Germany
VerBIS: A case management information system for employment-oriented case management
VerBIS was launched in 2005 by the Federal Employment Agency to replace its previous internal
IT systems that support consultation and job placement with a new, integrated system.
Direct registration
Case work
Unemployed
Information system description
The case management information system (CMIS) VerBIS (Vermittlungs-, Beratungs- und Informationssystem,
or “Placement, Consultation and Information System”) was developed by the German Federal Employment Agency
(Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA) in order to replace its previous internal IT systems supporting consultation
and job placement with a new, integrated system. It is used in job centers for the case management and
the in-depth case management of people who are eligible for the Basic Income Support for Jobseekers benefit
(Grundsicherung für Arbeitssuchende, ALG II).
Initial challenge
When the German national government reformed its minimum income schemes in 2003-2005,
the newly created ALG II program came to encompass a much larger target population than its predecessor
program as well as more complex cases,
such as persons who had never been employed. Moreover, some of the internal IT systems used to support
consultation and job placement had been in use for over ten years and were increasingly reaching their technical limits.
Results
VerBIS was initially developed as a web-based support tool to foster labor market transparency, improve the matching
between labor market needs and jobseekers, and promote the (re-)integration of the unemployed into the labor market.
Over the last two decades, VerBIS has been further developed to include additional features for case work.
Today, the CMIS offers numerous features that allow close monitoring of particularly vulnerable cases and information
exchange with selected service providers, and is connected through an interface with other software and platforms.
This allows functionalities like determining entitlement to and the size of the ALG II benefit, monitoring the payment
process/payout, or searching for information (for instance, about job openings and labor activation measures).
INTAKE POINT:
Direct registration
ALG II beneficiaries are registered in VerBIS by job center operators in their first interview.
Usually, the operator conducting this interview becomes the beneficiary’s responsible contact person.
LEVEL OF CASE MANAGEMENT:
Case work
Job centers provide two types of case management services with different levels of depth: (regular) case
management by integration officers and in-depth case management by case managers. In all its forms of
implementation, these services involve close contact between the operators (integration specialists or
case managers) and beneficiaries, developing an integration plan, referral, monitoring, etc.
Thus, case management in job centers can be categorized as case work, the most advanced level
of integration of services.
POPULATION GROUP SERVED:
Unemployed
VerBIS supports the case management of unemployment insurance (ALG I) recipients and the case management as
well as the in-depth case management of persons capable of work eligible for ALG II and its corresponding benefits.
CMIS EXISTING AND ACTIVE?
Yes
YEAR OF LAUNCH
2005
TENANTS
301 job centers in joint facilities and 155 public employment agencies
REGISTERED OPERATORS
(All unique users):
(All unique users):
ca. 80.000
BENEFICIARIES SUPPORTED
BY THE CMIS:
BY THE CMIS:
ca. 2.7 million beneficiaries
BENEFICIARIES COVERED
BY THE PROGRAM:
BY THE PROGRAM:
5.7 million beneficiaries (as of the end of 2020)
