NC eLink

NC eLink: An Enterprise Entity Resolution Tool

NC eLink won the 2023 NASCIO State IT Award in the Cross-Boundary and Partnerships category. You can learn more about NC eLink by watching this video.

About

The NC eLink data integration utility, built by the N.C. Government Data Analytics Center, is helping to provide more effective services to North Carolina residents and businesses by enabling the linking of data across agencies.

"NC eLink offers countless opportunities for state agencies to collaborate, share and integrate data sources, ensuring the state residents having access to all the services for which they are eligible, and providing those services are effective and timely,” said Nitya Ganapathy, analytics director of GDAC.

Administrative processes within government are often siloed, and a person could have different identifications for each service (e.g., driver’s license number, student ID number, unemployment claimant identification number, Medicaid identification). Without the same common identifier to connect records for a person, services become fragmented and inefficient.

GDAC had worked with agencies for many years to link data sources, but in the past, this matching process was developed to support a single business problem and was repeated for the next project, which was time-consuming, costly and inconsistent. GDAC launched the NC eLink utility in 2019 to assist with data sharing across agency applications.

NC eLink matches existing IDs to a unique ID created in the utility, standardizing the matching process. These unique IDs can then be indexed and linked without exposing personally identifiable information.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the need for such a tool as NC eLink to increase efficiency, enhance service delivery and detect fraud. During the pandemic, agencies saw a significant increase in identity theft and fraudulent activity, which not only impacted those whose identities were stolen but also slowed down the provisioning of services to those in need.

“During Covid, NC eLink helped the Department of Employment Security to identify 60,000+ unemployment insurance claims that were associated with identity theft or fraudulent activities. By proactively identifying fraudulent claimants before the payments and services are provided, we are protecting North Carolina residents from being associated with false activities,” said Ganapathy.

State agencies, including the N.C. Departments of Health and Human Services, Public Instruction, Public Safety and Commerce have also used it in criminal justice, fraud detection and education.