. Social Security is an attempt in this direction.
It can be understood as "collective protection programs" that are run by government organizations of a number of countries. These aim at offering insurance to citizens against the above stated situations to help people confront those. In a way, it is a collaborated effort by both citizens and government of a nation as the amount accumulated in the form of "taxes and premiums" is what is made available as "social insurance", "unemployment allowance" etc. "
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The most basic challenge faced in the way relates to the decision as to who falls in which category. Moreover, chances of any claim that is made to enjoy the "benefits" always stands chances of being fake. So, for such screening, one should follow the Social Security Act closely and exactly. Such and similar filtering issues have led to several controversies in the past at the time of inception of this Act. Subsequently, it has undergone numerous amendments from time to time and has emerged much more "clear" and "helpful".
Abiding by the provisions contained in the Act can sometimes give tough times. Carrying out this responsibility in an effective manner demands a way to keep an eye on the "application" of the funds.
Another hurdle that makes it mandatory to keep a check on the way the money is being used is the difficulty the agency faces in the act of "arranging and procuring" for funds. It has been predicted that intense problems are likely to emerge in coming times owing to the lack of enough monetary reserves.
Moreover, the system of providing benefits under social security program is a complicated one. For instance, in some cases, there is a fixed "number of credits" that one has to earn for claiming benefits. Also, the number of credits that can be had in one year is also a stable number. Therefore, a "computational" component enters the scenario.
These hurdles force the organization to choose among a group of "performance measurement and management tools". BSC answers these questions in an apt manner.
Yet another compelling reason for provider of social security measures to use a monitoring tool like BSC is the huge amount of money that goes into this act. Social Security system of US has been labeled as the "largest" in the world. Looking at the statistics, nearly 20 percent of the federal budget is infused into this necessity and about one-third of the government expenditure is directed towards social security. Considering that this form of expenditure makes the lion"s share, the requirement to take care that the money is put to right use comes instantly. The calculative thought on which the BSC concept rests is "just what is needed".
The domains, which can be incorporated in the scorecard to assess the success of the social security program are- Internal Operations, Processes Perspective, Funds" Sources and Application Assessment and Growth and Progression Perspective.
Internal Operations can be evaluated with indicators like "number of services offered", "interest rate at which assets earned", "number of fraudulent cases encountered" and "number of credits offered in one year period".
Processes perspective can be obtained using KPIs such as "Actuarial Deficit: Taxable Payroll", "Number of people who had their earnings covered by Social Security", "Number of beneficiaries in one year" and "Time consumption in applying".
Funds" Sources and Application Assessment can be done utilizing metrics like "Annual Income", "Value of benefits paid", "Administration costs: Total Income" and "Total Expenditure incurred".
Growth and Progression Perspective can be attained using "Number of beneficiaries increase" Index", "Funds Procurement Ease Rise", "Citizens" satisfaction scaling" and "Drop in unemployment Ratio". This measurable approach goes a long way in laying bare the "areas that are hampering the realization of maximum results". Consequently, one can carry out the needed "re-tooling" in the processes and provide apt security provisions to the society.