REPORT OF THE BUSINESS PROCESS
REINGINEERING PROJECT:
AN INTEGRATED CASE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM FOR THE RICHMOND
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
December, 2012
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1: Introduction and Principal Recommendations ................................................ 4
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4
Principal Recommendations ........................................................................................... 5
Importance for Richmond Residents .............................................................................. 7
Chapter 2: Project Goals and Work Activity ...................................................................... 9
Project Goals ................................................................................................................... 9
TATC Project Work Activity ............................................................................................. 9
Chapter 3: The Current State of RDSS.............................................................................. 12
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 12
Summary of RDSS strengths and Improvement Opportunities .................................... 17
Chapter 4: Industry Trends and Best Practices ................................................................ 19
Industry Trends ............................................................................................................. 19
Human Services Summit 2010 .................................................................................. 19
Examples of innovative Trends ................................................................................. 20
Best Practices Analysis .............................................................................................. 23
Trends in the City and Commonwealth ........................................................................ 27
Integrated Services within RDSS ............................................................................... 27
City of Richmond Safe Passages Model .................................................................... 28
Commonwealth Initiatives ........................................................................................ 29
Chapter 5: The Integrated Client Service Model ............................................................. 33
The Concept Plan .......................................................................................................... 34
Change in Perspective ............................................................................................... 34
Conceptual Model ..................................................................................................... 36
Assessment of the Conceptual Model ...................................................................... 38
The Integrated Client Service Process .......................................................................... 45
Intake Process ........................................................................................................... 47
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Emergency Protective Services ................................................................................. 50
Emergency Economic Stabilization ........................................................................... 56
Request Processing and Routing (Base Request) ..................................................... 59
Request Processing and Routing (Advanced Assessment) ....................................... 62
Case Management .................................................................................................... 66
Foster Family Management ...................................................................................... 73
Support Processes ......................................................................................................... 78
Document Management ........................................................................................... 79
Quality Assurance ..................................................................................................... 83
Utilization Management ........................................................................................... 89
Finance (Supplies and Materials) .............................................................................. 99
Recovery (Fraud) ..................................................................................................... 104
Ability to Resolve Performance Issues ........................................................................ 109
Chapter 6: Organizational plan ...................................................................................... 115
Organizational Framework ......................................................................................... 116
Intake and Assessment ........................................................................................... 118
Case Management .................................................................................................. 119
Policy and Programs Support .................................................................................. 120
Family Support ........................................................................................................ 121
Finance and Administration .................................................................................... 122
Human Resources ................................................................................................... 123
Staffing in the new organizational model ................................................................... 123
Phasing of the Organizational Changes ...................................................................... 126
Chapter 7: Human Resources Model ............................................................................. 129
Wage and Classification .............................................................................................. 129
Performance Appraisal ............................................................................................... 133
Tiered Performance Appraisal System ................................................................... 137
Advantages of the Tiered Review System .............................................................. 140
Career Development ................................................................................................... 141
Career Development Plan ....................................................................................... 141
Career Training Plan ................................................................................................ 145
Human Resources Conclusion..................................................................................... 146
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Chapter 8: Information Technology ............................................................................... 147
General Overview of Information Technology ........................................................... 147
Assessment of the Harmony System .......................................................................... 150
Assessment of Harmony ......................................................................................... 151
Recommendations Relating to Harmony................................................................ 152
Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS)................................................. 154
Overview of EDMS .................................................................................................. 154
Business Case for an EDMS ..................................................................................... 155
Acquiring and Installing an EDMS ........................................................................... 156
Chapter 9: Performance Management .......................................................................... 160
Performance Measurement........................................................................................ 160
Understanding the Concept of Performance Measurement.................................. 160
Mandated Performance Reporting ......................................................................... 164
From Performance Measurement to Performance Management ............................. 166
Chapter 10: Summary of Recommendations ................................................................. 169
Chapter 11: Implementing change ................................................................................ 174
Change Management.................................................................................................. 174
Implementation Plan .................................................................................................. 176
Implementation Schedule ........................................................................................... 219
APPENDIX: PROCESS FLOW MAPS ................................................................................. 234
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND PRINCIPAL
RECOMMENDATIONS
INTRODUCTION
In early 2010, the Richmond Department of Social Services embarked on a plan
to review and revise its business processes. The goals of this effort then, and
now, are to:

Provide better and more expedient services and benefits to the
Department’s clients;

Ensure that the Department’s processes fit its mission, vision, values, and
mandates;

Eliminate redundant and/or inefficient processes;

Make sure that staff have the tools necessary to perform assigned duties;
and,

Promote continuous quality improvement.
To accomplish its goals, the Department established a Business Process Redesign
Steering Committee. The role of the Committee was to develop and implement
a plan to assess the Department’s policies and procedures and to develop
improvement recommendations. As part of its efforts, the Committee, through
the Department, secured the services of TATC Consulting, Inc. The assignment
given to TATC was to work with the Steering Committee and the personnel of
the Department to perform a business process review which would result in
recommendations for new business processes. This report is the result of this
analysis.
The principal work steps which we followed in undertaking this project included:

We gained an understanding of the current operations of the Department
through interviews with Department management and supervisors,
interviews with representatives of community partner agencies, and field
observations.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012

We added to that understanding through a series of meetings with
Department staff to review the current business processes used for client
service and business support.

A concept planning committee worked with project staff to design a new
concept for integrated case management for the Department.

Using a modified—and simplified‐‐version of Integrated Definition Modeling
(IDEF), we met with groups of employees to design “To‐Be” business flows
for the key client service and support processes. Each team reviewed the to‐
be flows three times: when they first met to develop the flows, individual
reviews of the models developed in the first work session, and then a final
review session to make any last modifications to the processes.

A process integration team combined the individual functional service flows
into a single integrated case management flow.

Using the integrated flow model, we developed alternative
recommendations for an organizational structure to carry out the new
processes.

We also reviewed, and developed recommendations, relating to the human
resources, information technology, and performance management systems
that would be instrumental in effecting the process changes.
PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS
This report provides recommendations for improved business processes and
operations at several different levels. These include business processes
themselves, potential reorganization of the Department to effect the process
recommendations, and recommendations pertaining to support elements of the
Department. We provide a summary list at the end of this report. There are,
however, some recommendations which are most important, either because
they inform the Department’s long‐term improvement strategy or they are
recommendations on which other recommendations are based. These include:

Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the Commonwealth
of Virginia and recognized as a leader throughout the United States.

Adopt and implement the functional and support business processes for
integrated case management as developed by the project team and
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Department staff, monitoring the implementation to identify continued
process improvements.

Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to align with,
and support, the new business processes. When transition is completed, this
organization will have two service functions (Intake and Assessment and Case
Management) and four support functions (Policy and Programs, Family
Supports, Finance and Administration, and Human Resources).

Use an integrated case management team approach in which the
Department creates case management teams consisting of both social
workers and benefit works. Teams will serve clients through a lead worker
system and will serve as an integrated service provider for clients with
multiple needs.

Create an Organizational Performance Support unit which will serve to
monitor the internal performance of the department through quality
assurance, utilization management, performance management, employee
development and training, and information technology.

Create a Program Support unit by combining under single leadership the CSA,
TDM, Resource Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy Families, and Healthy Start
programs.

Realign staff positions consistent with the process and organizational
recommendations of the report. It is expected that the new business
processes will result in freeing a substantial number of work positions. The
Department should reassign those positions to the recommended work units,
making certain that personnel receive the proper training and skills
development to be successful in their new assignments.

The Department should adopt and implement a compensation banding
approach that will reduce the number of individual job classifications and
expand wage ranges.

The Department should, to the extent possible, develop a new internal
performance appraisal system, using a tiered evaluation approach, with
assigned counselors responsible for individual reviews and employees having
optional, self‐selected mentors to serve as advisors and advocates.

Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix, employees should prepare
multi‐year career development plans, identifying short and long‐term career
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
goals and identifying work and training opportunities that will enable
completion of the goals. The employee and Department should recognize
mutual responsibility for completion of the career development plans.

The Department should continue using the Harmony application for its own
case management and financial integration purposes, but with some
important considerations.

The Department should acquire and implement a robust Electronic
Document management system, including the capacity for electronic forms
generation.

While continuing to report performance through the State’s mandated
performance reporting system, the Department should develop its own
performance management system that will be consistent with the City’s
Balanced Scorecard requirements and provide timely performance data that
the Department can use to assess overall performance, identify and resolve
problem areas early, and provide an accurate report of Departmental
performance to all interested stakeholders.
IMPORTANCE FOR RICHMOND RESIDENTS
This project, and the recommendations stemming from it, must be relevant to
the residents of the City of Richmond or it will have no value. Throughout the
report, we comment that RDSS has committed itself to a greater emphasis on its
clients, assuring that client needs and services come first. So, what does this
mean:

Residents will not have to spend so much time obtaining or maintaining
services. Electronic submission of information, including applications, will
greatly reduce requirements to come to the RDSS offices and wait for long
periods of time to see someone.

Reduced time in having to come to RDSS offices will mean less time away
from work, fewer requirements for having someone look after the children
while being at RDSS offices, and reduced transportation costs.

Clients will not be on their own to figure out what services they need and
how to get them. Instead, RDSS staff will work closely with clients to identify
needs and solutions.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012

RDSS staff will have access to better, more complete information by which to
anticipate and to assess client needs and to develop appropriate service
strategies.

More streamlined processes mean that residents will experience faster
response to applications for services, and an emphasis on quality review will
minimize the potential for error.

Clients will have single points of contact for service support. That individual
case worker will have the ability to help residents with all of the programs of
the Department, not just individual programs. With one point of contact,
rather than many different individuals, clients will be able to be better able
to obtain services and to develop a more personal relationship with their
case worker. Backed by the resources of broad case teams, the case worker
will be better able to bring the capabilities of the Department into focus for
the client.

Greater emphasis on community partnerships and services will enable clients
to obtain a broader range of supports.

The greater efficiency of operation will mean more resources for the
residents of Richmond, leading to a better quality of life for the City.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 2: PROJECT GOALS AND WORK ACTIVITY
In this chapter, we describe the project goals and our approach to undertaking
the work.
PROJECT GOALS
At the outset of this business process redesign project, the Department
established five goals that it wished to achieve. These goals include:





Provide better and more expedient services and benefits to our clients;
Ensure that our processes fit our mission, vision, values, and mandates;
Eliminate redundant/inefficient processes;
Make sure that you have the tools necessary to perform your duties; and,
Promote continuous quality improvement.
During the course of the project, it became apparent to the participants that
these five goals merged into two overarching purposes. These are:


Addressing performance deficiencies; and,
Creating a new organizational culture which emphasizes client service and
acknowledges the awareness of consequences if the Department fails to
meet its client obligations in a timely, effective manner.
This project, then, gained energy from using these two focal points as the guide
for the accomplishment of project goals.
TATC PROJECT WORK ACTIVITY
In June of 2012, RDSS contracted with TATC Consulting to consider revised
business process models, based upon the Department’s stated desire to develop
a customer‐focused, community‐driven approach to improving self‐sufficiency
for its clients. RDSS had already begun work which supported the TATC process
improvements, including:

Key employees of the Department had previously participated in a SWOT
analysis in 2010; the current business process consulting project has
continued to involve a wide cross section of employees in SWOT analyses of
business process alternatives.

Several teams have worked within RDSS to develop tools which would
support a revised business process model, including a Technology Upgrade
Plan and Core Competency Models.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012

Employment related functions and programs such as the Workforce
Development Pipeline, the Full Employment Program, and View are focused
on moving clients to self‐sufficiency.

Quality Service Review supports improvements in social services practices.

Team Decision Making integrates employees from many parts of RDSS,
families, and other family support members, to support youth in foster care
and to move them from foster care.

The Comprehensive Services Act focuses on strengthening community‐based
services and ensuring those services support RDSS clients.
Building upon these improvements, the TATC team has worked extensively with
many different RDSS staff members and supervisors to complete the following
major activities:

We conducted 31 work sessions involving more than 150 employees to gain
an understanding of all current processes (as‐is analyses).

Based upon work with RDSS’s management, informed with the information,
from the as‐is sessions and TATC staff experience, we developed a set of
guiding principles.

Based upon the guiding principles (which are explicated below), a select set
of RDSS employees worked with TATC to design a preliminary concept of an
improved process flow.

TATC worked with RDSS management to further develop the improved flow
process and to re‐emphasize the guiding principles for any process
improvements. This work included twenty‐nine work sessions involving
nearly 150 employees to design new business processes for functional work
and support systems.

Based upon the concept of an improved flow process and the guiding
principles, as well as the concerns of RDSS management, TATC team
members once again worked with teams of employees to review the to‐be
processes to determine how to integrate the functional processes into a
service continuum.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012

TATC team members have taken the suggested improvements from these
latest process teams and have developed human resources approaches,
funding strategies, implementation plans, and organizational strategies to
support the to‐be processes.
In summary, RDSS has many tools and work methods in place which support a
revised business process. The experience and expertise developed can support
even more advanced improvements in a business process intended to provide
consistent and comprehensive support of the families which form the RDSS
client base. All of the process improvements, and associated recommendations
have been developed based upon the guiding principles which support these
recommended improvements, including:

RDSS supports a comprehensive, integrated approach to service provision.

This approach to service provision is intended to utilize best human services
practices to move clients to self‐sufficiency in the manner which is as
unobtrusive as possible for clients.

This approach is also intended to focus on transition form services as soon as
possible, given the specific circumstances of each client and family involved.

In addition, this approach is focused upon showing that better processes and
practices can also result in improved performance measures.

Finally, this approach is intended to improve the working environment for
RDSS employees by showing the real staffing requirements and assisting in
improved results for the clients that they so passionately serve.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 3: THE CURRENT STATE OF RDSS
In this chapter, we review the current state of the Department of Social Services.
This review includes an introductory overview of the Department, a summary of
the Department’s strategic planning, a summary of the perceived strengths and
weaknesses of the Department, the conclusions from the As‐Is, or Current State,
review, and a comparison of the Department against industry best practices.
INTRODUCTION
The Richmond Department of Social Services is committed to achieving its
mission “to strengthen families, assure safety, promote self‐sufficiency, and
improve the quality of life for all citizens of the City of Richmond.”1 The current
economic situation in Richmond has created challenges for RDSS:


Twenty‐one percent of the population of Richmond was enrolled in Medicaid
in 2011.
More than twenty‐five percent of the population of Richmond was enrolled
in the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2011.
These data are supported by the fact that Richmond’s poverty rate is 22.1%,
according to the latest available census data. At the same time that caseloads
have risen to their highest levels in four years (except for Foster Care), the
Department of Social Services has operated with a vacancy rate of between 12%
and 15% for most of the year. Because of the economic situation and low
staffing levels, RDSS has struggled in “meeting key performance benchmarks.”2
The following table presents the RDSS case loads for the fourteen month period
from July 2011 through August 2012. It shows a steady increase in work load for
the Department, with the exception of the slight decline in VIEW enrollment.
RDSS CASE LOAD, JULY 2011 THROUGH AUGUST 2012
# Medicaid Applications Taken
# Active Medicaid Cases
# Active Medicaid Enrollees
Jul‐11
484
24,963
43,814
Aug‐11
538
25,095
43,967
Sep‐11
507
25,196
44,156
MONTH OF
Oct‐11 Nov‐11
545
489
25,371 25,463
44,359 44,420
Dec‐11
482
25,579
44,680
1
Annual Report for the City of Richmond Department of Social Services, A Look Back 2010‐2011,
pg. 1.
2
Ibid.
Page 12
Jan‐12
536
25,487
44,712
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RDSS CASE LOAD, JULY 2011 THROUGH AUGUST 2012
# SNAP Applications Taken
# Active SNAP Cases
# Active SNAP Enrollees
# TANF Applications Taken
# Active TANF Cases
# Active TANF Enrollees
Total Enrollees in View
# Child Care Applications Taken
# Active Child Care Cases
# Foster Care Cases
# Medicaid Applications Taken
# Active Medicaid Cases
# Active Medicaid Enrollees
# SNAP Applications Taken
# Active SNAP Cases
# Active SNAP Enrollees
# TANF Applications Taken
# Active TANF Cases
# Active TANF Enrollees
Total Enrollees in View
# Child Care Applications Taken
# Active Child Care Cases
# Foster Care Cases
Jul‐11
1,499
27,848
53,424
224
2,995
8,518
1,140
245
1,359
256
Feb‐12
453
25,213
44,083
1,379
29,892
55,532
198
2,983
8,219
204
1,308
221
Aug‐11
1,847
28,260
54,279
312
3,020
8,615
1,110
281
1,350
242
Mar‐12
549
24,864
43,498
1,329
29,894
55,218
214
2,869
7,896
1,020
255
1,357
211
MONTH OF
Oct‐11 Nov‐11
1,685
1,459
29,122 29,512
55,422 55,527
278
278
3,007
2,977
8,576
8,473
1,084
280
219
1,353
1,359
1,358
238
245
242
Sep‐11
1,651
28,670
54,784
332
2,977
8,473
Apr‐12
576
25,065
43,820
1,236
29,915
55,373
252
2,853
7,922
1,001
207
MONTH OF
May‐
12
652
23,581
44,309
1,424
29,996
55,503
303
2,881
8,061
994
284
1,440
204
Jun‐12
725
25,780
45,505
1,424
30,025
57,893
257
2,851
8,102
202
Dec‐11
1,503
29,663
55,774
291
2,990
8,490
1,077
181
1,343
234
Jan‐12
1,503
29,790
56,168
219
2,984
8,038
Jul‐12
627
25,870
45,154
1,501
30,559
56,154
299
2,816
7,942
996
218
1,339
194
Aug‐12
643
26,096
45,454
The Department has been called upon to maintain this work load with existing
staff resources, complicated by an overall vacancy rate averaging over thirteen
percent in the last two years:
RDSS AUTHORIZED STAFF AND VACANCIES, FY 2006-12
Vacancy
Positions
Rank
Vacancy
Fiscal Year
Among
Rate
Authorized
Filled
Large
Depts
FY 2012
496.0
425.7
13.3%
2
FY 2011
496.0
422.3
13.6%
3
FY 2010
496.0
447.0
8.5%
3
FY 2009
499.0
467.0
6.3%
8
DY 2008
500.0
466.3
8.9%
8
FY 2007
499.0
444.0
12.2%
5
FY 2006
502.0
446.0
8.4%
7
Page 13
214
1,091
228
329
2,973
7,961
242
1,339
195
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Performance continues to be an issue for the Department. The following table,
presents the Department’s performance against State established targets for the
period from July 2011 through August 2012, fourteen months of data reporting:
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICE
PERFORMANCE RELATIVE TO STATE TARGETS
JULY 2011 THROUGH AUGUST 2012
No. of Reports
Goal Met
By 5% or less
More than 5%
Goal Met
Missed by 5%
or less
Missed by
more than 5%
Timely Processing of Medicaid applications
Timeliness of Medicaid Reviews
Timely Processing – SNAP Expedited
Timely Processing – SNAP Regular
Timely Processing of SNAP Combined
Applications
SNAP Participation Rate
SNAP Quality Assurance Payment Error Rate
SNAP Quality Assurance Negative Action Error
Rate
VIEW – Job Retention
VIEW – Average Hourly Wage
VIEW – Percent Employed
Timely Processing of TANF Applications
VIEW – Federal Work Participation Rate
Timely Processing of Child Care Applications
Absence of Maltreatment (Quarterly)
Absence of Abuse While in Foster Care
(Quarterly)
Percentage Reunified w/in 12 Months
(Quarterly)
Foster Care Re‐Entry Rate (Quarterly)
Adoptions Finalized w/in 24 Months of
Entering Care
Percentage Discharged to Permanence
(Quarterly)
Placement Stability – 1st 12 Months
(Quarterly)
Number of Adoption Disruptions
Percentage of Youth in Congregate Care
Kinship Care Placements
Monthly FC Visitation
Percentage of
Performance
Goal
State Performance Measure
Goals
Missed
>=0.97
>=0.97
>=0.97
>=0.97
14
14
11
11
0
0
7
1
0
1
4
10
14
13
0
0
0%
0%
64%
9%
0%
7%
36%
91%
100%
93%
0%
0%
11
14
7
1
14
6
10
0
0
0
0
1
9%
100%
86%
91%
0%
0%
0%
0%
14%
8
14
14
14
14
10
14
5
0
0
14
0
0
0
2
5
0
6
0
0
7
0
6
0
8
8
0
14
7
10
6
0
0%
0%
100%
0%
0%
0%
14%
100%
0%
43%
0%
0%
50%
0%
43%
0%
100%
57%
0%
100%
50%
100%
43%
0%
5
3
2
0
60%
40%
0%
5
5
2
3
0
1
3
1
40%
60%
0%
20%
60%
20%
5
0
0
5
0%
0%
100%
5
0
0
5
0%
0%
100%
5
14
14
14
14
2
13
14
0
11
3
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
14
0
40%
93%
100%
0%
79%
60%
0%
0%
0%
21%
0%
7%
0%
100%
0%
>=0.97
>=.80
<=.03
<=.02
>=.75
>=7.25
>=.50
>=.95
>=.50
>=.95
>=.95
>=1.0
>=.75
>=.10
>=.37
>=.29
>=.86
=0
>=.16
>=.24
Page 14
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICE
PERFORMANCE RELATIVE TO STATE TARGETS
JULY 2011 THROUGH AUGUST 2012
No. of Reports
Goal Met
By 5% or less
More than 5%
Goal Met
Missed by 5%
or less
Missed by
more than 5%
Monthly Client Visits with Family
CPS Ongoing Contacts Met
CPS Prevention Contacts Met
CPS Response within Priority Time ‐ First
Attempted
CPS Response within Priority Time ‐ First
Completed
Timely CPS Assessments
Timely CPS Investigations
Timely APS Investigations
Absence of APS Recurrence within 90 Days
TOTALS
Percentage of
Performance
Goal
State Performance Measure
Goals
Missed
>=.90
>=.90
>=.90
14
14
14
0
5
0
0
5
0
14
4
14
0%
36%
0%
0%
36%
0%
100%
29%
100%
14
2
2
10
14%
14%
71%
14
13
13
14
13
384
1
1
1
9
13
130
2
1
0
3
0
66
11
11
12
2
0
188
7%
8%
8%
64%
100%
34%
14%
8%
0%
21%
0%
17%
79%
85%
92%
14%
0%
49%
>=.90
>=.90
>=.90
>=.95
>=.95
>=.95
This table shows that the Department has consistently missed its state‐
mandated performance targets over the past fourteen months. Many of these
performance issues relate to the timeliness and frequency of work to be
performed. These are the types of performance issues that business process
redesign can help. It does so by identifying and removing work impediments
such as bottlenecks in work processes, redundant reviews, and lack of time
standards designed to reduce overall time averages.
One optimistic statistic is the fact that foster care caseloads decreased by more
than twenty percent during 2011. This improvement has been attributed to
several revisions that RDSS has made in its approach to serving families,
including:

3
Using Team Decision Making, which gives “the child and family the ability to
invite their support system to be involved in decision making and service
planning;”3
Ibid, pg. 27.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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
Providing “high quality, child centered family‐focused cost effective
community‐based services;”4

Training foster/adoptive families and reducing “the number of foster care
youth placed in a congregate care setting;”5
Participating in Quality Service Review, a review process that “focuses on the
positive aspects of ...practice and leverages this practice to correct areas not
aligned with the model;”6


Using the Continuous Quality Improvement Unit (CQI) to “target and improve
practice where practice was determined to be marginal.”7
Although programs operated by the Economic Support and Independence
Division have not yet shown the positive turnaround experienced in Foster Care,
several positive steps have been taken to improve the benefits side of the house,
including:




Working in partnership with several other community groups to “develop
workforce readiness and create employment opportunities for recipients of
the various public assistance programs.”8
Working in “partnership with the Virginia Department of Social Services
(VDSS) to implement a full employment program which provides
opportunities for public assistance recipients to receive training and careers
in the fields of construction, office administration, office management,
licensed practical nurse, certified nursing assistant...”9
Reorganizing training for newly hired Benefit Program Specialists
Reorganizing the RDSS Intake Area and implementing a Customer Care
Center which provides clerical support to each team within the Division
4
Ibid, pg. 27.
Ibid, pg. 20
6
Ibid, pg. 20.
7
Ibid, pg. 21.
8
Ibid, pg. 16.
9
Ibid, pg. 16.
5
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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SUMMARY OF RDSS STRENGTHS AND IMPROVEMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
The RDSS has undertaken several different analyses of its strengths, weaknesses,
threats, and opportunities (SWOT). Most recently, the Department conducted
an agency‐wide analysis with its leadership and managerial personnel as part of
its Balanced Scorecard strategic planning. Additionally, the Concept Planning
Team charged with developing the initial business process redesign concept
conducted a SWOT analysis, focusing principally on strengths and areas of
improvement opportunity. The different analyses had the same conclusions:
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
PERCEIVED STRENGTHS AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Strengths















Staff who are knowledgeable, skilled
and diverse workforce
Drive to want to work together
Intake supervisors are phenomenal
DSS staff want to help and have a
passion to assist our customers
Management open door policy
Situations will get handled quickly
Strong mentoring relationships exist
and we have a culture that emulate
others
Willingness to adapt and change
Comment cards for feedback
Positive Initiatives such as
Congregate Care Caseload
Reduction
Applying creative approaches to
service delivery that allow us to
meet our performance benchmarks
The Continuous Quality
Improvement, Team Decision
Making, and Comprehensive
Services Act units
Collaborations: We are good at the
development of relationships with
community partners and other city
departments
Training and development of our
workforce
DSS staff feel accountable
Opportunities for Improvement

















RDSS has an employee‐focused
culture of “me”
Limited resource guides
Strengths are inconsistent
throughout the Agency
Meeting compliance standards
Underutilization of available training
Lack of technology
Staffing levels
Inefficient client and business
processes
Financial and intake processes need
major improvements
Many processes are done manually
and rely on paper records
Lack of interfaces with state systems
Communication Issues
Information does not always filter
throughout the organization or to
the correct individuals
Communication mechanisms are
used inappropriately
Lack of use of DSS All‐Staff
Client information is not available or
shared throughout the agency
Employee performance
management issues
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
PERCEIVED STRENGTHS AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Strengths









Opportunities for Improvement
DSS Customer Service
Beginning of a positive culture
change in the agency
Shared efforts
DSS IT Support/Help desk
FAPT team inside agency
Building security staff
Improving appearance of Marshall
building
ADAPT training manual
Quality Council
While the strengths relate primarily to attitudes within the Department’s
management structure, the weaknesses point to fundamental deficiencies in
work processes and essential resources. The objective, therefore, of the process
redesign is to use the identified strengths as the starting point for overcoming
the perceived weaknesses.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 4: INDUSTRY TRENDS AND BEST
PRACTICES
An important part of any business process redesign is developing a system that
reflects industry trends and best practices. The purpose of tracking to trends
and practices is not to mimic those; rather, it is to learn from them and use them
as a cornerstone for processes that fit the unique circumstances of the
Department. In this chapter, we conduct an overview of trends and practices in
order to inform the design and recommendation of new business processes in
the following chapter.
INDUSTRY TRENDS
All human services agencies are undergoing significant stresses. RDSS is no
exception, as described in the previous chapter. In the following sections,
various documents that illustrate the current trends in human services
operations are discussed, to provide a practical background for assessing the
concept plan discussed above.
Human Services Summit 2010
A review of current academic studies as well as professional journals indicates
that all human services agencies are struggling with the same issues. These
issues have been simply summarized in a report from the 2010 Human Services
Summit at Harvard University (The Next Generation of Human Services: Realizing
the Vision):

“Demand [for services] is increasing.”10 This increasing demand for service
seems to parallel the unemployment rate and is intensified by the
demographics of an aging population.

“Cases are intensifying;” that is, “client challenges are becoming more
complex.”11

“Cost is escalating.”12

Resources are dwindling.”13
10
The Next General of Human Services: Realizing the Vision, A Report from the 2010 Human
Services Summit at Harvard Universtiy pg. 3
11
Ibid, pg. 3
12
Ibid, pg. 3
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

In response to this environment of increasing demand for more complex and
costly service needs and dwindling resources, RDSS and other human
services agencies have made many incremental changes, with varying
success. According to the leaders in the human services field who attended
the Human Services Summit in 2010, human services agencies must “respond
in new ways to create and deliver previously unattainable outcomes.” In
other words, complete paradigm shifts are necessary to deal with current
challenges to the system.
Summit attendees recognized the need to comply with the wide ranging set
of regulations which rule the use of the funding from Federal and State
sources, while moving to a more collaborative business model. These
collaborative processes included working with others who provide similar
services and developing some limited information‐sharing and decision‐
making. However, there was general recognition that to provide human
services today and into the future, significant challenges face agencies
providing these services, including the need to:
 Foster flexible organizational cultures to meet changing client
circumstances to maximize service outcomes.
 Support predictive information organization‐wide to support policy and
program innovations.
 Involve all stakeholders in the integrated service system, utilizing social
media and communication tools to involve stakeholders in the creation of
solutions community‐wide.
Such far‐reaching changes in planning, developing, providing, and evaluating
human services means that human services organizations may not look much
like the organizations of today. Thus, the comprehensive and integrative
approach being considered for RDSS appears to be in line with the trend toward
the more integrated and comprehensive approach described at the end of the
2010 Human Services Summit.
Examples of innovative Trends
Both grant funding organizations and service providing organizations have
recognized that the future of human services can be described as follows:

Is based upon an integrated approach to service delivery;

Requires cross‐organizational collaboration and cooperation—both within
the organization itself and within the community at large;
13
Ibid, pg. 3
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
Will require significant improvements in technology needed to provide
information for family‐focused service delivery;

Will require a workforce that is well‐trained and familiar with all of the
services available;

Will focus upon a stringent review and evaluation of the outcomes of service
delivery;

Will require new ways of staffing and of managing services; and,

Will involve clients in decision‐making.
The following examples further emphasize the requirements for future strategic
planning. There are examples from private, non‐profit grant funders, illustrating
that the funding organizations are focusing on integrated, collaborative service
delivery and measurable outcomes. There is an example of a California County
taking on the integration of programs across public and mental health, human
services, employment, and veterans and public guardian aspects. And, finally, an
example of how legacy systems are being revised to assist the Vermont Agency
of Human Services is attempting to accelerate the integration of programs using
a specialized architecture, relying upon its current legacy system and the data
collected, but using that data in new ways. In other words, many jurisdictions
are working on ways to achieve a new strategic approach to providing human
services, but each is approaching these changes in its own way. With the RDSS
process review, we have attempted to identify the methods that others are using
to inform a unique approach based upon RDSS vision, mission, goals, values, and
client needs.
Grant Funding—Connect Strategy and Outcomes
Even grant funding agencies are focusing on new strategies for funding projects.
For example, TCC Group, which consults with non‐profits, issued a briefing paper
in 2005 that recommends a more stringent approach to designing projects for
funding, focusing on illustrating how the inputs of grant funding are expected to
impact outcomes of the project. This paper discussed methods used by the Doris
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Duke Foundation and by the Wachovia Foundation to focus on continuing
evaluations of the effectiveness of a program and the related funding.14
The Kresge Foundation, a non‐profit which funds many human service projects,
also emphasizes the fact that they fund direct service organizations that:








“Employ an explicit multiservice, integrated approach to meet client needs
and draw on promising practices known to help people move out of poverty.
Have a record of working on systems and policy change and have
documented program success in moving people out of poverty.
Do work with the potential to inform national policy and/or practice.
Are financially sound and have robust systems and controls for financial
management in place.
Have a formal collaborative approach to working with other agencies.
Are at a critical phase of growth.
Can clearly articulate the rationale for their proposed interventions and
outcomes...
Have leadership and personnel that are representative of the communities
they serve.”15
Examples of Innovative Programs—Humboldt County, CA
(combining many programs that provide health, employment, and
social services)
Humboldt County, CA is in a five year implementation of an expansive
integration project, which includes far more than social services. The following
describes the strategic approach they are using to integrate social services,
mental health, public health, employment training, veterans services and public
guardian programs:

“Developing integrated, co‐located and decentralized community based
services concurrently;

Establishing stakeholder inclusion structures and processes that advise the
Department in terms of policy and programming;
14
“Funding for Impact: How to Design Strategic Grantmaking Programs,” ttc group (on their
website: http://www.ttcgrp.com, 2005.
15
http://www.kresge.org/programs/human‐services/advancing‐effectiveness‐and‐resiliance‐
direct‐service‐organizations
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
Focusing on quality improvement and systems accountability in terms of
outcomes linked to improved individual and family recovery and self‐
sufficiency, as well as improved community health”16

Consolidating and integrating all support and administrative services for all of
the departments involved
Examples of Innovative Programs—Vermont Uses SOA Approach to
Make Legacy Systems Work
In its August 2011 edition, Policy and Practice published a short paper on
Service‐Oriented Architecture (SOA) and how Vermont is using this approach in
“addressing the challenges of connecting disparate systems.” 17 SOA is an
architectural approach to using information from legacy systems to update
systems and put the updating of systems into the hands of the system users.
The Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) is identified as an example of how
“SOA can accelerate the journey to integrated human services.”18
This article illustrates that technology firms recognize the need to assist human
services agencies implement integrated service deliveries, even to the extent of
providing ways to utilize legacy systems to achieve integration goals.
Best Practices Analysis
Best practices in the human services can be defined as:
“State‐of‐the–art lessons learned as culled and extrapolated from basic
research and evaluation reports and field experience—the best
information currently available that decision makers can use in human
service program development.“19 For academics, this definition is fitting;
however, for practitioners, it is often extremely difficult to determine
whether a promising practice has been verified with basic research.
Therefore, this report uses a broader definition, which uses published
reports of reported promising best practices. In other words, although
these best practices are noted in many publications, albeit discussed
16
Humboldt County 2011‐2016 Strategic Plan Update, Released May 2011, pg. 4
“Technology Speaks, “Enterprise Architecture as the Foundation for Legacy Systems Renewal”
Policy & Practice, August 2011, pg. 1
18
Ibid
19
Best Practice Brief No. 1, published in 1998, by the Outreach Partnerships @ Michigan State
University.
17
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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somewhat differently, it is not always clear that the practices have been
verified with research.
Some promising practices include broad‐based management practices, and
others are specific to individual clients and specific programs. This section
addresses best management practices only. It does not address the issues of
program specific or worker specific best practices, as those issues are outside the
purview of this project.
Based upon a current literature search, the following are promising management
practices, particularly in dealing with the current challenges to human services
programs.
Harvard Human Services Summit
The first set of organizational best practices included here was identified during
the 2010 Human Services Summit at Harvard University:

“Develop policy and program strategies across programs.”20

“Share eligibility, service delivery and case management across programs.”21

“Utilize technology and tools that enable decision making across
organizations.”22

“Develop a performance management system that supports fully integrated,
client‐centric service delivery.”23

“Develop governance structures and business processes that focus on
common outcome goals and the support of cross‐organization
collaboration.”24

“Implement an integrated, single‐view system for case management across
programs and organizations.”25
20
The Next General of Human Services: Realizing the Vision, pg. 17
Ibid, pg. 17
22
Ibid, pg. 17
23
Ibid, pg. 25
24
Ibid, pg. 25
25
Ibid, pg. 25
21
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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Accenture Survey
Accenture interviewed 60 government officials in 21 countries about how to deal
disadvantaged citizens with the goal of improved outcomes. In addition, the
Accenture staff did extensive secondary research on this issue. In a paper,
available on line at www.accenture.com/us‐en/Pages/Insight‐empowerment‐
activation‐participation‐disacvantaged‐people.aspx (Empowerment, activation,
and participation: Actively engaging disadvantaged people in improving the
quality of their lives), several components of improving performance included:

Using a comprehensive set of outcome measures;

Collaborating to all service providers and at all levels within organizations;

Fostering flexibility and working to enable high performance via:
 Developing strategies to tackle complex issues and to achieve citizen‐
centered outcomes
 Involving citizens as active stakeholder participants and utilizing one‐stop
shops that help deliver services holistically
 Preparing the workforce to adapt and to tackle problems with fewer
staff, as well as attracting and retaining those able to work in this difficult
environment
 Ensuring appropriate IT support for all strategic goals
North Carolina Families First
As far back as 2001, the State of North Carolina had begun work on a program
called Families First. This program was intended to “provide family centered
services by means of an efficient, seamless service delivery process that provides
flexibility for the counties and accountability throughout the system.” 26 In this
paper, Mr. Cox recognizes that some Federal policies regarding the funding of
information technology projects made sharing service costs difficult. Some of
these issues remain today. Thus, an additional best practice could be identified
as:

Working with the State and Federal agencies responsible for reviewing cost
allocation methods to develop a reasonable way to fund integrated
26
Cox, Bill, Director of the Division of Resource Management, North Carolina Department of
Health and Human Services, Reengineering Business Processes to Integrate the Delivery of
Human Services in North Carolina,” a paper prepared for the Conference on Modernizing
Information Systems for Human Services, 2001, pg. 7
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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information systems to be used to support the information needs of a human
services department offering integrated services.
Center for Law and Social Policy
In 2004, Rutledge Q. Hutson, of the Center for Law and Social Policy , published a
paper about legal barriers to providing comprehensive integrated social services.
In this paper, Hutson also described an integrated social services system, thereby
defining a set of best management practices, including:

“No wrong door”—meaning that a family can be connected to services, no
matter how they enter into the system;

A comprehensive family assessment needs to be completed to support a
service plan;

Although a single case plan is developed for a family, a multidisciplinary team
from all applicable programs would coordinate with a primary caseworker;

In order to ease service delivery, programs should be co‐located. This issue
may be of less importance in the current technology environment;

Staff work differently, by focusing on what the family needs and identifying
potential programs and funding available to meet those needs; and,

Staff need more cross‐training and knowledge about all of the programs and
services which might be available to their clients27
Conclusions about Industry Trends
Our review of the trends and practices discussed directly in this report, other
trends which project staff reviewed during the course of the project, and the
current best practices in the industry lead to a common conclusion: that the
future direction of social service delivery in the United States will be in the
direction of providing integrated services to a large, diverse client base. The
most successful agencies will be those who can adapt to this new direction and
build business processes which will enable them to provide a full battery of client
27
Hutson, Rutledge Q. “Providing Comprehensive, Integrated Social Services to Vulnerable
Children and Families: Are There Legal Barriers at the Federal Level to Moving Forward?”, Center
for Law and Social Policy, Washington, DC, 2005.
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services in a manner that is not intrusive to the client and provides caring
response to the total battery of needs that clients present.
TRENDS IN THE CITY AND COMMONWEALTH
As important as national trends and best practices are in the development of
new models of client service, there needs to be some locally based history to
support radical change to business processes and organization. It is this local
perspective that creates the understanding of potential improvements and
allows the personnel within an organization to have some perception about
change alternatives.
There are several initiatives affecting the Department which provide this
valuable trend history. These include current integrated service approaches
used in part within the Department, the City’s SafePassages initiative, and
various Commonwealth initiatives that indicate a Commonwealth commitment
to service integration.
Integrated Services within RDSS
The Richmond Department of Social Services has a number of operational
programs and practices which work from integrated service models. Principal
among these are:

VIEW Client Integration. The City’s VIEW program operates from a
perspective of integrated client benefits. As a client comes to the VIEW
program, the case managers are responsible for assessing all of the benefit
needs of the client in developing an employment program. This effort is
limited, however, in that it does not factor other client services available
through the Department and it relies on individual case workers to be aware
of opportunities.

Team Decision Making. The Team Decision Making model within the
Department’s Children, Families, and Adult Services, works primarily with the
children’s services component but can also work with adult protective
services upon the request of the client. This model provides a means for the
Department to provide a broad assessment of the client’s needs and to work
as a team to identify potential service strategies. The strength of this
approach is the team approach to problem solving and the inclusion of the
client and client family. It is, however, limited to the service component of
the Department.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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
Comprehensive Services Act. This unit, established by Commonwealth law,
operates as an independent unit of the Department. It provides a
comprehensive assessment of children in foster care settings or children
with Individual Education Plans (IEP) and incorporates other service providers
within the City, including the Schools, Richmond Behavioral Health, the
justice system, and contract providers. It also includes the client and
families. While this program is limited to a single client base, it represents
the broad outreach and service coordination of an integrated case model. It
is, in great part, this model that the project team has used to develop the
integrated case model system recommended in this report.

Second Responder Staff. RDSS uses a shift of protective service workers to
provide both children and adult emergency services after hours on workdays
and on the weekends. The role of this staff is immediate intervention for a
crisis call and relief of the crisis. Housed in police offices, the second
responders receive a call from the State or other parties, assess the situation,
and respond immediately. As quickly as possible, this unit hands the case off
to the Department’s day‐based protective services units. The model of this is
the concept of immediate response to alleviate life safety issues. We use this
model in the construction of a comprehensive emergency intervention
system that provides for immediate response at any time while freeing case
workers to manage on‐going cases.

Continuous Quality Improvement. The Department has created a
Continuous Quality Improvement unit within the CFA Division. While the
general concept was to provide CQI services throughout the Division, the
practical effect has been to use CQI primarily in the management of the IV‐E
payment process. This involvement has enabled the Department to address
serious performance deficiencies successfully. A key element of the
integrated service model is the expansion of the CQI concept into a
Department‐wide risk management and performance assessment unit.
City of Richmond Safe Passages Model
Under the leadership of the City’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human
Services, the City of Richmond has developed a concept to integrate case
assessment from a variety of internal and external data sources. The idea is to
use multiple points of information in order to understand the full situation of a
client family as it presents itself for assistance and to use that information to
develop a more comprehensive approach to problem resolution. Called Safe
Passages, this model seeks to incorporate data from the Schools, Behavioral
Health, Health, and Juvenile and Criminal Courts.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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The driver for this model is the understanding that the current modality of
response to a client is for a single work unit to address just a single problem that
a client presents at any given point in time. As a result, each time a client comes
into the human services system, there is a patch to a given symptom. The
concept of Safe Passages is that each presentation is really a symptom of a larger
problem and solution of the problem depends on knowing the full magnitude of
the problem and developing a comprehensive service strategy.
Safe Passages represents a unique opportunity for RDSS to become a leader in
the use of integrated case data to assess client family needs and to develop a
comprehensive service plan. The key will be the ability of the Department to
collect integrated data, to use those data for comprehensive assessment, and
then to deliver a broad range of services based on an integrated plan.
Commonwealth Initiatives
The Commonwealth of Virginia is undertaking a number of initiatives that foster
an integrated case model. There are two such initiatives which appear to have
the most immediate impact on RDSS’ integrated capabilities:

CommonHelp. In September, the Commonwealth went live with a new
customer portal by which clients can use computer access to enter
applications for benefits, check on application status, and make edits to
previously submitted materials. This eliminates the requirement for
clients to go to a local social services agency to request benefits and to
conduct other business with the agency. This system has the potential
for greatly enhancing the service capacity of the Department. It
simplifies the data entry aspects of application, expedites departmental
capacity to obtain and assess information, allows staff to plan their work
better, and still be more responsive to the client. The design of the RDSS
integrated client service model rests heavily on the effective
implementation of this model.

Single Pool RMS. At a meeting of local directors at the end of October,
the VDSS announced plans to implement a single pool Random Moment
Sampling (RMS). The sampling technique used by the Department
currently divides to four different budget lines. A single pool system, to
be implemented in July 2013, reduces that to two lines. Historically, the
local departments had to maintain separate work records for case
workers in order to receive proper Commonwealth reimbursement. With
the single pool system, all direct workers will be sampled in one pool.
This will be transparent to staff, but will allow simpler administrative
reporting and eliminates the reporting of joint costs. The importance of
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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this change for the Department is that it no longer has to maintain a
physical separation of case workers in order to receive State
reimbursement. This removes a key barrier from the concept of an
integrated case model system in which social workers and benefit
workers will labor together in integrated teams.

eHHRS Initiatives. The Commonwealth of Virginia has plans to go forward
with a broader strategy of electronic health and human resources (eHHRS)
management. The Commissioner of Social Services described the
Commonwealth’s goal in an October 2012 newsletter:
The eHHRS (electronic Health & Human Resources) vision for eligibility
and enrollment modernization assumes that while some people will
always need additional assistance applying for benefits, over time, the
vast majority of citizens will enroll online by themselves. This is what the
online services industry considers self‐directed service. Self‐directed
service has many benefits for Virginia, its state workers, and the citizens
served. Not the least of these benefits includes:




Through increased automation, case workers will have more time
to spend with the neediest population: for example, the aged,
blind, and disabled.
Customers will be able to apply for benefits when it’s convenient
for them. The customer portal is available online 24/7, which
eliminates challenges like transportation, child care, or time off
work. A call center will be available to help customers with
questions.
Case workers will be able to reach members of the community
who may be eligible for benefits using portable technology. For
instance, workers will be able to take tablets or laptops into places
like nursing facilities, schools, or HeadStart programs.
Eligibility determination will be more accurate and streamlined
when applicants’ information is verified in real‐time, when a single
set of rules are applied, and when any missing information on the
application is flagged prior to application submission. This will
help customers get the right services at the right time while
greatly reducing rework and enrollment errors.
So what will self‐directed service look like? Customers with an internet
connection will be able to log into the CommonHelp customer portal and
apply for programs including Medicaid, CHIP, TANF, Energy Assistance,
and SNAP. Medicaid and CHIP eligibility determinations will be performed
automatically using a business rules engine. Whenever possible,
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verifications will be done electronically in real‐time by matching data
against federal and state databases.
When an applicant is found eligible, Medicaid and CHIP enrollments will
be captured in the case record and sent to the MMIS. Instances of
ineligibility will also be captured in the case record, alerting workers to
any necessary action. Some program requirements may require the case
worker to perform an action within the workflow manually—such as the
case with SNAP requiring phone interviews. Any exceptions or errors
identified by the rules engine will trigger an alert to the case worker. The
worker will be able to view a report stored in the eHHRS document
management system that will show where an exception or error occurred
so the worker can resolve the issue as needed. When it comes time for a
customer to renew their eligibility, they will receive an automated
reminder. Automated renewals will replace the current multi‐step,
inefficient, and often time consuming renewal processes. As a result,
more customers will maintain their eligibility and may be more likely to
seek important preventive and routine medical care.
You can expect to see the following developments in the near future:


Implement consent collection via CommonHelp and changes to
paper forms: CommonHelp, also known as the Customer Portal, is
a web‐based software application that provides a streamlined,
secure, and interactive customer experience that will maximize
automation, in addition to real‐time eligibility determination while
protecting privacy and personal identifiable information. Consent
functionality features are being added to CommonHelp to provide
verbiage asking the customer to allow information that identifies
the person to be shared. The person may or may not consent to
this basic information being shared. If the person consents it will
be easier for this person to obtain services across COV agencies
and it will help COV reduce fraud and abuse of the social services
programs.
Engage local DSS offices in process change discussion regarding
new eligibility workflow: The Virginia Departments of Social
Services works with some 120 local DSS offices to administer social
services programs for the citizens of Virginia. The increase in
automation and self‐directed services that will be implemented by
EDSP will bring about changes in the eligibility process and
workflow. These changes will allow social workers to spend less
time on repetitive administrative tasks and allow them more time
to help needy individuals and families with the more complex
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
issues they face, providing the right services to the right people at
the right time. VDSS will be working with local DSS to provide
information and training to support the new eligibility workflow.
Map migration of eligibility rules/policy from ADAPT to EDSP
vendor system: An effort is underway to implement eligibility rules
and policies into a configurable and flexible external rules engine
that allows non‐technical staff the ability to alter and maintain
business rules. These business rules are administered through
existing software systems, such as ADAPT, as well as through
manual processes. To expedite the process of implementing
existing COV eligibility rules in the new rules engine VDSS is
working to extract rules from ADAPT to avoid re‐creating all the
rules from scratch. This includes DMAS staff reviewing the rules in
CHAMPS to determine what can be extracted for use in the rules
engine.
This is an ambitious undertaking, one, though, that is consistent with the
direction of human services technology integration. The integrated case model
process described in this report relies on such integrated approaches and the
elimination of excess staff time doing repetitive actions in order to effect
integrated case management.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 5: THE INTEGRATED CLIENT SERVICE
MODEL
The primary work activity of this project is the redesign of the Department of
Social Services’ principal business processes. The redesign focuses on those
processes relating directly to client services and essential support services.
At the outset of the engagement, the project team conducted a series of review
meetings with RDSS staff to gain an understanding of the Department’s current
business processes. We conducted 31 sessions involving nearly 150 different
employees of RDSS. We also interviewed representatives of various providers to
understand the Department’s work processes from their perspective. The
purpose of these reviews was not to detail existing processes, since the
Department had already done so. The purpose was to gain an understanding of
why the processes functioned in the way they did and to identify weaknesses to
be addressed.
As a result of the review of the current (“As‐Is”) business processes, we observed
the following problem areas:






Traditional organization and function
Siloes of work units and clients
Growing demand with shrinking resources
Loss of work productivity as a result of:
 Manual work processes
 Inadequate document management
 Frequent loss of information
 Linear processing of information since only one person had
possession of a given record at any time
 Excess level of duplication
 Lack of trust among staff
 Limited data access
 Client siloes
 Unwillingness to give up work
 A general perception that staff could take up to the State limits for
processing client applications
Consistent failure to meet state performance requirements
 Use of state standards as internal performance standards guaranteed to
result in failure
 Staff attitudes emphasize passive response
 Few meaningful consequences
Limited capacity to:
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 Anticipate future conditions
 Assess and remedy internal performance issues
 Operate in cross‐functional mode
These problems were present in virtually every individual work process. Even
more telling, one process team would frequently report duplicating the work of
the previous process team because of lack of supervisory oversight and lack of
consistency in data collection and assessment. Also, staff regularly reported that
one of their greatest problems was the inability to obtain a complete set of
information due to data access and security regulations and to a lack of
knowledge about what other programs the Department offered to clients.
As a result of these observations, the project team and Department Steering
Committee agreed that meaningful change would occur only if the Department
were to alter fundamentally the way it performed work. Based on industry
trends and best practices, the Department decided to embark on the
development of a more open, integrated approach to its service delivery.
There are three elements to the design of a new approach. The first was the
creation of an overall concept of a continuum of service that the Department
would use. The second was to build that concept into a set of specific process
flows. Finally, we needed to identify essential supports that would enable the
new processes to be successful.
This chapter describes the concept model and the business processes. In
subsequent chapters, we discuss the organizational, human resource,
technology, and performance management issues that will need to be in place
for long‐term success.
THE CONCEPT PLAN
The Department convened a Concept Planning Committee to develop the
framework of an integrated approach to service delivery to address the issues
identified in the review of current conditions. Staff representing each of the
principal work areas of the Department met in a two day retreat to develop a
concept framework. Their work started from a basic framework prepared by the
project staff, with the Concept Committee having the charge to challenge and
redesign the concept as they deemed most appropriate.
Change in Perspective
After extensive discussion about how the Department currently delivers services,
the Concept Committee concluded that the Department needed to revise its
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
approach to client. The previous service model of the Department has been that
an individual client or family has been enrolled in one or more service delivery
units and had separate case workers for each individual within the family and
each service being received. To effect this delivery model, the Department has
traditionally organized, and operates, with individual service programs being the
core of the client service model. The functions necessary to deliver each service
were duplicated by service. The following graph represents that delivery model:
CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATION OF CURRENT RDSS SERVICE DELIVERY
MODEL
This model is common among social service agencies in the United States. Its
basis is the growth and implementation of individual services, a product of a
single‐issue approach to policy development. The result is that attention is given
to program structure, not to the entirety of client needs. Navigation through the
social services system is left to the client’s own devices or representative parties.
The Committee felt that this service model did not place emphasis where it
belonged: on the client. It was necessary, therefore, to design a new approach
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where the client was the center of concern, and the Department provided
services in a manner that was most beneficial to the client.
Conceptual Model
The Committee devised the integrated process plan in the following graph:
INTEGRATED CASE MANAGEMENT CONCEPT PLAN
Client Contact
Intake Triage
Emergency
Non-Emergency
Entry/App
Processing
Intervention Triage
Action
Assessment
Preliminary
Eligibility
Case
Assessment
(Family)
Rapid
Response
Action
Taken
Initiate
Relief
Case
Assessment
(Eligibility )
Case
Routing
Transition
Random
QA
Case
Management
Mandatory
Services
Voluntary
Services
Transition
to Self
Sufficiency
The key elements of the concept plan are:





Triage entry into the system
Emergency response
Transitions
 From emergencies to continuing services
 From RDSS support to self sufficiency
Universal assessments
 Family needs
 Eligibility determination and assistance packaging
Multi‐disciplinary service delivery
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
The plan sought to address the timeliness of application processing by separating
emergency response needs from routine needs, effectively using a medical triage
concept. Once the emergency situation were resolved, then the client would
enter the Department’s on‐going service delivery capacity. Upon entering into
the on‐going delivery, a key feature is a broad assessment of needs. The
purpose here is to expand, to the extent possible, the level of information
gathered and eligibility review that would enable a fuller examination of client
needs and a more integrated approach to case management. In particular, the
committee felt that a singular period of case assessment would eliminate the
problems associated with redundant review and the lack of understanding of
department programs.
Finally, the client would enter into the case management system, in which
integrated teams of both social workers and benefit workers would provide
services, with an individual staff person having lead responsibility for the client.
The purposes behind this approach were to eliminate excessive Department
intrusion into the client’s life, reduce the number of different contact points, give
the client a single point of contact (with backup), and perform an on‐going
assessment of the client’s needs.
There are two critical aspects of this model: defining the client and emphasizing
helping the client through the system.
First, in this conceptual model, the Department defines the client as a family
unit, not just an individual. This model recognizes an individual as possibly being
a family unit. And, the importance of the use of the family as the service basis is
to understand the multitude of dynamics that occur in the client’s life setting.
Throughout this report, and in the implementation actions to follow, it is key to
understand that reference to a client means the family unit. That unit may be
just one individual; it may be a small nuclear family; it may be a large, extended
family unit. The point is this: a single individual reflects his or her family
environment. In order to provide the best level of service to an individual, the
Department must understand that person’s family and social environment and
be prepared to assist with that entire environment.
Second, this conceptual model flips the point of emphasis of service delivery and
of the Department itself. The current system is based on a series of individual
program siloes, each relatively self‐contained. With limited exception, there is
little cross communication or service coordination. The new model breaks from
this silo. Now, the primary structure of the service plan will be the flow of the
individual from one process to another. Each process, i.e., intake, assessment,
case management, etc., will be able to deliver necessary services. One intake
process will be common to all programs, rather than each program having its
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
own. Similarly, one assessment process will be applicable to all programs. And,
most importantly, there will be a common case management system.
The following graphic represents the new model:
THE NEW RDSS SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL
Assessment of the Conceptual Model
The goal of the concept planning was to develop a framework that built on the
strengths of the Department while addressing the perceived weaknesses. The
Concept Committee tested the plan against the Department’s SWOT analysis, as
shown in the table below:
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
STRENGTHS
**Staff: Knowledgeable, skilled and diverse workforce
CURRENT STRENGTHS
Staff: Knowledgeable, skilled
and diverse workforce
Drive to want to work
together
Intake supervisors are
phenomenal
DSS staff want to help and
have a passion to assist our
customers
Management open door policy
BENEFITS/CHALLENGES OF THE NEW MODEL
Enhances/requires enhanced skills
Enhances/requires enhanced skills
May need to be redeployed
Remains the same with a greater emphasis on client
centric approach
Should remain the same in theory, but depends on what
changes are made to the organizational structure and the
people put in leadership positions.
Strong belief that the current open door policy should
continue and be encouraged.
Situations will get handled
quickly
This model should improve the efficiency of handling
situations. There is also the added benefit of clear case
ownership and should eliminate those disagreements.
Strong mentoring
relationships exist and we
have a culture that emulate
others
The new model will not change this positive practice and
can be leveraged to incorporates best practices and
encourage more positive behaviors.
This is crucial in the implementation of the new model
and will push and test the organization’s willingness to
change to the limits.
Willingness to adapt and
change
Comment cards for feedback
Business Processes
DSS has high level of expectation for our clients to change
and should not ask of our clients to do more than we are
willing to do ourselves. These changes will be a good
example to model what we want our customers to do.
A best practice that should be continued in the current
model.
 The new model will enhance client centric
environment
 Will enable DSS to look at the whole family and
provide comprehensive evaluation of family needs
 Will make service delivery more accessible, seamless
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
STRENGTHS
**Staff: Knowledgeable, skilled and diverse workforce
CURRENT STRENGTHS
BENEFITS/CHALLENGES OF THE NEW MODEL
and efficient
 The process will be more proactive than reactive and
will allow the opportunity to anticipate client needs
 The new model will promote prevention and
reunification; and earlier and more complete
intervention
 In theory the new model should result in a shorter
period of involvement with DSS
These should not change and will:
 Prevent agency errors;
Positive Initiatives:
Congregate Care Caseload
Reduction;
Innovative Approaches: We
apply creative approaches to
service delivery that allow us
to meet our performance
benchmarks
Flow of information  CQI,
TDM, CSA
 Retain the TDM, CSA models; and
 Lead to more thorough assessment and therefore
more appropriate placement and placement stability.
The new model should improve and spread out the
opportunity for the organization to be creative
Will allow better information flow to all programs and
give us another opportunity to build on the TDM, CQI,
CSA models for collaboration
This model will:
Collaborations: We are good
at the development of
relationships with community
partners and other city
departments
Training and development of
our workforce
 Assist with the identification of what current
relationships exist;
 Provide guidance on how to improve and enhance
those relationships; and
 And afford the opportunity to assign responsibility
for building those relationships.
DSS has awesome training and with the implementation
of the new model it will require greater need for more
focused and competency based training. Components
such as segments on professional moral compass may
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
STRENGTHS
**Staff: Knowledgeable, skilled and diverse workforce
CURRENT STRENGTHS
BENEFITS/CHALLENGES OF THE NEW MODEL
have to be added.
There will also be more opportunity for cross training
DSS staff feel accountable
DSS Customer Service
Beginning of a positive culture
change in the agency
Shared efforts
DSS IT Support/Help desk
FAPT team inside agency
Building security staff
Improving appearance of
Marshall building
ADAPT training manual
Quality Council
This client centric model will further enhance the high
degree of professional ethics within the agency
The client centric focus of the model will improve the
commitment to provide sensitive, timely and efficient
service to internal and external customers
The implementation of this model will speed up change
and may have an impact at the city level
The redistribution inherent in the new model will
facilitate these efforts
IT is the foundation of this change effort and will become
an even more critical component. The current IT
resources will be stretched to capacity and DSS will have
to seek out staff and technological resources.
FAPT team can remain the same, but this model has the
potential to build and expand on this concept.
N/A
Initiating customer portal use can make the current
environment more user friendly
This resource can be used as a model to provide staff
more complete resources at their fingertips. Making the
resources electronic in the future would be a plus
Will provide more interesting information and allow
people another forum to give input
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
WEAKNESSES
CURRENT PERCEIVED
WEAKNESSES
PERCEIVED IMPROVEMENTS WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE NEW MODEL

Limited resource guides
The development of quick access resource tool will be
incorporated into the training and transition to the new
system

Strengths are inconsistent
throughout the Agency
The team based approach coupled with better processes
will make up for some of the deficiencies and lead to
more consistency


Meeting Compliance
Standards
 Underutilization of
available training
 Lack of technology
 Staffing levels
Inefficient client and business
processes
 Financial and intake
processes need major
improvements
 Many processes are done
manually and rely on
paper records
 Lack of interfaces with
state systems
The skill levels of existing staff may present a problem in
meeting this goal after implementation. However the
new model has strengths and offers:




Additional Caseload support
Increased workload balance by equally
distributing work
Increased knowledgeable of the team
Better application of technology to effectively
implement systems, address problems, evaluate
progress, and improve efficiencies
The new model is designed to eliminate inefficiency
within the agency.
Automation of both financial and intake processes will
enable DSS to mine date more effectively and will
eliminate the need for manual processes and paper
records
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
WEAKNESSES
CURRENT PERCEIVED
WEAKNESSES

PERCEIVED IMPROVEMENTS WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE NEW MODEL
Communication Issues
 Information does not
always filter throughout
the organization or to the
correct individuals
 Communication
mechanisms are used
inappropriately
 Lack of use of DSS All
Staff
 Client information is not
available or shared
throughout the agency
If model is implemented properly communication should
improve throughout the agency

RDSS has an employee
focused culture of “me”
The new model is client centric and more team focused,
which will make a shift in the organizational culture.

Employee performance
management issues
Model justifies the need for competencies, career paths
and progression, and better evaluation systems

Lack of Accountability
 Lack of consequences for
failing to meet
requirements
 Practices do not promote
self‐sufficiency
for clients
Staff perceptions about how
the organization views/treats
employees
 Non‐competitive salaries



No clear career
advancement
Lack of staff
empowerment

Heavy caseload balances

Working conditions
(privacy, HVAC, carpet,
Accountability has to be built in at the implementation
and transition phases
Team environment fosters staff self‐policing
Will create a positive competitive environment
The new model presents the opportunity to possibly:
 Add additional positions and resources
 Reallocate staff
 May increase salaries
 Require different and increased skill set
 Will create different jobs
The new model will benefit the client, organization, and
staff by:
 Providing a stable workforce, tools for staff to
perform duties,
 Clear job descriptions, duties and titles
 Eliminating current silos and encouraging a more
client centered focus for service delivery
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF CONCEPT PLAN RELATIVE TO RDSS SWOT:
WEAKNESSES
CURRENT PERCEIVED
WEAKNESSES
etc.)



Management effectiveness
 Ineffective use of mid‐
level managers and
supervisors; don’t let
them supervise
 “Wait out” management
mentality
 People don’t see benefit
of change
 Disconnect between
mission and what
Department actually does
Organization effectiveness
 Tension, talking behind
backs, particularly at
supervisory level
 CQI being stretched too
thin
 Staff do not know what
CQI is
 Psychological conflict
between management
and supervisory levels
Internal Customer Service
PERCEIVED IMPROVEMENTS WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE NEW MODEL
 Preventing duplications and reducing fraud activity
 Moving towards a team focused environment will
encourage people to stay
 Redesign of workspaces to accommodate team
environment
In addition to the assessment of the concept plan against the Department’s
strengths and weaknesses, the project team also assessed the concept plan
relative to industry best practices. The following chart illustrates compliance
with best management practices in the development of the concept plan:
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
BEST PRACTICES AND THE RDSS BUSINESS PROCESSES CONCEPT PLAN
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES
ELEMENT OF THE CONCEPT PLAN RELATED TO BEST
MANAGEMENT PRACTICE
Strategies cross programs
Concept plan is developed to encourage such a strategic
approach
Shared eligibility , service delivery
and case management
Concept plan is focused upon such a shared approach
Technology and other tools
enable decision making across
the organization
Concept plan must be supported by the use of
technology and other tools
Performance management
system supports fully integrated
client‐centric delivery system
Concept plan assumes a performance management
system that supports fully integrated client‐centric
service delivery
Governance structure and
business processes focus on
common goals and cross
organization collaboration
Concept plan has assessed business processes for
common goals and collaboration; implementation of
concept plan will require a supportive governance
structure
Use of a comprehensive set of
outcome measures
Implementation of concept plan will require such a set of
outcome measures
Collaboration at all levels
Concept plan assumes the need for such collaboration
Fostering flexibility
Concept plan and supporting organizational structure
assumes flexibility
THE INTEGRATED CLIENT SERVICE PROCESS
The Department leadership adopted the Concept Plan as the framework for a
new, integrated case management model and presented the plan to the
department staff in a series of open meetings.
Following the meetings, the next step in the redesign was to convene staff teams
to build out the to‐be business processes anticipated in the concept plan. The
Department convened sixteen teams to look at individual processes. In sessions
lasting from a half day to two full days, each team built its own recommended
to‐be process flows for the process assigned. Project staff converted the process
maps into flow diagrams and sent the diagrams to the respective team members
for review and comment. We, then, revised the flow diagrams to address
comments and questions. After the revisions, we conducted fourteen follow‐up
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sessions, each lasting two to four hours, to review the maps and make any final
changes.
At that point, we had fifteen separate processes, many of which duplicated steps
from other maps. It was necessary to integrate the different processes and
eliminate any further duplication. The Department convened a staff team for
this purpose. The team consisted of the original concept team, leaders selected
by each to‐be process team, and other staff selected to assure a full
representation of all the organizational units of the Department. As with all of
the project team, the composition of the team was primarily work staff rather
than supervisors and managers.
The new team convened for an intense two‐day session. Operating in two
separate work groups, each group developed its plans for the integration of the
process flows that related directly to the continuum of service delivery. At the
end of the session, the teams presented their recommendations. It is notable
that the recommendations of the two teams were nearly identical, and the two
teams were able to quickly synthesize the differences into a single model.
The functional process—that is, the continuum of service delivery—consists of
the following process elements:







Intake;
Emergency Protective Services;
Emergency Economic Stability Services;
Request for Service Processing, Base;
Request for Service Processing, Advanced;
Case Management; and,
Foster Family Services.
The following sub‐sections of this report narratively present the work steps for
each of these processes. We include in the appendix to this report a map of the
work flows for each process and table identifying the inputs, outputs, controls,
and resources relating to each process.
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Intake Process
The principal purpose of the Intake process is to collect sufficient information to
determine whether RDSS has jurisdiction and, if so, whether the request should
be routed for emergency or non‐emergency handling. The process outlined in
this report is applicable to the intake activity of all elements of the Department,
regardless of the means by which the client seeks assistance—i.e., electronic
submission, telephone call, fax transmission, personal appearance, and the like—
and the service or program being sought.
Since the intake process is the starting point for the Department’s creation and
maintenance of client records, it is important that the intake process described
here be read, and understood, in the context of the document management
support process described later in this chapter of the report.
INTAKE PROCESS
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Receive request for RDSS
assistance
A request for assistance may come to RDSS via
the customer portal, a fax, an email, or a phone
call.
1.1
Confirm RDSS jurisdiction
The intake worker will verify if the applicant is
within the jurisdiction of RDSS (i.e., is a
Richmond City resident). If the applicant is not
within RDSS’ jurisdiction, the intake worker will
refer the applicant to the proper locality or to
appropriate community services. The intake
worker will also enter the application into a
“Screened‐Out” database.
1.2
Date/time stamp request
(automated)
The request for assistance will be date/time
stamped through an automatic feature that will
be built into the computer system.
1.3
Obtain minimum
information needed for
request
If it is determined that RDSS has jurisdiction, the
intake worker will collect the minimum
information needed to determine if the request
should be referred for emergency or non‐
emergency handling.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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INTAKE PROCESS
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.4
Determine if known to
agency systems
The intake worker will also search the RDSS
information system(s) to determine if the
applicant/family is or has been an RDSS client.
2.0
Determine appropriate
routing
The intake worker will determine if the request
requires emergency handling or can be handled
as a non‐emergency request.
2.1
Make determination of
emergency based on
established criteria
The intake worker will use the established
criteria to determine if the request constitutes
an “emergency.” If the request does not meet
the established criteria, it will be considered a
non‐emergency.
2.2
Create base data record
The intake worker will create the case record,
which will contain the basic information he or
she has collected thus far. Once this record is
created, the case can be referred to the
appropriate unit while the case is being entered
into the appropriate information systems.
2.3
Enter into systems
The intake worker will enter the case into the
appropriate information systems (OASIS/ASAPS,
HARMONY, ADAPT).
3.0
Refer to appropriate unit
The intake worker will forward or route the case
to the appropriate unit based on the case
designation as an emergency or non‐emergency.
3.1
If emergency, route to
appropriate emergency
triage unit
There will be various Emergency Triage Units
with the capacity to handle different kinds of
emergency requests (e.g., child protective
service or adult protective service). The intake
worker will refer the case to the appropriate unit
based on the nature of the request.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
INTAKE PROCESS
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.2
If non‐emergency and
“known” to RDSS, route to
case management
If the request does not qualify as an emergency
and the applicant is “known” to the agency (i.e.,
is in the RDSS system/s as a past or current
client, the intake worker will route the case
directly to case management.
3.3
If non‐emergency and not
“known” to RDSS, refer for
processing and routing
If the request does not qualify as an emergency
and the applicant is not “known” to the agency
(i.e., has never been an RDSS client and is not
found in the RDSS information systems), the
intake worker will refer the case for processing
of the base request and routing to the
appropriate unit.
Page 49
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Emergency Protective Services
The emergency protective services contemplated here are those needed to
assure the immediate safety of clients, both children and adults. The focus is on
taking steps as quickly as possible to protect clients from imminent or potential
risk of serious harm. The process is straightforward: receive the case, determine
the action needed, and initiate relief.
The process steps described below are similar to current steps used, principally
by the Department’s current “Second Responder” unit, for after hours and
weekend responses. The similarity begins with response for both child
protective services and adult protective services. The concept is for immediate
relief of a dangerous situation—essentially defined by federal and
Commonwealth regulations—and movement of the case into an on‐going case
management system as quickly and effectively as possible.
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Receive and assign case
It is envisioned that once a request for services is
determined to be an emergency, the intake
worker will route the case to an appropriate
emergency triage unit. This unit will be headed
by a supervisor or team leader, who will assign
the case to a specific RDSS worker.
1.1
Notify public safety
officials if appropriate
Under certain circumstances, it may be
appropriate for the supervisor/team leader to
immediately notify public safety officials of the
circumstances described in the request for
services. For example, if the request for
assistance is to prevent further injury to an
individual, police authorities may need to
intervene immediately.
1.2
Assign case to RDSS
worker
The supervisor/team leader will assign the case
to an RDSS worker who is qualified to handle the
type of emergency involved.
2.0
Determine action needed
After receiving the case referral, the RDSS
worker will immediately act on the case. The
focus is on quickly determining the appropriate
response from RDSS to bring about relief for the
client.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.1
Receive briefing or review
case in OASIS/ASAPS
The assigned worker will immediately try to get
familiar with the case. This can be done by
getting a briefing from another RDSS worker
(e.g., the intake worker or a case manager who
has dealt with the client/family in the past). If a
briefing is not appropriate or practical (e.g., the
case is referred in the middle of the night), the
assigned worker will review the case on the
RDSS information system(s).
2.2
Arrange for police escort
to site if needed
Based on the circumstances of the case, the
assigned worker will determine if a police escort
to the site will be needed and, if yes, will arrange
it. The police escort is as much a protection for
the client as it is for the assigned worker.
2.3
Initiate contact to assess
client situation
The assigned worker will initiate contact with
the client to ascertain the need for RDSS
intervention. To get an accurate picture of the
situation, the worker will most often initiate
contact in person at the place where the client is
currently located. This process requires great
skill in examination, observation, and
discernment because many clients are too young
to express themselves clearly while other clients
find it difficult to express themselves freely and
without fear of further harm to themselves.
2.4
Determine case relief
response
Based on the circumstances of the case, the
assigned worker will determine the appropriate
intervention from RDSS to relieve the client from
the current emergency situation.
2.5
Obtain action approval or
consensus
The assigned worker will obtain the approval of
his or her supervisor/team leader or the
consensus of his or her team.
Page 51
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.0
Initiate relief
Once the approval of, or consensus on, the
proposed action is received, the assigned worker
will initiate relief. There are three possible
options: remove the client, keep the client in
place with some guarantee of safety, or provide
a one‐time service.
3.1
Remove client if
appropriate
Sometimes, removing the client is the most
appropriate option to prevent further harm.
3.1.1
Secure placement
When removal is the most appropriate option,
the assigned worker will identify an appropriate
place where the client can be immediately
moved on a temporary basis.
3.1.2
Refer to RFU
If appropriate, the worker will also refer the case
to the VDSS Resource Family Unit (RFU) to get
assistance in identifying options from among the
Commonwealth’s resource families.
3.1.3
Take to destination
Once the temporary location is identified and
secured, the assigned worker will take the client
to the selected destination.
3.1.4
Complete placement
paperwork
The assigned worker focuses on providing
removal and placement relief as quickly as
possible and completes the placement
paperwork only after placement is complete.
3.1.5
Contact follow‐up
resources
The assigned worker will contact and arrange for
follow‐up resources, as needed, to ensure
continued support to the client.
Page 52
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.1.6
Conduct TDM if required
or client requests
RDSS conducts Team Decision Making (TDM)
meetings during critical placement decisions,
such as when a child's initial removal from
his/her family is being considered, when there is
a possibility of a change in a child's placement,
or when recommendations are made for a
permanent plan such as reunification, adoption,
etc. RDSS will also conduct TDMs at a client’s
request. TDMs are strength‐based meetings with
the child, the family, their support systems,
agency staff, and community partners. These
informal meetings are collaborative, led by a
trained facilitator who guides the meeting and
ensures that all participants have a voice, and
held in the community or at the local DSS
agency.
3.1.7
Appear in court if needed
There is always the possibility that a case will
involve court action, which will require the
appearance of the assigned worker. Therefore,
the assigned worker is always vigilant in
documenting observations (e.g., signs of abuse,
neglect, and exploitation) and actions taken, as
well as meticulous in maintaining and preserving
other relevant documentation.
Keep client in place if
appropriate
In some situations, the most appropriate option
is to keep the client in place. In this case, the
client will need some protection against future
harm.
3.2
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.2.1
Develop safety plan
A safety plan is a voluntary written agreement
between the agency and the family that serves
as a short‐term solution to address specific
concerns about the client’s safety in a home. In
developing the safety plan, the assigned worker
will target the factors that are causing or
contributing to the risk of imminent serious
harm to the client and will identify the
interventions needed to ensure the client’s
safety.
3.2.2
Obtain signatures
The assigned worker will obtain the family’s
signatures on the safety plan. However, because
a safety plan is voluntary, it is not legally binding
and, therefore, is appropriate only for a limited
time.
3.2.3
Develop service referral if
needed
If follow‐up service is needed, the assigned
worker will develop a service referral.
3.2.4
Complete service
application
The assigned worker will work with the client to
complete the application for service(s).
3.2.5
Follow up with resources
if needed
The assigned worker will identify potential
resources for the client and follow up with these
resources.
3.2.6
Appear in court if needed
As in the first option, a court case is always a
possibility, and the assigned worker should be
prepared to appear in court as needed.
3.3
Provide one‐time services
if appropriate
At times, the most appropriate option is to
provide a one‐time service.
3.3.1
Receive request
The assigned worker will receive the request and
identify the service needed.
3.3.2
Refer to case assessment
process
The assigned worker will refer the case to case
management for assessment.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.0
Complete file/records
management
While the focus in emergency protective services
is providing relief as early as possible, the
assigned worker will eventually need to pay
attention to the case records.
4.1
Compile all forms
The assigned worker will compile all forms that
have been produced for the case.
4.2
Complete narratives
The assigned worker will write or update
whatever narratives still need to be written or
completed.
4.3
Secure missing data as
necessary
The assigned worker will identify and obtain
missing data.
4.4
Update electronic
databases
The assigned worker will update the case file on
the appropriate information systems.
4.5
Coordinate with finance
for payment if appropriate
If the service of a vendor is used to bring about
relief for the client, the finance office will need
to process payment. However, the finance office
cannot do this without the collaboration of the
assigned case worker. The assigned worker will
need to inform the finance office of the service
provided, specify the amount due, and provide
vendor information.
4.6
Transfer to case
assessment process
The assigned worker will refer the case to case
management for assessment.
Page 55
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Emergency Economic Stabilization
The City of Richmond’s Department of Social Services provides emergency
economic stabilization services covering many basic human needs. The benefits
include food stamps, fuel assistance, Medicaid, general relief, and other public
assistance programs for those who qualify.
Historically, the Department has responded to high‐need situations based on
existing program regulations and requirements. In developing this process,
however, the process team felt that there were circumstances which would
warrant a more immediate departmental response, either in terms of direct
assistance or referral to a community partner. This process reflects that feeling.
An open question, though, is what will constitute such an emergency situation.
This will be addressed in the implementation phase, when the intake staff and
leadership will establish a formal policy on emergency response.
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Assess emergency
When a request for economic assistance is
determined to be an emergency, the intake
worker will route the case to an emergency
triage unit capable of rapid response to such a
request. The focus will be on providing relief as
quickly as possible based on the circumstances
of the case and on the timeframes established
by law.
1.1
Review request for
assistance
The assigned worker will review the request for
assistance.
1.2
Complete applications
needed
The worker will complete whatever applications
are needed to receive the potential types of
relief available.
1.3
Enter into systems as
needed
The worker will enter additional case data into
the appropriate information systems.
2.0
Develop action plan
The assigned worker will develop an action plan
to provide emergency relief to the client.
2.1
Determine action type
and eligibility
The worker will identify, based on established
criteria, what emergency relief the client is
eligible for, as well as the actions needed to
provide that relief.
Page 56
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.0
Initiate relief
The assigned worker will initiate relief
immediately once the client’s eligibility for
specific services or benefits is established.
3.1
If eligible, discuss
eligibility and benefit
options with client
The worker will have a conversation with the
client to discuss the emergency benefits for
which the client is eligible, as well as to explain
why the client may not be eligible for certain
benefits at this time.
3.1.1
Secure placement
If emergency shelter is needed and the client
qualifies for it, the worker will secure placement.
3.1.2
Issue benefit
If appropriate, the worker will arrange for the
issuance of other benefits for which the client is
eligible.
If not eligible, refer to
community partners
Even when the client is not eligible, RDSS
workers will still try to help by networking with
established community partners.
3.2.1
Contact community
partners
The worker will contact community partners to
identify available resources for the client.
3.2.2
Connect client with relief
resources
The worker will put the client in contact with
whatever community resources could provide
relief to meet the client’s emergency needs.
4.0
Complete file/records
management
While the focus in emergency economic
stabilization services is providing relief as early
as possible, the assigned worker will eventually
need to pay attention to the case records.
4.1
Compile all forms
The assigned worker will compile all forms that
have been produced for the case.
4.2
Complete narratives
The assigned worker will write or update
whatever narratives still need to be written or
completed.
4.3
Secure missing data as
necessary
The assigned worker will identify and obtain
missing data.
3.2
Page 57
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.4
Update electronic
databases
The assigned worker will update the case file on
the appropriate information systems.
4.5
Coordinate with finance
for payment if appropriate
If the service of a vendor is used to bring about
relief for the client, the finance office will need
to process payment. However, the finance office
cannot do this without the collaboration of the
assigned case worker. The assigned worker will
need to inform the finance office of the service
provided, specify the amount due, and provide
vendor information.
4.6
Transfer to case
assessment process
The assigned worker will refer the case to case
management for assessment.
Page 58
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Request Processing and Routing (Base Request)
This report includes two processes for receiving, processing, and routing
requests for service, this base request and an advanced request. The original
design concept for the revised business plans was for a program for a
comprehensive assessment of client needs in all service areas, based on a broad
review of the family situation and history and consideration of the full service
capabilities of the Department. However, this is a timely effort and would not
address the Department’s immediate needs to meet the Commonwealth’s
performance targets for timely application processing.
In order to address the performance target, the process teams split the intake
and review processes into two parts. The purpose of this first process is to
conduct an immediate assessment of the specific need that brings a client to the
Department and to assure a timely enough response to meet the
Commonwealth performance targets. This process, then, determines the
applicant’s eligibility for the originally requested service or benefit. Once the
Department achieves this goal, then the client has the choice of receiving the
broader assessment that is the core of the Advanced Processing step.
There is an important performance standard inherent in these request
processing steps, which is processing timeliness. There is a general rule of
conduct within the Department that the Commonwealth’s performance targets
constitute the acceptable timeline for the review of, and action on, any given
case. This rule of conduct almost certainly assures that the Department will
continue to fall short of the performance targets. In rewriting the policies for
intake processes, the Department will need to establish individual case
performance goals that are no greater than half of the performance target. For
example, if the performance target is 30 days, then the Department’s standard
for any given case should be no greater than 15 days. This time standard will
provide room for cases that actually require greater processing time while still
keeping the overall performance deadline within the established target.
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (BASE REQUEST)
STEP
1.0
1.1
ACTION
Receive request for
service
Review request
DESCRIPTION
The request for service is received from Intake.
The assigned worker reviews the request to
determine the services and benefits applied for.
Page 59
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (BASE REQUEST)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.2
Conduct RDSS systems
inquiry
The worker will conduct an inquiry into the RDSS
information systems to look for existing records
of the applicant or his/her family.
1.3
Determine if client has
active case with RDSS
The worker will determine if the applicant is a
current RDSS client.
1.4
If active case, route to
case management process
If the applicant is a current RDSS client, the
worker will refer the case for case management.
2.0
Determine eligibility for
base request
If the applicant is not an active RDSS client, the
worker will determine the applicant’s eligibility
for his/her base request.
2.1
Interview client to
determine eligibility
The worker will interview the client to collect the
information needed to determine eligibility
based on the established criteria for the base
request.
2.1.1
Assess needs per client
input
Based on input from the client, the worker will
determine the client’s needs vis‐à‐vis the
services and benefits that RDSS provides.
2.1.2
Verify income and
household composition
The worker will determine the client’s income
and the people who live with the client to
determine eligibility for benefits that have an
income requirement.
2.1.3
Verify other program
requirements
The worker will also collect information needed
to verify the client’s possible eligibility for other
programs.
2.2
Notify client of additional
information needs or
discrepancies
The worker will let the client know what other
information is needed to fill in gaps or to correct
any discrepancies that exists in the records.
2.3
Receive additional or
corrected information
The worker will give the client time to provide
additional or corrected information.
2.4
Receive eligibility
determination from
system
Once the minimum information to determine
eligibility for the base request is received, the
worker will generate a system report
determining the client’s eligibility.
Page 60
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (BASE REQUEST)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.0
Approve or deny request
The worker will approve or deny the request
based on the determination made by the
system.
3.1
Notify client of decision
The worker will notify the client of the decision
by the most practical means available.
3.2
Verify client interest in
other possible services or
benefits
The worker will also try to determine if the client
is interested in other services or benefits,
explaining what information or documentation
the client will be expected to provide and what
the client can expect from RDSS if he/she is
found to be qualified for these services or
benefits.
3.2.1
If not interested & is
qualified for base request,
send to case management
process
If the client is NOT interested in any further
service or benefit but is qualified for the base
request, the case will be referred for case
management.
3.2.2
If not interested & is not
qualified for base request,
close case
If the client is NOT interested in any further
service or benefit and is NOT qualified for the
base request, the case will be closed.
3.3
If interested & is qualified
for base request, refer to
advanced assessment
process
If the client is interested in other potential
services or benefits and is qualified for the base
request, the case will be referred for advanced
assessment.
3.4
If interested & is not
qualified for base request,
refer to advanced
assessment process
If the client is interested in other potential
services or benefits but is NOT qualified for the
base request, the case will be referred for
advanced assessment.
Page 61
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Request Processing and Routing (Advanced Assessment)
During the intake process, the intake worker will discuss with the client the
opportunity to participate in a broader assessment of needs and potential
services. Except for some protective services cases where a broad needs
assessment is required, participation in the advanced assessment will be up to
the discretion of the client. The table below presents a client’s options:
OTHER POTENTIAL
SERVICES OR BENEFITS
BASE REQUEST
ACTION
NOT Interested
NOT Interested
Interested
Interested
Qualified
NOT Qualified
Qualified
NOT Qualified
Refer for case management
Close case
Refer for advanced assessment
Refer for advanced assessment
The principal purpose of the advanced assessment process is to organize
available information into a client/family profile that can be forwarded to case
management together with the case. Should the client request the broader
assessment, then the process described in this section will take effect.
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED ASSESSMENT)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Determine eligibility for
expanded services for
interested clients
The first step in the advanced assessment
process is to determine if the client is eligible for
the expanded services in which they have
expressed an interest.
1.1
Ask client to complete
uniform assessment
consent
The assigned worker will work with the client to
complete a uniform assessment consent form.
This form will authorize the agency to determine
the client’s eligibility for the expanded services
in which the client is interested.
1.2
Compare verified
application data against
program requirements
The worker will verify the client’s application
data against program requirements
1.3
Receive system advice on
eligibility
The worker will generate a system report
determining the client’s eligibility for the
expanded services for which they have applied.
Page 62
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED ASSESSMENT)
STEP
1.4
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
Notify client of probable
outcome(s)
Once the worker receives the system advice, the
worker will notify the client, through the most
appropriate means, of the probable outcomes of
the client’s request.
1.4.1
If not eligible, identify
community resources
If the client is NOT eligible based on current
information, the worker will identify community
resources with whom the client can work for
assistance.
1.4.2
If probably eligible, submit
application
If the client is PROBABLY eligible, the worker will
inform the client that he or she will need to
submit a formal application
1.5
Help client complete
application
The worker will help the client complete a
formal application.
1.6
Submit application
Once completed, the application will be
submitted into the system.
1.7
Obtain formal approval
The worker will obtain formal approval of the
application.
1.8
Link with client/family
profile
The formal application will be linked with the
client/family profile that will be developed in a
later step.
2.0
Conduct data research
The assigned RDSS worker will conduct data
research on the client and the client’s family to
obtain a comprehensive picture of the benefits
and services the client/family has received or is
currently receiving, the client/family’s past or
current challenges, etc. This research will be
done principally through various information
systems maintained by RDSS, the city, and the
state.
Page 63
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED ASSESSMENT)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.1
Conduct detailed research
of RDSS and appropriate
city and state information
systems
The assigned worker will conduct detailed
research using the appropriate RDSS, city, and
state information systems.
2.1.1
Search HARMONY
The worker will also search HARMONY.
2.1.2
Search Richmond Public
Schools (RPS),Richmond
Behavioral Health
Authority (RBHA, and
applicable criminal justice
information systems (CJIS)
and juvenile justice
information systems (JJIS)
records
The worker will also search the records of the
following information systems: RPS, RHBA, CJIS,
and JJIS.
2.1.3
Conduct an ACCURINT
search if appropriate
If appropriate, the worker will conduct a search
on ACCURINT, the internet search system used
to locate relatives and permanent connections
for children and youth.
3.0
Develop client/family
profile
The final product coming out of this process is
the comprehensive client/family profile, which
will be a compilation of what is known about the
client/family through the information systems of
RDSS, the city, and the state.
3.1
Identify services for which
client/ family has applied
and agencies involved
The worker will identify all the benefits and
services for which the client/family has applied,
as well as all the city or state agencies that have
been involved in providing these benefits and
services.
3.2
Identify community
partners involved
The worker will also identify the community
partners who have been involved in providing
benefits or services to the client/family.
Page 64
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
REQUEST PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED ASSESSMENT)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.3
Compile data into a
comprehensive
client/family profile
The worker will compile all the available
information into a comprehensive client/family
profile.
3.4
Link with expanded
services assessment
This client/family profile will be linked with the
expanded services assessment, which will be
forwarded, together with the case, for case
management.
4.0
Transfer to case
management process
Once the client/family profile is completed, the
worker is ready to transfer the case for case
management processing.
4.1
Submit client/family
profile and forward case
to case management
The worker will submit the client/family profile
and forward the case to case management for
further processing as appropriate.
Page 65
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Case Management
This process outlines a specific method for coordinating services, based upon a
case and transition plan. The process begins with the assignment of the case to
a case management team and may include assessment, plan development,
service provider coordination as well as other plan implementation, and final
transition and/or closure of the case. The goal of case management is to have
each family/client move to self‐sufficiency. Case management is a set of data
collections and methods for monitoring service delivery that improve the
efficiency of service delivery and expedite successful case closure and transition
to self‐sufficiency.
The underlying assumption of the case management process is that it will be
applicable to all clients regardless of program. A client will have a single lead
case worker, who will be the primary point of contact between the client and the
Department. The lead case worker will have back‐up support through a case
management team, so that one group of staff will be able to provide a
comprehensive set of services through the lead case worker.
The model envisions numerous case management teams so that case load is
distributed among staff and so that special needs of clients can be met with
specialized teams. Some of these teams will emphasize child or adult protection,
others will emphasize benefit issues, and most will be able to provide a full range
of case services.
But, all will use a common case management approach, as follows:
CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
1.0
Receive case from request
processing
DESCRIPTION
When a need for case management is
identified—whether by a service team, worker,
judge, relatives, or others, a request for case
management services is received from Request
processing. If all appropriate data has been
collected, the case will be assigned to a team
and lead worker. If the case does not include
any service needs, but only indicates the need
for benefits, the case may be moved
immediately to 4.0. Otherwise, the following
actions will be taken:
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CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.1
Case familiarization
Case Management, upon receipt of the case,
reviews the case to determine the most
appropriate team assignment.
1.2
Assign case to specific
case management team
Based upon the needs identified in the case files
(electronic files), the appropriate team is
identified to handle the case. Considerations for
assignment to a team may include the overall
strengths of the teams, as well as the current
workloads of the teams.
1.3
Case management team
assigns a lead worker
Based upon the strengths and current workload
of each worker, the team assigns a lead worker.
The lead worker should have strengths in the
service needs identified for the case.
1.4
If request is for benefit
only, skip to 4.0
(implementation)
If there is a determination that the case relates
only to a single benefit action, then the work
process will move forward to the
implementation steps.
2.0
Conduct interpersonal
assessment
Based upon the extent of information already
collected, it may be possible to move
immediately to 3.0; however, the usual process
will include initiating contact with the family or
person constituting the “case.” The goal of this
assessment is the development of a preliminary
set of needs and priorities for each need.
2.1
Initiate contact by phone,
email, or directly in‐
person
The goal of the initial contact is to get together
with the client, family or individual, to gather the
information needed to develop the preliminary
needs and priorities.
2.2
Identify strengths of the
family or the strengths of
the individual
The goal of this search is to assist in identifying
areas of strengths and weakness and to inform
the case management team and lead worker
developing the preliminary needs and priorities.
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CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.3
Identify additional needs
(other services)
Based upon information collected during 2.1 and
2.2, the team/lead worker develops a list of
potential additional services which might benefit
the client and move the case more quickly to
closure or transition.
2.4
Obtain information on
community partners
Based upon the other service needs identified,
as well as upon the strengths and weaknesses
identified in 2.2, identify which community
partners might be able to provide the services
needed.
2.5
Develop preliminary
needs and priorities
Based upon data collected above, develop a
preliminary set of needs and priorities for
services.
3.0
Develop case/transition
plan
Based upon all of the data collected during 1.0
and 2.0 and earlier Advanced Assessment,
service needs are finalized and a case plan,
including transition to self‐sufficiency, is
developed. The case plan will be the document
to assist the assigned team and lead worker in
assessing needs, monitoring the services
required to meet these needs, and evaluating
the family/individual for the move to
transition/closure.
3.1
Generate initial
case/transition plan (in
information system)
This includes entering all applicable case plan
data not already entered into the information
system in previous sessions. This plan will help
the lead worker and assigned case management
team in monitoring service delivery and in
assessing the need for any change in the case
plan to move the case to appropriate
transition/closure.
3.1.1
Include family strengths
The case plan will include an identification, and
discussion, of the strengths of the family as the
basis upon which to build the overall case and
transition plan. It will be important that the
strengths be independently verified to assure
plan accuracy.
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CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.1.2
Develop goals and
objectives
The case plan will include a set of goals and
objectives to be achieved in the service
provision. The goals and objectives will need to
be quantifiable and independently verifiable, to
the extent possible.
3.1.3
Develop timelines
The case plan will include a set of intermediate
time lines for assessment of progress, consistent
with the overall plan of achievement of goals
and objectives.
3.1.4
Identify available
resources based on
funding
The case plan will seek, to the extent possible, to
identify resources available to the client. These
resources may include City, Commonwealth, and
federal resources as administered by the
Department or other local and Commonwealth
agencies and services available through
community partners.
3.2
Coordinate with providers
Based upon issues identified during all data
collection and screening, contact external
partners who might be appropriate matches for
service needs identified.
3.3
Request foster home
referral, if appropriate
Move to Foster Family Management, 1.0. if
appropriate.
3.4
Validate plan with family
The case worker lead and staff will meet with
the client family to review the case management
plan and gain concurrence.
3.5
Finalize plan
The finalized plan will be used to monitor service
needs and delivery, to provide required
outcomes, and to estimate timelines to be used
to transition the family or individual to self‐
sufficiency.
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CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.0
Implement case plan
This process will involve linking
families/individuals with service providers
providing appropriate timing for service delivery
and for meetings with both the case lead worker
and the case management team, setting initial
schedules for transition, and monitoring
methods for service and other outcome
achievements.
4.1
Link family with service
providers
This includes providing contacts for service
provision, discussion of required approaches for
services, etc. In addition, where appropriate,
lead workers or case management team
members may need to meet with the involved
families or individuals, as well as with the service
providers.
4.2
Meet with family and
providers re defined
timeline
Each case will contain defined timelines for
achieving certain benchmarks and the lead
worker or case management team will meet
with the family to address these timelines.
Similarly, there will be established timelines for
transition to self‐sufficiency.
4.3
Monitor family progress
For each case, a set of goals and objectives is
established and the lead worker or case
management team will monitor the progress of
the family or individual in meeting these goals
and objectives. As the case is monitored, the
following reviews will also take place:
4.3.1
Assess services provided
The lead worker will regularly assess the quality
and level of services being provided and
recommended changes as necessary and
appropriate.
4.3.2
Obtain family and
provider feedback
The lead worker will review the service
assessment with the family and suggest changes
as necessary and appropriate.
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CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.4
Evaluate and determine
family readiness to
transition
Based upon monitoring reports and other
transactions and service reports, the lead worker
or case management team will periodically
assess the family’s or individual’s readiness to
transition. If the family is ready to transition,
then the team and the family proceed to 5.0. If
not, the process requires a loop back to 2.0 or
4.0 to revise the plan and restart monitoring.
4.5
If family not ready, loop
back to 2.0 or 4.0, as
appropriate
Using case review with the service team, the
lead worker will determine if the family is ready
for transition. If the family is not ready, then this
service process will repeat at Action Item 2 or 4,
as most appropriate.
5.0
Implement transition plan,
if appropriate
When a case (whether family or individual) is
ready for transition, specific revisions to already
prepared transition plans or development of a
transition plan, is required. The following steps
must be accomplished to implement this
transition plan:
5.1
Validate transition plan
with family
The lead worker will review the draft
implementation plan with the family and secure
concurrence of make modifications as
appropriate to the family’s needs and requests.
5.2
Begin implementation of
transition plan
Working with the family, the lead worker will
initiate the steps in the transition plan.
5.3
Monitor based on
schedule established in
transition plan
The lead worker will regularly monitor the
transition plan, using a schedule that will be part
of the transition plan.
6.0
Close case
When the family or individual involved has
successfully completed the transition plan, the
case will be closed and records regarding the
case will be archived and eventually purged,
based upon departmental policies
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT
STEP
6.1
ACTION
Archive and purge case
DESCRIPTION
The lead worker will finalize case documentation
and release it to records management for
archiving, consistent with city and
Commonwealth requirements.
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Foster Family Management
Foster family management is a critical part of finding quality foster families,
maintaining those relationships, and serving as a primary point of information
about the placement of children. While foster family management is not, itself,
part of the service continuum, it is a fundamental direct service delivery element
that needs to be addressed as part of the protective services and case
management processes.
This process includes entry into foster care, assessment of foster care options,
matching child/family with appropriate care, placement into foster care, setting
reunification or other transition from care goals, and managing foster care
payments. Foster Family Management also includes many of the elements of
case management, but the described processes are unique to foster family
management. The goals of redesigning this process include: (1) insuring
expeditious placement of the child in the most appropriate setting (2) ensuring
the least intrusive process for the family and all others involved (3) assurance
that payment for foster families is expeditious and accurate.
FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Receive request for foster
home referral
When a need for foster care is identified—
whether by a service team, worker, judge,
relatives, or others, a request for a foster home
referral will be completed. If all appropriate
data has been collected, or child is likely to be
placed with a relative, it may be possible to
move directly to 2.0. If a complete family history
and relative search have already been
completed, it may be possible to move
immediately to conducting a best match
conference. In rare situations, it may be possible
to move directly to 4.0; however, it is still likely
that a best match conference will need to be
conducted.
1.1
Enter request in
information system, if
needed
Data regarding the child and family and the
situation leading to the referral should already
have been collected in previous processes. Enter
referral request into information system, if
needed.
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FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.2
Refer to data gathering, if
needed
Should additional data be required, request for
additional data will be referred to Data
Gathering (See Request Processing and Routing‐
Advanced Assessment for additional data
requirements).
1.3
Conduct a best match
conference
Conduct a conference with the assigned social
worker/team, family, child, and other interested
parties with information helpful for determining
the criteria to use in completing the assessment
and later screening of foster care options.
2.0
Complete initial
assessment, as necessary
If the Advanced Assessment Process did not
provide enough information to properly screen
foster family options, then an additional data
search of child’s background and history needs
to be conducted, including a relative search, and
a best match conference needs to be conducted
to establish family criteria. If all of the family
information had previously been collected, it
could be possible to move directly to a best
match conference or to 3.0 for screening foster
family options.
2.1
Conduct data search for
child’s background or
history if not done during
advanced assessment
process
The goal of this search is to identify possible
family members with whom the child could be
placed.
2.2
Conduct relative search in
ACCURINT (on‐going)
The goal of this search is to identify possible
family members with whom the child could be
placed.
2.3
Conduct a best match
conference
Based upon family research, a best match
conference may be conducted to determine
criteria for a possible family placement.
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FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.0
Screen foster family
options
Based upon all of the data collected during 1.0
and 2.0 and earlier Advanced Assessment,
possible foster care options are considered. This
includes identifying families with whom child
could be placed, as well as other placement
options (external partners). In order to properly
assess the options, home studies may be
required of family and external partners.
3.1
Review information
system for family criteria
Review all data collected in information systems,
as well as in 1.0 and 2.0, if not yet in system, to
ensure capture of all of the issues important to
the selection of the appropriate foster family or
placement.
3.2
Contact external partner
agencies for options as
needed
Based upon issues identified during all data
collection and screening, contact external
partners who might be appropriate matches for
child and family.
3.3
Conduct and review home
studies, as needed
Based upon issues identified during data
collection and screening and time since last
home study, conduct and review home studies
for match with child/family needs.
4.0
Select foster
family/external partner
If this is not an emergency placement, then the
placement will be reviewed with the Family
Reunification Permanency Unit. If it is an
emergency, see emergency process. A family is
selected, and notified of that selection, and the
family requests financial assistance for caring for
the child.
4.1
If not an emergency
placement, review
potential foster family
with family reunification
permanency unit
The goal of this review is developing a plan for
either reunification or other permanent
situation for the child (e.g.,, adoption).
Discussion of transition options at the beginning
of placement keep the focus on permanency for
the child.
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FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.2
Conduct pre‐placement
visit and interview
Before a placement is selected, the department
must be certain it is the most appropriate for the
child. The visit and interview allow the
team/worker to investigate issues which may
impact the success of the placement, in person.
4.3
Select family
Based upon the visit and interview, as well as
upon all of the data collected during the
Advanced Assessment and data collected in 1.0,
2.0, 3.0, the team/worker will select the most
appropriate family.
4.4
Notify selected family
The selected family is notified and details of the
placement are discussed.
4.5
Receive request for RDSS
assistance
If the family needs financial or other assistance,
they notify RDSS.
5.0
Notify referring
worker/team
The referring worker is notified so that all
electronic records can be updated and
placement transition support can be provided to
the child and family. If needed, a Placement
Change Form is completed. Also, an
“Icebreaker” Session is held to further ease
transition into foster care for the family and
child, as well as for the foster family.
5.1
Enter family data into
electronic data system
The data system to be used has not yet been
determined, but the data should ensure that the
assigned workers/team can easily track the
placement situation for the child and provide the
services needed to successfully carry out the
placement and any transition plans. In addition,
the data should support the management of
payments, as identified in 6.0.
5.2
Provide placement
transition support
The assigned team/workers should ease the
transition into placement for the family and
child, as well as ease the transition for the foster
family.
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FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
5.3
Complete placement
change form, if needed
Some method will be determined for updating
foster family records to ensure proper case
monitoring.
5.4
Conduct “icebreaker”
sessions
This meeting is a further method for ensuring
that the transition into placement is successful,
allowing all of the appropriate parties to be
introduced, to directly address their questions
and concerns about the placement.
6.0
Manage family foster care
payments
In order to manage payments, involved
teams/workers must authorize services and
funding eligibility to ensure that payments are
made for children in placement, for the correct
services, and to the correct foster family.
6.1
Initiate POSO/OTO for
child care, respite care,
maintenance, VEMAT, or
clothing
The lead worker will initiate appropriate work
orders for services relating to child care, respite
care, maintenance, VEMat, or clothing needs.
6.2
Appropriate worker/team
verifies authorizations for
services and funding
eligibility
In order to verify and authorize the services, the
child must be placed with the requesting foster
family on the dates for which services are being
identified, and the services have to have been
authorized by the appropriate team/workers.
6.3
Worker/team sends
authorizations to Finance
The lead worker will review and initially approve
all authorizations for payment of foster care
services and forward those authorizations to the
RDSS accounts payable staff for payment.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
SUPPORT PROCESSES
In addition to the processes relating directly to the continuum of care, the
redesign project identified five other processes which are essential supports to
the functional work. These include:





Document Management;
Quality Assurance;
Utilization Management;
Financial Services; and,
Recovery (Fraud) Services.
The following sub‐sections of this report narratively present the work steps for
each of these processes. We include in the appendix to this report a map of the
work flows for each process and a table listing the inputs, outputs, controls, and
resources relating to each process.
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Document Management
The Department of Social Services is highly manual in its information
management. While it uses a variety of electronic applications for case
management, it relies primarily on manual documentation for applications,
support material, case records, transactional histories, and the like. Even case
files which are stored in the various applications are printed by staff and used for
case processing.
An effective, integrated case management system will rely heavily on the ability
of case workers to have access to information across program activities, with the
potential for multiple staff working on the same case file simultaneously, rather
than the consecutive approach required when using manual case files.
Electronic document management becomes an essential method for simplifying
case management, expediting application review and approval, and saving time
for staff to catch up with, and maintain, current case loads. Later in this report,
we review electronic document management from an organizational and
capability perspective. In this section, we describe a new process for handling
case files from inception to closure through electronic record keeping.
Throughout the functional processes, we describe business steps relating to
records and information. In each case, the business step is intended to
incorporate the business processes described here for electronic records
management.
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Receive request for
service
A client contacts RDSS for service through the
Intake unit.
1.1
Look up record
documentation
The intake worker checks the on‐line record in
Harmony’s master client file
1.2
Locate existing record or
generate new case
request
The intake worker will use the document
management system to determine if there is an
existing hard copy data record. If there is, the
worker will request the record. If there is not,
the worker will request that a new record be
generated by the document management staff.
1.3
Assign case number
If an existing case number does not exist, the
case worker will assign a new case number,
based on the RDSS case numbering sequence.
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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.4
If necessary, digitize
existing record
If a case record exists in hard copy format, the
document management staff will scan the hard
copy record and enter it into the electronic
document management system.
1.5
If necessary, assign record
identifier
If there is a new entry into the electronic
document management system, the document
management staff will assign a record identifier
for each document, connecting the document to
the case record.
2.0
Worker processing
Once the electronic document is created, the
intake or case worker will begin case processing.
2.1
Receive original
documents
The intake or case worker will receive any
original documents from the client.
2.2
Code documents
The worker will code each document, using the
case record and record identifiers assigned.
2.3
Scan documents
The case worker will scan the original documents
into the document management system
2.4
Send hard copy to Records
Unit for storage or return
to client
If the Department must retain the original
document, the case worker will send the
document to Records Management for storage.
Otherwise, the case worker will return the
document to the client.
2.5
Notify worker that case is
ready
If the previous work is performed by the intake
worker, the intake worker will notify the case
assessment work—as appropriate—that the
case is ready for review. If the work is
performed by a separate assessment worker, the
worker will notify the case assignment worker or
the client team leader as appropriate.
3.0
Case Closure
The preceding work steps constitute an on‐going
work cycle until the case is ready for closure.
This sequence of steps relate to closing the case
at its completion.
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DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.1
Verification of file content
The case worker reviews the case file to verify
the information that is in the file. This will
include a final verification of data accuracy.
3.2
Reconcile hard and
electronic files
The worker will reconcile the hard copy and
electronic documents to make certain that they
match. This relates only to hard copy
documents that the Department is required to
retain.
3.3
Note case closure in
system
The case worker will close the case in both the
relevant case management systems and the
electronic document management system.
3.4
System determines and
assigns disposal date
The electronic document management system
will assign a disposal date according to decision
rules established during implementation.
4.0
Record retention
The Records Management unit will archive all
hard copy records required to be retained, and
the system will advise on purging requirements.
4.1
System generates purge
schedule
The system will generate a daily record purge
schedule based on the case records on file.
4.2
System produces disposal
alert report
The system will print a disposal alert report for
upcoming disposal actions.
4.3
Staff pulls hard copy file
Based on the disposal alert report, Records
Management staff will remove the hard copy
files from the Department’s file system.
4.4
Staff destroys hard copy
file and notes disposal in
system
Staff will physically destroy the eligible hard copy
files and not the transaction in the electronic
management system.
4.5
System transfers file to
archive
Upon notice of the record destruction, or
automatically if there is no physical record
destruction, the system will transfer the case
data to an electronic archive.
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BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
STEP
4.6
ACTION
Staff purges electronic
record from active file
server
DESCRIPTION
Once the case has been transferred to the
electronic archive, staff will purge the electronic
record from the active server.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
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PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Quality Assurance
This is the process for ensuring that an organization is providing the best possible
products or services. The mission of Richmond Department of Social Services is
to strengthen families, assure safety, promote self‐sufficiency, and improve the
quality of life for all citizens of the city of Richmond. It requires the efforts of the
entire agency to fulfill this mission. The role of Quality Assurance is to help the
agency achieve its mission.
While RDSS has a Continuing Quality Improvement (CQI) unit, that unit’s duties
and responsibilities are narrowly defined and are limited just to the Children,
Families, and Adults Division. The process described here is one that will
comprehensively serve the entire Department. Later in this report, we discuss
the organizational implications of these process recommendations.
There are many Quality Assurance (QA) tools that can be used to help ensure the
best services are provided for its clients. One of the most popular tools is called
the Shewhart Cycle, also known as the Deming Cycle. The Shewhart Cycle was
developed by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a twentieth century philosopher known
for his proven quality and process improvement methods. The Shewart Cycle
consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check, and Act. The steps are repeated to
ensure the process is constantly being evaluated and improved.
The To‐Be process described below for Quality Assurance reflects the Plan, Do,
Check, Act cycle. As part of planning, QA will perform a risk assessment to
identify areas that need immediate action or attention. Once these areas are
identified, QA will develop a plan to address the risk areas. As part of doing, QA
will investigate each risk area and pinpoint areas of concern. QA will share their
findings with the appropriate program areas. The program area will then
complete their own Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle for the findings. The program will
create a corrective action plan, complete the corrective actions, check to make
sure the corrective actions are based on the findings and then permanently
complete the corrective action across the program area. As part of checking, QA
will constantly monitor the corrective action plan and outcomes.
QA will continue this until the corrective actions have improved the areas of
concern. By acting, QA will check to make sure the operating procedures have
been updated to reflect any changes resulting from the corrective actions. QA
will also issue a final report recording the improvements.
The process described below is designed around an annual and three‐year risk
management cycle. Even so, it is fully applicable to any quality review issue to
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be addressed by the Department. In the case of specific case investigations, the
Department should use this process to establish, carry out, report, and
implement a quality review relating to a single case or incident that requires
independent, neutral investigation.
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Perform risk assessment
QA will perform a full risk assessment of the
agency by evaluating the overall state of the
agency. QA will review historical data and/or
feedback in order to assist in the assessment.
QA will also meet with Program Managers and
Deputy Directors. QA will use a risk assessment
tool to help identify and rank the risk areas.
1.1
Review external audits
and performance reports
QA will collect and review external audit results
from previous years. QA will highlight major
findings in the most recent audit results. QA will
also highlight repeated findings across multiple
years. QA will review performance reports and
highlight the areas with major gaps between the
performance results and the goal.
1.2
Review customer
complaints
QA will review the most recent year of customer
complaints. If not already done, QA will organize
the different types of complaints into categories.
To find the most common issue, QA will tally the
frequency of the types of customer complaints.
1.3
Review data with program
managers
QA will meet with the Program Managers to
review the data. QA will request their feedback
on identifying and ranking of the risk areas.
1.4
Review data with deputy
directors
QA will meet with the Deputy Directors to
review the data. QA will request their feedback
on identifying and ranking of the risk areas.
1.5
Determine risk areas
After a detailed evaluation of the state of the
agency, QA will determine the agency’s risk
areas.
Page 84
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.6
Prioritize risk areas
QA will identify a risk assessment tool that best
fits the social services industry. With the help of
the risk assessment tool, QA will rank the risk
areas. In order to rank the risk areas, QA must
determine what might happen if the agency
does not correct the risk areas right away.
2.0
Develop overall QA plan
QA and RDSS leadership will create a 3‐year plan
for addressing the high ranked risk areas. From
the 3‐year plan, QA will draft a more detailed
yearly plan to be used.
2.1
Establish/update 3‐year
risk review cycle
QA will draft a 3‐year plan or review cycle for
addressing the high ranked risk areas from the
assessment.
2.2
Review cycle with RDSS
leadership
QA will meet with RDSS leadership to exchange
ideas and complete the 3‐year plan.
2.3
Prepare annual plan in
advance of budget year
For each year of the cycle, QA will create a more
detailed yearly plan before the budget year.
2.3.1
Include all annual review
risk areas
QA will include all risk areas to be reviewed
within the year.
2.3.2
Include 2‐year and 3‐year
risks on cycle
QA will also include the 2‐year and 3‐year risk
areas so the next steps are always known.
2.3.3
Draft preliminary schedule
QA will create a draft schedule for reviewing the
risk areas for the year.
3.0
Communicate QA plan
RDSS leadership or QA will communicate the
results of the Risk assessment. QA and RDSS
leadership will also communicate the plan for
QA to address the high ranked risk area on a 3‐
year cycle.
3.1
Communicate objectives
RDSS leadership or QA will communicate the
goals of the QA plan and why it necessary.
3.2
Communicate
expectations and support
needs
RDSS leadership or QA will address the
expectations of the staff and their support of
this effort.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.3
Communicate schedule
RDSS leadership or QA will cover the draft
schedule for completing the QA plan.
4.0
Execute QA plan
QA will investigate each risk area assessing the
processes, staff and technology or lack of
technology. QA will create a report for each risk
area. The report will identify areas of concern to
be addressed by the appropriate Program
Managers. QA will cover the report with the
appropriate Program Managers, clear up any
discrepancies, and issue a final report.
4.1
Perform investigation of
each risk area
QA will meet with the appropriate Program
Managers linked to each risk area based on the
QA schedule. QA will review the appropriate
operating procedures and policies to become
familiar with the process. QA will observe the
process to determine any issues. QA will review
records or files as needed.
4.2
Identify areas of concern
QA will identify areas of concern from the
investigation.
4.2.1
Assess processes
QA will decide whether an area of concern is a
result of not following a process or not having a
standardized process.
4.2.2
Assess staffing
QA will decide whether an area of concern is a
staffing issue; for example, lack of training, lack
of education, or not having enough staff to meet
the demand.
4.2.3
Assess technology
QA will decide whether an area of concern is due
to old technology, lack of technology, or
technology that does not work well.
4.3
Analyze findings and
review with program
QA will meet with the appropriate Program
Managers to analyze and review the findings.
4.4
Finalize risk assessment
report
QA will create the final assessment report. The
final report will identify issues and findings.
Page 86
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
5.0
Develop corrective action
plan
Program management will review a copy of the
risk assessment report. The appropriate
program area will develop a corrective action
plan for the findings in the report. The
corrective action plan should include: 1) the
steps necessary to resolve the finding, 2) the
date by which the corrective action will begin, 3)
and the expected results of the corrective
action. After approval of the plan by QA, the
program area will begin using the corrective
action plan.
5.1
Review findings with
program management
QA will meet with program management to
examine the findings.
5.2
Program area develops
corrective action plan
The program area will be given a timeframe to
develop a corrective action plan to address the
findings.
5.3
Approve corrective plan
The program area will submit the corrective
action plan by the deadline to QA for approval.
5.4
Implement corrective
action plan
After approval, the program area will begin to
use the corrective action plan.
6.0
Monitor corrective action
plan
QA will monitor the corrective action plan. QA
will determine the effectiveness of the
corrective action plan. If the results are not
successful, QA will require the appropriate
Program Managers to update the corrective
plan. Then QA will monitor the updated plan.
QA will monitor the plan until the areas of
concern are no longer common. QA will issue a
final report which will record the improvement.
6.1
Monthly or quarterly
progress review
QA will monitor the corrective action plan on a
monthly or quarterly basis depending on the
plan.
Page 87
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
6.2
Update corrective plan
status
If after a certain amount of time, and the area of
concern still exists, QA will request an update to
the corrective action plan. The program area
will be required to identify different action(s) or
take a different approach to solving the
problem.
6.3
Repeat monitoring until
plan complete
QA will continuously monitor the corrective
action plan until the problem has been
eliminated.
6.4
Prepare and issue final
report
QA will issue a final report that summarizes: 1)
the risk area, 2) investigation results, 3) findings,
4) corrective action plan, and 5) corrective action
results.
Page 88
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Utilization Management
This is the process of identifying providers to deliver the highest quality of
services at the most effective cost to the clients of Richmond Department of
Social Services. It also includes the process of monitoring and evaluating the
utilization of these providers to ensure the implementation of adequate services.
An efficient Utilization Management process impacts the overall effectiveness of
the delivery of services. The evaluation and monitoring component are key
elements to the overall process which involve routine monitoring, assessing
performance results, and feedback from the clients.
We observe that contractor management occurs in several different work units
of the Department, each unit employing its own processes for contract
development and management. This separation can result in a lack of control
over contractors, lack of standardization of terms and requirements, inconsistent
review of performance, and the continuation of contractors despite poor
performance. The process described below is a consistent process for use
throughout the Department. Organizationally, we recommend that the
Department create a Utilization Management unit that would manage all
provider contracts. With or without, that organizational change, the Department
should institute this common provider management process.
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Establish pool of providers
Utilization Management (UM) will seek potential
providers for services needed for the agency.
There are several ways UM can find providers.
One way is through the Request for Proposal
(RFP) process. The RFP process is lengthy, but it
is helpful in finding many potential providers.
Another way is to invite known providers or
providers who have solicited the agency in the
past, to respond to a need.
1.1
Determine needs
UM will receive internal requests for services
from Case Management and other Agency
departments. UM will evaluate the requests to
determine the Agency’s service needs.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
1.2
Establish requirements for
solicitation
UM will establish the criteria for the solicitation
including qualifications and deliverables in
accordance with applicable policies and
regulations.
1.3
Establish criteria for
solicitation
Relevant functional service staff will work with
the RDSS procurement staff to develop a list of
the essential criteria for the solicitation. This
may include, but is not limited to, the type of
work to be performed, the timeline for
performance, objective standards for
determining acceptable levels of performance,
and pricing.
1.4
Determine if should be
considered for fast track
(emergency)
If yes, target known
providers
Based on the internal request for services, UM
will determine if the service need is immediate.
If no, solicit providers via
RFP
UM will advertise the solicitation to the public at
large.
1.4.1
1.4.2
DESCRIPTION
UM will evaluate the profiles of known providers
and the profiles of providers that have
previously solicited the Agency. Based on the
requirements of the solicitation and the profile
evaluation, UM will establish a pool of targeted
providers.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.0
Assess service providers
UM will issue the solicitation in accordance with
applicable regulations and policies. An
evaluation team will be established comprised of
personnel from UM, Case Management, and
other departments impacted by the solicited
services. The evaluation team will evaluate the
proposals submitted in response to the
solicitation and conduct on‐site evaluations
when deemed appropriate. The evaluation team
will recommend a service provider(s). The UM
Manager will review the recommendation and
make the final selection of the service
provider(s).
2.1
Prepare solicitation
document
UM will draft the solicitation in accordance with
the established criteria, qualifications, and
deliverables. UM will issue the solicitation in
accordance with applicable policies and
regulations.
2.2
Evaluate provider
proposals/qualification
UM will establish an evaluation team comprised
of personnel from UM, Case Management, and
other departments impacted by the solicited
services. The evaluation team will review the
responses received in accordance with the
deadline established in the solicitation. The
evaluation team will evaluate the responses
against the qualifications and deliverables
detailed in the solicitation. The evaluation team
will identify the responsive bidders.
2.3
Conduct on‐site
evaluation, as applicable
The evaluation team will conduct on site
evaluations of the responsive bidders as deemed
appropriate.
Page 91
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.4
Evaluation teams make
recommendation
The evaluation team will make a
recommendation for a service provider(s). The
evaluation team will submit the
recommendation to the UM Manager for
approval.
2.5
Utilization manager makes
final decision
The UM manager will review and approve the
recommendation from the evaluation team. The
UM Manager will issue the notice of award to
the selected provider(s).
2.6
Notify awarded providers
The notice of award will be distributed to the
selected provider(s) in accordance with
applicable policies and regulations.
2.7
Provider accepts award
The awarded provider(s) will accept or decline
the award.
3.0
Complete service
contracts
UM will create a contract between the Agency
and the awarded provider(s). A contract
template will be selected based on the type of
service to be provided. The contract will reflect
the deliverables, terms and conditions agreed to
in negotiations, included in the solicitation, and
included in the successful proposal. UM will fully
execute the contract with the awarded service
provider(s) in accordance with applicable
regulations and policies.
3.1
Identify contract type
Based on the solicitation and the type of services
required, UM will select the appropriate contract
type.
3.2
Select appropriate
contract template
UM will select the contract template based on
the identified contract type.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.3
Create contract
UM will populate the contract template in
accordance with applicable regulations and
policies. The contract will include applicable
information from the solicitation and the
successful proposal.
3.4
Collect required
documents
UM will obtain required documents from the
awarded provider(s) in accordance with the
terms and conditions detailed in the solicitation.
UM will attach documentation to the contract
file.
3.5
Conduct price
negotiations as applicable
UM will negotiate the price for the contracted
services as appropriate and in accordance with
applicable regulations and policies.
3.6
Fully complete contract
UM will fully execute the contract by obtaining
all required signatures. UM will digitize the
contract file.
3.7
Notify non‐selected
providers, as appropriate
UM will notify unsuccessful bidders in
accordance with applicable regulations and
policies. Debriefing sessions with unsuccessful
bidders will be held when appropriate.
4.0
Updated approved
provider’s database
UM will create a profile for the awarded
provider in the Approved Provider’s Database.
UM will designate the awarded provider as
approved in the system. The approved provider
designation will authorize the selection of the
provider by internal RDSS personnel for the
assigned services detailed in the profile
Page 93
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.1
Record pertinent data (i.e.
Provider’s profile)
UM will create a provider profile in the
Approved Provider’s Database. The profile will
include the provider contact, pertinent provider
information, approved services to be rendered,
and pertinent terms and conditions associated
with providing services.
4.2
Complete provider
application requirements
UM will complete any necessary documents
required by the provider.
5.0
Monitor service providers
After a provider has been added to the
Approved Provider’s list, that provider will be
periodically evaluated. UM will create a plan for
monitoring the providers. The monitoring plan
will include: 1) who will be monitored, 2) the
frequency of the evaluations, and 3) whether the
on‐site evaluation will be announced or
unannounced.
5.1
Create requirements for
monitoring
UM will establish the items to be evaluated
during monitoring reviews for new providers,
long term providers and special case providers.
UM will define the categories and criteria for
approved providers (e.g. New Provider,
Experienced Provider, Special Case Provider,
etc.). UM will determine the frequency of
monitoring for each category of providers. UM
will develop standardized monitoring tools and
instructions for each review type and category of
provider. UM will research best practices to aid
in the development of these tools.
5.2
Identify providers to be
monitored
In accordance with the established criteria, UM
will select providers to be monitored during the
fiscal year.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
5.3
Select monitoring tool(s)
UM will select the appropriate monitoring tool
according to the review type and provider being
evaluated.
5.4
Determine monitoring
type (unannounced vs.
announced)
UM will establish criteria to determine if the
monitoring review will be unannounced or
announced.
5.5
Develop monitoring plan
UM will create a monitoring plan. The
monitoring plan will identify: 1) who will
complete the evaluation, 2) what provider is
being monitored, 3) the type of monitoring, 4)
the monitoring tool to be used and 5) when the
monitoring will take place.
5.6
Execute monitoring plan
A Utilization Management representative (UM
Rep) will carry out the monitoring plan.
5.6.1
Program review
The UM Rep will complete a Program Review of
the provider.
5.6.2
Financial review
The UM Rep will also complete a Financial
Review of the provider.
5.7
Identify corrective action
The UM Rep will specifically identify any areas of
noncompliance that require immediate
corrective action. The UM Rep will require
immediate corrective action be implemented
within the established timeline associated with
the infraction(s).
5.8
Issue report
The UM Rep will complete a report summarizing
the full evaluation of the provider.
Include provider’s
strengths
The UM Rep will include things that were done
well by the provider.
5.8.1
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
5.8.2
Include provider’s
weaknesses
The UM Rep will identify areas of noncompliance
noted. The UM Rep will provide technical
assistance where applicable. The UM Rep will
provide required and/or recommended actions
to achieve compliance.
5.8.3
Include recommendation
for follow‐up
In instances where corrective action is
warranted (immediate/non‐immediate), the UM
Rep will recommend a follow‐up visit to
determine if the corrective action has been fully
and permanently implemented.
5.9
Conduct exit conference
UM will meet with the provider to review the
results of the assessment report. UM will
request written corrective action and
implementation dates for corrective action from
the provider. UM will inform the provider that a
follow‐up review will be conducted. UM will
obtain the signature(s) of the provider contact
acknowledging their understanding of
information contained in the report.
5.10
Notify case management
of important findings
UM will notify Case Management of important
findings.
5.11
Follow‐up visit
UM will conduct a follow up visit
(announced/unannounced) to ensure that the
corrective action has been fully and permanently
implemented.
5.12
On‐going technical
assistance
UM will continue to work with the provider on
making long term improvements.
6.0
Pay providers
UM will approve payment to the provider after
the service has been completed.
6.1
Receive provider invoice
The provider submits an invoice to UM.
Page 96
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
6.2
Verify service delivery
from case management
UM contacts Case Management to verify the
invoice.
6.3
Verify contract limits
UM checks to make sure the invoice follows the
contract terms with the provider.
6.4
Verify funding source
UM verifies the funding source identified for the
service in Harmony.
6.5
Approve for payment
UM approves payment in Harmony.
6.6
Transmit approval to
finance for payment in
accordance with city
procedures
Evaluate performance
outcome from providers
The approval is electronically sent to Finance
who will execute the payment.
7.0
UM will require approved providers to submit
periodic performance results issued by other
agencies and/or self‐assessment performance
results. UM will evaluate the results as an
additional resource for evaluating the utilization
of approved providers for continued usage.
7.1
Determine reporting type,
where applicable
For those providers who do not have a
performance reporting program, UM will
determine the type of metrics to be reported to
the agency.
7.2
Issue report template
UM will issue a report template to those
providers who do not have an existing
performance reporting program.
7.3
Review reporting results
UM will review the performance results in
conjunction with internal monitoring results to
determine if continued services are warranted.
8.0
Determine continued
service
UM will evaluate the Monitoring review(s) and
Performance Reports to determine continued
usage of the provider.
Page 97
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
8.1
If yes, continue
monitoring plan
UM will continue to monitor the provider based
on the monitoring plan.
8.2
If no, remove from
approved provider’s
database
UM will remove the provider from the Approved
Provider’s Database. UM will notify Case
Management that the provider is no longer
eligible for usage. UM will work with Case
Management where applicable to terminate the
usage of the ineligible provider.
Page 98
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Finance (Supplies and Materials)
The financial function is an instrumental process where supplies and materials
are procured for the Agency. The process is initiated with a need for a specific
product. A person requesting the purchase (requestor) prepares a requisition
detailing the requirements of the supply and/or material. A representative of
the finance team submits a request for quote (RFQ) to potential suppliers.
Suppliers submit quotations in response to the RFQ. The finance representative
reviews the quotes and selects a supplier based on the established criteria
including: price, quality, and availability. The finance representative generates a
Purchase Order (PO) and submits it to the selected supplier. If the request is for
a one time buy, a standard PO is issued. If the request is for a recurring
purchase, a blanket PO is issued. Purchase Orders represent a contractual
agreement of the transaction and are accompanied by terms and conditions
related to the purchase. The supplier then delivers the product per the PO.
The requestor evaluates the product against the specifications of the request.
The supplier sends an invoice to the Finance for payment of the product. The
finance representative compares the request for payment to the terms of the
Purchase Order and confirms satisfactory receipt of the product by the
requestor. If the invoice is correct, payment is made to the supplier. If it is not
correct, the finance representative requires the supplier to correct the invoice.
Once the corrected invoice is submitted, payment is made to the supplier.
The To‐Be Process detailed below supports an efficient process for procuring
supplies and materials. It reduces the probability for errors as the majority of
the communication and 100% of the corresponding records are also electronic.
This enables the Agency to readily address discrepancies, monitor productivity,
and measure overall success of the process.
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS)
STEP
1.0
ACTION
Receive request for
service
DESCRIPTION
When there is a need for a supply or material;
the requestor will input a request into RDSS
purchasing portal. The requestor will then
indicate what is needed and any associated
requirements or specifications. The requestor
will also indicate the funding source and when
the product is needed. The requestor will then
submit the request. The request will be
electronically sent to the finance department’s
inbox.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.1
Review request
A buyer on the finance team will review the
request to ensure there is enough information to
fulfill the requirement. If there is not enough
information, the buyer will call the requestor to
clarify or electronically return the request to the
requestor.
1.2
Verify funding source
The buyer will verify the funding source
identified on the request to ensure it is the
appropriate funding source for the particular
good requested. The buyer will verify that
available funds exist from the identified funding
source. If funds are not available or if the
incorrect funding source is referenced, the buyer
will inform the requestor and request the
requisition be corrected.
1.3
Verify program eligibility,
as applicable
The buyer will check to see if the requested good
is appropriate for program eligibility. If there is a
problem, the buyer will inform the requestor in
order to resolve or electronically return the
request to the requestor.
2.0
Select vendor
After the buyer receives a request, the buyer
must identify a supplier. The supplier must
provide the material within the requirements,
time frame, and at a fair and reasonable price.
2.1
Conduct request for
proposal (RFP)/ request
for quote (RFQ) process if
required by city
The buyer will research the requested product
and locate a group of suppliers who may meet
the needs of the request. The buyer will identify
the appropriate procurement method (e.g. RFP,
RFQ, etc.) based on the request. The buyer will
publish the procurement advertisement (e.g.
RFP, RFQ, etc.) to the group of suppliers in
accordance with applicable procurement
regulations and standards.
2.2
Secure price quotes, if RFP
not required
The buyer will accept responses from potential
vendors up until the deadline noted in the
procurement advertisement.
Page 100
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.3
Review quotes with
requestor
The buyer will inform the requestor that the
quotes have been received. The buyer will invite
the requestor to review all the quotes received
by the deadline with the buyer. The buyer and
requestor (when applicable) will review the
quotes and identify the best offer.
2.4
Select vendor and input
vendor data into
advantage
The buyer will select the vendor with the best
offer based on price, quality, and availability.
The buyer will indicate the selected vendor in
the Request for Service and explain why the
vendor was selected. The buyer will scan all the
quotes and supporting material and attach them
electronically to the Request for Service. The
buyer will then enter the selected vendor into
Advantage along with any required information;
address, phone number, product ID, etc.
2.5
Finance approval
The Finance Supervisor/Manager will review the
Request for Service documentation and the
selected supplier. The Finance
Supervisor/Manager will approve the vendor in
Advantage.
3.0
Generate purchase order
(PO) in advantage
Once the vendor has been selected, entered,
and approved into Advantage, the buyer will
create a PO. The buyer will then issue the PO to
the vendor. After the vendor accepts the terms
and conditions of the PO, they will ship the
materials/goods.
3.1
Approve purchase order in
ADVANTAGE
The buyer enters the PO in Advantage. A second
party will review and approve the PO.
3.2
ADVANTAGE encumbers
funds
The amount of the purchase is automatically
subtracted from the funding source budget.
Once this occurs, this amount cannot be used for
other purchases.
3.3
ADVANTAGE notifies
vendor of order
The City’s Advantage financial system generates
a notification to the vendor that an order has
been placed.
Page 101
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
3.4
Vendor accepts order via
ADVANTAGE
After the PO is approved; the vendor is notified
electronically that the PO is ready for their
acceptance. The electronic notification will
contain instructions for the vendor to access
Advantage via RDSS portal to review and accept
the PO.
3.5
Vendor delivers materials
After accepting the PO, the vendor ships the
materials to the Agency.
4.0
Vendor submits invoice
via ADVANTAGE portal
When the good is received and the receipt of
goods has been acknowledged in Advantage, a
notification will be sent to the vendor. The
notification will contain instructions for the
vendor to access Advantage via RDSS portal to
submit an invoice at their discretion. A finance
representative will evaluate the invoice for
accuracy. If there are problems, the finance
representative will contact the vendor for
resolution before approval.
4.1
Finance receives invoice
After the vendor uploads their invoice in
Advantage, the invoice will be electronically sent
to the Finance’s inbox.
4.2
Send invoice to receiver of
goods for verification
Finance will electronically send the invoice to the
receiver of the goods or materials. The receiver
will review the invoice for accuracy. The receiver
will make sure that the correct quantity was
received. The receiver will also check that the
goods received are the same as described in the
invoice. Lastly, the receiver will make sure that
the method of delivery was consistent with the
agreed upon terms and conditions.
4.3
Identify discrepancies, if
any
After verifying of the invoice, the receiver will
identify any problems. The receiver will note the
problems on the invoice and electronically send
the invoice to Finance.
Review with vendor
Finance will contact the vendor and discuss the
discrepancies with the invoice.
4.3.1
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS)
STEP
4.3.2
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
Settle discrepancy
Finance will work with the vendor to resolve any
problems and instruct the vendor to resend a
corrected invoice if necessary.
4.4
Approve invoice
Once the invoice has been verified by the
receiver, Finance will approve the invoice in
Advantage.
5.0
Issue payment via
advantage
After the invoice is approved in Advantage, the
system will pay the vendor by releasing the
funds. Finance will review the budget to ensure
correct payment.
5.1
ADVANTAGE releases
encumbrance
The funds put on hold or reserved for the
purchase will be released in the system.
5.2
The released funds will be paid to the vendor.
5.3
ADVANTAGE transfers to
expenditure
Generate ledger report
5.4
Match to budget
Finance will review the General Ledger report
and check it against the budget to ensure the
funds were correctly paid. Finance will also
check to make sure there were enough funds in
the budget to cover the expense.
5.5
Resolve budget
discrepancies
If there are problems with the budget, Finance
will contact the administrator of the budget to
resolve the problems.
The Finance Supervisor/Manager will generate a
General Ledger report in Advantage at a set
frequency.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
Recovery (Fraud)
The Recovery and Fraud process is designed to recover excessive payments,
investigate all allegations of fraud where there is sufficient evidence to lead a
prudent, reasonable person to suspect that fraud has occurred. Fraud is a
deliberate or unlawful deception, misrepresentation or concealment of facts
practiced to secure advantage, benefit or gain or to cause loss to another. Fraud
can also include the misstatement of a relevant fact or the failure to disclose a
relevant fact. The investigative procedures used shall at all times be in
accordance with applicable policies and laws. The investigation process shall be
fully documented, including minutes of meetings, interviews, recommendations,
determinations and actions taken.
RECOVERY (FRAUD)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
1.0
Receive investigation
request
The requestor submits an investigation request
to the Fraud department.
1.1
Acknowledge receipt in
HARMONY
A fraud representative will acknowledge receipt
of the request in Harmony. Harmony will
automatically time and date stamp the request.
The details of the allegation and the allegation
reporting method will be entered in Harmony
(e.g. hotline, portal, etc.).
1.2
Assign to screening
The request will be flagged in the system for
screening.
2.0
Screen/validate request
The request will be screened to determine if
sufficient information has been received to
initiate an investigation.
2.1
Review information for
completeness
A fraud representative will review the request to
determine if pertinent information is identified
including the allegation, date and time the
allegation was received, method allegation
received (hotline, walk in, etc.).
2.2
Determine if enough
information exists to
investigate
The fraud representative will determine if
sufficient information exists to investigate the
allegation including RDSS jurisdiction,
information to assist with identifying the alleged
perpetrator, etc.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY (FRAUD)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
2.3
Determine if established
criteria warrants
investigation
The information included in the request will be
evaluated against the established investigation
initiation criteria to determine if an investigation
is warranted. If the request does not meet the
criteria, the representative will deny the
investigation request. If the request meets the
criteria, it will be identified as valid and routed
to an investigator.
2.4
Route to investigator
Valid investigation requests will be routed to an
Investigator.
3.0
Assign investigator(s)
The Supervisor will assign an investigator(s) to
the request based on established criteria
including availability, experience, knowledge,
skills, and ability.
3.1
Evaluate case load
The caseload of existing Investigators will be
evaluated by the supervisor to determine the
pool of available resources.
3.2
Evaluate experience of
investigator(s)
The experience of the pool of available resources
will be evaluated to identify parallels between
allegations associated with successfully
completed investigations and the allegation
noted in the investigation request; and,
experience conducting fraud investigations.
3.3
Assign investigator(s)
The supervisor will identify the best available
resource and assign the investigator(s) to the
request.
4.0
Conduct investigation
The assigned investigator will conduct an
objective investigation in accordance with
applicable policies and regulations. The
investigation process includes creating an
investigation plan, executing the plan, and
generating a summary report of the
investigation.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY (FRAUD)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.1
Input referral into fraud
data tracking system
(FDTS)
The request/referral is entered into the Fraud
Data Tracking System. All information noted in
the initial request maintained in Harmony is
entered into the FDTS.
4.2
Verify the subject is
known to RDSS
The Investigator will research all accessible RDSS
systems to determine if the alleged perpetrator
and/or parties identified in the investigation
request have a history with RDSS. If historical
data is located in the system, the Investigator
will consider this information when establishing
the investigation plan.
4.3
Establish investigation
plan
The investigator will create a plan for the
investigation. The investigation plan at a
minimum will consider timing, resources, and
applicable standards, policies and regulations.
4.4
Conduct investigation
The investigator will execute the investigation
plan and conduct the investigation in accordance
with applicable standards, policies, and
regulations.
4.4.1
Conduct interview(s)
The investigator will conduct interviews to
collect information to contribute to the
investigation. Interviews will be conducted in
accordance with existing standards and laws.
The interview type conducted (telephone, in
person, etc.) will be at the discretion of the
investigator; however, the contents of all
interviews will be thoroughly documented. All
interviews will be conducted objectively.
4.4.2
Collect data
The investigator obtains documentation to
support/refute elements of the allegation. The
investigator will maintain the integrity of
documentation obtained by documenting the
chain of custody of all documents. At a
minimum, the investigator will document what
items were received, when the items were
received, from whom the items were received,
and where the items were maintained.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY (FRAUD)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
4.5
Engage case management
team as necessary
The investigator will interview Case
Management personnel when appropriate to
obtain information related to the investigation.
4.6
Scan all supporting data
and attach electronic file
to HARMONY and Fraud
Data Tracking System
The investigator will digitize all supporting
documentation related to the investigation. The
investigation will upload and attach
supplemental digitized supporting file to the
investigation case file in Harmony and the FDTS.
Once uploaded, all documents will remain in the
case file unless the information is subsequently
determined to have been erroneous. The
investigator will maintain all documentation in
accordance with applicable record retention
policies and regulations.
4.7
Create final report
The Investigator will generate the final report
detailing the results of the investigation in
accordance with applicable standards and
regulations. At a minimum, the report will
include the following elements: Background,
Executive Summary, Scope, Approach, Findings,
Summary, Impact, and Recommendations. The
final report will be digitized, attached to the
investigation file, and submitted to the
supervisor for review.
5.0
Issue final report
The supervisor will review the investigation final
report in conjunction with all supporting
documentation. The supervisor will issue a copy
of the final report to the appropriate parties in
accordance with applicable policies and
regulations.
5.1
Access investigation
documents
The supervisor will evaluate the final report in
conjunction with the supporting investigation
documentation.
5.2
Document findings and
recommendations
The supervisor will ensure that all findings and
recommendations are detailed in the final
report.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY (FRAUD)
STEP
ACTION
DESCRIPTION
5.3
Determine fraud/non‐
fraud & finalize report
The supervisor will determine if the conclusion
of fraud is evidenced in the report.
5.4
Submit supervisory review
and comments
The supervisor will submit review comments to
the investigator for consideration.
5.5
Take additional steps as
necessary – administrative
disqualification hearing
(ADH); court, etc.
The supervisor will distribute the final report to
the appropriate parties. The investigator will
participate in subsequent proceedings in
accordance with applicable policies and
regulations (e.g. ADH, Court, etc.). If the
restitution is warranted, Accounts Receivable
staff will be notified to initiate the collection
process.
6.0
Close investigation
request
The investigator will close the investigation
request. A summary of the investigation will be
distributed to designated departments for
informational purposes. All claims of restitution
will be monitored by the investigator until
satisfied.
6.1
Send investigation
summary to case
management
The investigator will generate a summary of the
investigation. The investigator will distribute the
investigation summary to case management for
informational purposes.
6.2
Transition to accounting
where applicable
(restitution request)
The investigator will notify Accounting if
restitution is warranted. Accounting will initiate
the collection process.
6.3
Monitor and maintain
oversight of fraudulent
claims resulting in
restitution
The investigator will monitor the collection of
restitution until the full restitution claim has
been satisfied. The investigator will append the
investigation file with acknowledgement of
restitution received. The investigator will alert
internal departments of restitution received as
deemed necessary.
Page 108
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ABILITY TO RESOLVE PERFORMANCE ISSUES
The last task of the To‐Be Process Integration Team was to assess the probability
that the integrated case management process would resolve the Department’s
reported performance deficiencies. As it reviewed the performance issues
relative to the new process, the Team arrived at the conclusion that the new
processes would enable the Department to meet the performance
requirements. However, there are several important caveats to that conclusion.
First, it assumes continuation of appropriate levels of staffing to perform the
work. Second, it depends upon the commitment of the Department to have an
aggressive, on‐going program of staff development and training so that the staff
would be able to perform the new tasks at a proficient level of competency.
Third, it assumes a greater reliance on information technology for data
integration and electronic records management. We discuss all of these
assumptions later in this report.
The following table represents the assessment of the To‐Be Integration Team of
the effect of the new processes on the Department’s areas of performance
shortfall:
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
Timely Processing
of Medicaid
applications
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
87.87%
86.06%
97.0%
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
 Suggest staff specialists on Medicaid
 Concerns: (1) Delay is in getting case
record info will be solved by automated
process (2) Training experience shows a
huge number of people are not
sufficiently familiar with Medicaid.
 If our staff is skilled (properly trained),
we may not have this problem.
 Processing problem comes from staff not
being aggressive in acquiring needed
info. There are times when the work is
too big or too little, and there is not
enough flexibility to move staff to help
alleviate the problem during peak times.
 Even with skilled staff, there may still be
a problem because of workload and
difficulty in acquiring information.
 To change this result, we need more staff
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
Timeliness of
Medicaid Reviews
Timely Processing –
SNAP Expedited
Timely Processing –
SNAP Regular
Timely Processing
of SNAP Combined
Applications
SNAP Participation
Rate
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
89.83%
90.08%
97.0%
98.08% *
July
97.64% *
July
97.87% *
July
98.08%
97.0%
97.64%
97.0%
97.87%
97.0%
86.47%
86.13%
80.0%
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
members who are adequately trained to
do the work. To have more people
available, we need to free up staff that
can be reassigned to Medicaid. To free
up staff, we need to improve our
processes to get rid of redundancies.
 Suggest staff specialists on Medicaid
 Concerns: (1) Delay is in getting case
record info (will be solved by automated
process (2) Training experience shows a
huge number of people are not
sufficiently familiar with Medicaid.
 If our staff is skilled (properly trained),
we may not have this problem.
 Processing problem comes from staff not
being aggressive in acquiring needed
info. There are times when the work is
too big or too little, and there is not
enough flexibility to move staff to help
alleviate the problem during peak times.
 Even with skilled staff, there may still be
a problem because of workload and
difficulty in acquiring information.
 To change this result, we need more staff
members who are adequately trained to
do the work. To have more people
available, we need to free up staff that
can be reassigned to Medicaid. To free
up staff, we need to improve our
processes to get rid of redundancies.
Page 110
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
SNAP Quality
Assurance Payment
Error Rate
SNAP Quality
Assurance Negative
Action Error Rate
SNAP Application
Denial Rate
SNAP Benefits
Issued
VIEW – Job
Retention
VIEW – Average
Hourly Wage
VIEW – Percent
Employed
VIEW Application
Denial Rate
Timely Processing
of TANF
Applications
VIEW – Federal
Work Participation
Rate
Timely Processing
of Child Care
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
.88%
NA
<= 3.0%
*Apr
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
 Could be training issue, time
management, and volume
 Could also be a case management issue;
team case management approach will
help
27.78%
*Apr
NA
<= 2.0%
21.61%
20.17%
NA
$7,647,1
47.00 *
July
71.97%
$7,647,147
.00
NA
71.51%
75.0%
$8.16
$8.16
$7.25
42.49%
41.97%
50.0%
30.48%
32.95%
NA
93.62%
92.36%
95.0%
 New process may accelerate timelines.
 Electronic case records will help.
40.21% *
July
40.21%
50.0%
 The new process will help because we
will have people on the team with the
skills that are needed to conduct a
comprehensive assessment and develop
a plan to help the client find and keep a
job.
91.83%
90.36%
95.0%
 New process will help.
 No reason why we shouldn’t meet the
 The new process will help because we
will have people on the team with the
skills that are needed to conduct a
comprehensive assessment and develop
a plan to help the client find and keep a
job.
 The new process will help because we
will have people on the team with the
skills that are needed to conduct a
comprehensive assessment and develop
a plan to help the client find and keep a
job.
Page 111
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
Applications
Absence of
Maltreatment
100.00%
* 4th Qtr
FY 12
100.00%
*4th Qtr
FY 12
44.44% *
4th Qtr
FY 12
100.00% *
4th Qtr FY
12
100.00%
*4th Qtr FY
12
44.44% *
4th Qtr FY
12
Foster Care Re‐
Entry Rate
16.30%
*4th Qtr
FY 12
Adoptions Finalized
w/in 24 Months of
Entering Care
% Discharged to
Permanence
Absence of Abuse
While in Foster
Care
% Reunified w/in
12 Months
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
standard now.
 Combo of work load changes and
performance issues
94.6%
99.68%
75.2%
 Easier access to services
 More comprehensive assessment
 Will involve the family a little bit more –
resulting in greater buy‐in and forward
progress
 Family will be less frustrated from too
much intrusion (multiple meetings)
16.30%
*4th Qtr FY
12
9.9%
 Teams will help make sure services are in
place before child goes home
 Transitional plan will be developed
sooner (to include review of needed
services)
28.13% *
4th Qtr
FY 12
28.13% *
4th Qtr FY
12
36.6%
 We don’t have much control over this.
Source of delay is primarily the courts;
we could sit in appeals for 6‐8 months
 We will be doing concurrent planning
 The team approach will get rid of the
territorial issues (i.e., adoption and
foster)
 The team approach will likely help
 Data mining will help – workers don’t
investigate relatives early on. The data
team can ID relatives sooner.
24.73% *
4th Qtr
FY 12
24.73% *
4th Qtr FY
12
29.10%
 We will be doing concurrent planning
 The team approach will likely help
 Data mining will help – workers don’t
investigate relatives early on.
 The data team can ID relatives sooner.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
Placement Stability
– 1st 12 Months
# Adoption
Disruptions
% of Youth in
Congregate Care
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
85.23%
85.23%
86.00%
*4th Qtr *4th Qtr FY
FY 12
12
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
 We will be doing concurrent planning
 The team approach will likely help
 Data mining will help – workers don’t
investigate relatives early on.
 The data team can ID relatives sooner.
1
1
0
19.70%
19.0%
16.0%
0.51%
0.25%
24.00%
93.38%
89.97%
90.00%
33.33%
34.97%
90.00%
 Could be an operation issue – not a
process issue
 Source of “low performance” is likely
inadequate documentation in OASIS
CPS Ongoing
Contacts Met
65.94%
74.22%
90.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
CPS Prevention
Contacts Met
52.42%
47.39%
90.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
CPS Response win
Priority Time ‐ First
Attempted
72.83%
77.17%
90.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
Kinship Care
Placements
Monthly FC
Visitation
Monthly Client
Visits with Family
 Team approach will likely result in more
targeted recruitment of foster homes for
older youth
Page 113
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT OF NEW PROCESSES ON
RDSS PERFORMANCE MEASURES
USING AUG 2012 REPORT AS ASSESSMENT BASIS
(Report data in red are areas of performance deficiency in this report)
MEASURE
LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE
CURRENT
FY 13
TARGET
HOW WILL NEW PROCESSES IMPROVE AREAS OF
PERFORMANCE DEFICIENCY
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
CPS Response win
Priority Time ‐ First
Completed
69.57%
72.04%
90.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
Timely CPS
Assessments
47.95%
65.69%
95.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
Timely CPS
Investigations
33.43%
40.91%
95.00%
 Routing of cases at the onset (triage) will
help
 Filling up current vacancies will likely
solve the performance problem. Right
now, extremely short‐staffed.
 Supportive team approach will likely
decrease burn‐out and increase
retention.
100.00%
100.00%
95.00%
99.67%
99.64%
95.00%
Timely APS
Investigations
Absence of APS
Recurrence w/in 90
Days
This table demonstrates clearly the belief of the RDSS staff that the revised
processes, once fully implemented, will result in the alleviation of all deficiencies
in the State performance reports.
Page 114
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CHAPTER 6: ORGANIZATIONAL PLAN
A consistent theme of the business process redesign has been that the
Department’s organizational structure needs to be a support to effective
business processes. The idea is that organizational structure is a force enabler,
that is, it establishes the framework by which employees can be more effective
in the performance of their duties. Fundamental elements of organizational
design call for a structure that accomplishes several things:

It should coherently reflect the business of the unit, with an emphasis on
mission;

Functional service elements should be the primary focus of the organization,
with support units playing secondary roles;

To the extent possible, work units should have the capacity to perform their
responsibilities and be held accountable for those responsibilities;

There should be a minimum of work hand‐offs between organizational units
unless necessary for meaningful expertise; and,

An outside observer should be able to look at an organization and
understand both its purpose and its core business processes.
With these standards in mind, the project team assessed the current RDSS
organization. Our observations are that:

The structure is a highly segregated service delivery model, with a large
number of operational siloes;

The structure’s siloed systems cause difficulty in cross‐service delivery,
because of rigid organizational divisions, segmented data systems, and a lack
of knowledge of the full range of service capabilities;

The organization mirrors traditional state and local government
organizations that deliver social services, largely because of the high level of
fragmentation that exists within the social services financial and regulatory
systems;

The organization is heavily reliant on a large middle management structure
which the RDSS SWOT analysis considers to be only marginally effective;
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012

The organization is centered on meeting its own needs rather than focusing
on client needs;

The organizational culture is predominantly employee focused;

The Department is internally focused, specifically on the delivery work, and
does not have a meaningful and effective capacity for anticipating future
needs or trends;

The Department does not have a meaningful capability for self‐assessment
and critical work adjustment.
The implications of the current organizational structure on meaningful business
process redesign are readily apparent:

The organization will need to change dramatically if it is to adopt and
successfully implement an integrated client service model;

The organization needs to realign to a process model rather than a functional
model so that work units own a portion of the continuum of service and not
individual programs;

Organizational culture needs to become one of client focus rather than
worker focus, with greater resources placed on meeting client needs;

There needs to be the capacity for on‐going, rigorous self‐assessment and in‐
course correction of work areas;

The core of the organization should focus on client service, with ancillary
support systems; and,

Part of a comprehensive program of succession planning includes training, or
the employment of trained, staff to be well versed in understanding the
theoretical and practical concepts of social service delivery.
ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK
Based on these considerations, the project team recommends a substantial
organizational realignment for the Department. The realignment converts the
process flows into organizationally responsible work units. Conceptually, the
Department should have a core service delivery capability based on client intake,
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
assessment, and service. Using the process flows for the functional model, our
organizational plan envisions two principal work functions: client intake and
assessment and client service delivery. There are four functions that support the
principal work. The supports are Program and Policy, Family Supports, Finance
and Administration, and Human Resources. This alignment addresses each of
the organizational limitations and structural implications, as described in the
preceding paragraphs.
The following graphic represents the conceptual design of the organization:
ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL
SERVICES
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As depicted, the organizational alignment consists of two core functions and four
support functions. The table below
presents
the respective duties of each:
Intake
and Assessment
SERVICE FUNCTIONS
Intake &
Assessment
 CommonHelp /
Customer
Portal
 Hotline
 Assessment &
eligibility
determination




ACTIVITIES OF CORE FUNCTIONS
SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
Case
Management
Emergency
response
Case review &
routing
Client service
teams
Subject matter
experts
Organizational
Performance
 Quality
assurance
 Utilization
management
 Performance
management
 Employee
training &
development
 Information
technology &
records
Program
 CSA
 TDM
 Resource
family unit
 ECDI
 Healthy Start
 Job
Development
Center
Finance &
Administration
 Budget &
finance
 Payroll
 Recovery
(Fraud)
 Fleet/Mail
 Disaster
management
Human
Resources
 Wage &
classification
 Benefits
management
 Performance
appraisal
The key elements of this organizational plan are:
Intake and Assessment
This is one of two core functions in the reorganized Department. Its primary
duties will be to serve as the common point of intake for all persons seeking
assistance from RDSS. This can include both electronic submission for benefits
applications to manual processing. The hotline will continue to serve as the
intake point for protective services call, particularly those relating to emergency
situations. This unit would also be responsible for reviewing requests for
assistance to determine levels of eligibility and would assess individuals and
families as part of a broader review of client needs, as described earlier.
An important element of this unit is the assessment function. Presently,
assessment occurs throughout the Department, with one assessment often
duplicating another. Another complication is the division of data security which
often precludes a full client assessment. This new unit will resolve those
problems.
There are several purposes to the consolidation of assessment. First, all client
assessment on entry will occur in this unit. Case management teams may
ultimately conduct reassessments on a small scale, but full reassessments would
also return to this unit. Second, the process plans described earlier propose two
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types of assessment. One is the routine assessment and eligibility determination
based on client interface. The other is the more in‐depth family assessment,
based on the concepts of Safe Passages. This is expected to be a more
statistically driven assessment using other data sources. Finally, because
eligibility determinations and assessments would rest with this unit, it is
expected that these personnel will have complete access to all data systems
necessary to conduct the assessments and eligibility determinations. This
eliminates the problems caused by various staff now having full information
access.
Case Management
This division is the other functional service delivery unit of the Department. This
division would be responsible for the delivery of all client services, regardless of
the service to be performed. Delivery would be through a series of functionally
integrated service teams, each team led by a team leader, with multiple teams
having supervisors, and multiple supervisors having an oversight manager. At
the outset, each team would include both social workers and benefit workers; it
is expected that, over time, these distinctions would begin to blur.
As a case comes into the Case Management unit, a case routing team would
assign the case to a given case team based on a variety of criteria. The team
would assign a lead worker to the client family and a back‐up worker. This lead
worker would be responsible for all primary client interfaces, with the team
members providing on‐going case management support. This framework relies
on the model of the Department’s TDM process, except that it expands to
include all social services and benefits. It gives the client a single point of contact
and it eliminates the duplicate outreach that currently consumes much of the
time of department personnel.
An important aspect of this unit will be a team of subject matter experts.
Because the case teams would, over time, become more generalists, the
Department will still need a battery of subject experts. This unit anticipates a
team of experts—as many as three per each program—who would be available
to assist the case teams. There are several advantages to this approach:

All of the teams would receive the same information from the same source,
thus eliminating current problems of inconsistent information and direction
coming from the multitude of supervisors.

The subject matter expert teams would be expected to be aware of both
current rules and regulations and proposed rules and regulations. This would
also include maintaining current knowledge on industry trends and best
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practices. This enables the Department to maintain both an inward and
outward perspective on industry practices.

The SME teams would interact with the Department’s training staff to
provide on‐going functional training, leaving the training unit to focus on
broader career development and remedial training programs. In the
anticipated model, the SMEs would identify subject area training needs
based on staff inquiries, assist the RDSS training unit in developing the
training materials, and assist in course delivery under the direction of the
training unit.
The other principal duty of the Case Management Unit will be to provide
emergency response to both protective cases and economic stabilization needs.
Policy and Programs Support
This is a new support unit of the Department. Its responsibilities would include:

An expanded quality assurance review unit, which would be responsible for
risk assessment and review throughout the Department. This unit would also
be responsible for working with other departmental units to assess specific
work issues relating more to work processes than to subject matter
knowledge (which would be addressed by the Subject Matter Expert teams).

Utilization management will be the consolidation of private contractor
management from various parts of the Department, including VIEW and
Child Care. This unit would be responsible for securing and managing service
contracts for all providers affiliated with the Department. This would also
include review and authorization of all provider invoices prior to payment by
the Finance Division. This review assures compliance with applicable state
and federal regulations as well as verifying that services paid for are actually
received. While the revised business processes anticipate that foster family
payments would be managed through the Resource Family Unit, it is possible
that the Utilization Management unit could provide this service, as an
alternative to the RFU.

Employee Development and Training would transfer to this Division from
Human Resources, but the Department could consider the alternative of
leaving employee development training in Human Resources. This
recommendation is based on the desire to link more closely the quality
assurance and performance management activities performed by Policy and
Programs with employee training. Regardless of the final location of the
training unit, it is essential that there be a close, regular communication
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between development and training on the one hand and the Department’s
internal risk assessment and performance management capabilities on the
other.

Information Technology and Records Management would transfer to Policy
and Programs from the Administration and Finance Division. As part of the
transfer, the existing Records Management unit would become a work unit
of Information Technology. There are several reasons for this recommended
transfer:
 First, the alignment of information technology and records management
prepares the Department for the introduction of electronic documents
management, discussed later in this report.
 Second, the data capabilities of the unit will be a primary point of support
for the risk management and performance management activities of this
Division.
 Third, the bulk of the duties of information technology relate to
functional work performance. Assignment of this unit to Finance and
Administration implies a greater work volume relating to financial
functions, which does not exist. Based on the systems supported by
Information Technology, more than eighty percent of the unit’s work
duties relate to functional data management and systems support.
This transfer should not, however, diminish the support for the Finance and
Administration Division’s fiscal management obligations. Therefore, we
recommend that the existing business analyst position that supports
primarily the financial functions be retained as part of the Finance and
Administration Division.
Family Support
This Division is created by combining several different work units of the
Department into a single Division. These include the CSA, TDM, Resource Family
Unit, ECDI program, and Healthy Start programs. This report also recommends
creation of a Job Development Center. The common denominator for all of
these functions is that they are integrated services that provide supports without
being primary functions in the continuum of client care.
CSA is somewhat unique in this regard in that CSA performs direct client services
similar to those provided in the current foster care programs of the Department.
We include CSA in this grouping both to keep the number of direct reports to the
Department Director to a manageable group and to recognize the unique
circumstances of CSA.
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The other units all provide client services either through a functional delivery
agency, such as support for child services provided by TDM and RFU, or primarily
through group outreach such as ECDI and Healthy Start. While none of these
units is routinely in the direct continuum of care, they provide a broad range of
support knowledge to the continuum.
A new addition is our recommendation for the creation of a Job Development
Center that will participate in job creation for both VIEW clients and other
departmental clients. The purpose of this Center would be to have staff that has
responsibility for working with area employers to create large bodies of jobs for
VIEW and other placements. At present, the VIEW program relies on individual
case managers to work with their clients to identify a job opportunity and to get
that client placed. This is a relatively ineffective approach to job creation and
maintenance in that it causes a lot of repetitive work for the case worker and has
limited in‐placement support for the client.
A more aggressive approach is to work with employers to create large volumes
of job opportunities, even to the point of providing specific job training services
and work supervisors. The Department has already recognized this in its plans to
create two positions for this very purpose. While two positions is an important
start, we do not feel that will be sufficient and foresee a unit of five to ten
workers, over time. Because this unit would serve as a resource not just to VIEW
but potentially any client of the Department, we recommend that it be placed
with the Family Supports Division.
Finance and Administration
This division would retain its core responsibilities for the financial operations of
the Department, enhanced by the transfer of the payroll function from Human
Resources. As noted, the Utilization Management unit would augment review of
provider payables so that Finance and Administration could more effectively
process payment vouchers for the City’s system.
As noted earlier, while we recommend transfer of Information Technology and
Records Management from the Finance and Administration Division, we
recommend that the Division retain the current business analyst, whose primary
duty it is to administer the linkage between the Harmony system and the City of
Richmond’s financial systems.
We also recommend transfer of the Department’s Emergency Management
position into this Division so as to link administrative duties more
comprehensively.
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Human Resources
Much of the burden of the implementation of this report will fall to the Human
Resources Department. This will include working with the City’s Human
Resources Department to conduct appropriate wage and classification analyses,
develop new job descriptions for the integrated case management personnel,
and implement the personnel cross mapping to new work assignments. This will
require considerable focus and staff resources. The transfer of the payroll
function from Human Resources to Finance, in addition to being consistent with
industry best practices, will allow the Human Resources staff to focus on the
larger task at hand.
In order to perform the larger human resources tasks outlined for
implementation, as well as routine duties of human resources management—
position classification, employee recruitment and selection, performance
appraisal management, discipline, and benefits administration—this Department
will need additional professional resources.
STAFFING IN THE NEW ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL
The Department’s leadership has been consistent throughout this process in its
affirmation that the purpose of this project is to improve business processes and
enhance client service, not to adjust staffing. The idea is that reductions in work
demand from more efficient processes will result in work time that can be made
available for more thorough work, more time with clients, and freeing resources
for other needed tasks within the Department.
Currently, there are 511.5 authorized positions within the Department. This
includes 480 general fund positions as well as several special fund positions,
temporary positions, and loaned staff. Our analysis of the business processes
and organizational alternative leads to the conclusion that the revised system
will, in fact, yield work efficiencies that the Department will be able to use for
overall service improvement.
It is difficult to estimate precisely what the time savings impact will be, but some
general rules and perceptions provide some meaningful assessments:

As discussed later in this report, we estimate that an electronic document
management system will save an estimated 20,000 hours of staff time per
year. Assuming that a full time equivalent employee works 75% of a 2,080
hour annual schedule, the actual hours worked per FTE is 1560 hours. This
means that an EDMS will provide 12.8 full time equivalent employee slots for
other work assignments.
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
Anecdotally, our review of the current work conditions indicates a large
volume of repetitive work. The repetition occurs because of the lack of trust
in previous work, repetitive errors, lack of access to complete information,
and related issues. There is no definitive count of how frequently these
redundant reviews occur or how long each take, but the evidence supports a
belief that this problem is more the rule than the exception. For analytical
purposes, we assume that this repetition occurs at least once per each case
intake and that each repetition requires an average of one staff hour.
In the twelve months from July 2011 to June 2012, the Department received
a total of 29,796 applications for Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and Child Care. This
alone would equate to 29,796 hours of duplicate staff time, given the
previously stated assumptions. It represents 19.1 full time equivalent
employees.
One might argue with this time savings, but there are offsets on both sides of
the equation. On one hand, it is possible that the frequency of redundant
processing is not once per case. The counterpoint is that we used only new
case applications for only four programs. That any reduction in the number
of cases by changing the average number of cases with redundant review
would be offset by including all of the other case applications not included in
the calculation. Additionally, this calculation is based only on new cases and
not on continuing cases or renewals. Therefore, we believe that this time
estimate is conservatively valid.

A third area of potential time savings is in the elimination of redundant client
contacts. Virtually every program of the Department has some form of
requirement for on‐going client contact. Given the current program
structure of the Department, any client who is enrolled in multiple programs
will receive contacts from different case workers. The Department staff
participating in the As‐Is and To‐Be process sessions have ratified this
assumption frequently.
It is difficult to obtain a reliably accurate estimate of the Department’s
unduplicated case count. Data collected from the VDSS using just social
security numbers as the sorting criterion indicates a possibility that the
duplication may be as much as forty percent. Based on our work with other
jurisdictions this is probably a low estimate but is within the range of
expectation.
In our analysis of electronic data management later in this report, we
reported that the Department cited 60,287 active cases for Medicaid, SNAP,
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TANF, Child Care, and Foster Care as of July 2012. Assume that each case
requires a call an average of once a quarter and that the time consumed for
each call is fifteen minutes. This equates to 60,287 hours of staff time for
follow‐up calls. Now, let’s assume that we can reduce the number of cases
by forty percent with one person contacting the client for all case
enrollments. We should also assume that the length of the call will increase
from fifteen to twenty minutes in this model. This would result in 48,230
hours of staff time, a savings of 12,057 hours. This equates to 7.8 full time
equivalent staff positions.
It is likely that the actual call frequency is greater than once quarterly and the
length of time on the call is as much as a half hour. If we used the
assumption of one call per month at a half hour per call, then reduced the
call volume by 40 percent and increased the call length to 45 minutes, the
net staff hour savings would equate to 23.2 FTE.
Based on these rough estimates, we estimate—conservatively—that the new
business process will result in staff time savings of at least between 44.7 and
60.1 full time equivalents. The Department will able to redistribute the staff
hours to a variety of high priority initiatives while still improving its overall
performance. Among these initiatives are:

Intake and Assessment: Additional staff resources can be assigned to the
intake and assessment functions, resulting in better timeliness and greater
accuracy in processing requests for assistance. Staff would also be available
to conduct the family‐based assessments envisioned through Safe Passages.

Case Management: Personnel would be made available to support the
Emergency Response capabilities, staff the case routing and review function,
enhance the integrated case teams, and staff the Subject Matter Expert unit.

Policy and Programs: The Department would be able to provide a larger
staff for quality assurance review, staff the utilization management function,
staff the performance management function, and provide additional
personnel for development and training and in support of information
technology.

Family Resources: The proposed Job Development Center staffing could also
come from the pool of available staff time.

Human Resources: This division will also need additional personnel to help
implement the recommendations of this report and to conduct a strong, on‐
going program of human resources support.
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
Finance and Administration: Staff could be made available to support the
business analyst position for the integration of Harmony and the City
financial systems.
In considering the availability of staff hours and the reassignment of personnel to
different duties, there are two considerations which will be important: training
and development and succession planning:
Training and development of staff will be critical. As personnel assume new
work duties, it is the obligation of the Department to provide the training and
work resources necessary for the employee to be successful in the new
assignment. In our following discussion on Human Resources management, we
discuss the need for sound career planning and the use of employee training
programs. The absence of these capabilities within the Department will almost
certainly result in employees having difficulty executing their new assignments,
resulting in degraded performance.
The Department is facing a potentially serious problem with seniority. A review
of the staff roster indicates that nearly a third of all of the Department’s
employees are now eligible for retirement. Even though it is highly unlikely that
a large exodus will occur, the Department must be prepared for the loss of
institutional memory that any significant retirement would cause. The cross
mapping of employees from current to new assignments will need to consider
this, and the Department will need to seek out newer employees who can be
assigned to duties that will foster their eventual movement into leadership
positions.
PHASING OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES
We recommend that the Department implement its reorganization in three
phases. This will allow the Department to take its time to align operational
duties and staffing and to rewrite its policies and procedures based on
experience with the integrated client service model.
We envision the following phases:

Entry: This is the first three months of implementation. The focus of work is
on the creation of the Intake and Assessment Division, and the Program and
Policy Support and Family Support Divisions. In this phase, the Department
would create a small trial unit for case management.

Transition: This is months three through nine of implementation. In this
phase, the focus is on broadening the integrated case management approach
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so as to assess fully any operational issues and to write the essential policies
and procedures.

Final: This is the period from nine to eighteen months following the start of
implementation. During this phase, the Department would move to the fully
integrated case management approach and initiate the subject matter expert
teams.
We have aligned the implementation planning of this report to be consistent
with these three phases of organizational restructuring.
As part of the assessment of the organizational transition, there are a number of
organizational variations that the Department may consider. Among these are:

Retention of Employee Development and Training in the Human Resources
Department. We believe that placing employee development and training
functions with policy and program staff will provide for better coordination
between departmental performance assessment. However, it may be
possible to achieve the same benefits with the current structure, just so long
as there is a firm, formal relationship between employee development and
policy and programs. Similarly, regardless of organizational placement, there
will also need to be close coordination between employee training functions
and the subject matter experts.

Retention of Information Technology and Records Management in
Administration and Finance. The placement of information technology
within a general finance and administration environment has been
historically common. However, an increasing trend in public organizations is
the removal of technology from a purely finance perspective and aligning it
with performance management or creating a separate technology office.
Regardless of whether the information technology function remains within
Finance and Administration, there are two key elements that should move
forward. One is the merger of information technology and records
management in order to effect the move to greater use of electronic
document management. The other is that Finance and Administration will
need to retain a business analyst to support data integration between
Harmony and the City’s financial systems.

Retention of CSA as a Stand Alone‐Entity. Our recommendation for
inclusion of CSA in the Family Support Division is based on the broad,
interdisciplinary approach that CSA uses that could serve as a grounding
point for interdepartmental support. However, we recognize that CSA is, by
law, a separate entity.
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
Creation of a Job Development Center. This is a programmatic
recommendation designed to address the job placement performance issues
documented in the review of the Department’s performance reporting. It is
entirely an option that is up to the discretion of the Department. We do
believe, however, that this unit—or something like it—will be necessary if
the Department is to meet and maintain its performance obligations for job
placement.

Assign the Subject Matter Experts to Policy and Programs. This is not an
uncommon arrangement. The benefit of linking SME activity with policy
activity is that it integrates subject matter expertise with policy evaluation
and development. However, in this instance, we feel that it is more
important that the subject matter experts be immediately available to the
integrated case management teams. Given the history of work siloes within
the Department, this availability is better assured by having the SMEs in the
same operational Division as the case management teams.
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CHAPTER 7: HUMAN RESOURCES MODEL
This report contains many recommendations related to business process
redesign. The changes in these processes will require that the management and
staff of the Richmond Department of Social Services alter their methods of
service delivery – both in terms of how the work itself is performed, and the
manner in which RDSS employees interact with one another in assuring effective
service delivery.
Many RDSS staff members have been involved in the redesign of business
processes during the course of this study, and during the development of these
new processes, employees were asked for their honest input into how to best
deliver services to their customers, which they unfailingly did. However, one of
the over‐arching themes throughout the process was that employees were being
asked to live with a certain degree of ambiguity. This ambiguity extended not
only to unknowns surrounding the exact nature of the business processes
themselves, but also in how the redesigned processes would affect each of their
jobs, their job duties, and, ultimately, their careers. This section of the report
provides discussion and recommendations on the human resources support
structure related to job descriptions, career development, performance
management and compensation structures.
During the course of the study, the project team noted many positive initiatives
in the development of human resources support systems. These included the
development of core competencies for many positions, the development of
training courses that are designed to address perceived needs in the
organization, refinements to performance appraisal, and others. However,
certain improvement opportunities exist as well, and this section of the report is
designed to address these by providing enhanced structure to existing initiatives,
and to propose fundamental redesign in others in order to provide a greater
level of support to the redesigned processes, and to ensure that the staff
delivering the services are trained, motivated, fairly compensated, have
promotional opportunities, and have a clear sense, and control over the
direction of their careers.
WAGE AND CLASSIFICATION
The Richmond Department of Social Services has an authorized staffing
contingent of approximately 480 total general fund positions covering 51
position titles. This equates to about 9.4 employees per position title. In many
cases, the distinctions between the actual content of position duties, as outlined
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in the applicable job descriptions, is very minimal. This is particularly evident for
position titles that are the same, but have numerical designations following
them (e.g., Customer Service Representative II, Customer Service Representative
III, etc.). In fact, of the 51 job titles, 17 of these (33%), have such numerical
designations. The following table provides a side‐by‐side display of the content
of Outreach Case Manager I and Outreach Case Manager II.
REPRESENTATIVE COMPARISON OF JOB DUTIES
OUTREACH CASE MANAGER I
OUTREACH CASE MANAGER II

Provides follow‐up care on previously
diagnosed cases and non‐compliant clients;
conducts home visits; makes related phone
calls and writes letters

Provides follow‐up care on previously
diagnosed cases and non‐compliant clients;
conducts home visits; makes related phone
calls and writes letters.

Assists clients in keeping follow‐up
appointments, ensuring that clients
understand treatment plan and preventative
measures.

Researches, compiles and assembles
information to be used by others; compares
data and information as directed; prepares
regular reports to management.

Prepares information to be used by others;
compares data and information as directed;
prepares regular reports to management.


Assists clients in keeping follow‐up
appointments, ensuring that clients
understand treatment plan and preventative
measures.
Conducts pre‐financial screening of clients to
determine eligibility for financial assistance.

Conducts pre‐financial screening of clients to
determine eligibility for financial assistance.

Performs health and health environmental
assessments on clients and assists with health
screenings. Collects client information and
maintains accurate records.

Assists in preparing/writing grants.

Assists clients in overcoming barriers to keep
medical appointments (i.e., access to
transportation, childcare, housing) and
reminds clients of appointments.

Conducts health educational workshops to
facilitate to facilitate public awareness for
Outreach Case Manager I’s, individuals,
parents and other groups.

Assists physician, nurses, Health Department
nurses and other clinic personnel in providing


Performs health and health environmental
assessments on clients and assists with health
screenings. Collects client information and
maintains accurate records.
Assists clients in overcoming barriers to keep
medical appointments (i.e., access to
transportation, childcare, housing) and
reminds clients of appointments.

Assists with health educational workshops for
public awareness for individuals, parents and
other groups.

Assists physician, nurses, Health Department
nurses and other clinic personnel in providing
follow‐up care for clients.

Attends informational programs and staff
meetings for current information on case
management and healthcare policies and
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REPRESENTATIVE COMPARISON OF JOB DUTIES
OUTREACH CASE MANAGER I
OUTREACH CASE MANAGER II
procedures.

Networks with City agencies, community
organizations and other organizations to
ensure access to community resources to meet
social and health needs of the client.
follow‐up care for clients.

Attends informational programs and staff
meetings for current information on case
management and healthcare policies and
procedures.

Networks with City agencies, community
organizations and other organizations to
ensure access to community resources to meet
social and health needs of the client.
Note that the job duties are substantially similar, with the exceptions that the
Outreach Case Manager II assists in preparing and writing grants, assists clients
in overcoming barriers to keeping medical appointments, and reminds clients of
appointments. Additionally, the latter position “researches” information to be
used by others, etc. However, the Outreach Case Manager I is responsible for
assisting with health education workshops, whereas this position duty is not
detailed in the job description for Outreach Case Manager II. The hourly rate of
compensation for the lower position is from $12.15 to $19.70, with that of the
higher position being from $13.73 to $22.26. Therefore, the overall range from
minimum to maximum for the two positions is $10.11, with an overlap of $5.97,
meaning that almost 60% of the compensation ranges overlap between the two.
The project team noted other, similar, job titles with a high degree of overlap in
their responsibilities as well. These included the following:

System Operations Analyst I and II. The two positions have essentially the
same duties, with the latter responsible for assisting the supervisor/manager
in “overseeing management of system operations functionality.”

Supervisory Positions. Generally, the supervisory positions (e.g., Social
Services Case Manager Supervisor, Social Worker Supervisor, ICM Case
Manager Supervisor, Welfare Fraud Supervisor, etc.), each have very
common elements such as supervising cases, assigning cases to subordinate
staff, reporting on cases, etc. At most, there are one or two duties that
reference a duty unique to the division or function referenced in the job title,
suggesting that the evaluative factors associated with the primary duties of
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the supervisors are weighted more toward supervision, reporting and
control, than with the daily duties of their subordinate staff.
We note that, although there are similarities in the job titles specifically noted
above, RDSS does not have employees within certain job categories that are, in
all likelihood, similar to those that it does possess. For example, there are the
job title Executive Assistant III, in which there is at least one RDSS incumbent,
and the job titles of Executive Assistant II, in which there are no RDSS
incumbents. There are other, similar examples as well.
To summarize, then, there is little distinction between the job duties of several
of the positions in RDSS, with varying degrees of overlap in compensation.
Elsewhere in this report, the project team has recommended alterations in many
business processes that have substantive effects on the job duties of existing
employees. In many cases, these alterations have the effects of removing “silos”
of job responsibilities currently performed by multiple positions, and thereby
expanding the scope of authority of the employees within these positions.
Therefore, as the job responsibility and authority expand, so should the ranges
within which positions may be compensated.
Many organizations undergoing organizational transition and business process
redesign find that they have become too hierarchical for their new strategic
direction, finding that they have become too slow to react, taking too much time
to service clients, to get information from the top of the organization down, and
even less effective at getting messages from the lower reaches of the
organization up to senior management. Broad banding of job titles reduces the
number of levels or layers within an organization, “flattening” the organizational
structure and reducing the hierarchy. In a broadband pay structure, the
numbers of salary grades are consolidated into fewer, but broader, pay ranges,
and less overlap with other pay ranges. So, for instance, where there may
currently be four, five or even more distinct job titles in one pay grade, these
numerous job titles may be collapsed into one, providing more flexibility of
assignment by managers, and less administrative oversight on the parts of
human resources staff.
Drawing from the examples of the similarities of job duties highlighted above,
under broad banding, it is possible that all Customer Service Worker positions
would be collapsed into a single band, as would all Systems Operations Analysts,
Case Managers, Supervisors and even others, such as Accounts Specialists,
Clerks, etc. Further, although RDSS cannot alter the City’s pay ranges, these
ranges may be broadened to encompass the existing pay ranges of current
positions. So to illustrate, again using the example above, if the two current
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position of Outreach Case Manager I and II were collapsed (and for illustration
purposes only) and were the only two positions to be collapsed into this
broadband, the compensation range for the band would be a minimum of
$12.15 per hour, with a maximum of $22.26, equating to range of 83% rather
than the current range of 62% for both the Case Manger I and II positions,
separately.
Sometimes the matching of an employee to the optimum job within an
organization doesn’t occur because of the way a job has been classified or
positioned with an assigned salary band. Broad banding addresses this
phenomenon. If the potential new position for an otherwise well‐suited
employee is not a lateral or at a higher point on the compensation scale, many, if
not most, employees will not seriously consider a transfer that results in a
demotion. That is not a positive step for their career development. With broad
banding, more internal movement is facilitated, because the probability
increases that one’s current job and alternate position are within the same range
of pay. This makes compensation less of a limiting factor, and puts forward other
attributes of a position, encouraging internal mobility and potentially more
developmental assignments.
With broad banding, a manager or supervisor can more easily encourage his or
her employees to broaden their skills and abilities. This is valuable to
organizations because employees with broad skills and abilities are critical for
the success. In contrast, some of the jobs currently in existence in RDSS are
narrow and specialized, as was illustrated in the table above. In order for
employees to advance in pay and responsibility, they have to further develop
their specialized skill. Thus a bias exists against the broadening of skills in the
current environment.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
The project team received a great amount of input related to the current
method of performance appraisal in the City of Richmond. Much of the input
was informally received, and occurred incidentally in discussing other topics
being discussed in the As‐Is and To‐Be modeling sessions. However, the project
team also conducted a focused discussion of personnel practices, and
performance management specifically, in place in both the City and in RDSS.
And while the discussion of the focus session centered primarily on deficiencies
and improvement opportunities in current practices, there were several
strengths identified as well. These included the following:

Most employees do, in fact, receive annual performance appraisals, and
most are completed in a timely manner.
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
The Director requires a one‐on‐one review each month.

Some supervisors document their employees’ performance very well, and
some also set very clear expectations.

There are some useful tools in place for improving performance such as the
PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) forms, guidelines, performance memo
template, reprimand template, etc.

Supervisor training materials are generally considered to be good.

All new supervisors are required to attend training, and attendance is very
high.

Some supervisors seek input from others on the performance of their
employees.
However, in addition to these positive attributes, employees noted several
deficiencies as well. These included the following:

The City does not offer an electronic submittal option for performance
appraisal. The paper forms do not provide a space for performance
standards, and there is no agreement as to what the performance standards
should be.

An employee’s performance appraisal is not linked to compensation
increases, with a resulting negative effect on employee morale.

Employees tend to view their annual performance appraisals in terms of their
effects on compensation levels, but not necessarily in terms of their effects
on promotional opportunities.

The Department does not do a uniformly good job in documenting
performance, and in addressing performance‐related issues. Further, the
process required for dealing with performance‐related issues is so lengthy
that it discourages many supervisors from dealing with them at all.

Supervisors do not evaluate performance in the same manner, with the
potential result that a poor performer could receive a higher evaluation than
a top performer if evaluated by two different supervisors.
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Although the list of noted deficiencies, above, was noted in meetings with RDSS
employees, it is far from unique, as most organizations struggle with multiple
issues related to performance management. One of the more common
deficiencies in this regard is that employees tend to view performance
management as simply an annual performance appraisal. In fact, however,
performance management is more than this. Properly‐constructed appraisals
should represent a summary of an ongoing, year‐round dialogue. Focusing only
on an annual appraisal form leads to misunderstanding and under‐appreciation
of the benefits of performance management.
Elements of Effective Performance Appraisal
An effective performance management process enables supervisors and
managers to evaluate and measure individual performance and to optimize
productivity by:

Aligning individual employees’ daily actions with strategic business
objectives;

Providing visibility and clarifying accountability related to performance
expectations;

Documenting individual performance to support compensation and career
planning decisions;

Establishing focus for skill development and learning activity choices; and,

Creating documentation for legal purposes, to support decisions and reduce
disputes.
Many of the practices that support performance also affect job satisfaction, and
result in greater employee retention. These include:

Delivering regular relevant job feedback;

Setting and communicating clear performance expectations;

Linking performance to compensation clearly;

Identifying organizational career paths for employees (addressed in a
previous section of this report);
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
Evaluating performance and delivering incentives in a fair and consistent
manner;

Providing appropriate learning and development opportunities; and,

Recognizing and rewarding top performers.
The current performance appraisal form in effect in the City of Richmond, and
the one used by RDSS, includes the following eleven (11) factors on which
employees are evaluated:











Knowledge of the Job;
Work Product Quality;
Problem Solving;
Teamwork;
Responsibility;
Flexibility;
Customer Service;
Compliance with City Policies and Legal Standards;
Safety;
Attendance; and,
Accomplishments
The evaluative factors in the performance appraisal instrument have been
defined by the City, and as such, RDSS must comply with their application in
administering performance appraisals of its own employees. The evaluative
factors listed above capture many critical elements of the jobs performed by
RDSS employees. However, the project team notes the following observations of
the instrument:

Although “Work Product Quality” is evaluated, there is no factor in the
current form that allows for the evaluation of the quantity of work
accomplished by an employee. The quality of work accomplished is a vital
element of all jobs, however it may be argued that unless there are minimum
standards of acceptability for the amount of work performed, the quality of
the work accomplished may be of relatively minimal value.

Teamwork is a vital element of many jobs, however not all employees have
opportunities to work as members of teams. All employees are, however,
required to communicate with others, and the project team would submit
that this is a more comprehensive measure of the job dimensions intended
for evaluation under the City’s “Teamwork” criterion.
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
There are facets of each of the current evaluative factors that should be
applied uniformly within each of the 11 factors. For example, it should be
expected that all employees, once on the job for a sufficient period of time,
should exhibit a strong understanding of the technical aspects of their jobs.
However, the project team suggests that the knowledge of one’s job includes
more than just technical aspects, but conceptual understanding as well.
These sub‐elements should be defined and included as parts of each of the
evaluative factors to ensure a common, and comprehensive, application of
all of the dimensions of a job.

There is no criterion for “Planning” work in the Manager/Supervisor
performance appraisal instrument. This is arguably among the most
important skills of any supervisory employee.

Fiscal Responsibility is one of the current evaluative factors in the City’s
performance appraisal instrument, however this is only one dimension of
effectively managing the resources placed under the control of a manager or
supervisor. In addition to fiscal resources, there are personnel and material
resources as well, and the project team believes these should be a part of the
evaluation of all supervisors and managers.
Tiered Performance Appraisal System
The project team recommends that, to the extent permissible by the City, RDSS
should enhance the current performance appraisal instrument to incorporate
the above elements. Further, the project team recommends that, in place of the
current method of employee evaluation in which managers and supervisors
meet in one‐on‐one sessions with their subordinates, the Department uses an
internal review process that combines a counselor/mentoring system with a
management tier review system. The emphasis of this approach is on problem
resolution and career development.
The following steps incorporate this recommended review system.

Designation of a Counselor and Mentor for Each Employee. This is the most
critical part of the process. The Department will assign each employee with a
Counselor who will be responsible for performing an objective performance
appraisal of the employee, for presenting that appraisal to a review group,
and then transmitting the results of the group assessment to the employee.
Commonly, the Counselor would also be the employee’s supervisor but it
does not have to be.
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In addition to having a formal counselor each employee has the option of
having a mentor. This is strictly a personal relationship between an
employee and someone that the employee knows and respects for his
personal and professional judgement. The mentor is the individual who
helps the employee understand career options, advises on problems and
issues that the employee may have, and helps guide the employee. The
mentor also serves as the employee’s advocate before both the Counselor
and the performance review panel. There is no requirement that the mentor
even be a part of the Department, only that there is a personal relationship
that both the employee and mentor respect.

Employee Self‐appraisal. The employee first completes a self‐appraisal of
his/her performance against the standard performance criteria, and in
relation to the individual development plan (IDP) established in the previous
year. This is submitted to the Counselor.

Counselor Assessment. The Counselor then seeks out performance reports
from other persons with whom the employee has worked during the review
period. This would include other team members, other supervisors or
managers with whom the employee has worked, and from participants on
Departmental and City committees and other initiatives. The Counselor
would then prepare an employee assessment form based on the employee’s
personal appraisal and the input received from the external review. If the
employee has a mentor, the Counselor would review the assessment with
the mentor; the role of the mentor is to serve as the advocate for the
employee, identifying personal and work issues that might have influenced
the employee’s work performance.

Tiered Review. Important to an effective appraisal process is the time and
attention that the Department leadership gives to the review performance
appraisals and the emphasis they place on using the appraisals to improve
performance and prepare employees for new career opportunities. This
attention occurs during the tiered review process. This tiered review process
is a means by which each employee level is reviewed by the persons holding
positions above that level. The review teams work as follows:
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PERFORMANCE REVIEW RESPONSIBILITIES IN A TIERED SYSTEM
PERSONS AT THIS ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL:
REVIEW PERSONS AT THIS ORGANIZATIONAL
LEVEL:
Review Panel
Position Reviewed
Supervisors, Managers, Deputy
All personnel not in a supervisory role
Directors, and Directors
Managers, Deputy Directors, and
Supervisors
Directors
Deputy Directors, and Directors
Managers
Directors
Deputy Directors
In this model, each level of an organization’s staffing receives a review from all of
the persons placed organizationally in a higher supervisory or managerial role.
This review can occur with any grouping of employees up to, and including
department‐wide. While the review can occur at the department level, the
number of persons in a non‐supervisory role would require a time commitment
that would be prohibitive, even for a process that will already require
considerable time. Given the size of the Department, we recommend that the
review of personnel not in a supervisory role occur at the Division level, i.e., Case
Management, Intake and Assessment, Policy and Program, etc. We do
recommend, though, that review of supervisors and above occur in department‐
wide review sessions.
The review sessions operate as follows:
 The review panel convenes as a group to review the performance of all
persons placed organizationally below the panel.
 Each counselor presents the appraisal of the employee prepared in the
earlier steps; if the respective employee’s mentor is present, the mentor
again serves as an advocate for the employee being reviewed.
 The panel briefly discusses the appraisal, focusing primarily on the
strengths of the employee and opportunities for career enhancement
and performance remediation.
 After the panel has received the reviews of all of the persons, it then
discusses the overall performance of the group of employees under
review and how each individual employee fits within a performance
category, usually Well Above Average, Above Average, Average, Below
Average, Well Below Average.
 For employees who are well below average, a performance improvement
plan will be required; for those below average, a remediation plan will be
required. The difference between the two plans is the level of detail and
the consequences of not achieving the plan. The performance
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improvement plan is the more detailed and the consequences of failure
are usually dismissal.
 Following the review meeting, the Counselor, Employee, and Employee’s
mentor (if there is one) review the group evaluation, which becomes the
formal performance appraisal of the individual.

Individual Development Plans (IDP) ‐ Upon completion of the Performance
Appraisal process employees will prepare IDPs in consultation with their
Counselors. This plan takes the same form as the Career Development Plan
discussed in the next section of this chapter; the difference is that the
Individual Development Plan covers a period of one year, while the Career
Development Plan can cover from two to five years.
Advantages of the Tiered Review System
The most common objection to the tiered review system is that it is very time
consuming. It is, in fact, time consuming. It adds several days to the work load
of persons in supervisory or managerial positions. Appraising employee
performance is one of the most important functions of organizational
management. Performed well, it can result in better employee performance,
greater employee satisfaction, and enhanced career development. Performed
poorly, it results in decreased performance, dissatisfied employees, and a
breakdown in future management succession. The benefits gained from such a
system far outweigh the added time. This follows an important dictum of
employee performance appraisal, it can be done quickly or it can be done well.
There are many advantages to this system:







It provides an opportunity for employees to evaluate their own performance
– both their accomplishments and areas for potential improvement – during
the prior year;
It gives employees more complete knowledge about their evaluators’
perceptions of their work performance ;
It provides an opportunity for employees to discuss and set professional
development goals with their evaluators;
It gives evaluators more accurate and complete information on which to base
decisions regarding salary increases and promotions;
It eliminates inequitable scoring that occurs because of different supervisory
approaches to, and attitudes regarding, scores;
It eliminates perceptions of favoritism;
It focuses on improvement rather than punishment;
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

It educates managers and supervisors across the organization about good
performers; and,
It provides better cross‐organization knowledge of all of the employees.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
As noted, the Department has made several positive initiatives in the areas of
core competency development, performance appraisal and training. However,
these initiatives have been viewed as separate and distinct from each other, and
have not been integrated into a comprehensive model of employee
development. Further, these initiatives have not fully involved the employee in
the process of designing a career development model over which, in conjunction
with supervisors, peers and managers, he or she has a substantial amount of
control.
Career Development Plan
A career development plan is a guideline for setting goals for progression within
a career path chosen by a specific employee. Ideally, career development starts
on the day an employee begins work. An employee’s skills should be evaluated
against core requirements of each job, and should be accomplished during the
recruitment process. Not every employee will possess all required skills to the
same degree, however a complete baseline evaluation during the recruitment
and hiring process will help RDSS to formulate a career development system for
each employee in order for that employee to perform well once on the job.
The Department has recently developed materials related to core competencies
as well as training courses designed to enhance both an employee’s technical
service delivery skills as well as professional development skills related to, for
example, effective interpersonal skills, conflict management in the workplace, as
well as others. These are all vital to an employee’s development, however they
are general, and offered as a menu of items from which employees choose,
rather than being specified as parts of a defined career path for an individual
employee.
RDSS should encourage its employees to develop in manners that link to the
strategic objectives of the Department, and to the City, generally. The
employee’s career development should ideally be viewed as a partnership
between the employee, the Supervisor and, in fact, the Department of Social
Services. Basic tenets of a career development plan include the following:
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


Employees are responsible for managing their careers, increasing their skills
and experience, and maintaining a high level of performance.
Supervisors should encourage and support their staff in career planning, and
help employees find the best match between their talents and the needs of
Department.
The Department should create and provide opportunities for growth based
on performance excellence, talent, and potential, and should also encourage
mobility between jobs and interests.
The Department should view an individual’s career development plan as
separate from his or her annual performance appraisal. Currently, there are core
competencies defined for many job titles, and these relate to ethical decision‐
making, knowledge of job, planning and organization, customer service,
communication, relationship management and self‐management. Also, the
Department is considering the implementation of a formal 360 performance
appraisal form that evaluates employees’ compliance with established
competencies on a standard set of measures. However, the Department lacks a
formal development process by which employees, working with their direct
supervisors, and perhaps others with valued input, develop a course of career
progression that benefits both the employee and the organization. It is not, for
example, reasonable for all employees to have the same career goals, even as
they may start their careers at the same place in the organization. Further, it is
not desirable from the organization’s standpoint that this occur. Rather, each
employee should be responsible for the design of their individualized career
path, with guidance and encouragement from their supervisor. Specifically,
employees should ask and answer the following questions:








What level of responsibility do I want to have?
What projects do I like to lead or work on?
What results do I want to achieve in my department or division?
What problems or concerns do I care enough about to focus my entire career
on solving?
What type of environment do I like to work in?
What types of people do I like to work with?
What compensation (salary, benefits) do I need and desire?
What type of work/life balance is best for me?
In developing a career plan, employees should be encouraged to envision the
end result, and then define the details in achieving this result. So, although the
end result may be the attainment of a supervisory position, or even higher level,
there will be definable steps in the process that may include objectives related to
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proficiency in the current job (e.g., related to increasing workload volume and
efficiency), and then to leadership objectives (e.g., functioning as team leader of
a work‐related or extra‐curricular project). As employees enter the Department,
training should focus on the development of basic skills. As the employee moves
through his or her career, however, the training should shift to enhanced skills
development and to promotion preparation. As the employee progresses into
supervisory levels, then the training focus changes to management skills.
The following is a sample career development plan that the Department may
wish to use for its personnel. The planning document is fairly simple, by design,
but captures the essential planning elements we describe in this report.
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SAMPLE CAREER DEVELOPMENT PLAN FORM
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Career Training Plan
A career training plan consists of three elements: skills development, career
development, and problem remediation. The skills development includes the
training designed to enhance the knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees in
their various duties. Career development includes training designed to move
personnel from one career position to another. It is predicated on the
assumption that an employee’s needs shift throughout their careers, moving
from technical skills to management skills. As with skills development, this
element can be planned well in advance and be a known entity to personnel as
they work with mentors and counselors to identify their training needs. The
third element, problem remediation, is situational. As the Department notes
patterns of behavior, either in individuals or department or division wide, then
they should immediately establish an appropriate training mechanism to address
and resolve the problems.
Each employee in the Department should have an individual training plan that
covers at least a full year and preferably a period of two years. The plan should
include all of the career development elements described above. Satisfactory
completion of the plan should be an element of the performance appraisal of
each employee. A sample annual training program might appear as follows:
SAMPLE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR: JANE DOE
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
COURSE
HRS
STATUS
COURSE
Case
Assessment
& Planning
8
Complete
Team Decision
Making
Preparing
for Court
16
Scheduled
A Guide to
Effective
Interpersonal
Communication
HRS
SITUATIONAL TRAINING
STATUS
COURSE
HRS
STATUS
8
Complete
Working
with
Families
with
Substance
Abuse
Issues
8
Complete
8
Scheduled
How to
Handle
Difficult
Clients
4
Pending
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As this section shows, there are multiple elements in the effective modeling of a
career development plan. The key element, however, is the individual
employee’s acceptance of responsibility for its development and attainment. So,
therefore, although the Department’s initiatives in the areas of training,
performance appraisal and development of core competencies are critical, they
should be formally assembled and integrated into an overall process that
ensures that employees, with support from the organization, attain their goals,
and that these employees skillfully contribute to the overall goals of RDSS.
HUMAN RESOURCES CONCLUSION
In this section, we have recommended an approach for career development
within the Department. This approach builds on the previous efforts of the
Department’s human resources staff to design an effective job expectations
matrix, the starting point for career development. We move from that point to
recommendations for career planning and the training support necessary. The
Department may choose to use this model as a starting point, modifying the
templates as conditions require. The overall purpose should be to capture, in a
concise and easily‐referenced format, the career development goals of the
individual employee, the dates by which these goals should be met, and the
degree to which the employee is successfully attaining them.
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CHAPTER 8: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
In this chapter, we consider the information technology supports that the
Department will need in order to transition to an integrated case management
model. These include:

A general overview of the Department’s information technology;

Assessment of the Harmony system; and,

Assessment of the potential for an Electronic Documents Management
System (EDMS)
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
As part of our entry assessment of RDSS, we conducted a review of the
Department’s current information technology environment. Our overall
impression is that the Department has a sufficient technology base by which to
conduct its business. However, user restrictions and a heavy reliance on manual
processes greatly diminish the utility of the system.
Our observations of the system include:

The Department uses a highly fragmented technology system
 Blend of Commonwealth, City, and department software systems
 Subject to both Commonwealth and City security requirements, which
severely limit user access
 Currently unable to use state of the art technology, including wireless
services, smart phones, and tablets for mobile communication, primarily
due to Commonwealth restrictions

There is a lack of data integration
 Minimal functional data communication among applications
 Stronger research capacity through two data mining applications, SPIDeR
and the Cognos Data Warehouse

The Department has limited reporting capacity
 Most applications have fixed reporting capacity
 User data queries usually have to be processed by the State or
information technology staff

Data entry is only slightly effective
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 Almost exclusively manual data entry by departmental staff
 Implementation of CommonHelp system will impact data management:
 User data entry may reduce staff time requirements
 Staff will have to take additional time for error identification
 Propensity of staff to print electronic data, thus defeating purpose of
data automation

System storage is a strength
 City/Department uses almost exclusively virtual servers for data storage
 Currently using an estimated 100 gigabytes (100 GB) of capacity
 This will be important when considering storage demands for an
electronic documents management system
The Information Technology unit of RDSS supports, directly or indirectly, both
primary functional applications as well as secondary applications. The primary
functional applications are those which the Department uses for its core data
management and includes the most critical databases. The following table lists
the primary information systems which the Department uses and which the
Information Technology staff directly or indirectly support:
PRIMARY FUNCTIONAL APPLICATIONS
SUPPORTED BY THE RDSS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY UNIT
NAME
FILE OWNER
(ESTIMATED)
AUTOMATIC LINKS
ADAPT
State
Harmony
SPIDeR
ADAPT ‐ ESPAS
State
Harmony
ASAPS (Adult Services Adult Protective
Services)
CommonHelp
State
SPIDeR (Limited)
State
ADAPT
Energy
Harmony
SPIDeR
VaMMIS
EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer)
State
Third party contract limits
access
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PRIMARY FUNCTIONAL APPLICATIONS
SUPPORTED BY THE RDSS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY UNIT
NAME
Harmony
(ESTIMATED)
AUTOMATIC LINKS
FILE OWNER
City
Advantage
ADAPT
OASIS
EBT
VDSS
VaMMIS
PARIS
SNAP
TANF
VIEW
SPIDeR
FDTS (Fraud Database Tracking System)
State
None
OASIS (Online Automated Services
Information System)
Medical Assistance Application (VDAM)
State
SPIDeR (Limited)
State
None
VaMMIS (Medicaid Management Information
System)
State
FAMIS
SLH
DMAS
It is important to note that these primary applications have little or no electronic
communication between each other. The primary linkage is through SPIDeR,
which is a data reporting application. It cannot be used for data entry and
distribution. The result of this is a large amount of multiple data entry. It is a
common understanding that the probability of error increases geometrically with
the number of times the information must be entered into a database.
Beyond these ten primary applications, the Department also uses another 42
applications to support the primary ones. The Department uses these supports
primarily to verify information, to maintain lookup data, and to generate reports.
As with the primary functional reports, there is very little automated
relationship. Therefore, most of the work must be performed manually.
In addition to the identified, commercial applications, the Information
Technology Unit has also identified numerous Access and Excel databases in use
by individual personnel and units of the Department. Our review of the current
state confirmed the use of such “shadow” software.
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The business process recommendations in this report assume the ability of the
Department to begin integrating data entry so that a single entry point can be
distributed throughout the various systems. This integration is key to significant
savings of time in original data entry, data research, and error reduction. Under
certain circumstances, the Commonwealth will permit local governments to
develop—on their own—this interface capability. In the next section of this
chapter, we evaluate the Department’s Harmony application, its primary point of
entry for client data that is not captured in one of the State systems. Part of this
review is to assess whether Harmony has the capacity to serve as a common
data entry point.
ASSESSMENT OF THE HARMONY SYSTEM
Harmony, a third party application for case management, is the Department’s
primary data management system for information that is not captured in the
State’s primary client service applications. It is also the point of integration
between the Department’s financial operations and the City’s Advantage and
RAPIDS financial systems. Harmony currently serves the following programs:

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Comprehensive Services Act (CSA)
Child Day Care
Foster Care
Adoption
Adult Protective Services
Family Stabilization (FAS)
VST
General Relief
Independent Living
IV‐E
PSF
Refugee Programs
Virginia Initiative for Employment, Not Welfare (VIEW)
Earlier this summer, the Department completed an upgrade to the most recent
version of Harmony, version 3.7.0.4.9, January 27, 2012. The upgrade includes
all of the operational modules available for Harmony, including:





Clients
Parents
Providers
Purchase of Service Orders
Financial
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


Inquiry
Scheduler
Application Utilities
Assessment of Harmony
The project team reviewed the Harmony application to assess its current utility
and to develop a recommendation on whether to retain Harmony for future use
or to seek a new application.
In our review of Harmony, we observed the following strengths:



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
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The system effectively coordinates with Advantage, and has the capacity to
interface with RAPIDS.
The system presently coordinates with ADAPT and CommonHelp.
The web‐based structure allows use of the system across many operating
platforms and in both on‐site and remote locations.
The application has a large number of pre‐programmed reports; however,
most are either not relevant or not used.
It has tickler system that would enable staff to manage their time better;
however, that feature does not appear to be used.
The primary report generation capacity is through Crystal Report Writer, a
highly effective reporting tool.
The application has the ability to assign subtasks for improved work and
project management.
It is able to connect to SPIDeR data mining application
The Department’s annual license fee is relatively inexpensive when
compared to larger, more complex systems.
It is capable of common data entry through data translation.
This last bullet point is the most important when considering the feasibility of
developing a common entry system that the Department could use to populate
other applications. If this capacity were not present, an automatic
recommendation would be either to replace Harmony or to obtain software that
would provide linkage between Harmony and the other systems. However, since
that capacity is present, it makes Harmony a more advantageous solution.
Harmony also has its weaknesses:

Harmony was performed largely as a “vanilla” installation. As such, it has
many different data sets, screen formats, and reports that are not relevant to
the Department. Because those items are visible to the user, it creates
confusion and opens the potential for data entry error. According to staff,
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the Department has never done an installation assessment to remove the
extraneous material.

In the entire Department, only three persons in RDSS are trained in Crystal
Reports; this is not a weakness of Harmony but is certainly a weakness in the
Department’s installation and use of the system.

Access, particularly security, is too limited, resulting in users getting only
partial information.

Most entry screens include data fields that seek unnecessary or
inappropriate information or allow incorrect data entry.

Validation capacity is limited, probably by decision rules made at the time of
installation. For example, zip code validation is limited to Virginia and
neighboring states which touch Virginia. Harmony had a broader validation
capacity until a City system upgrade approximately two years ago. The link
between Harmony and City data supporting this validation has not worked
since that update.

While Harmony has the capacity to provide information based on locations, it
does not have the capacity to present those data in a graphic GIS mode

There is no context sensitive help
Recommendations Relating to Harmony
The driving question for which the Department seeks an answer is whether it
should continue to use Harmony or seek an alternative application. We
recommend that the Department retain Harmony, with some considerations.
We base that recommendation on the following points:



Harmony is known to the Department, and most users appear comfortable
with its core functionality.
The system does have the ability to integrate with other applications if the
Department invests in the programming development necessary for that
integration.
The cost in acquiring a new system could not be justified in terms of added
benefit:
 A new system would require a significant capital investment.
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 The Department would also need to invest in an implementation partner,
another substantial expense.
 It is a high probability that any newer system would have a greater
annual operating license.
 In addition to generating the interfaces with other State systems, the
Department would also need to invest in the redesign of its current State
interfaces and the linkage to the City of Richmond’s financial systems.
 The Department would have to invest in retraining all of its personnel.
Given that Harmony is capable of providing the services desired by the City, we
think that its retention is the better option, given the following other
recommendations:

Use Harmony as core for common data entry among multiple applications
 State information indicates local development is acceptable
 Use common data entry form with custom sheets for specific applications
 Implement translation software which will distribute data among
different systems

Broaden authority for Harmony security assignments
 Should include at least three persons to create redundancy
 Assign lead responsibility by application, with back‐up support
assignments

Greatly widen body of persons trained in Crystal Reports
 All analysts in Information Technology
 All persons assigned to Quality Assurance
 Support staff for each division of the Department

Assess and streamline implementation of Harmony
 Review all data entry screens for necessary information
 Review all data entry for standardization protocols
 Remove unnecessary, unused data and reporting screens

Greater staff support
 Should have an additional two to three dedicated staff supporting
Harmony
 One of the support staff—the current business analyst—should be
assigned to, and directly support, the Finance and Administration
Department.
 Staffing support should not include the Department’s IT Manager since
that person has broader responsibilities
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ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (EDMS)
The Department of Social Services is well aware that it is awash in a sea of hard
copy files and records. However, it has not yet been able to develop a strategy
to resolve the problem.
Overview of EDMS
Our review of the Department’s records management yielded the following
observations:

The current records management system is archaic
 The Records room is not secure or properly protected from fire or water
damage
 There are insufficient controls over location of records
 While Records Management uses some database systems for tracking
files, that system does not appear to be robust enough to deal with the
large number of files being held
 Previous efforts for data scanning were not well planned and not
effective

All business processes are based on manual processing of hard copy
reporting

Staff frequently identified loss of records as reason for delay in work
processing
 Requests for files can take from as little as 15 minutes to more than an
hour on normal occasions.
 Requests can take longer if records have been lost or misplaced.

There is no systematic plan for scanning documents, although some scanning
capacity exists within RDSS
The value of an EDMS strategy in a department with a large paper volume is well
document in the literature of the industry. Potential cost savings include:

Time spent generating hard copy documents;

Time spend copying documents multiple times;

Physical and staffing requirements for document storage;

Productivity lost in finding and retrieving documents; and,
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
Time spent having to perform data search through hard copy documents.
There are costs associated with an EDMS. While costs have been declining over
the past several years, they can still be substantial. Among these are:

Costs for scanning and storage equipment;

Costs associated with an electronic document storage software application;

Staffing to maintain the records system, including management of the
document indexing system; and,

User training.
In the case of RDSS, many of these costs are easily absorbed:

The Department already has some scanning equipment, although its current
inventory may not provide sufficient capacity and the inventory itself may be
too small;

The Department has a dedicated records management staff. Over time,
these positions can be shifted to electronic management;

The decision by the City of Richmond to move to a virtual server environment
removes the largest single hardware cost, that of having sufficient data
storage capacity. While there will still be costs associated with data storage,
that cost has been greatly diminished.
Business Case for an EDMS
The potential for operational cost savings for the Department is large. In August
2012, the Department reported 60,287 active cases for Medicaid, SNAP, TANF,
Child Care, and Foster Care. This represents 111,500 enrollees in Medicaid,
SNAP, and TANF. Regulations require that a case worker review the case on a
regular basis, from as frequently as once a week, to once a month, to as
infrequently as once a year. Recognizing that these totals do not capture the
entire case load of the department, let’s assume 60,000 cases requiring review
an average of once a month. Interviews and field observations indicate that a
case file request requires at least ten minutes to receive and ten minutes to
return, under ideal circumstances. So assuming twenty minutes of processing
per case file per month, the consumed time in document handling is 20,000
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hours of staff time. At a conservative leveraged average hourly rate of $15 per
hour, this represents an opportunity cost of $300,000 per year in lost
productivity.
This savings in the first year alone would be sufficient to finance the acquisition
and installation of a viable EDMS solution.
While it may be argued that this is not a true savings because staff is doing other
things while waiting for the record, that argument is only partially true, at best.
There is still the time to place the request, and there is going to be at least some
wait time. Additionally, the Department manually transfers the documents so
there is staff time required for the physical movement of the record.
Additionally, this model uses an assumption that everything works the way it is
intended. Interviews indicate that is frequently not the case, so additional time
is required to research, find, and retrieve a record.
There are also cost savings that cannot be quantified in this context. For
example, the loss of a hard copy record can require significant time and effort to
reconstruct the information. Loss of the information may be instrumental in
sensitive cases, leading to complications in case management and even potential
litigation.
Thus, an EDMS enables the Department to manage its documents and,
therefore, its processes in a more effective manner. It assures better client
service through more timely access to information and a reduced likelihood for
data error and loss. It has demonstrated opportunity cost benefits. For all of
these reasons, the Department should move as quickly as possible in acquiring
and implementing a robust data management system.
Acquiring and Installing an EDMS
An electronic data management system can mean many different things. For the
purpose of this report, we consider an EDMS to include the use of electronic
data entry into either a database or through electronically formatted forms and
documents, to the capture of essential hard copy information, the linkage of
data through a common indexing system, storage and retrieval of the data, and
the ultimate purging of information consistent with Commonwealth data
retention requirements.
Among the principal elements of such a system are:


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Use of electronic forms;
Integration of on‐line data with imaged documents;
Ability to create on‐line data through programmable scanning;
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Well‐developed document record identifier system;
Use of electronic controls (RFID) to manage hard copy records until they can
be removed from the system;
Design of business processes to rely on electronic systems;
Data access enhanced by multi‐level storage systems based on current use
activity;
Use of digital signatures;
Compliance with Commonwealth and federal storage requirements;
Electronic retention; and,
System security.
The following steps are the essential activities in acquiring an EDMS:

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Needs definition: describing the exact system that is desired, including
identification of essential elements and desirable elements, based on an
objective, neutral assessment of Department capabilities and interests.
Vendor selection: using a request for qualification process to identify and
select a vendor who is determined to best fit the objective needs definition.
This step should include vendor demonstrations using a common
demonstration script which forces the vendors to demonstrate how their
respective products meet the needs definition.
Implementation plan: a strategy for how to deploy the EDMS, including key
steps, timetables, and performance evaluation.
System deployment: the physical installation of the equipment and software
and user testing.
System management: on‐going user management, including user training,
document indexing, and data management.
The Needs Definition is a critical first step in the acquisition on an EDMS. The
definition creates an objective standard by which the Department can identify
potential vendors and assess the vendor capabilities. The needs definition
creates a neutral playing field so that vendors do not gain preference simply by
name recognition or having glossy presentation. Properly done, a needs
definition includes the following:
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Statement of current and future need;
Workflow use;
Strategies for development and use of electronic forms and documents in
lieu of manual forms;
Records management use;
Data formats;
Metadata needs;
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Legal requirements;
What needs to be shared or stored;
Organization and indexing system;
Retrieval facilitation;
When and how to capture data;
Responsibility for data management; and,
Required data, desirable data, nice‐to‐have‐but‐not‐buy;
The preparation of a needs definition and the vendor selection process usually
follows these steps:

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Using the information collected in the BPR project and appropriate industry
materials, prepare a draft needs definition statement for Department
consideration that includes the elements listed above.
Develop a priority ranking for each item in the needs definition. Ranking
should be according to perception of need: Absolute requirement, desired
feature, nice to have, not needed;
Score the prioritizations and develop a revised needs definition statement for
review and approval by an EDMS selection team, to be created by the
Department;
Distribute the needs definition to each, asking them to check off their
respective system capabilities relative to the needs items.
Review the vendor responses, based on a scoring system that uses the
Department’s relative priorities and group them according to most highly
qualified, well qualified, and qualified;
Based on the grouping, select one or more vendors for demonstration.
Prepare and distribute to each vendor a demonstration script, which requires
the vendor to demonstrate in real time how the respective product meets
the Department’s needs definition statement; and,
Select a vendor and negotiate the contract.
There are many different vendors in the EDMS market, too many to list without
inadvertently missing some viable alternatives. However, the Gartner Group has
recently released an analysis of some of the larger, more visible vendors in the
EDMS market and has evaluated them based on the vendor’s vision for EDMS
and their ability to execute that vision. We present the chart of that analysis as a
starting point for considering alternative vendors.
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(Source: The Gartner Group)
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CHAPTER 9: PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
There are many levels of performance management. The term can refer to how
well an organization is performing, to the effectiveness of the employees of the
organization, or to efficiency of processes used within the organization. In the
case of the integrated service department defined in the concept plan, data
related to all aspects of performance are needed to guide RDSS in developing
strategies for service delivery, assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of
service delivery, and determining how well workers and case management
teams are performing.
A common problem within the Department is a lack of understanding of the
difference between performance management and performance appraisal.
Performance management is the process by which an organization regularly
monitors, reports, and adjusts to performance at the organizational level. The
intent is to assess how an organization is carrying out its responsibilities.
Performance appraisal relates to the assessment of an individual’s execution of
that person’s work tasks.
This chapter relates to how to assess the performance of the Richmond
Department of Social Services as an organization.
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
This broad‐based approach to measuring and managing performance requires
the appropriate human resources practices (as discussed in previous sections)
and the technology to collect the data needed to monitor and assess the services
being provided. And, there is an overall need to monitor and reassess the
Department’s overall strategy, based on the needs of its stakeholders—families
and individuals being served, employees, and service partners.
Understanding the Concept of Performance Measurement
In order to understand the performance measurement environment in which the
Department operates, it is first desirable to establish an understanding of what
performance measurement is all about.
At its most fundamental level, performance measurement is simply the
collection of objective data that indicates what an organization is doing and,
often, how well it is doing the tasks at hand. A performance measurement
system is:
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
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Tool of management
Basis for a results‐oriented government
A means of defining success
Basis for identifying and solving problems early
Means of looking at customer satisfaction
Equally important is what performance measurement is not:



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A quick fix
A meaningless exercise in data collection
The basis for punishment
Individual performance appraisal
Benchmarking
What another government does
There are many benefits to effective performance measurement, the three most
important of which are:

It is human nature that we do what we are expected to do and the clearest
statement of expectation is the use of performance measurement. If we
measure it, it gets done. If we have a focused measure, then the work is
done precisely. If measurement is unfocused, then little gets done because
staff does not know what the priorities are.

Without objective results, an organization is unable to determine whether it
is being successful in its performance and act accordingly.

Public support occurs only if an organization is able to demonstrate results.
There are many different types of performance measures that an organization
can use. There are four principal types of measures:

Inputs: This is the volume of work coming into an organization. Examples of
inputs would be the number of applications for TANF.

Output or Workload: This is the simple tracking of work volume being
performed, such as the number of Medicaid applications being processed in
a given time period. An example would be 30 Medicaid applications
processed in the past five days. Tracking certain input and workload
indicators may be helpful in assessing staffing requirements.
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
Efficiency: If a goal for Medicaid reviews is that all Medicaid reviews must be
completed within 30 days prior to renewal, then the percentage of such
reviews completed within the target time frame is being measured as an
indicator of efficiency.

Effectiveness: If the goal for foster care is that less than 10% re‐enter foster
care, then that measurement of how well a service is working to meet a
specific goal, is being measured.
Of these different categories of measures, effectiveness measures are the most
important since they consider work activity relative to an expected performance
result. For example, the percentage of VIEW applications processed within 30
days is an efficiency measure, but it does not tell a manager how accurately the
applications were processed or what the result of the processing was. This is the
realm of the effectiveness measures. To continue this example, the percentage
of applications processed within 30 days for which a job placement was made
says how effectively the applications were processed. There are several
different types of effectiveness measures:

Program: Serves as an indicator of the impact that a program is having
relative to goals or objectives, usually performance against plan. An example
would be in case review interviews. Assuming a program plan of conducting
100 case review interviews in a month, the percentage of the planned
interviews that are actually conducted would be a valid program measure.

Cycle Time: Serves as a measure of the speed at which work activities are
performed. An example would be the number of accounts payables
processed by the Finance Division within 10 days of authorization.

Satisfaction: This reflects the perceptions of intended service recipients as
to program effectiveness. An example of this would be the percentage of
clients who rated the SNAP application process as satisfactory. An even
more effective measure is the improvement of the customer satisfaction
over time. A subset of the Satisfaction Measure is Courtesy Measures, that
is, how the customer perceives that they received friendly or courteous
treatment.

Timeliness: This relates to how quickly the Department is able to respond.
For example, the length of time a client has to wait in the intake room is a
timeliness, or queuing measure. Again, measuring the reduction in waiting
time over a given period is an even more effective measure.
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
Convenience: A measure related to timeliness is convenience. This assesses
satisfaction with service hours or percentages of service clerks available to
assist clients.

Accuracy: This measure shows how well the work was done. An example of
this would be the percentage of applications that were processed accurately
and not requiring second processing.

Flexibility: This is an important queuing measure. It shows the ability of the
Department to respond to multiple work demands simultaneously. A good
example of this measure is the amount of time that a service worker has
available to perform other duties.
For a performance measurement system to be effective, the Department needs
to identify key performance characteristics. The most important are:

What is intended to be accomplished?

How will management, policy officials, and the public know the program is
working?

What evidence of success will different observers require?
Considering these characteristics, there are certain criteria which need to be
followed in order to select performance measures:

Relevance of the measure to the mission/objectives of the program.

Understanding the intent of the measure and the importance of what it
measures.

Eliminating duplicate or conflicting measures.

Having enough measures to have an accurate picture of performance but not
so many that it overwhelms the system or causes a lack of focus.

Making sure that the program or work unit being measured has sufficient
responsibility for performance and the authorization to perform the work.
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Mandated Performance Reporting
Currently, the performance measures against which RDSS is evaluated is
generally set by State or Federal requirements. In a table earlier in this report,
we list those measures in our assessment of how well the Department is
performing. The measurements are generally process‐related measurements
using averages. Each has a performance goal. Our assessment of the reporting
requirements is as follows:

The use of performance goals is the strength of this reporting system. At
question is whether the goals are reasonable, but this is not something over
which the Department has control.

The current performance measures do not evaluate all aspects of a case and
cannot adequately assess the outcomes for families receiving integrated
services. Thus, in order to improve the process of performance
management, more complete performance measures will be required.

The use of percentage rates for most of the measures limits the utility of the
measures for management purposes. Percentages do not provide any insight
into the reasons for performance success or failure, only that there is success
or failure.

Almost all of the performance measures are efficiency measures. The only
measures that appear to have an effectiveness component are the two
measures relating to SNAP payments and action error rates, VIEW average
hourly wages, adoptions finalized within 24 months, and placement stability.

There are no measures of cycle times, customer satisfaction, convenience,
flexibility.

There is no connection between these performance measures and the
measurement of departmental performance relating to its Balanced
Scorecard system.
The assessment of the performance reporting system is not surprising. After all,
the measurement system was designed to achieve state and federal reporting
requirements, not to assist the Department’s management in understanding
what contributes to the measure and to act to resolve apparent problems.
Even though the mandated system has several key flaws if it were to be used as
a management reporting system, the Department also does not use effectively
the measures that it does generate. The performance data earlier in this report
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shows a continuing pattern of deficiency. Without regard for the work being
performed, there are several organizational reasons why this pattern exists:

There seems to be little sense of organizational consequence. The pattern
has gone for so long that it is considered more the operational norm than
unsuccessful performance. While some individuals may be aware of
remedial actions that the State and federal government may take for
persistent failure, that does not appear to be an institutional concern.

The insufficient performance is justified with an “everyone else is doing it”
mentality. This is demonstrated in the Department’s most recent financial
report which presented its performance along with a count of other local
government agencies that are also not meeting the standards.

A quick reaction to the performance data is to translate it into personal
failure by individual employees. While individual performance is an
important component to achieving performance standards, assignment of
cause to a small group of individuals is counterproductive.

Department management has an understanding of the performance
measures that is not informed by the measures themselves. One cannot look
at the measures and have any intuitive feel as to what might be causing the
problem. This contributes to the fallback of personal employee
responsibility.

There is no vehicle for assessing why the performance numbers are what
they are. During the to‐be integration session, one of the tasks of the group
was to assess how the revised process would improve performance relative
to the measures. The exercise used only one month of measures as a guide.
The group saw one measure that was well below the target and
automatically assumed there was either a reporting error or that something
had occurred uniquely during the month to cause the deficiency. However,
when project staff looked at the fourteen month history, that problem
occurred consistently.

There is no action planning to assess the reasons for non‐performance and to
design a strategy to resolve the problem.
The Department will need to continue to report its performance against the
Commonwealth mandated targets. It will also need to develop a reporting
system that meets the City’s Balanced Scorecard Strategic Planning. Beyond the
Commonwealth requirements, the new business processes recommended in this
report, and the resulting organizational recommendation, will depend on a
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carefully crafted set of performance measures in order to assess the impact of
the changes.
For this reason and to address the limitations of the current mandated
performance targets, we recommend that the Department develop its own
performance measurement system that uses the guidance provided earlier in
this chapter. The purpose of the new system is not simply to measure
performance but to put in place a performance management system that
understands what caused the performance numbers and acts to correct
potential problems before they become significant issues.
Since most measures are specific to programs, there is a need to consider case‐
related measures. For example, program‐specific workload measures may still
need to be considered, but there might be a need to focus on case‐related
workload measures, such as the number of advanced case assessments
completed in the previous month. In addition, case‐related efficiency measures
such as the time required to complete all of the data collection, assessment, and
analysis. Case‐related effectiveness measures might include such things as how
well a particular program worked at addressing the needs of the family. Finally,
the greatest emphasis will need to be placed on outcomes for the families. Such
outcome related measures might include customer input and customer
assessments of the efficiency and effectiveness of the approaches utilized.
FROM PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT TO PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT
The Department needs to move beyond performance measurement and develop
a system of performance management. The distinction is more than words.
Performance measurement is the collection and reporting of data that reflects
what an organization is doing and, hopefully, how well it is performing.
Performance management is the use of that information to identify and resolve
problems. Measurement is the starting point; management is the desired result.
There are several key concepts to an effective performance management
system. These are:

Meaningful goals: The Department needs to establish performance goals
that relate directly to what it is doing, and what it needs to do to be
successful. The goals, like the performance measures, need to be
objective and quantifiable to eliminate room for debate as to whether or
not the goal was accomplished.
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
Valid performance measures: The Department needs to establish
performance measures that address the performance goals. They need
to meet the standards described earlier, specifically that they relate to
the work within the scope of authority and responsibility and that they be
targeted. There should be a minimum of measures, but each measure
needs to reflect a priority goal.

Regular collection and assessment: The Department needs to collect
performance measures regularly, generally at least once a month,
without gap. Each unit responsible for goal performance should receive
the monthly report. If the report shows a performance deficiency, then
the responsible unit needs to prepare an assessment of why the
deficiency occurred and an action plan for resolution.

Regular management review: A performance management system is
beneficial only if the Department actually uses it for management
decision making. For this reason, departmental management should
review the performance report and associated assessments with the
responsible units and commit to action.

Public dissemination: An important aspect of a performance
management system is the ability of the Department to use the system to
generate public knowledge and support. The reporting system should
inform City management and policy leadership as well as the general
public on the work the Department is performing.
An effective tool for reporting is a dashboard, which presents the key
information in tabular and graphic format. A good dashboard provides
the following information:





The performance measure, often accompanied by an explanation as
to why the measure is important;
The performance goal to be achieved;
Performance during the previous month (or reporting period) and
quarter. This is often done with a red, yellow, or green indicator in
which green means the organization is meeting the goal, yellow
indicates that the organization is slightly below goal, and red
meaning that the organization is well below goal and is in danger of
not achieving the desired goal during the fiscal year;
An explanation of performance that is below goal; and,
A summary action plan to correct deficient performance.
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This dashboard approach enables a manager to see quickly how well the
organization is performing. The manager can also know if the unit has a
likelihood of meeting its annual performance goal. If the reporting period
is getting close to the end of the performance year and is green, then
there is a strong probability that the unit will meet its performance goal.
If it is getting close to the end of the year with yellow in the three month
trend, the department may not make its goal, but there is still time to
recover. Red in the three‐month trend near the end of the reporting year
indicates that the unit will not meet its goal.
Performance management is the key by which organizations can continually
improve their delivery of public services. The key to an effective system begins
with identifying what is important to the organization, development of
meaningful goals and measures, reporting the information, and acting on the
data.
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CHAPTER 10: SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Throughout this report, the project team makes many different
recommendations. The following is a list of the most important ones and the
ones which serve as the basis for implementation planning:

Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the Commonwealth
of Virginia and recognized as a leader throughout the United States by:
 Adopting a philosophy and goal of providing a seamless, full range of
social services supports to the families in need in the City of Richmond;
 Fully adopting the philosophy and methodology inherent in the City’s
Safe Passages Initiative;
 Being an active participant with the Commonwealth in initiatives that will
further foster integrated case management;
 Promoting the active involvement of community partners in identifying
the need for, and providing services to, families in need;
 Recruiting, developing, and retaining quality employees who share the
vision of the Department;
 Using state‐of‐the‐art information technology to assist families as
efficiently, effectively, and equitably as is possible; and,
 Actively engaging in dialogue with peer agencies in the Commonwealth
and throughout the United States for disseminating the Department’s
learned lessons and experiences and enhancing the Department by
learning from other agencies

Adopt and implement the functional business processes for integrated case
management as developed by the project team and Department staff,
monitoring the implementation to identify continued process improvements.

Adopt and implement the support business processes for integrated case
management as developed by the project team and Department staff,
monitoring the implementation to identify continued process improvements.

Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to align with,
and support, the new business processes. When transition is completed, this
organization will have two service functions (Intake and Assessment and Case
Management) and four support functions (Policy and Programs, Family
Supports, Finance and Administration, and Human Resources).

Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will have responsibility for
intake through the CommonHelp, Emergency Hotline, and other venues by
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which clients can seek assistance. This unit will also be responsible for
assessing both the immediate need and the more comprehensive family
circumstances/environment review and for making eligibility determination.

Assign the Assessment unit responsibility for all client data inquiry needs of
the Department, to assure their full access to all Commonwealth data
systems necessary for effective client assessment and case evaluation as well
as access to other data systems which will be included in the Safe Passages
initiative.

Create a Case Management unit which will be responsible for emergency
response for protective services and emergency economic stability, routing
and reviewing cases, and managing cases.

Use an integrated case management team approach in which the
Department creates case management teams consisting of both social
workers and benefit workers. Teams will serve clients through a lead worker
system and will serve as an integrated service provider for clients with
multiple needs. The teams would have self‐directed team leadership, with
supervisors having responsibility for groups of teams and managers having
responsibility for groups of supervisors. Some of the teams will be
specialized to meet particular needs or circumstances and others will be
generalist. The teams will be distributed throughout the three offices of the
Department.

Within the Case Management unit create a body of subject matter experts
who will advise the case management teams, maintain knowledge expertise
of individual programs, develop functional policies and procedures, and
monitor industry regulatory conditions and industry trends and best
practices.

Create an Organizational Performance Support unit which will serve to
monitor the internal performance of the department through quality
assurance, utilization management, performance management, employee
development and training, and information technology.

Expand current quality assurance capacities and assign duties of the CQI unit
to include risk and performance assessment throughout the Department.

Place the current records management function under the supervision of
Information Technology.
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
Create a Utilization Management unit which will be responsible for managing
provider contracts throughout the Department.

Create a Program Support unit by combining under single leadership the CSA,
TDM, Resource Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy Families and Healthy Start
programs.

Create within the Program Support unit a Job Development Center which will
work with employers to create large blocks of employment opportunities for
VIEW participants and other clients of the Department and City.

Restructure the Finance and Administration Unit by transferring Information
Technology and Records Management to the Policy and Program unit, by
assigning Payroll services and Disaster Management and retaining a business
process analyst to maintain data integration between the Department’s
Harmony case management system and the City’s financial systems.

Restructure the Human Resources Unit by transferring payroll functions to
Finance and Administration, transferring Employee Development and
Training to Policy and Programs, and adding additional human resource
specialists both to assist with the multi‐year implementation of the project
recommendations and for on‐going support for a broader human resources
support need.

Realign staff positions consistent with the process and organizational
recommendations of the report. It is expected that the new business
processes will result in freeing a substantial number of work positions. The
Department should reassign those positions to the recommended work units,
making certain that personnel receive the proper training and skills
development to be successful in their new assignments.

The organizational change should occur in three phases: an entry phase to
align the support systems and conduct a small pilot of the case management
approach, a transition phase in which the case management approach is
expanded and fully field tested, and a final phase in which the Department
converts fully to the integrated case management team approach.

The Department will need to develop new job descriptions, and possibly
classifications, for persons who will be assigned to new work teams. The City
and Commonwealth personnel systems have sufficient position titles to
assure some consistency with those systems.
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
With the change in work assignments, the Department should work with the
City’s Human Resources unit to conduct a comprehensive wage and
classification survey and upgrade. The focus should be on using job
comparability indices that capture the large volume and sensitivity of the
work being performed.

The Department should adopt and implement a compensation banding
approach that will reduce the number of individual job classifications and
expand wage ranges.

The Department should, to the extent possible, develop a new internal
performance appraisal system, using a tiered evaluation approach, with
assigned counselors responsible for individual reviews and employees having
optional, self‐selected monitors to serve as advisors and advocates.

The Department should institute a program of annual individual performance
plans for each employee. The plans will identify the work expected of the
employee in the coming year, identify work opportunities, and describe
training and development opportunities.

The Department should complete its efforts at developing a job expectation
matrix for all position bands. The matrix should include an overview of work
to be performed, general standards of performance, expected work
experience and skills, and training requirements.

Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix, employees should prepare
multi‐year career development plans, identifying short and long‐term career
goals and identifying work and training opportunities that will enable
completion of the goals. The employee and Department should recognize
mutual responsibility for completion of the career development plans.

Each year, every employee should complete a training program for the
coming year. The employee and Department share mutual responsibility for
completion of the training plan. It is the commitment of the employee to
undertake the training. Where the training depends on Department
resources and available time, it is the commitment of the Department to
make training—and the time for training—available.

The Department should continue using the Harmony application for its own
case management and financial integration purposes. This includes using
Harmony to create data interfaces with the various Commonwealth case
management systems. To do this, the City will need to assess and streamline
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Harmony’s data entry and reporting capacities, broaden authority for
Harmony data security, expand the number of persons trained in Crystal
Reports, and provide greater staff support.

The Department should acquire and implement a robust Electronic
Document management system, including the capacity for electronic forms
generation.

While continuing to report performance through the State’s mandated
performance reporting system, the Department should develop its own
performance management system that will be consistent with the City’s
Balanced Scorecard requirements and provide timely performance data that
the Department can use to assess overall performance, identify and resolve
problem areas early, and provide an accurate report of Departmental
performance to all interested stakeholders.
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CHAPTER 11: IMPLEMENTING CHANGE
The critical next step of this project is to begin implementation planning. There
are two elements to this. The first is continuing the change management
initiative that the Department has crafted and which is fostering support for the
changes. The second is the implementation planning itself.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
The Department will need to keep in place a vigorous approach to change
management. The Department has already begun this process, elements of
which include:

Using a Steering Committee to direct the Business Process Redesign Project;

Involving large numbers of staff in the various work teams of this project;

Relying on a staff‐based Concept Committee to develop the overall
integrated services plan;

Using an expanded staff committee to integrate the To‐Be processes into a
single continuum;

Frequent emails from the Executive Director supporting the process and
encouraging participation; and,

Dissemination of project information on the Department’s electronic display
boards, the Department’s StarNet intranet, and conducting numerous staff
presentations at each step of the project.

All of these techniques have fostered a positive attitude among employees,
supervisors, managers, and executives alike. Reflective of this is the change
in the nature of questions our project team received as the project has
moved along.
 First, the staff expressed open concern over the Department
management’s support for the project.
 After staff began to see that commitment, the questions began to ask
about the City’s commitment. The ability of the Department’s
management to tell the staff that there is a continuing dialogue about
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how to implement the recommendations has largely resolved that
question.
 Then, the question was about the State’s willingness to support the
change. That question remains unanswered, but the Department
management has been able to share with staff information about
initiatives within the VDSS that are consistent with the direction of this
project.
 Now the question has become, “How soon?” That is what the
implementation plan begins to answer.
The Department will need to continue its focus on a staff‐based change
management strategy that emphasizes the value of change, the role of the
employees in effecting the change, and what can be expected to be the result.
Expanded elements of a change strategy should include:

Continuation of the Business Process Steering Committee as the overall
manager of this initiative;

Dissemination of the results of this process redesign project, including the
implementation plan;

Regular reporting on the completion of the implementation plan, including
emails, StarNet, and staff briefings in unit and supervisory meetings as well
as periodic all‐staff meetings; and,

Use of staff committees for key implementation initiatives, including, but not
limited to:
 Formal revision of policies and procedures;
 Alignment of clients to case management teams;
 improvements in the technology structure:
 Participating in planning for risk assessments;
 Meetings with the partner community, provider representatives, and
other stakeholders to present the changes as they occur; and,
 Conducting assessments of the implementation and suggesting course
adjustments

Stakeholder outreach will be an essential part of the change management
plan. There are three groupings of stakeholders who will need to be
involved, with strategies related to each:
 Clients and client representatives: Since this process redesign is about
placing clients first, it is appropriate that the Department should involve
them in the implementation process. This can include:
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

Regular information in Department reception areas;
Inclusion of information in mailings to clients and client
representatives;
 Inclusion of clients and client representatives on planning
committees and implementation evaluation committees;
 Regular use of client advisory groups on policy development,
working in conjunction with the Social Services Advisory Board;
and,
 Presentation of information about the changes in client meetings
sponsored either by the Department or community partner
agencies.
 Community partners: The same outreach strategies as discussed for
clients and client representatives are applicable to outreach to
community partners. Other areas of outreach for implementation
include:
 Establishment of formal working relationships for service
referrals;
 Inclusion of community partner data in the advanced assessment
processes;
 Regular presentations at meetings of community partner boards
and general membership; and,
 Assignment of formal liaisons with specific community partners so
that a given RDSS staff person is the regular point of contact with
a given partner.
 Governmental decision makers: This includes the Mayor, Chief
Administrative Officer, City Council, and other departments with whom
the RDSS has regular contact. The primary point of change
communication here is to provide regular, objective briefings on
implementation changes, including monitoring and reporting on changes
in achieving performance targets as well as reporting on the
Department’s own internal performance management system as
discussed in this report.
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Consistent with the approach the Department has taken with the development
of the new business model and processes, departmental staff participated in a
two day work session to review the recommendations of the report and to
develop implementation plans for each of the principal recommendations. The
participants included the original concept planning team and representatives of
the To‐Be Integration group. As before, TATC project staff facilitated the
sessions. Using small groups, the departmental staff identified precedent
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actions for the recommendation and principal implementation steps. They also
presented potential impediments to the successful implementation of the
recommendation and gave suggestions on strategies to resolve impediments.
We then added a suggested priority level for each recommendation and
suggested potential Departmental lead for carrying out the recommendation.
Recommendations which hold a high priority are those which are the most
essential for the effective transition of the Department from its current state to
the desired future state. They are either principal activities on their own, or they
are required precursors for later actions. Medium priority recommendations are
those which are not immediately essential for implementation, but need to
occur in order to achieve maximum benefit, or which are dependent on earlier
actions to set the groundwork. For the most part, the timing of these
recommendations comes during mid‐implementation. Finally, there are a few
recommendations which have a low priority. While beneficial, their
implementation is not critical to the long term success of the project.
For the most part, the recommendations are ones which the Department can
undertake on its own, with support from an implementation assistant. These
include the writing of new policy statements, development of new forms and
checklists, carrying out change management tasks, working with the City to
develop revised wage and classification plans, cross‐mapping of personnel and
clients, developing the performance management system, and similar actions.
We do recommend that the Department secure the services of a professional
consulting firm to assist with implementation of these recommendations. There
are several reasons for this:



Given the current workloads and assignments, the Department does not
have the staff resources necessary to perform the required work.
As with any significant change in an organization, the change must be
orderly but it must also occur quickly. For change to be successful, it has
to be noticeable. This means that the Department cannot drag
implementation out. At best, to be the most effective, the
recommendations of this report should be in place within the next
eighteen to twenty‐four months. The history of the Department has
been not to act quickly, so the organizational culture for timeliness needs
to be augmented with a third party that can serve as a principal change
engine.
Because of the rigid program structure that is in place within the
Department, there is the need for a neutral third party to serve as the
mediator to resolve operational difficulties that will arise during the
transition.
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Some actions will have direct cost implications. For example, there will be a
direct cost associated with acquiring and implementing the recommended
electronic document management system. There will also be a cost associated
with having a Harmony Implementation professional conduct a review of the
Harmony implementation and the crafting of the data interfaces among
Harmony, the various Commonwealth applications, and the EDMS.
The following pages present the implementation plan for each principal
recommendation of this approach, as developed by the Department staff. In
some instances, the recommendations are either associated with, or are part of,
other recommendations. We have grouped them for the purposes of
coordination and integration.
The implementation plan for each recommendation includes the following:

Restatement of the recommendation;

Listing of actions that need to occur before the recommendation;

Suggested priority for implementation;

Suggested assignment of responsibility for implementation lead;

Estimated cost, as appropriate;

Principal implementation steps;

Potential impediments; and,

Actions that can resolve or ameliorate potential impediments.
This plan is a roadmap by which the Department can implement the various
recommendations of this report in a consistent manner, while validating each of
the recommendations in practice. However, it should not be expected that the
Department will be able, or even want to, implement every recommendation of
this report. There are several reasons:

In implementing various phases of the recommendations, the Department
may find that it needs to adjust recommendations to fit changing
circumstances or that concepts in theory may not work so well in practice
and need to be adjusted.
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
The Department may find that some recommendations are no longer needed
because the issues the recommendations were designed to address have
changed, or gone away, because of other implementation strategies or
changing in operational circumstances.

There may be some recommendations that the Department is unable to
implement due to internal and /or external political opposition or the lack of
sufficient resources.
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
INTEGRATED CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
RECOMMENDED IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
RECOMMENDATION 1.0
Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the Commonwealth of Virginia and
recognized as a leader throughout the United States.
Priority:
Leader:








High
Director and all staff
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
Continual
None
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
 Formally accept integrated case
Determine what constitutes “being the
management and related organizational
best”
and process changes
Approval from VDSS, City, other
 Consider use of stakeholder committee to
stakeholders to work toward “being the
assist in design of goals and objectives and
best”
related performance measures to support
Adopt philosophy in support of being the
“being the best”
best, including goal of providing seamless
 Identify committee members
full range of social services to families in
need
 Devise basic work approach and
timeframes
Fully adopt philosophy and methodology
of Safe Passages
 Determine leaders for various
recommendations and ensure reporting
on challenges for each implementation
plan and step
 Serve as partner with Commonwealth in
integrated case management initiatives
 Recruit, develop and retain quality
employees
 Engage in identifications of peer agencies
to continue support
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
So many changes going on during this time  Carefully monitor implementation plan to
that stakeholders feel overwhelmed
ensure no individuals are involved in too
many aspects of the implementation
Lack of resources to support changes

Carefully plan implementation and
Difficulty in making changes needed to
monitor successful results before moving
free financial resources for innovations
to each subsequent step in
Lack of sustained support from internal
implementation
and external stakeholders
 Ensure a fully developed IT strategy and
plan
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RECOMMENDATION 1.0
Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the Commonwealth of Virginia and
recognized as a leader throughout the United States.

Ensure communications regarding
implementation plans and successes go to
all stakeholders
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RECOMMENDATION 2.0
Adopt and implement the functional business processes for integrated case
management as developed by the project team and Department staff, monitoring the
implementation to identify continued process improvements
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
BPR Committee
Estimated Cost:
1‐12 months
Cost assigned to
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING







Precedent Actions
Obtain all necessary approvals
Assign implementation responsibility to
BPR Committee
Secure any necessary funding for complete
implementation
Appoint stakeholders’ advisory committee
Principal Steps
 Designate staff implementation teams for
each process
 Rewrite policy documents for each process
and function
 Fully explicate process changes and relate
to revised policies and procedures
 Develop or amend forms necessary for
each process
 Devise staffing plan
 Devise training plan
 Ensure strategic placement of resources,
including staff
 Establish performance measures
 Communicate plans to stakeholders
 Integrate data systems
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Ensure consistent communications to all
Lack of buy‐in internal and external
parties
stakeholders
 Assure funding in place
Lack of funding support
 Secure outside support (VDSS, particularly
Incompatible IT systems
for potential systems revisions,
consultants, private sector)
 Secure internal support (Project
Management)
 Ensure use of strategic plan for IT and
other support systems
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RECOMMENDATION 2.1
Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will have responsibility for intake through
the CommonHelp, Emergency Hotline, and other venues by which clients can seek
assistance. This unit will also be responsible for assessing both the immediate need and
the more comprehensive family circumstances/ environment review and for making
eligibility determination. Also see recommendations 4 and 6
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of RDSS;
Director of Intake and
Assessment Unit
Estimated Cost:
1‐6 months
Acquisition and installation of
12‐14 use kiosks: $3,000 per
kiosk
Costs of soft activity to be
assigned to implementation
contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING





Precedent Actions
Designate leadership for unit
Conduct assessment of intake centers,
staffing, and technology needs
Principal Steps
Identify location and space needs
Identify relevant, existing models
Identify skill sets needed by staff
Identify lead managers
Identify staffing needs per location
Identify training needs for current staff
Schedule transfers
Determine revised budget structure
Edit departmental paperwork to reflect
new organizations
 Modify public communication documents
to explain new processes and how they
work
 Develop staffing cross matrix
 Expand electronic registration system
 Modify screens n current system
 Determine performance measures
 Obtain additional public access computers
 Create uniform/global assessment
instrument
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Resistance to change; lack of buy‐in
 Develop change management plan to be
communicated at all levels
Political climate
 Maintain and update change management
Financial resources
plan, as required
 Search for grants









Page 183
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.1
Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will have responsibility for intake through
the CommonHelp, Emergency Hotline, and other venues by which clients can seek
assistance. This unit will also be responsible for assessing both the immediate need and
the more comprehensive family circumstances/ environment review and for making
eligibility determination. Also see recommendations 4 and 6

Look for internal savings in all areas to
help support revised structure/processes
Page 184
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.2
Assign the Assessment unit responsibility for all client data inquiry needs of the
Department, to assure their full access to all Commonwealth data systems necessary for
effective client assessment and case evaluation as well as access to other data systems
which will be included in the Safe Passages initiative.
Priority:
Leader:
High
Director, Intake and
Assessment
Director, Assessment Unit
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
4‐9 months
Included in implementation
contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING




Precedent Actions
Assign unit leadership
Principal Steps
 Finalize interagency agreements for data
sharing
 Determine staffing needs and skills
 Develop staff training module
 Identify and assign staff
 Assign security levels to staff sufficient to
allow access to all necessary data
instruments for integrated assessment
tasks
 Train staff
 Establish communications protocols
 Develop/revise policy statements as
appropriate
 Communicate changes to stakeholders
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Resistance to change; buy‐in from staff
 Develop change management plan to be
and other stakeholders
communicated at all levels
Political climate
 Search for grants
Lack of needed financial resources
 Look for internal savings in all areas to
help support revised structure/processes
Page 185
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.3
Use an integrated case management team approach in which the Department creates
case management teams consisting of both social workers and benefit workers. Teams
will serve clients through a lead worker system and will serve as an integrated service
provider for clients with multiple needs. The teams would have self‐directed team
leadership, with supervisors having responsibility for groups of teams and managers
having responsibility for groups of supervisors. Some of the teams will be specialized to
meet particular needs or circumstances and others will be generalist. The teams will be
distributed throughout the three offices of the Department.
Priority:
Leader:
High
Director, RDSS
Director, Case Management
Unit
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
1‐16 months
Included in implementation
contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING





Precedent Actions
Designate unit director
Ensure HR/VDSS understand our goals—
Advisory Board
Assign implementation team
Appoint stakeholder advisory committee
for this task
Establish implementation phasing















Principal Steps
Communicate changes to stakeholders
and customers
Determine number of teams supervisors
will supervise
Identify leadership structure
Determine how staff will be selected and
transitioned to new process
Identify how cases will be selected and
how many cases need to be selected
Implement training in different computer
skills
Determine how many teams
Determine how many people assigned to
each team and how assigned
Need to develop team supervision
skills/approach
Determine where teams will be located
Revise policies and procedures, forms
Develop monitoring system that advises or
notifies of the status of cases at any given
point
Educate customers
How to determine point at which
customer is better served by a different
team
Who makes any change decisions for cases
once they are assigned
Page 186
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.3
Use an integrated case management team approach in which the Department creates
case management teams consisting of both social workers and benefit workers. Teams
will serve clients through a lead worker system and will serve as an integrated service
provider for clients with multiple needs. The teams would have self‐directed team
leadership, with supervisors having responsibility for groups of teams and managers
having responsibility for groups of supervisors. Some of the teams will be specialized to
meet particular needs or circumstances and others will be generalist. The teams will be
distributed throughout the three offices of the Department.













Criteria for soliciting technical assistance
from outside the team
Determine right case loads
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Develop detailed communication
Staff buy‐in, failure to change or work as
plan/consistent communication
part of a team
 Accept input from everyone/include input
Lack of leadership support; negative
in plan, if warranted
outside influence (media, others)
 Develop appropriate cross‐training
Stakeholders
Fear of the unknown
 Identify subject matter experts as soon as
possible
Lack of knowledge about integrated case
 Develop an easily understood “vision” that
management
identifies why we are doing this
Morale (staff have already been
moved/reassigned several times); staff
may be upset at not having any input
Cultural history of projects not seen to
fruition
Systems/management skills
Paper Records
Need to improve supervisory skills
Paper records
Page 187
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.4
Create a Case Management unit which will be responsible for emergency response for
protective services and emergency economic stability, routing and reviewing cases, and
managing cases.
Priority:
Leader:
Medium
Director, Case Management
Unit
Director, Emergency
Response Unit
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
6‐10 months
Included in implementation
contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING


Precedent Actions
Designation of unit leadership
Continuation of current CPS, APS, and
Second Responder units until the
integrated unit is created




















Principal Steps
Identify location and space needs
Identify relevant, existing models
Identify skill sets needed by staff
Identify lead managers for the functions
Identify staffing needs per location
Identify training needs for current staff
Schedule transfers
Determine revised budget structure
Edit departmental paperwork to reflect
new processes
Modify public communication documents
to explain new processes and how they
work
Develop staffing cross matrix
Develop/revised operating policies
Create electronic case management
documents
Modify screens n current system
Determine performance measures
Create MOA with community partners
Determine case assignment process
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Resistance to change; buy‐in from staff
 Develop change management plan to be
and other stakeholders
communicated at all levels
Political climate
 Search for grants
Lack of needed financial resources
 Look for internal savings in all areas to
help support revised structure and
processes
Page 188
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 2.5
Within the Case Management unit create a body of subject matter experts who will
advise the case management teams, maintain knowledge expertise of individual
programs, develop functional policies and procedures, and monitor industry regulatory
conditions and industry trends and best practices.
Priority:
Medium
Time Frame:
Leader:
Case Management Unit
Director
Estimated Cost:





8‐12 months
 Some potential
compensation increase
based on salary bands for
specialists and number of
personnel assigned
 Opportunity cost relating to
transfer of existing position
authorizations
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Ensure approval of integrated case
 Define the role of the “subject matter
management
experts” (i.e., will they carry caseloads, or
solely act as internal consultants?)
Pending final implementation of case
management model
 Determine SME responsibilities for case
advisory services, policy analysis and
representation, training of staff.
 Develop job descriptions and
compensation bands
 Identify each staff member’s area of
expertise
 Determine staffing needs
 Identify existing staff for transfer or hire
new personnel
 Develop performance measurements
 Monitor implementation
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Develop communications plan, supported
Cannot assume that current supervisors
by a change management plan
are subject matter experts
 Identify required training to further
Lack of training regarding industry
develop subject matter experts
regulatory conditions, best practices, and
trends
 Identify organizational mentors (e.g., VDSS
program consultants)
Page 189
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 3.0
Adopt and implement the support business processes for integrated case management
as developed by the project team and Department staff, monitoring the implementation
to identify continued process improvements.
Priority:
Leader:
Medium
Director of RDSS; Directors
of various units
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
4‐8 months
Costs to be included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING






Precedent Actions
Approval of changes to support business
processes
Designation of unit leadership
Completion of operational assessment of
RDSS financial functions
Principal Steps
 Carefully identify all changes required to
implement business processes
 Carefully define the missions, goals, and
objectives of the organizational changes
 Refine implementation plan for the
changes
 Determine potential staffing changes to
meet that mission
 Develop performance measures
 Revise policies, as necessary and/or
appropriate
 Revise forms
 Communicate changes to staff
 Develop staff training, as required
 Determine how to communicate changes
to external stakeholders (e.g., vendors)
 Determine who will lead the changes
 Monitor implementation and make
changes in implementation, as required
 Determine revised budget structure
 Edit departmental paperwork to reflect
new processes
 Modify public communication documents
to explain new processes and how they
work
 Develop staffing cross matrix
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of buy‐in internal and external
 Ensure consistent communications to all
stakeholders
parties
Lack of funding support
 Assure funding in place
Incompatible IT systems
 Secure external stakeholder support
 Secure internal support (Project
Page 190
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 3.0
Adopt and implement the support business processes for integrated case management
as developed by the project team and Department staff, monitoring the implementation
to identify continued process improvements.

Management)
Ensure use of strategic plan for IT and
other support systems
Page 191
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.0
Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to align with, and
support, the new business processes. When transition is completed, this organization
will have two service functions (Intake and Assessment and Case Management) and four
support functions (Organizational Performance, Program Support, Finance and
Administration, and Human Resources).
The organizational change should occur in three phases: an entry phase to align the
support systems and conduct a small pilot of the case management approach, a
transition phase in which the case management approach is expanded and fully field
tested, and a final phase in which the Department converts fully to the integrated case
management team approach.
Priority:
Medium
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of RDSS; Unit
leaders
Estimated Cost:
1‐5 months
 Opportunity cost of
reassignment of existing
staff authorization
 Other costs are included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING







Precedent Actions
Approval for new processes and
organizational framework
Designation of leadership
Identification of staff position availability
Operations analysis of finance functions
Development of detailed change
management plan
Review of needed changes in budget
structure and cost allocation approaches
Review of impact on RMS approach














Principal Steps
Identify steps needed to implement each
phase
Assign leadership responsibility for each
phase, step/task
Ensure means for monitoring
implementation by phase
Develop method for updating internal and
external stakeholders on progress
Schedule and monitor against schedule for
each phase, step/task
Identify space and location needs
Identify skill sets needed by staff
Identify staffing needs per location
Identify training needs for current staff
Schedule transfers
Revise cost allocation system based on
new structure and new Commonwealth
policies on cost alignment and RMS
Determine revised budget structure
Edit departmental paperwork to reflect
new organization, policies, and processes
Modify public communication documents
Page 192
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.0
Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to align with, and
support, the new business processes. When transition is completed, this organization
will have two service functions (Intake and Assessment and Case Management) and four
support functions (Organizational Performance, Program Support, Finance and
Administration, and Human Resources).
The organizational change should occur in three phases: an entry phase to align the
support systems and conduct a small pilot of the case management approach, a
transition phase in which the case management approach is expanded and fully field
tested, and a final phase in which the Department converts fully to the integrated case
management team approach.






to explain new processes and how they
work
Develop staffing cross matrix
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Delay in designating unit leadership
 Emphasize need for staff leadership
Delay in identify vacant position
 Monitor and reserve vacancies as
authorizations for reassignment
available
Lack of buy‐in from internal and external
 Implement change management plan
stakeholders
described in report
Difficulty of fitting new organization into
 Maintain and revise change management
current budget structure, RMS system,
plan as required
cost allocation plan
 Develop communications plan as part of
change management and keep the
Political changes that impact support for
the organizational concepts
communications flowing all during the
organizational changes
Page 193
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.1
Create an Organizational Performance Support unit which will serve to monitor the
internal performance of the department through quality assurance, utilization
management, performance management, employee development and training, and
information technology.
Priority:
Medium
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of RDSS;
Organizational Performance
Director
Estimated Cost:
1‐6 months
 Opportunity cost of
assigning existing staff
authorizations
 Other costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING


Precedent Actions
Ensure formal approval of related
organizational changes
Appointment of Director of Organizational
Performance
















Principal Steps
Identify space and location needs
Identify relevant, existing models
Identify skill sets needed by staff
Identify staffing needs per location
Select or recruit and assign staff
Identify training needs for staff
Schedule transfers
Determine revised budget structure
Edit departmental paperwork to reflect
new processes
Modify public communication documents
to explain new processes and how they
work
Develop performance monitoring tool
Create monitoring plan
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Develop change management plan to be
Resistance to change; lack of buy‐in
communicated at all levels
Political climate
 Search for grants
Lack of needed financial resources
 Look for internal savings in all areas to
Lack of effective communications
help support revised structure/processes
regarding new processes
Page 194
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.2
Expand current quality assurance capacities and assign duties of the Quality Assurance
unit to include risk and performance assessment throughout the Department.
Priority:
Medium
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Organizational
Performance; Director of
Quality Assurance
Estimated Cost:
4‐8 months
 Opportunity cost of
reassigning existing
vacancies or personnel
 Potential for compensation
increases for expanded skill
set
 Other costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING






Precedent Actions
Designation of Organizational Performance
leader
Designation of Quality Assurance leader
Identification of authorized staffing
Principal Steps
Identify desired mission and goals and
objectives for Quality Assurance
 Identify gaps in current work assignments
and staffing requirements to support new
mission of Quality Assurance
 Develop risk and assessment tools
 Identify scope of Quality Assurance unit
and assign proper staff to unit
 Determine specific training needed to
support Quality Assurance unit in meeting
its mission
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of knowledge about risk and
 Develop a communications plan to keep
performance assessments within RDSS
internal and external stakeholders
informed on changes in roles and missions
Staff resistance to remedying issues
 Join professional QA organization and
identified during performance and risk
ensure that staff keep up with current
assessments
trends and approaches
Need to transfer current CQI roles to
others within RDSS
 Ensure training and cross training occur as
required

Page 195
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.3
Create a Utilization Management unit which will be responsible for managing provider
contracts throughout the Department.
Priority:
Medium
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Organizational
Performance; Director of
Utilization Management
Estimated Cost:
4‐8
 Opportunity cost of
reassigning existing
vacancies or personnel
 Potential for compensation
increases for expanded skill
set
 Other costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING






Precedent Actions
Designation
of
Organizational 
Performance leader
Designation of Utilization Management 
leader

Principal Steps
Define mission, goals and objectives, as
well as organization of UM unit
Identify how this unit will interface with
CSA
Identify staffing needs and skill sets
required to meet mission
 Transfer, or hire, staff
 Provide staff training on contract
management
 Identify the scope of contracts to be
managed
 Define performance measures and desired
outcomes
 Review contracts to assess performance
requirements as currently written
 Revise contracts to ensure performance
requirements, including service quality,
are carefully defined
 Develop tool to evaluate service quality
 Establish budget structure
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Staff deployment
 Team with CQI unit to ensure appropriate
evaluation of services
Required skill sets
 Ensure use of proper technology and
Current lack of accountability with
other tools for evaluation
providers (e.g., timeliness of invoice
submission, service quality, etc.)
 Ensure communication of provider
performance to staff
Lack of technology support
Page 196
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.4
Create a Program Support unit by combining under single leadership the CSA, TDM,
Resource Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy Families and Healthy Start programs.
Priority:
Leader:
Medium
Director of RDSS; Unit
Director
Time Frame:
6‐10 months
Estimated Cost:
None
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
 Designation of Program Support Director
 Define mission, goals, and objectives
 Assess skills required and identify staff
meeting skill requirements
 Revise operational policies, as necessary
 Establish schedule for transfers of staff
and establishment of the units
 Determine space requirements
 Establish budget structure
 Develop performance measures and
desired outcomes
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Establish interface with case management
 Staff deployment
teams, including communications about
 Required skill sets
how these units can support their clients
 Lack of understanding about how these
 Ensure communications that explain how
programs can assist clients
these units function and how they can
 Lack of technology support
assist case management teams
Page 197
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.5
Create within the Program Support unit a Job Development Center which will work with
employers to create large blocks of employment opportunities for VIEW participants
and other clients of the Department and City.
Priority:
Low
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Program
Support
Estimated Cost:










12‐16 months
 Opportunity cost of staff
reassignment
 Other implementation costs
included in implementation
contract
 Increased administrative
costs for operation of new
unit
 Potential costs when adding
client worker supervisors
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
 Identify staff and organizational unit
Determine City’s already existing capacity
to provide these services
responsible for services
Determine how RDSS should augment
 Develop budget structure to support
current services
services
Obtain approval for RDSS role in job
 Develop detailed mission/purpose
development
 Identify all potential job partners
Research State and Federal programs, as
 Define target participants and referral
well as programs used by community
process
partners
 Identify appropriate performance
Review SOP’s from existing job developers
measures
 Identify appropriate policies and
procedures
 Identify technology needs
 Ensure compliance with federal/state
funding and regulations
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Getting employer participation
 Seek organizational peers
Achieving buy‐in of City/RDSS leadership
 Test market capacity and programs
and employees
 Secure grants
Location for services/training
 Ensure proper communications with
Staff deployment/additional positions
stakeholders
Worker skillsets
Page 198
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.6
Restructure the Finance and Administration Unit by placing the current records
management function under the supervision of Information Technology; transferring
Information Technology and Records Management to the Policy and Program unit; by
assigning Payroll services and Disaster Management and retaining a business process
analyst to maintain data integration between the Department’s Harmony case
management system and the City’s financial systems.
Priority:
Leader:








Medium
Director of RDSS; Directors
of Finance and
Administration, Human
Resources, Organizational
Support
Time Frame:
1‐6 months
Estimated Cost:
None
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Determine feasibility of transferring payroll  Determine missions and roles to be
performed
functions to Finance and Administration
 Identify staff to fulfill missions and roles
Conduct operations analysis of RDSS fiscal
functions
 Train staff
Put into place a restructuring plan
 Establish plan transfers, reassigned
Obtain executive buy‐in
responsibilities
 Put communications plan into place
 Plan space
 Build teams, as required
 Change organization chart
 Monitor implementation
 Identify performance measures
 Train staff on EDMS
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Executive resistance—lack of buy‐in
 Develop and put into place
communications plan
Staff resistance
 Build teams
Picking the wrong EDMS
 Ensure leadership support
HR issues
 Collaborate with VDSS, Library of Virginia,
DIT
 Cross training
Page 199
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 4.7
Restructure the Human Resources Unit by transferring payroll functions to Finance and
Administration, transferring Employee Development and Training to Policy and
Programs, and adding additional human resource specialists both to assist with the
multi‐year implementation of the project recommendations and for on‐going support
for a broader human resources support need.
Priority:
Leader:




Low
Director of Human
Resources; Director of
Organizational Performance;
Director of Employee
Training and Development
Time Frame:
4‐8
Estimated Cost:
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Determine feasibility of transferring payroll  Distinguish training function for HR Unit
function to Finance and Administration
versus training for Employee
Development and Training
Determine mission and reporting structure
for Policy and Programs and how Employee  Identify reporting structure and mission
Development and Training will fit into
and goals
Policy and Programs
 Identify roles of HR specialists and
funding for new positions
 Conduct HR needs analysis to determine
roles and proper staffing for HR team
 Articulate rationale for move to the rest
of the organization
 Determine performance measures
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Develop rationale for transfer, based
upon rest of organizational structure,
Buy‐in from stakeholders
goals and missions, etc.
Funding
 Communicate change management plan
to rest of organization
Page 200
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 5.0
Realign staff positions consistent with the process and organizational recommendations
of the report. It is expected that the new business processes will result in freeing a
substantial number of work positions. The Department should reassign those positions
to the recommended work units, making certain that personnel receive the proper
training and skills development to be successful in their new assignments.
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
RDSS Executive Leadership
Team
Estimated Cost:
1‐16
Cost of assistance with
personnel reassignment
included in implementation
contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING




Precedent Actions
Need to clarify functions that make up the
case management teams and all
supporting and leadership functions
Ensure approval of City HR, VDSS for the
realignments and changes
Principal Steps
 Create personnel cross map of new
position assignments and existing
authorizations
 Develop and implement employee‐based
self‐application process to enable
employees to see alternative work
assignments
 Assign personnel to new work positions
 Identify training needs
 Develop and implement transition training
program for employees assigned to new
positions
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Create a competitive process initially
May not have existing staff to
closed to RDSS employees to determine
appropriately match to the
how to assign existing staff to new
competencies/KSA’s needed to make the
positions
model work
Organizational culture
Page 201
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 6.0
The Department will need to develop new job descriptions, and possibly classifications,
for persons who will be assigned to new work teams.
With the change in work assignments, the Department should work with the City’s
Human Resources unit to conduct a comprehensive wage and classification survey and
upgrade. The focus should be on using job comparability indices that capture the large
volume and sensitivity of the work being performed.
The Department should adopt and implement a compensation banding approach that
will reduce the number of individual job classifications and expand wage ranges.
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Human
Resources
Estimated Cost:
1‐6 months
$40,000 to $60,000 for
comprehensive wage and
classification study, including
revisions to existing job
descriptions, creation of new
job descriptions, and creation
of compensation bands.
This cost may be included in the
implementation contract


IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Ensure that new organizational structure
 Preliminary identification of possible new
has requisite approvals
job titles and responsibilities
 Review existing state and local job
descriptions to determine what
information is already available and how it
matches to new job requirements
 Determine whether any additional
classifications required
 If not included in implementation contract,
secure contract for wage and classification
analysis, including compensation banding
 Complete wage and classification analysis
and secure requisite approvals
 Implement plan as personnel are given
new work assignments or reaffirmed in
current assignments
 Develop plan for monitoring and
communicating results
Page 202
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 6.0
The Department will need to develop new job descriptions, and possibly classifications,
for persons who will be assigned to new work teams.
With the change in work assignments, the Department should work with the City’s
Human Resources unit to conduct a comprehensive wage and classification survey and
upgrade. The focus should be on using job comparability indices that capture the large
volume and sensitivity of the work being performed.
The Department should adopt and implement a compensation banding approach that
will reduce the number of individual job classifications and expand wage ranges.






ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of buy‐in from internal and external
 Communicate approaches being taken to
stakeholders
all stakeholders and monitor employee
concerns
Staff fear about changes and their new
 Provide cost‐benefit analysis of new wage
responsibilities
and classification typology
Lack of funding for the study
Results of the study difficult to implement
Buy‐in by all impacted stakeholders
Funding for revised compensation
structure
Page 203
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 7.0
The Department should, to the extent possible, develop a new internal performance
appraisal system, using a tiered evaluation approach, with assigned counselors
responsible for individual reviews and employees having optional, self‐selected
monitors to serve as advisors and advocates.
Priority:
Leader:
Medium
Director of Human
Resources
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
6‐12 months
Support for system included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING





Precedent Actions
Obtain executive buy‐in and Human 
Resources Approval
Development of expectations matrix
Development of new wage and 

classification system

Principal Steps
Determine performance criteria and
adjust existing performance appraisal
forms as necessary
Train on selected instrument
Present new methodology to staff
Identify and assign counselors for each
staff member
 Encourage staff members to identify on
their own persons to serve as mentors and
gain mentor approval
 Train counselors on the review procedure
 Establish independent monitoring to
determine effectiveness
 Conduct trial review system to validate
 Implement methodology in phases,
beginning with managerial group, then
supervisory group, then staff
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of HR/executive/VDSS approval
 Communications to staff
No desire for change from staff
 Backing of executives by ensuring
incentives are in place
 Obtain approval in advance
 Show too to staff in advance
Page 204
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 8.0
The Department should institute a program of annual individual performance plans for
each employee. The plans will identify the work expected of the employee in the
coming year, identify work opportunities, and describe training and development
opportunities.
Priority:
Leader:






Medium
Director of Human
Resources; Director of
Employee Development and
Training
Time Frame:
8‐16
Estimated Cost:
Support costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
 Identify evaluation tool that will work for
Approval from City executive and human
RDSS
resources management to make changes
 Train employees and supervisors on use of
Completion of trial round of employee
the tool
appraisal process, emphasizing
performance planning
 Test tool with a set of employees and
revise as indicted
 Update performance standards and
ensure consistency of performance plans
with standards
 Carefully illustrate how individual
employee roles contribute to/related to
organizational mission, goals, and
objectives
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Difficulty in changing organizational
 Ensure that individual performance plans
culture of not holding individuals
support RDSS performance plans and
accountable
measures
Lack of investment from employees,
 Communicate to employees as required to
supervisors, RDSS managers
maintain support
Lack of incentives, ability to advance
 Verify approaches with other peer
Lack of clarity as to relating to PIP’s and
agencies
performance development plans
Page 205
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 9.0
The Department should complete its efforts at developing a job expectation matrix for
all position bands. The matrix should include an overview of work to be performed,
general standards of performance, expected work experience and skills, and training
requirements.
Priority:
Leader:
High
Director of Human
Resources; Director of
Employee Development and
Training
Time Frame:
1‐12 months
Estimated Cost:
Support costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING



Precedent Actions
Job descriptions written
Bands determined
Principal Steps
 Convene employee work groups for each
job band/category
 Review existing work
 Finalize job expectation matrix and relate
to all other recommendations
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of investment from employees,
 Communicate to employees as required to
supervisors, RDSS managers
maintain support
Page 206
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 10.0
Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix, employees should prepare multi‐year
career development plans, identifying short and long‐term career goals and identifying
work and training opportunities that will enable completion of the goals. The employee
and Department should recognize mutual responsibility for completion of the career
development plans.
Priority:
Leader:








Medium
Director of Human
Resources
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
10‐16 months
Support costs included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Establish banding criteria
 Finalize career development plan format
and document
Complete core competency analysis
 Provide training on career development
Develop performance standards
planning
Ensure approval from City
 Employees meet with counselors to draft
Complete job expectation matrix
plans
Assignment of employees to counselors
 Human Resources and Employee
Development and Training review draft
plans for consistency
 Employees and counselors revise plans as
necessary
 Repeat this process annually
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Funding
 Develop communications plan for all
stakeholders
Buy‐in from employees, supervisors, and
managers
 Include staff work teams in development
of final plan instrument
Page 207
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 11.0
Each year, every employee should complete a training program for the coming year.
The employee and Department share mutual responsibility for completion of the
training plan. It is the commitment of the employee to undertake the training. Where
the training depends on Department resources and available time, it is the commitment
of the Department to make training—and the time for training—available.
Priority:
Leader:



Medium
Director of Employee
Development and Training
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
10‐16 months
Support cost included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions
Principal Steps
Completion of job expectation matrices
 Adopt training plan format
 Utilizing job expectation matrix and other
career‐related documents, employees and
supervisors should agree on training for
coming year
 Identify core training curriculum to match
core competency levels of established
positions
 Identify methods for monitoring progress
 Identify funding needs
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
 Develop communications plan for all
Lack of buy‐in from staff and supervisors
stakeholders
Lack of funding
 Search for alternative funding sources
Page 208
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 12.0
The Department should continue using the Harmony application for its own case
management and financial integration purposes. This includes using Harmony to create
data interfaces with the various Commonwealth case management systems. To do this,
the City will need to assess and streamline Harmony’s data entry and reporting
capacities, broaden authority for Harmony data security, expand the number of persons
trained in Crystal Reports, and provide greater staff support.
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Information
Technology
Estimated Cost:
1‐10 months
 $100,000 to $125,000 for
Harmony assessment,
development of interface
screens (costs may be
reduced to extent existing
IT staff can develop
interface screens), staff
training
 $10,000 to $15,000 for
expanded training in Crystal
reports
 Opportunity costs in
reassigning vacant positions
to expand IT staff
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING




Precedent Actions
Obtain approval from VDSS to build
interfaces to their systems
Principal Steps
Secure contract for interface screens
Work with VDSS to build interface to their
systems
 Conduct training on Crystal Reports/Sys
Admin
 Review reports in Harmony, remove
excess reporting, and insert commonly
used reporting
 Obtain approval from City Internal Auditor
to expand security roles
 Design common forms overlay
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of approval from VDSS
 Obtain VDSS approval for interfaces
Cost to build interfaces/state systems
 Seek out funding for building interfaces
Difficulty in streamlining data
 Expand number of trained Crystal report
entry/reports in Harmony (agreement on
users
what should be shared?)
 Expand number of system administrators


Page 209
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 13.0
The Department should acquire and implement a robust Electronic Document
management system, including the capacity for electronic forms generation.
Priority:
High
Time Frame:
Leader:
Director of Information
Technology
Estimated Cost:
1‐8
 $75,000 ‐ $100,000 for
one‐time application cost,
including training for train‐
the‐trainers
 $10,000 ‐ $20,000 annual
license fee
 $20,000 ‐ $30,000 for
scanning equipment
 $10,000 ‐ $12,500 storage
costs
 Support costs included in
implementation contract
 Opportunity cost in
assigning existing vacancies
to electronic document
indexing and management
staff
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions



Principal Steps
Familiarization with policy and law for
storage of records
 Develop needs definition for EDMS,
including both document management,
electronic forms development, and
archival management
 Determine storage needs/capacity for
records storage
 Obtain funding and approval for EDMS
 Conduct vendor selection for hardware
and software
 Define indexing strategy
 Develop staff training
 Forms audit to ensure compliance with
federal policy development
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Lack of funding
 Training
Unknown forms that exist in agency
 EDMS should be user‐friendly
None

Page 210
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOMMENDATION 13.0
The Department should acquire and implement a robust Electronic Document
management system, including the capacity for electronic forms generation.



Lack of space for storage
 Look for grants
Antiquated systems
 Move forward with Mayors EPB Project
Knowledge gap—staff unable to learn
 Strategy
RECOMMENDATION 14.0
While continuing to report performance through the State’s mandated performance
reporting system, the Department should develop its own performance management
system that will be consistent with the City’s Balanced Scorecard requirements and
provide timely performance data that the Department can use to assess overall
performance, identify and resolve problem areas early, and provide an accurate report
of Departmental performance to all interested stakeholders.
Priority:
Leader:
Medium
Director of Organizational
Performance
Time Frame:
Estimated Cost:
4‐8 months
Support included in
implementation contract
IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING
Precedent Actions

None







Principal Steps
Identify performance measures and
desired outcomes
Establish performance goals
Identify data sources for measures
Develop a performance dashboard
Communicate to staff balance scorecard
requirements
ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS
POTENTIAL IMPEDIMENTS
SUGGESTED RESOLUTION STEPS
Buy‐in of executive leadership
 Communication plan for all stakeholders
Understanding of use of dashboard to
identify performance issues and resolve,
not to use for discipline
Page 211
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
Recommendation
1.0
Commit to being the best Social Services Department
in the Commonwealth of Virginia and recognized as a
leader throughout the United States.
Priority
Project
Months
High
Continual
2.0
Adopt and implement the functional business
processes for integrated case management as
developed by the project team and Department
staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
High
1‐12
2.1
Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will
have responsibility for intake through the
CommonHelp, Emergency Hotline, and other
venues by which clients can seek assistance. This
unit will also be responsible for assessing the
immediate need and the more comprehensive
family circumstances/ environment review and for
making eligibility determination.
High
1‐6
2.2
Assign the Assessment unit responsibility for all
client data inquiry needs of the Department, to
assure their full access to all Commonwealth data
systems necessary for effective client assessment
and case evaluation as well as access to other data
systems which will be included in the Safe
Passages initiative.
High
4‐9
Page 212
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
Recommendation
Priority
Project
Months
2.3
Use an integrated case management team
approach in which the Department creates case
management teams consisting of both social
workers and benefit workers. Teams will serve
clients through a lead worker system and will
serve as an integrated service provider for clients
with multiple needs. The teams would have self‐
directed team leadership, with supervisors having
responsibility for groups of teams and managers
having responsibility for groups of supervisors.
Some of the teams will be specialized to meet
particular needs or circumstances and others will
be generalist. The teams will be distributed
throughout the three offices of the Department.
High
1‐16
2.4
Create a Case Management unit which will be
responsible for emergency response for protective
services and emergency economic stability,
routing and reviewing cases, and managing cases.
Medium
6‐10
2.5
Within the Case Management unit create a body
of subject matter experts who will advise the case
management teams, maintain knowledge
expertise of individual programs, develop
functional policies and procedures, and monitor
industry regulatory conditions and industry trends
and best practices.
Medium
8‐12
3.0
Adopt and implement the support business
processes for integrated case management as
developed by the project team and Department
staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
Medium
4‐8
Page 213
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
4.0
4.1
Recommendation
Priority
Project
Months
Adopt and implement the organizational
framework designed to align with, and support,
the new business processes. When transition is
completed, this organization will have two service
functions (Intake and Assessment and Case
Management) and four support functions
(Organizational Performance, Program Support,
Finance and Administration, and Human
Resources).
Medium
1‐16
Medium
1‐6
The organizational change should occur in three
phases: an entry phase to align the support
systems and conduct a small pilot of the case
management approach, a transition phase in
which the case management approach is
expanded and fully field tested, and a final phase
in which the Department converts fully to the
integrated case management team approach.
Create an Organizational Performance Support
unit which will serve to monitor the internal
performance of the department through quality
assurance, utilization management, performance
management, employee development and
training, and information technology.
4.2
Expand current quality assurance capacities and
assign duties of the Quality Assurance unit to
include risk and performance assessment
throughout the Department.
Medium
4‐8
4.3
Create a Utilization Management unit which will
be responsible for managing provider contracts
throughout the Department.
Medium
4‐8
4.4
Create a Program Support unit by combining
under single leadership the CSA, TDM, Resource
Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy Families and Healthy
Start programs.
Low
6‐10
Page 214
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
Recommendation
Priority
Project
Months
4.5
Create within the Program Support unit a Job
Development Center which will work with
employers to create large blocks of employment
opportunities for VIEW participants and other
clients of the Department and City.
Low
12‐16
4.6
Restructure the Finance and Administration Unit
by placing the current records management
function under the supervision of Information
Technology; transferring Information Technology
and Records Management to the Policy and
Program unit; by assigning Payroll services and
Disaster Management and retaining a business
process analyst to maintain data integration
between the Department’s Harmony case
management system and the City’s financial
systems.
Medium
1‐6
4.7
Restructure the Human Resources Unit by
transferring payroll functions to Finance and
Administration, transferring Employee
Development and Training to Policy and Programs,
and adding additional human resource specialists
both to assist with the multi‐year implementation
of the project recommendations and for on‐going
support for a broader human resources support
need.
Low
4‐8
5.0
Realign staff positions consistent with the process
and organizational recommendations of the
report. It is expected that the new business
processes will result in freeing a substantial
number of work positions. The Department
should reassign those positions to the
recommended work units, making certain that
personnel receive the proper training and skills
development to be successful in their new
assignments.
High
1‐16
Page 215
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
Recommendation
6.0
The Department will need to develop new job
descriptions, and possibly classifications, for
persons who will be assigned to new work teams.
Priority
Project
Months
High
1‐6
Medium
6‐12
Medium
8‐16
High
1‐12
With the change in work assignments, the
Department should work with the City’s Human
Resources unit to conduct a comprehensive wage
and classification survey and upgrade. The focus
should be on using job comparability indices that
capture the large volume and sensitivity of the
work being performed.
7.0
8.0
9.0
The Department should adopt and implement a
compensation banding approach that will reduce
the number of individual job classifications and
expand wage ranges.
The Department should, to the extent possible,
develop a new internal performance appraisal
system, using a tiered evaluation approach, with
assigned counselors responsible for individual
reviews and employees having optional, self‐
selected monitors to serve as advisors and
advocates.
The Department should institute a program of
annual individual performance plans for each
employee. The plans will identify the work
expected of the employee in the coming year,
identify work opportunities, and describe training
and development opportunities.
The Department should complete its efforts at
developing a job expectation matrix for all
position bands. The matrix should include an
overview of work to be performed, general
standards of performance, expected work
experience and skills, and training requirements.
Page 216
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
10.0
11.0
12.0
13.0
Recommendation
Priority
Project
Months
Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix,
employees should prepare multi‐year career
development plans, identifying short and long‐
term career goals and identifying work and
training opportunities that will enable completion
of the goals. The employee and Department
should recognize mutual responsibility for
completion of the career development plans.
Each year, every employee should complete a
training program for the coming year. The
employee and Department share mutual
responsibility for completion of the training plan.
It is the commitment of the employee to
undertake the training. Where the training
depends on Department resources and available
time, it is the commitment of the Department to
make training—and the time for training—
available.
The Department should continue using the
Harmony application for its own case
management and financial integration purposes.
This includes using Harmony to create data
interfaces with the various Commonwealth case
management systems. To do this, the City will
need to assess and streamline Harmony’s data
entry and reporting capacities, broaden authority
for Harmony data security, expand the number of
persons trained in Crystal Reports, and provide
greater staff support.
The Department should acquire and implement a
robust Electronic Document management system,
including the capacity for electronic forms
generation.
Medium
10‐16
Medium
10‐16
High
1‐6
High
1‐8
Page 217
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
14.0
Recommendation
Priority
Project
Months
While continuing to report performance through
the State’s mandated performance reporting
system, the Department should develop its own
performance management system that will be
consistent with the City’s Balanced Scorecard
requirements and provide timely performance
data that the Department can use to assess
overall performance, identify and resolve
problem areas early, and provide an accurate
report of Departmental performance to all
interested stakeholders.
Medium
4‐8
Page 218
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE
The following tables present the implementation plan in Gantt chart format. There are two tables. Each table lists the
recommendation by number, text, priority, and the implementation months in which it is recommended that the
implementation occur. The first table presents this information in the order of the recommendation number, consistent with
the implementation plan above. The second table reorganizes the recommendations by priority.
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
11
12
13
14
15
16
1.0
Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the
Commonwealth of Virginia and recognized as a leader throughout
the United States.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
»
»
»
»
»
»
2.0
Adopt and implement the functional business processes for
integrated case management as developed by the project team
and Department staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
2.1
Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will have
responsibility for intake through the CommonHelp, Emergency
Hotline, and other venues by which clients can seek assistance.
This unit will also be responsible for assessing the immediate
need and the more comprehensive family circumstances/
environment review and for making eligibility determination.
High
» » » » » »
Page 219
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2.2
Assign the Assessment unit responsibility for all client data
inquiry needs of the Department, to assure their full access to all
Commonwealth data systems necessary for effective client
assessment and case evaluation as well as access to other data
systems which will be included in the Safe Passages initiative.
High
2.3
Use an integrated case management team approach in which the
Department creates case management teams consisting of both
social workers and benefit workers. Teams will serve clients
through a lead worker system and will serve as an integrated
service provider for clients with multiple needs. The teams would
have self‐directed team leadership, with supervisors having
responsibility for groups of teams and managers having
responsibility for groups of supervisors. Some of the teams will
be specialized to meet particular needs or circumstances and
others will be generalist. The teams will be distributed
throughout the three offices of the Department.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
2.4
Create a Case Management unit which will be responsible for
emergency response for protective services and emergency
economic stability, routing and reviewing cases, and managing
cases.
M, 6‐10
» » » » »
2.5
Within the Case Management unit create a body of subject
matter experts who will advise the case management teams,
maintain knowledge expertise of individual programs, develop
functional policies and procedures, and monitor industry
regulatory conditions and industry trends and best practices.
M 12‐16
» » »
11
12
13
14
15
16
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » » »
Page 220
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
3.0
Adopt and implement the support business processes for
integrated case management as developed by the project team
and Department staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
M 4‐7
4.0
Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to
align with, and support, the new business processes. When
transition is completed, this organization will have two service
functions (Intake and Assessment and Case Management) and
four support functions (Organizational Performance, Program
Support, Finance and Administration, and Human Resources).
M 1‐16
» » » » » » » » » »
» » » » » »
11
12
13
14
15
16
»
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » »
The organizational change should occur in three phases: an entry
phase to align the support systems and conduct a small pilot of
the case management approach, a transition phase in which the
case management approach is expanded and fully field tested,
and a final phase in which the Department converts fully to the
integrated case management team approach.
4.1
Create an Organizational Performance Support unit which will
serve to monitor the internal performance of the department
through quality assurance, utilization management, performance
management, employee development and training, and
information technology.
M 1‐6
4.2
Expand current quality assurance capacities and assign duties of
the Quality Assurance unit to include risk and performance
assessment throughout the Department.
M 4‐8
» » » » »
Page 221
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
4.3
Create a Utilization Management unit which will be responsible
for managing provider contracts throughout the Department.
M 4‐8
4.4
Create a Program Support unit by combining under single
leadership the CSA, TDM, Resource Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy
Families and Healthy Start programs.
m 6‐10
4.5
Create within the Program Support unit a Job Development
Center which will work with employers to create large blocks of
employment opportunities for VIEW participants and other
clients of the Department and City.
L 12‐16
4.6
Restructure the Finance and Administration Unit by placing the
current records management function under the supervision of
Information Technology; transferring Information Technology
and Records Management to the Policy and Program unit; by
assigning Payroll services and Disaster Management and retaining
a business process analyst to maintain data integration between
the Department’s Harmony case management system and the
City’s financial systems.
M 1‐6
4.7
Restructure the Human Resources Unit by transferring payroll
functions to Finance and Administration, transferring Employee
Development and Training to Policy and Programs, and adding
additional human resource specialists both to assist with the
multi‐year implementation of the project recommendations and
for on‐going support for a broader human resources support
need.
L 4‐8
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » »
» » » » »
» » » » » »
» » » » »
Page 222
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
11
12
13
14
15
16
5.0
Realign staff positions consistent with the process and
organizational recommendations of the report. It is expected
that the new business processes will result in freeing a
substantial number of work positions. The Department should
reassign those positions to the recommended work units, making
certain that personnel receive the proper training and skills
development to be successful in their new assignments.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
»
»
»
»
»
»
6.0
The Department will need to develop new job descriptions, and
possibly classifications, for persons who will be assigned to new
work teams.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
» » » » »
»
»
With the change in work assignments, the Department should
work with the City’s Human Resources unit to conduct a
comprehensive wage and classification survey and upgrade. The
focus should be on using job comparability indices that capture
the large volume and sensitivity of the work being performed.
The Department should adopt and implement a compensation
banding approach that will reduce the number of individual job
classifications and expand wage ranges.
7.0
The Department should, to the extent possible, develop a new
internal performance appraisal system, using a tiered evaluation
approach, with assigned counselors responsible for individual
reviews and employees having optional, self‐selected monitors to
serve as advisors and advocates.
M 6‐12
Page 223
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » »
»
»
»
»
»
»
High
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix, employees should
prepare multi‐year career development plans, identifying short
and long‐term career goals and identifying work and training
opportunities that will enable completion of the goals. The
employee and Department should recognize mutual
responsibility for completion of the career development plans.
M 10‐16
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
Each year, every employee should complete a training program
for the coming year. The employee and Department share
mutual responsibility for completion of the training plan. It is the
commitment of the employee to undertake the training. Where
the training depends on Department resources and available
time, it is the commitment of the Department to make training—
and the time for training—available.
M 10‐16
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
8.0
The Department should institute a program of annual individual
performance plans for each employee. The plans will identify the
work expected of the employee in the coming year, identify work
opportunities, and describe training and development
opportunities.
9.0
The Department should complete its efforts at developing a job
expectation matrix for all position bands. The matrix should
include an overview of work to be performed, general standards
of performance, expected work experience and skills, and
training requirements.
10.0
11.0
M 8‐16
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Page 224
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY RECOMMENDATION ORDER)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12.0
The Department should continue using the Harmony application
for its own case management and financial integration purposes.
This includes using Harmony to create data interfaces with the
various Commonwealth case management systems. To do this,
the City will need to assess and streamline Harmony’s data entry
and reporting capacities, broaden authority for Harmony data
security, expand the number of persons trained in Crystal
Reports, and provide greater staff support.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
13.0
The Department should acquire and implement a robust
Electronic Document management system, including the capacity
for electronic forms generation.
High
» » » » » » » »
14.0
While continuing to report performance through the State’s
mandated performance reporting system, the Department
should develop its own performance management system that
will be consistent with the City’s Balanced Scorecard
requirements and provide timely performance data that the
Department can use to assess overall performance, identify and
resolve problem areas early, and provide an accurate report of
Departmental performance to all interested stakeholders.
M 4‐8
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » » » »
Page 225
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
11
12
13
14
15
16
1.0
Commit to being the best Social Services Department in the
Commonwealth of Virginia and recognized as a leader throughout
the United States.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
»
»
»
»
»
»
2.0
Adopt and implement the functional business processes for
integrated case management as developed by the project team
and Department staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
2.1
Create an Intake and Assessment unit which will have
responsibility for intake through the CommonHelp, Emergency
Hotline, and other venues by which clients can seek assistance.
This unit will also be responsible for assessing the immediate
need and the more comprehensive family circumstances/
environment review and for making eligibility determination.
High
» » » » » »
2.2
Assign the Assessment unit responsibility for all client data
inquiry needs of the Department, to assure their full access to all
Commonwealth data systems necessary for effective client
assessment and case evaluation as well as access to other data
systems which will be included in the Safe Passages initiative.
High
» » » » » »
Page 226
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2.3
Use an integrated case management team approach in which the
Department creates case management teams consisting of both
social workers and benefit workers. Teams will serve clients
through a lead worker system and will serve as an integrated
service provider for clients with multiple needs. The teams would
have self‐directed team leadership, with supervisors having
responsibility for groups of teams and managers having
responsibility for groups of supervisors. Some of the teams will
be specialized to meet particular needs or circumstances and
others will be generalist. The teams will be distributed
throughout the three offices of the Department.
High
5.0
Realign staff positions consistent with the process and
organizational recommendations of the report. It is expected
that the new business processes will result in freeing a
substantial number of work positions. The Department should
reassign those positions to the recommended work units, making
certain that personnel receive the proper training and skills
development to be successful in their new assignments.
High
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
»
»
»
»
Page 227
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
6.0
The Department will need to develop new job descriptions, and
possibly classifications, for persons who will be assigned to new
work teams.
High
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
»
»
13
14
15
16
With the change in work assignments, the Department should
work with the City’s Human Resources unit to conduct a
comprehensive wage and classification survey and upgrade. The
focus should be on using job comparability indices that capture
the large volume and sensitivity of the work being performed.
The Department should adopt and implement a compensation
banding approach that will reduce the number of individual job
classifications and expand wage ranges.
9.0
The Department should complete its efforts at developing a job
expectation matrix for all position bands. The matrix should
include an overview of work to be performed, general standards
of performance, expected work experience and skills, and
training requirements.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
12.0
The Department should continue using the Harmony application
for its own case management and financial integration purposes.
This includes using Harmony to create data interfaces with the
various Commonwealth case management systems. To do this,
the City will need to assess and streamline Harmony’s data entry
and reporting capacities, broaden authority for Harmony data
security, expand the number of persons trained in Crystal
Reports, and provide greater staff support.
High
» » » » » » » » » »
Page 228
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
13.0
The Department should acquire and implement a robust
Electronic Document management system, including the capacity
for electronic forms generation.
High
10.0
Using a comprehensive job expectation matrix, employees should
prepare multi‐year career development plans, identifying short
and long‐term career goals and identifying work and training
opportunities that will enable completion of the goals. The
employee and Department should recognize mutual
responsibility for completion of the career development plans.
Medium
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
11.0
Each year, every employee should complete a training program
for the coming year. The employee and Department share
mutual responsibility for completion of the training plan. It is the
commitment of the employee to undertake the training. Where
the training depends on Department resources and available
time, it is the commitment of the Department to make training—
and the time for training—available.
Medium
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » » » » »
Page 229
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
4.0
Adopt and implement the organizational framework designed to
align with, and support, the new business processes. When
transition is completed, this organization will have two service
functions (Intake and Assessment and Case Management) and
four support functions (Organizational Performance, Program
Support, Finance and Administration, and Human Resources).
Medium
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » » » » » » » » »
»
»
»
»
»
»
» » »
»
»
The organizational change should occur in three phases: an entry
phase to align the support systems and conduct a small pilot of
the case management approach, a transition phase in which the
case management approach is expanded and fully field tested,
and a final phase in which the Department converts fully to the
integrated case management team approach.
2.5
Within the Case Management unit create a body of subject
matter experts who will advise the case management teams,
maintain knowledge expertise of individual programs, develop
functional policies and procedures, and monitor industry
regulatory conditions and industry trends and best practices.
Medium
4.1
Create an Organizational Performance Support unit which will
serve to monitor the internal performance of the department
through quality assurance, utilization management, performance
management, employee development and training, and
information technology.
Medium
» » » » » »
Page 230
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
4.6
Restructure the Finance and Administration Unit by placing the
current records management function under the supervision of
Information Technology; transferring Information Technology
and Records Management to the Policy and Program unit; by
assigning Payroll services and Disaster Management and retaining
a business process analyst to maintain data integration between
the Department’s Harmony case management system and the
City’s financial systems.
Medium
3.0
Adopt and implement the support business processes for
integrated case management as developed by the project team
and Department staff, monitoring the implementation to identify
continued process improvements.
Medium
» » » » »
4.2
Expand current quality assurance capacities and assign duties of
the Quality Assurance unit to include risk and performance
assessment throughout the Department.
Medium
» » » » »
4.3
Create a Utilization Management unit which will be responsible
for managing provider contracts throughout the Department.
Medium
» » » » »
Medium
» » » » »
14.0
While continuing to report performance through the State’s
mandated performance reporting system, the Department
should develop its own performance management system that
will be consistent with the City’s Balanced Scorecard
requirements and provide timely performance data that the
Department can use to assess overall performance, identify and
resolve problem areas early, and provide an accurate report of
Departmental performance to all interested stakeholders.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » » » » »
Page 231
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
4.4
Create a Program Support unit by combining under single
leadership the CSA, TDM, Resource Family Unit, ECDI, Healthy
Families and Healthy Start programs.
Medium
7.0
The Department should, to the extent possible, develop a new
internal performance appraisal system, using a tiered evaluation
approach, with assigned counselors responsible for individual
reviews and employees having optional, self‐selected monitors to
serve as advisors and advocates.
Medium
» » » » »
»
»
8.0
The Department should institute a program of annual individual
performance plans for each employee. The plans will identify the
work expected of the employee in the coming year, identify work
opportunities, and describe training and development
opportunities.
Medium
» » »
»
»
»
»
»
»
2.4
Create a Case Management unit which will be responsible for
emergency response for protective services and emergency
economic stability, routing and reviewing cases, and managing
cases.
Medium
» » » » »
4.5
Create within the Program Support unit a Job Development
Center which will work with employers to create large blocks of
employment opportunities for VIEW participants and other
clients of the Department and City.
Low
»
»
»
»
»
» » » » »
Page 232
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
IMPLEMENTATION MASTER SCHEDULE
(BY PRIORITY)
RECOMMENDATION
IMPLEMENTATION MONTH
PRIORITY
1
4.7
Restructure the Human Resources Unit by transferring payroll
functions to Finance and Administration, transferring Employee
Development and Training to Policy and Programs, and adding
additional human resource specialists both to assist with the
multi‐year implementation of the project recommendations and
for on‐going support for a broader human resources support
need.
Low
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
» » » » »
Page 233
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPENDIX: PROCESS FLOW MAPS
The following pages present the to‐be process flow maps as developed by the Department process teams and modified by
the To‐Be Process Integration team, facilitated by the TATC project staff. The process maps follow the basic conventions of
the Integrated Definition Modeling (IDEF) technique, in which each key step is identified and then deconstructed for
individual process steps. Chapter 5 of this report includes step‐by‐step narratives for each flow.
Following the maps are a series of tables which identify the relevant inputs, outputs, controls, and mechanisms (or,
resources) for each map. The inputs relate to activities or items which initiate the process, and the outputs are the results of
the process. Controls represent those items and actions which control the nature of the process work. For example, relevant
state and federal law are applicable controls. Mechanisms, or resources, represent what is needed to carry out the process.
This can include personnel, technology, budgets, and the like.
Page 234
Intake
1.0 Receive Request
for RDSS Assistance
2.0 Determine
Appropriate Routing
3.0 Refer to
Appropriate Unit
1.1 Confirm
RDSS Jurisdiction
2.1 Make
Determination of
Emergency Based on
Established Criteria
3.1 If Emergency, Route
to Appropriate
Emergency Triage Unit
2.2 Create Base Data
Record
3.2 If Non-Emergency
and Known to RDSS,
Refer to Case Mgmt.
2.3 Enter Into Systems
(OASIS/ASAPS,
HARMONY, ADAPT)
3.3 If Non-Emergency
and NOT Known to
RDSS, Refer to
Processing & Routing
Process
1.1.1 If No Jurisdiction,
Refer to Proper Locality
or Community Services
1.1.2 If No Jurisdiction,
Enter Into Screened-Out
Database
1.2 Date/Time
Stamp Request
(Automated)
1.3 Obtain
Minimum Information
Needed for Request
1.4 Determine if Known
to Agency Systems
Page 235
Emergency Protective Services
1.0 Receive from
Intake Process and
Assign Case
2.0 Determine Action
Needed
1.1 Notify Public Safety
Officials if Appropriate
2.1 Receive Briefing or
Review Case in
OASIS/ASAPS
1.2 Assign Case to RDSS
Worker
2.2 Arrange for Police
Escort to Site if Needed
2.3 Initiate Contact to
Assess Client Situation
2.4 Determine Case
Relief Response
2.5 Obtain Action
Approval or Consensus
4.0 Complete
File/Records
Management
3.0 Initiate Relief
3.1 Remove
Client If
Appropriate
3.2 Keep Client in
Place If
Appropriate
3.3 Provide OneTime Services If
Appropriate
3.1.1
Secure Placement
3.2.1 Develop
Safety Plan
3.3.1 Receive
Request
3.1.2
Refer to RFU
3.2.2 Obtain
Signatures
3.1.3
Take to
Destination
3.2.3 Develop
Service Referral If
Needed
3.1.4 Complete
Placement
Paperwork
3.1.5 Contact
Follow-Up
Resources
3.1.6 Conduct
TDM IF Required
or Client Requests
3.1.7 Appear in
Court If Needed
3.2.4 Complete
Service
Application
3.2.5 Follow Up
With Resources If
Needed
3.2.6 Appear in
Court If Needed
3.3.2 Refer to
Case Assessment
Process
4.1 Compile All Forms
4.2 Complete
Narratives
4.3 Secure Missing
Data as Necessary
4.4 Update Electronic
Databases
4.5 Coordinate with
Finance for Payment, if
Appropriate
4.6 Transfer to Case
Assessment Process
Page 236
Emergency Economic Stabilization
1.0 Assess Emergency
2.0
Develop Action Plan
1.1
Review Request for
Assistance
2.1
Determine Action Type
& Eligibility
3.0
Initiate Relief
4.1 Compile All Forms
1.2
Complete Applications
Needed
1.3
Enter Into System(s)
As Needed
4.0 Complete
File/Records
Management
4.2 Complete
Narratives
3.1 If Eligible,
Discuss Eligibility
and Benefit
Options with
Client
3.1.1
Secure Placement
3.2 If Not Eligible,
Refer to
Community
Partners
3.2.1 Contact
Community
Partners
3.2.2 Connect
Client with Relief
Resources
3.1.2
Issue Benefit
4.3 Secure Missing
Data as Necessary
4.4 Update Electronic
Databases
4.5 Coordinate with
Finance for Payment, if
Appropriate
4.6 Transfer to Case
Assessment Process
Page 237
Request Processing and Routing (Base)
1.0
Receive Request
For Service
2.0
Determine Eligibility
for Base Request
3.0
Approve or Deny
Request
1.1 Review Request
2.1 Interview Client to
Determine Eligibility
3.1
Notify Client of
Decision
2.1.1 Assess Needs Per
Client Input
1.2 Conduct RDSS
Systems Inquiry
1.3 Determine if Client
has active case with
RDSS
1.4 If Active Case,
Route to Case
Management Process
2.1.2 Verify Income and
Household Composition
2.1.2 Verify Other
Program Requirements
2.2 Notify Client of
Additional Information
Needs Discrepancies
2.3 Receive Additional
or Corrected
Information
2.5 Receive Eligibility
Determination from
System
3.2 Verify Client Interest
in Other Possible
Services or Benefits
3.2.1 If Not Interested &
Is Qualified for Base
Request, Send to Case
Management Process
3.2.2 If Not Interested & Is
NOT Qualified for Base
Request, Close Case
3.3 If Interested & Is Qualified
for Base Service, Refer to
Advanced Assessment Process
3.4 If Interested & Is NOT
Qualified for Base Request,
Refer to Advanced
Assessment Process
Page 238
Request Processing and Routing (Advanced)
2.0
Conduct Interpersonal
Assessment
3.0
Develop
Case/Transition Plan
1.1 Case
Familiarization
2.1 Initiate Contact (InPerson, Phone, or
Email)
3.1 Generate Initial
Case/Transition Plan (in
Information System)
1.2 Assign Case to
Specific Case
Management Team
2.2 Identify Strengths
of the Family
1.3 Case Management
Team Assigns Lead
Worker
1.4 If Request is for
Benefit Only, Skip to
4.0 (Implementation)
2.3 Identify Additional
Needs (Other Services)
2.4 Obtain Information
on Community Partners
2.5 Develop
Preliminary Needs
Priority
3.1.1
Include Family
Strengths
3.1.2 Develop
Goals and
Objectives
3.1.3 Develop
Timelines
To Next
Page
3.2 Coordinate with
Providers
3.3 Request Foster
Home Referral if
Appropriate
3.4 Review and
Validate Plan with
Family
3.5
Finalize Plan
3.1.4 Identify
Available Resources
Based on Funding
(e.g., CSA, FFM)
Page 239
Case Management (Page 1)
1.0
Receive Case from
Request Processing
2.0
Conduct Interpersonal
Assessment
3.0
Develop
Case/Transition Plan
1.1 Case
Familiarization
2.1 Initiate Contact (InPerson, Phone, or
Email)
3.1 Generate Initial
Case/Transition Plan (in
Information System)
1.2 Assign Case to
Specific Case
Management Team
2.2 Identify Strengths
of the Family
1.3 Case Management
Team Assigns Lead
Worker
1.4 If Request is for
Benefit Only, Skip to
4.0 (Implementation)
2.3 Identify Additional
Needs (Other Services)
2.4 Obtain Information
on Community Partners
2.5 Develop
Preliminary Needs
Priority
3.1.1
Include Family
Strengths
3.1.2 Develop
Goals and
Objectives
3.1.3 Develop
Timelines
To Next
Page
3.2 Coordinate with
Providers
3.3 Request Foster
Home Referral if
Appropriate
3.4 Review and
Validate Plan with
Family
3.5
Finalize Plan
3.1.4 Identify
Available Resources
Based on Funding
(e.g., CSA, FFM)
Page 240
Case Management (Page 2)
From Page
1
4.0 Implement Case
Plan
4.1 Link Family with
Service Providers
4.2 Meet with Family
and Providers re
Defined Timeline
4.3 Monitor
Family Progress
4.4 Evaluate and
Determine Family
Readiness to Transition
4.5 If Family Not Ready,
Loop Back to 2.0
(Interpersonal
Assessment.) or 4.0
(Implement Plan) as
Appropriate
5.0 Implement
Transition Plan if
Appropriate
6.0 Close Case
5.1 Validate Transition
Plan with Family
6.1 Archive and Purge
Case
5.2 Begin
Implementation of
Transition Plan
5.3 Monitor Based on
Schedule Established in
Transition Plan
4.3.1
Assess Services
Provided
4.3.2 Obtain Family &
Provider Feedback
Page 241
Foster Family Management (Page 1)
1.0
Receive Request
for Foster Home
Referral
2.0
Complete Initial
Assessment, As
Necessary
3.0
Screen Foster Family
Options
4.0
Select Foster Family
1.1 Enter Request in
Information System if
Needed
2.1 Conduct data
search for child’s
background or history
if not done during
Advanced Assessment
Process
3.1 Review Information
System for Family
Criteria
4.1 If Not Emergency
Placement, Review
Potential Foster Family
with Family Reunification
Permanency Unit
3.2 Contact External
Partner Agencies for
Options as Needed
4.2 Conduct PrePlacement Visit and
Interview
3.3 Review Home Study
from External Partners
as Needed
4.3 Select Family
1.2
Refer to Data Gathering
if Needed
1.3 Conduct Best Match
Conference (SW, FFM, &
Youth) to Establish
Family Criteria
2.2 Conduct Relative
Search in ACCURINT
(on-going)
2.3 Conduct Best
Match Conference to
Establish Family Criteria
To Next
Page
4.4 Notify Selected
Foster Family
4.5 Receive Request
for RDSS Assistance
Page 242
Foster Family Management (Page 2)
From Page
1
5.0
Notify Referring
Worker
6.0
Manage Payments
5.1 Enter Family Data
into Electronic Data
System
6.1 Initiate POSO/OTO
for child care, respite
care, maintenance,
VaMat, Clothing
5.2 Provide Placement
Transition Support
6.2 Verify
Authorizations for
Service & Funding
Eligibility
5.3 Complete
Placement Change
Form if Needed
6.3 Send Payment
Authorizations to
Finance
5.4 Conduct
“Icebreaker” Session
Page 243
Document Management
1.0 Receive Request
for Service
2.0 Worker
Processing
3.0 Case Closure
4.0 Record Retention
1.1 Look up record
identification
2.1 Receive original
documents
3.1 Verification of file
content
4.1 System generates
purge schedule
1.2 Assign case
number
2.2 Code document
3.2 Reconcile hard
and electronic files
4.2 System produces
disposal alert report
1.3 Locate existing
record
2.3 Scan documents
3.3 Note case closure
in system
4.3 Staff pulls hard
copy file
1.4 If necessary,
digitize existing files
2.4 Send hard copy to
Records for storage
3.4 System
determines and
assigns disposal date
4.4 Staff destroys hard
copy file and notes
disposal in system
1.5If necessary,
assign record identifier
1.6 Notify worker that
case is ready
4.6 Staff purges
electronic record from
active file server
4.5 System transfers
file to archive
Page 244
Quality Assurance (Page 1)
1.0 Perform Risk
Assessment
2.0 Develop Overall
QA Plan
3.0 Communicate QA
Plan
4.0 Execute QA Plan
1.1 Review external
audits and
performance reports
2.1 Establish/update
3-year risk review
cycle
3.1 Communicate
Objectives
4.1 Perform
investigation of each
risk area
1.2 Review customer
complaints
2.2 Review cycle with
RDSS leadership
3.2 Communicate
expectations and
support needs
4.2 Identify areas of
concern for each Risk
area
1.3 Review data with
Program Managers
2.3 Prepare annual
plan in advance of
budget year
1.4 Review data with
Deputy Directors
2.3.1 Include all
annual review
risk areas
1.5 Determine risk
areas
2.3.2 Include 2year and 3-year
risks on cycle
1.6 Prioritize risk
areas
2.3.3 Draft
preliminary
schedule
3.3 Communicate
schedule
To Page 2
4.2.1 Assess
processes
4.2.2 Assess
staffing
4.2.3 Assess
technology
4.3 Analyze findings
and review with
program
4.3 Finalize risk
assessment report
Page 245
Quality Assurance (Page 2)
From Page 1
5.0 Develop
Corrective Action
Plan
6.0 Monitor
Corrective Action
Plan
5.1 Review findings
with program
management
6.1 Monthly or
quarterly progress
review
5.2 Program area
develops corrective
plan
6.2 Update corrective
plan status
5.3 Approve corrective
plan
6.3 Repeat monitoring
until plan complete
5.4 Implement
corrective action plan
6.4 Prepare and issue
final report
Page 246
Utilization Management (Page 1)
1.0 Establish Pool of
Providers
2.0 Assess Service
Providers
3.0 Execute Service
Contracts
2.1 Prepare
solicitation document
3.1 Identify contract
type
2.2 Evaluate provider
proposals/
qualifications
3.2 Select appropriate
contract template
2.3 Conduct on-site
assessment, as
applicable
3.3 Compose contract
2.4 Evaluation teams
makes
recommendation
3.4 Collect required
documents
2.5 Utilization
Manager makes final
decision
3.5 Conduct price
negotiations as
applicable
2.6 Notify awarded
providers
3.6 Fully execute
Contract
2.7 Provider accepts
award
3.7 Notify nonselected providers, as
appropriate
1.1 Determine Needs
1.2 Recruit/ Identify
Providers
1.3 Establish Criteria
for Solicitation
1.4 Determine if
should be considered
for Fast Track
(emergency)
1.4.1 if
yes,
Target
known
providers
1.4.2 if no,
Solicit
providers
via RFP
4.0 Update Approved
Providers Database
To Page 2
4.1 Record pertinent
data (i.e. Provider’s
Profile)
4.2 Complete provider
application
requirements
3.7 If not done
previously, digitize
contract
Page 247
Utilization Management (Page 2)
From
Page 1
5.0 Monitor Service
Providers
5.1 Establish criteria
for monitoring
6.0 Pay Providers
5.7 Identify corrective
action
5.2 Identify providers
to be monitored
5.8 Issue report
5.3 Select monitoring
Tool(s)
5.8.1 Include
provider’s
strengths
5.4 Determine
monitoring type
(unannounced vs
announced)
5.8.2 Include
provider’s
weaknesses
5.5 Develop
monitoring plan
5.8.3 Include
recommendation
for follow-up
5.6 Execute
monitoring plan
5.6.1
Program
Review
5.6.2
Financial
Review
5.11 Follow-up visit
6.1 Receive provider
invoice
5.12 On-going
technical assistance
6.2 Verify service
delivery from Case
Management
To
Page 3
6.3 Verify contract
limits
6.4 Verify funding
source
6.5 Approve for
payment
5.9 Conduct exit
Conference
5.10 Notify Case
Management of critical
findings
6.6 Transmit approval
to Finance for
payment in
accordance with City
procedures
Page 248
Utilization Management (Page 3)
From
Page 2
7.0 Evaluate
Performance
Outcome from
Providers
8.0 Determine
Continued Service
7.1 Determine
reporting type, where
applicable
8.1 if yes, continue
monitoring per plan
7.2 Issue report
template
8.2 If no, remove from
approved provider
database
7.3 Review reporting
results
Page 249
Finance (Supplies and Materials)
1.0 Receive Request
for Service
2.0 Select Vendor
1.1 Review request
2.1 Conduct RFP/
RFQ process if
required by City
1.2 Verify funding
Source
2.2 Secure price
quotes if RFP not
required
1.3 Verify program
eligibility, as
applicable
2.3 Review quotes
with requestor
2.4 Select vendor and
input vendor data into
Advantage
3.0 Generate
Purchase Order in
Advantage
4.0 Vendor submits
invoice via
Advantage portal
5.0 Issue Payment
via Advantage
3.1 Approve Purchase
Order in Advantage
4.1 Finance receives
invoice
5.1 Advantage
releases encumbrance
3.2 Advantage
encumbers funds
4.2 Send invoice to
receiver of goods for
verification
5.2 Advantage
transfers to
expenditure
3.3 Advantage notifies
vendor of order
4.3 identify
discrepancies, if any
5.3 Generate ledger
report
3.4 Vendor accepts
order via Advantage
portal
4.3.1 Review with
vendor
4.3.2 Settle
discrepancy
2.5 Finance approval
3.5 Vendor delivers
materials
5.4 Match to budget
5.5 Resolve budget
discrepancies
4.3 Approve Invoice
Page 250
Recovery and Fraud (Page 1)
1.0 Receive
Investigation
Request
2.0 Screen/Validate
Request
1.1 Acknowledge
receipt in Harmony
database
2.1 Review
information for
completeness
1.2 Assign to
Screening
2.2 Determine if
enough information to
investigate
2.3 Determine if
established criteria
warrant investigation
3.0 Assign
Investigator(s)
4.0 Conduct
Investigation
3.1 Evaluate case load
4.1 Input Referral into
Fraud Data Tracking
System
3.2 Evaluate
experience of
investigator(s)
3.3 Assign
investigator(s)
4.2 Verify the subject
is known to RDSS
4.3 Establish
Investigation Plan
To Page 2
4.5 Engage Case
Management Team as
necessary
4.6 Scan all
supporting data and
Attach electronic file to
Harmony and Fraud
Data Tracking System
4.4 Conduct
Investigation
2.4 Route to
Investigator
4.7 Create final report
4.4.1 Conduct
Interview(s)
4.4.2 Collect
Data
Page 251
Recovery and Fraud (Page 2)
From Page 1
5.0 Issue Final
Report
6.0 Close
Investigation
Request
5.1 Access
investigation
documents
6.1 Send investigation
summary to Case
Management Team
5.2 Document findings
and recommendations
6.2 Transition to
Accounting where
applicable (restitution
request)
5.3 Determine fraud/
non-fraud & finalize
report
6.3 Monitor and
maintain oversight of
fraudulent claims
resulting in restitution
5.4 Submit for
supervisory review
and comments
5.5 Take additional
steps as necessaryAdministrative
Disqualification
hearing (ADH); Court,
etc.
Page 252
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
INTAKE PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
1
Receive Request for RDSS
Assistance
Input






Computer Portal

Referrals
Client Walk‐in
Fax
Email
Request for Assistance
Outputs
Controls
Referral for RDSS 
service

assessment



Language
Confidentiality
requirements
Civil Rights
requirements
Applicable State and
Federal laws
Application processing
deadline
Resources


















Community resource list
Additional self service tools
Automation
Development of standard
forms to capture data
SPIDER
SOP
Harmony
Oasis
VACMS
ASAPS
Telephone automation to
accurately route calls
CPS Hotline
Central Intake Telephone
Number for homeless
services
Food stamp phone line
Capability to receive
information electronically
(images for intake files)
Customer Portal Marketing
Record Room
Language Line for contract
interpreter
Page 253
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
INTAKE PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
2
Determine Appropriate
Routing
Input

Client data
Outputs

Client referred
for service
Controls



3
Refer to Appropriate Unit

Completed application 
Case

Routed/Assigned
to Emergency or
Non‐Emergency
Process
Resources

Common entry form




Emergency criteria
Ability to track acceptance
of assigned case
Common application
Electronic data systems
Ability to track

acceptance of assigned
case

Ability to track acceptance
of assigned case
Electronic data systems
Emergency criteria
Ability to track
acceptance of assigned
case
Policy/Regulation
determining
completeness
Page 254
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
1
Receive from Intake Process and  Data from Intake
Assign Case
2
Determine Action Needed
 Validated Case
Outputs
Controls
Resources
 Validated Case
 State criteria for
validated case
 Requirements for
response timelines





 Case ready for
response
 Availability of outside
resources
 Applicable state and
federal laws relating to
protective services
 Client present
 Accurate data, including
incident location
 Supervisory review
 Staff availability
 Contact information for
outside resources (police,
health dept.)
 Telecommunications
 Electronic forms via tablet or
laptop (safety plan, service
application, referral forms,
etc)
 Reliable transportation
 Supervisory review
 Training on appropriate field
assessment
 TDM Staff
 Remote digital signature
system
Staff
Access to Intake data
OASIS
ASAPs
Certification to validate a CPS
and APS case
 Policy for notification of public
safety officials
Page 255
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SERVICES PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
 Remote printer
3
4
Initiate Relief or Close Case
Complete File / Records
Management
 Relief response
 Relief/Safety
 Relief/Safety
 Client cooperation
 Language barrier
 Placement readily
available
 Applicable state and
federal law
 Available resources for
placement, if necessary
 Complete packet
 Records Management
for Transition Team
policies
 Requirements for
continued case
monitoring












Staff
Translator
Electronic forms
Electronic signature pad.
E‐mail (or method to feed info
back to RFU).
Reliable transportation
Food and/or toy
Placement Family, Facility
TDM
FAPT
ERO
CAN




Staff
OASIS
ASAPS
EDMS
Page 256
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION SERVICES PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Assess Emergency
 Data from Intake which  Complete and
should include:
workable case
o Household income
o Household
composition
o Situational elements
o Social security
number
o Photo ID
 State and Federal Laws
and Regulations relating
to each program
 Lack of systems
integration to quickly pull
all relevant information
from applicable systems
 Response deadline
requirements








2
Develop Action Plan
 Complete and workable  Action Plan
case
 Lack of city funding for
 Complete and current list of
various resource options
all available and viable options
and programs that can
provide immediate relief
within 24‐48 hours
 EA (Emergency Assistance –
rent and utilities)
 Medication assistance
 SNAP
 TANF ‐ Diversion Assistance
 Personal Resources (family,
friend, etc)
 Homeless Shelters
 Refugee Program
ADAPT System
HARMONY
SPIDER
MMIS
VACMS
FTDS
Staff
Integrated system with
compiled information from
applicable systems
Page 257
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION SERVICES PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
 Community Partners
3
Initiate Relief
 Action Plan
 Relief Disbursement  Unavailability of
resources at referral
locations
 Inefficient bus fare (does
not include transfers)
 Lack of universal
application for all
services
 Lack of new initiatives for
quick relief









Shelters
Food Bank
SNAP (same day receipt)
EA Pledge for utility or rent
payment
Hotel voucher
Medicine voucher
TANF – Diversion Assistance
Bus fare including enough for
a transfer
New Initiatives –
o Universal application for
all services
o Forgiveness loads
through banking
institutions
o City loans at low interest
o Payee Service
o Use of vacant building for
homeless
o Vouchers for temporary
housing
o Vouchers to grocery
stores
o Paperless process
Page 258
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION SERVICES PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
o Gas cards/cab vouchers
4
Complete File/Records
Management
 Relief Disbursement
 Complete case
record
 Copy of client history/
 Staff
previous record on file
 Adequate time to complete
file
 State/federal regulations
on document format
 Electronic data management
 State regulations on
system
document retention
Page 259
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPLICATION PROCESSING AND ROUTING (BASE LEVEL SERVICE) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Receive Request for Service
 Complete and
electronically entered
application from Intake
 Preliminarily
 Staff cannot modify client
verified application
application
 Security requirements
 Access to computer
systems
 Regulations regarding
timeliness of processing
 Sufficient personnel for timely
review
 Staff trained on all systems
 ADAPT
 HARMONY
 OASIS
 VUWRS
 ASAPS
 Standardized processing
review form
2
Determine Eligibility for Base
Request
 Preliminarily verified
application
 Supplemental data  Confidentiality policy
 Complete and
 Eligibility rules for each
accurate request
program or service
for service
applied for
 TANF requires face‐to‐
face review
 VDSS QA error
assignment
 Lack of record
coordination among city
and state systems
 City policy regarding
access to Work Number
system






Staff
Telecommunications
Interpreter/TTY access
Transportation
Release of information form
Look‐up tables for program
eligibility
 Time management training for
staff
 Program cross‐training for
staff
Page 260
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPLICATION PROCESSING AND ROUTING (BASE LEVEL SERVICE) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
3
Activity
Input
Outputs
Approve or Deny Request
 Complete and accurate
request for service
 Approval or denial
of service request
Controls
Resources
 State/federal regulations  Electronic approval system
on service eligibility
 Notification system
 Look‐up tables for program
eligibility
 Time management training for
staff
 Program cross‐training for
staff
Page 261
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPLICATION PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED SERVICE) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Determine Eligibility for
Expanded Services
 Complete and
electronically entered
application from Intake
 Referral from base
application processing
 Client concurrence
 Preliminarily
 Security requirements
verified application  Access to computer
systems
 Regulations regarding
timeliness of processing
 Sufficient personnel for timely
review
 Staff trained on all systems
 ADAPT
 HARMONY
 OASIS
 VUWRS
 ASAPS
 Standardized processing
review form
2
Conduct Data Research
 Preliminarily verified
application
 Client concurrence
 Supplemental data  Confidentiality policy
 Complete and
 Eligibility rules for each
accurate request
program or service
for service
applied for
 TANF requires face‐to‐
face review
 VDSS QA error
assignment
 Lack of record
coordination among city
and state systems
 City policy regarding
access to Work Number
system
 Residence of











Staff
Telecommunications
Interpreter/TTY access
Transportation
Release of information form
Look‐up tables for program
eligibility
Time management training for
staff
Program cross‐training for
staff
Family assessment staff
ADAPT
HARMONY
Page 262
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPLICATION PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED SERVICE) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
client/family
Resources











3
Develop Client/Family Profile
 Results of data search
 Client/family interview
 Eligibility
 State/federal regulations
determinations
on service eligibility
 Identification of
 Family concurrence
potential
community partner
services
OASIS
VUWRS
ASAPS
Richmond Schools data
Richmond Behavioral Health
data
Criminal justice information
systems data
Juvenile justice information
systems data
Client data from community
partners
Data on other family members
Research guidelines
Standardized processing
review form
 Electronic approval system
 Notification system
 Look‐up tables for program
eligibility
 Time management training for
staff
 Program cross‐training for
staff
 Ecomap
 Genogram
Page 263
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
APPLICATION PROCESSING AND ROUTING (ADVANCED SERVICE) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
4
Transfer to Case Management
Input
Outputs
 Eligibility screening data  Eligibility
determination
 Client/family profile
 Referral to case
management
Controls
 Eligibility requirements
 Client/family
concurrence
 Processing timeliness
requirements
Resources
 Electronic document
management system
 Ecomap
 Genogram
Page 264
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Receive Case from Request
Processing
 Comprehensive
 Case Assignment
Assessment (includes
FAPT & TDM input)
 “Acceptance” of services
 Federal/state/agency
timelines
 F/S/A credential
requirements for staff
 Federal/State
information systems
 Scheduling constraints
 Staff availability
 Budget
 Staff KSAs




2
Conduct Interpersonal
Assessment
 Comprehensive
Assessment
 Feedback/input from
assessment team
 Federal/state/agency
timelines
 Family availability
 Scheduling constraints
 Staff availability
 Budget
 Staff KSAs
 Public perception of the
agency (including case
manager’s roles)
 Safety issues
 Technology (e.g., laptops,
mobile data entry
systems, etc.)
 Transportation





 Family relationship
 Level of
engagement
 Prioritization of
needs
 Identification of
strengths
 Identification of
additional needs
 Identification of
existing supports
Routing information
Assessment Team
Assessment Data System
Staff KSAs
Family relationship
Level of engagement
Prioritization of needs
Identification of strengths
Identification of additional
needs
 Identification of existing
supports
Page 265
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
3
Develop Case/Transition Plan
Input
Outputs
 Comprehensive
 Service plan (goals
Assessment (including
& objectives,
input from existing
timelines,
providers, court orders,
resources,
releases of info, etc.)
providers, etc.)
 Feedback/input from
 Family
assessment team
commitment/engag
ement
 Input from the family
 Data entry into
 Prioritization of needs
information system
 Identification of
strengths
 Identification of
additional needs
 Identification of existing
supports
Controls
Resources
 Federal/state/agency
timelines & requirements
re visits, face‐to‐face
interviews, benefits, etc.)
 Family availability
 Scheduling constraints
 Staff availability
 Budget
 Community
resources/funding
 Staff KSAs
 Public perception of the
agency (including case
manager’s roles)
 Safety issues
 Technology (e.g., laptops,
mobile data entry
systems, etc.)
 Transportation
 Providers & services (e.g.,
schools)
 Family barriers (language,
culture, resistance ‐
family may not want to
address substance abuse,
disabilities, level of
development, etc.)
 Case Manager
 Staff KSAs
 FAPT (Family Assessment and
Planning Team)
 TDM (Team Decision Making)
 Technology (e.g., laptops,
mobile data entry systems,
etc.)
 Transportation
 Providers & services (e.g.,
schools)
 Funding
 Prior documentation
 Translators/interpreters
 Language line
 Template for a comprehensive
service plan
 Education/training for city
administrators & community
partners
Page 266
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
 Lack of consensus
(among staff, providers,
family, etc.) re what
should be on the plan,
goals, & priorities
 No standardized service
plan
 City Administration (lack
of understanding of how
we work)
4
Implement Case Plan
 Comprehensive service
plan
 Family commitment
 Information
management system &
data
 Transition
 Federal/state/agency
timelines
 Federal/State
information systems
 Scheduling constraints
 Staff availability
 Budget
 Staff KSAs
 Family barriers (language,
culture, resistance ‐
family may not want to
address substance abuse,
disabilities, level of
development,
preferences for specific
providers, etc.)
 Providers & services (including
community resources, court‐
appointed guardians, etc.)
 Family
 Assessment Data System
 Staff KSAs
 Case Manager/Team
 FAPT/TDM/ADM
 Court
 Family supports
 Technology
Page 267
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
 Lack of consensus
(among staff, providers,
family, etc.) re what
should be on the plan,
goals, & priorities
 Community
resources/funding
 Public perception of the
agency (including case
manager’s roles)
 Safety issues
 Technology (e.g., laptops,
mobile data entry
systems, etc.)
 Transportation
 Providers & services (e.g.,
schools, culturally
competent providers,
etc.)
 City Administration (lack
of understanding of how
we work)
5
Implement Transition Plan
 Successful completion of  Self Sufficiency
 Federal/state/agency
service plan
timelines
 Stable family
o Recommendation  Transfer of
 Federal/State
based on
information systems
information or files
readiness
 Providers & services (including
community resources, court‐
appointed guardians, etc.)
 Family & natural supports
Page 268
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
CASE MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
6
Close Case
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
evaluation
 Recommendation to
close case based on:
o Non‐compliance
o Request from
family to
terminate
services
o Death
 Transfer to another
locality or another
agency
to another locality
or another agency
 Update of MIS
 Tracking outcome
surveys
 Lack of agency tracking
tools/systems
 Staff KSAs
 Family availability
 Budget
 Public perception of the
agency (including case
manager’s roles)
 Community
resources/funding
 Providers & services (e.g.,
schools, culturally
competent providers,
etc.)
 City Administration (lack
of understanding of how
we work)
 Court system




 Final Case Report
 Closed File
 Case assessment
determination
 Records management
requirements
 EDMS
 Records Management









Assessment Data System
Staff KSAs
Case Manager/Team
Court (may need to notify the
court)
Transition Plan Template, to
be developed
Access to all systems
OASIS
HARMONY
ADAPT
ESPAS
ASAPS
Family Works Plan
Community partners
Page 269
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Receive Request for Foster
Home Referral
 Referral Form or Request  Received Request
for foster care
for foster care
 Timeliness requirements  E‐mail or Electronic
Notification of Referral
 Applicable state and
federal regulations
 Standardized Referral Form in
electronic format
 Referring worker training for
providing comprehensive
information on referral form
2
Complete Initial Assessment
 Received Request for
foster care
 Assessed client and  Confidentiality
situation
 Applicable regulations
surrounding
placement
 Harmony
 Access to Safe Passages (Ed.,
Judicial, and Social Services)
 Established criteria for
adequate assessment
 SMART Database of approved
foster families with super
sorting capabilities (to be
developed0
 Fully Staffed
 Hand held technology
3
Access Database of Approved
Foster Families
 Assessed client and
situation surrounding
placement
 Selection of foster
family choices
 Comprehensive Database
 Training to access database
with user restrictions
 Picture of family attached to
electronic file
 Internal control to ensure
 Confidentiality
 Foster family availability
Page 270
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
accuracy of data in database
4
Select Foster Family
 Selection of foster family  Selected foster
choices
family
 Daycare Pool Selection
 Certified Family (license)
 Notification of ‘Do Not
Use’ Providers
 Ineffective Community
Partner Referrals
5
Notify Referring Worker
 Selected foster family
 Need to research liability  Play room area on 3rd Floor for
of having kids in the
holding kids until transported
office
or picked up by foster family
 Access to funds for food/  Harmony
snack
 Consolidated work area for
the foster family division
 Existing case aids to man the
play room
 Food
 Care Packages (hygiene
products)
 Internal Storage
 Notified Referring
Worker of the
selected foster
family
 Harmony
 On‐going training
development
 Standardized Home Studies
 Current Home Studies
 Weekly bed list
w/addendums, if applicable
 Expanded Day Care Pool
Selection
 Targeted Recruitment for
older kids
Page 271
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FOSTER FAMILY MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
6
Manage Payments
Input
 Request for payment
 Receipts, as applicable
Outputs
 Payment made
Controls
 Service price controls
 City of Richmond
financial procedures
Resources






Harmony system
Advantage system
RAPIDS system
Department finance staff
Quality Assurance review
Pay advice forms
Page 272
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Receive Request for Service
 Case application
 Existing case files
 Digital record
 Case number
assignment or
verification
 Confidentiality rules
 Timeliness rules for
application processing
 Court requirements for
original documents
 Existing hard copy files
 Record management staff
 Electronic data management
system (EDMS)
 Customer Portal
 Contract with Enttrust
 State policy on electronic
communications
 User assistance for customer
portal
2
Worker Processing
 Existing case files
 Digital record
 Digital record
 Cross reference to
hard copy file
 Confidentiality rules
 Timeliness rules for
application processing
 Electronic interface with
State systems
 Granting temporary
access to case file
 State system security
policies
o No 3rd party
processing
o Rules on wireless
transactions
 Segregation of storage
 Requirements for form of
documentation (i.e., TIFF




Records management staff
EDMS
High speed scanning capacity
Remote desktop scanning
capacity
 Need common client record
index
o VACIS Number
o OASIS
o ADAPT
o Harmony
o VaMMIS
o VUWRS
o ASAPS
o VaCMS
o Other systems
Page 273
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
v. PDF)
Resources
 Tracking system for hard copy
records
 Staff training
 RFID for hard copy records
3
Case Closure
 Final case files
 Closed files
 Confidentiality rules
 State system security
policies
o No 3rd party
processing
o Rules on wireless
transactions
 Segregation of storage
 Requirements for form of
documentation (i.e., TIFF
v. PDF)
 Records management staff
 EDMS
 Tracking system for hard copy
records
 Staff training
 RFID for hard copy records
4
Record Retention
 Purge schedule
 Purged files and
documents
 State and federal
regulations regarding
purge dates by case
and/or file type
 Shredding equipment or
contract
 Archival storage system
Page 274
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Perform Risk Assessment
 External audits
 Performance reports
 Customer complaints
 Risk Assessment
 Access to information
with identified and
systems
ranked risk areas
 Lack of cooperation from
program managers and
Deputy Directors
 Sufficient resources for
full QA review process
 State performance audit
standards
 Federal performance
regulations
 Previous Audits
 Customer Complaints
 Performance measures and
results
 Risk Assessment Training
 Staff (QA, Program managers
and Deputy Directors)
 Template for Risk Assessment
 Industry best practices
 Risk assessment guidelines of
the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations (COSO)
2
Develop Overall QA Plan
 Risk Assessment with
identified and ranked
risk areas
 Overall QA Plan
 RDSS leadership
 QA staff
 Risk assessment guidelines of
the Committee of Sponsoring
Organizations (COSO)
 Agency calendar
3
Communicate QA Plan
 Overall QA Plan
 Communicated Plan  Agency schedule
 Understanding of
 Availability of Staff
Plan
 Staff By‐in and
Cooperation
 RDSS leadership By‐in
and cooperation
 RDSS leadership
availability
 City Policies




RDSS leadership
QA
General Staff
Community Partners
Page 275
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
4
Execute QA Plan
Input
 Communicated Plan
 Understanding of Plan
 Staff By‐in and
Cooperation
Outputs
 Report with
findings
Controls
 Non‐standardization of
files
 Restriction to files
 Missing files
 Lost Data
 State performance audit
guidelines
 Lack of QA staff to
investigate the risk areas
 Lack of training on
performing investigations
 RDSS policies
 State/Federal Laws
 Lack of budget for
technology ((laptops or
ipads for recording
investigation results)
Resources














5
Develop Corrective Action Plan
 Report with findings
 Corrective Action
Plan
 Implemented
 State/ Federal Laws
 Lack of training on
developing corrective
Staff By‐in and Cooperation
Files
Performance Measures
Access to Data Systems
QA staff training on
performing investigation
QA staff
Documentation control
system
RDSS policies
State/Federal Laws
Technology (laptops or ipads
for recording investigation
results)
General Accountability Office
“Yellow Book” guidelines for
performance audits
Institute of Internal Auditors
guidelines
American Society for Quality
guidelines
Council on Accreditation
(COA) guidelines
 Staff By‐in and Cooperation
 Files
 Performance Measures
Page 276
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Corrective Action
Plan
6
Monitor Corrective Action Plan
 Corrective Action Plan
 Determination if
Corrective Actions
 Implemented Corrective
are effective
Action Plan
 Final Report
Controls
Resources
action plan
 Lack of staff By‐in and
Cooperation
 Access to Data Systems
 Training on developing
corrective action plan
 QA Staff
 Corrective action plan
template
 Documentation control
system
 RDSS policies
 State/Federal Laws
 Technology
 Benchmarks or best practices
amongst other agencies
 Lack of staff By‐in and
Cooperation
 State/ Federal Laws
 Lack of budget for
technology (laptops or
ipads)
 Surveys
 Measurement goals and
results
 QA
 Training
 Staff
 Technology (laptops or ipads)
Page 277
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Resources
 Budget (Recruitment
staff, added web portal
for recruitment, exhibit
equipment)
 Procurement Regulations
 CPT – Community Policy
Team
 Recruitment Staff
 Recruitment Staff
 Marketing Information
regarding RDSS Needs
 Exhibit Equipment
 Providers Recruitment tab on
RDSS portal
1
Establish Pool of Providers





2
Assess Service Providers
 Pool of Providers
 Selected Providers  UR Staff
 Recruitment Staff Efforts  Supporting
 Pressure from Providers
Documentation for
to be selected
selection or non‐
 State Requirements (back
selection
ground check, licensures,
etc.)
 Budget (laptop, training)






3
Execute Service Contracts
 Selected Providers




Community Agencies
State CSA website
State Providers List
Referrals
Virginia Associates of
Private Providers
 External Training
 Pool of Providers
for Fast Track and
Normal Track
Controls
 Executed Contacts
 Lack of Electronic Storage
Space
 Contract Specialist
 Procurement Regulations
 Scan Equipment
 Budget (attorney
Case Mgmt Rep
Financial Rep
Utilization Review (UR) Staff
Utilization Manager (UM)
CQI Rep
Tablet (laptop) with electronic
review tool
 Evaluation/ Coaching Training
Attorneys
Contract Templates
Contract Specialists
Scan Equipment
Page 278
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
services)
4
Update Approved Providers
Database
 Executed Contracts
 Database of
 Limited Existing database  Consolidated Providers List
Approved Providers  Budget (New Smart
Database
technology database,
 Smart Technology for
training)
database (tracks changes,
sorting, etc.)
 Training of Technology
 Contract Specialists
 Harmony
 Updated Providers Profile
5
Monitor Service Providers
 Database of Providers
 Complaints
 Referral from Case
Management
 Request by Service
providers
 Required Reviews
 Utilization Review
Report
 CSA Review Policy
 Annual Background
Check
 Monitoring Staff
 Access to City Vehicle
 Budget (Monitoring staff,
technology – laptop, cell
phones)
6
Approve Provider Invoices
 Provider invoice
 Contract for service
 Payment
authorization
 Original service contract,  Provider service data
with amendments
 Harmony system
 City payment policies and
procedures
7
Evaluate Performance Outcome  Providers Report
 Evaluated Providers  Providers Outcome
 Monitoring Staff
 Monitoring Review Tool
 Training to provide on‐going
assistance
 Cell Phone
 Access to state UM/UR
Network
 Tablets (laptop)
 Transportation
 Report Template
Page 279
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
UTILIZATION MANAGEMENT PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
from Providers
8
Determine Continued Service
Outputs
Report
 UR Report
 Evaluated Providers
Report
 Decision of
continued service
Controls
Report
Resources
 Providers Report
 UR Staff
 Established Evaluation criteria
or ranking/scoring
 UR Staff
 UM
 Established criteria for
keeping or terminating
services
Page 280
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Requisition
Specifications
Requirements
Need by date
Suggested vendors
Any additional
supporting documents
 Approved
Requisition
 Who’s assigned to
fulfill the request
 City and State
Procurement Policies and
regulations
 Lack of staff to handle
the request volume
 Lack of budget for
training and/or for
additional staff if needed





 RAPIDS (Advantage)
 Harmony
 City/State Supply
Schedule
 Timeliness of receiving
quotes
 Lack of vendors who can
provide services required
 Lack of Staff to handle
the demand for
reviewing and selecting
vendors
 Lack of cross training
 Lack of budget for
training and/or for
 A buyer
 Vendors who can provide
goods required
 Quotes from Vendors
 Budget for training and/or
additional staff if needed
 Standard Operating
Procedures for Vendor
selection
1
Receive Request for Service






2
Select Vendor
 Approved Requisition
 Selected Vendor
 Who’s assigned to fulfill  Quoted Price
the request
 Availability of the
good
Resources
Requestor
A buyer
Advantage
Harmony
Standard Operating Procedure
(SOP) for Approving Requests
 Training of Advantage and
Harmony system
 Budget for training and/or
additional staff if needed
Page 281
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
additional staff if needed
 Lack of SOP for
consistent selection
process
3
Generate Purchase Order in
System
 Selected Vendor
 Quoted Price
 Availability of the good
 Notified selected
Vendor
 Approved PO
 If state requires physical
signature on PO approval
 RAPIDS (Advantage)
 Harmony
 Lack of technology for
electronic signature
 Lack of Staff to handle
the volume of POs
 Lack of cross training
 Lack of SOP for data
entry
 Worker’s accountability
for accurate data input
 Lack of budget for added
technology for automatic
electronic notification to
vendors
 Lack of budget for
technology for electronic
signature
 A buyer
 Selected Vendor
 If physical signature is
required, a consolidated
stamp for signatures
 Technology for vendor
notification when PO is ready
for approval
 Vendors access to Advantage
via RDSS portal to download
and approve PO
 Technology for electronic
signature
 Standard Operating
Procedures for Generating
POs
 Workers accountable for
accurate data input
 Budget for added technology
for automatic electronic
notification to vendors
 Budget for technology for
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RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
electronic signature
4
Vendor submits invoice via
Advantage Portal




Notified selected Vendor  Approved Invoice
Approved PO
Received goods
Invoice from Vendor
5
Issue Payment via Advantage
 Approved Invoice
 Payment
 RAPIDS (Advantage)
 Harmony
 If State requires physical
signature on Invoice
approval
 Internal and External
Auditor lack of DSS
programs knowledge
 Lack of budget for added
technology for automatic
notification an invoice
has been received
 If physical signature is
required, a consolidated
stamp for signatures
 Vendors access to Advantage
via RDSS Portal for Vendors to
upload or submit invoice
 Technology for Finance
notification that an Invoice
has been uploaded or
received
 Budget added technology for
automatic notification an
invoice has been received
 Harmony
 Lack of Education of
Harmony
 Vendors who aren’t
setup to receive
electronic payment
 Lack of budget for
technology that can
bridge or link OASIS and
Harmony for stop
 Technology that can bridge or
link OASIS and Harmony for
stop payment situations
 Vendors setup to receive
electronic payment
 Harmony training
 Budget for technology that
can bridge or link OASIS and
Harmony for stop payment
situations
Page 283
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
FINANCE (SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS) PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
payment situations
Page 284
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY AND FRAUD PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
1
Receive Investigation Report
 Hotline
 Online Portal
 Internal Referrals
 Record of
complaint for
screening
 Online Investigation
Requests
 Harmony
 Lack of Training in
Harmony
 Harmony
 Training in Harmony
 Fraud Staff
2
Screen/Validate Request
 Investigation Request
 Identification of a
valid referral
 Criteria to determine if
there is enough
information to proceed
 Criteria to warrant an
investigation
 Training on validating a
request
 Fraud Staff
 Harmony
 Criteria to determine if there
is enough information to
proceed
 Criteria to warrant an
investigation
3
Assign Investigator(s)
 Valid Request
 Assignment
 Reconciliation between  Harmony
Harmony and Fraud Data  Reconciliation between
Tracking (FDT) system
Harmony and Fraud Data
 Limited access to FDT
Tracking (FDT) system
 Limited functionality of  Available/Experienced
FDT (Investigation Can’t
Investigators
be tracked in FDT system
until case is flagged as
“begun”)
Page 285
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY AND FRAUD PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
Input
Outputs
Controls
Resources
4
Conduct Investigation
 Investigation
 Assignment
 Final Report
 Annual Fee for
professional designations
 Access to Training
 Unsecure location for
records prior to closure
 Electronically attach data
in Harmony and FDT
 Investigation Checklist
 Budget (training,
technology‐laptops,
cellphones)
 Access to city vehicle
 Lack of cooperation of
person or provider being
investigated
 Access to all applicable
systems (OASIS, SPIDER,
ADAPT)
 Safe Passages
 Consolidated Case
Management file
 Technology (tablets, laptops,
cellphones)
 Access to Training
 Secure location for ongoing
case data
 Investigator
 Person or Provider being
investigated
 Case Management
 Transportation (if
investigation have to be
offsite)
 Reporting template
5
Issue Final Report
 Final Report
 Distributed Final
Report
 VA DSS Fraud Reduction
& Elimination Manual
 Fraud Staff
 Supervisor
 VA DSS Fraud Reduction &
Elimination Manual
 Case Management
 Access to Training on Industry
Standards
Page 286
RICHMOND DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES
BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING PLAN
PROJECT REPORT – DECEMBER 2012
RECOVERY AND FRAUD PROCESS
TABLE OF INPUTS, CONTROLS, OUTPUTS, AND RESOURCES
Activity
6
Close Investigation Request
Input
Outputs
Controls
 Distributed Final Report  Closed Investigation  VA DSS Fraud Reduction
& Elimination Manual
 Lack of Electronic Storage
capabilities
 Restitution management
tracking system
 Accounting Department
 Budget (increase
electronic storage space,
restitution tracking
system)
Resources
 Fraud Staff
 VA DSS Fraud Reduction &
Elimination Manual
 Electronic Storage capabilities
 Restitution management
tracking system
 Accounting Department
Page 287