The family assessment not closing within 45 day timelines was influenced by the amount of work needed to complete assessments, SSIS functions, prioritization of cases and family-centered work. Agency staff primarily identified that the amount of work to close assessment cases was a contributing factor in this assessment not closing on time. Both paper and SSIS tasks were stated to be barriers as SSIS requires many clicks to complete an assessment, including redundancies, such as ICWA documentation and limitations within the system such as FA and FI workgroups not being allowed to exist together (within one workgroup). This results in duplication of work as an FA and FI were both being worked by the same staff and separate case summaries to be written on each workgroup. Within this, the worker was prioritizing the FI work in order to meet the more pressing issues that arose within the FI workgroup. 
Also, the Federal PIP (Program Improvement Plan) requirements and State CFSR reviews resulted in the local agency having additional requirements needing to be completed to close out cases, including those contained within the PIP that resulted from the state CFSR's agency review. Recent high profiles cases had also increased the amount of work needed to close out cases. The increased media coverage due to high profile cases (including subsequent lawsuits) had resulted in defensive practices. This has an adverse effect on closing cases timely as there had been additional oversight protocols, including the need for supervisor consult/review needed to close a case put in place, to ensure consistency in work practices. 
Finally, the agency culture supports working to serve families what they need, regardless of timelines. This trade-off between family-centered work and meeting administrative deadlines (45 day assessment closing deadlines) creates conflicts for workers when trying to balance quality vs. quantity.