How it should probably be done: some high ranking civil servant is ordered to plan for a process centered around management of _X need_. If _X need_ means having a system to administer social security numbers, then it's fair to assume the process should be simultaneously widespread, short, easy to handle, and extremely reliable.

If it means delivering some checks to single mothers in sparsely populated neighborhoods citywide, it could be done with something as simple as a spreadsheet. The only common requirement to both task is the need for safety, accountability, and compatibility with /between parent and /or parallel systems.

How it's done in real life: some IT contractor creates an overly complicated stacked platform that does it all (ordered by some IT uneducated but ego infatuated ill informed client with a budget), excepted for the fact that the system is a smokescreen and does not all at all. The contractor then sells more platform access to some other like minded clients, which all have wildly different requirements. In the end, the do-it-all platform becomes a giant mess nobody understands, _X need_ budget allocations dissolves in contractor's hands, social security numbers are scrambled, and single mothers never get their checks.