Our client is a European governmental organization responsible for handling questions and complaints related to data protection from the general public, businesses and public administration. As a government body, they are bound by the general principles of public administration, such as efficient procedures and well-defined accountability
The recent entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) raised awareness of privacy rights and related obligations, increasing demand for our client’s services by 200%. Although the organization had already increased their headcount, it was not enough to meet expectations for speed and quality in case resolution. Why?
A bureaucratic structure and rigid procedures restricted information flows and consequently hindered case workers’ abilities to meet current demand. Due to the nature of their activity, which is knowledge (legislation) and collaboration intensive, the flow of work could be difficult to predict. The sheer number of case types established – more than 80 – showed there was much scope for processes to be integrated and streamlined.
Furthermore, their outdated legacy archiving system hadn’t been able to keep pace with the volume and complexity of work, making case managers resort to alternative ways of sharing documents, such as email or free file sharing tools.
All of these constraints lead to an information overload, with staff having to fumble through a maze of paper trails, spreadsheets, emails and switching between platforms to effectively resolve claims. They were losing productive hours looking for and collating information or performing manual routine tasks. In addition, much of the work was often similar or duplicated between departments. Determining the exact status of a request was hugely time-consuming and impossible to do in real-time, a reflection of the lack of control over processes by case workers. In addition to these structural problems, this public institution was also aware of the prospect of knowledge loss due to an aging workforce and employee retirement.
In order to provide timely and accurate recommendations or dispute resolutions to its constituents, they needed to find new ways to agilize processes and optimize resources.
With a 10-year long working relationship with this client, AmeXio emerged as a strong contender to help them restructure their operating model. While this background undoubtedly helped, it was our global expertise in operational, administrative and governance change in the public sector that clinched the deal.
On one hand, due to our long history, we had a firm understanding of the client’s requirements and specificities. On the other hand, we also knew the strengths and weaknesses of technology in this area, especially regarding the required process flexibility. With an outside-in perspective, our integrated approach addressed operations, legislation, organization, culture, roles, processes and technology to modernize public services.
Our approach to a new case management digital platform, involved not only the technical development and software integration, but also the implementation of an agile system that is easy to maintain. This flexibility is especially important to easily accommodate adjustments in process requirements due to changing legislation.
Documentum was the chosen technology to support this solution, due to its
strengths in large-scale deployments where content is critical to operations. Associated with D2 and myInsight for Documentum, it was the right combination for the client’s demanding and heavy regulated environment.
The redesign of processes created an opportunity to transform to an agile way of working. More than 60 case types were simplified into one single flexible workflow template, encompassing the organization of people, data, processes and policies.
This agile case management workflow consists of five key stages, each corresponding to the required activities common to all cases. Optional steps can be added at any time, for example to request additional team members’ consultations or delegate assignments. If similar cases have already been registered, the case manager can decide to skip process steps and refer to the previous cases to justify this fast, more efficient route.
This versatility enables workers to customize their daily work to each instance, adapting processes to citizens’ needs quickly, while maintaining a structured way of working. For the project development, it also meant the resources were focused more on optimizing processes, and on reuse of process steps in an agile way – had we chosen the route of just rebuilding the same 80 processes in a new platform.
For case workers the interactive workspace dashboards show an overview of their active cases, required actions and important deadlines. From this dashboard, accessing the case information and documents is just one click away. Each case has a virtual workspace that connects all participants involved, allowing each case team to collaborate and keep cases moving through at an optimal rate.
Managers can track key performance indicators, work patterns and data flows, as well as make their own selections about how information is organized and displayed. With content and process intelligence, they can identify key areas for improvement, such as simple task reassignments.
All these pieces work together to close the knowledge gap between case files, worker’s tasks and visibility of their performance by management, moving the organization from information overload to information advantage.
Our end-to-end project included a change management strategy to support user adoption. Ten super users were identified to get involved through development, testing and implementation, acting as internal change champions. Before launch, they were fully trained by AmeXio on all they needed to know about the system, as well as guidance on training strategies and best practices they could use towards their colleagues. A full training package was built, complete with presentations, books and exercises adjusted to the different employee profiles. These factors were instrumental to drive change and smooth user adoption of all staff members.
One of the key success factors for this project was the fast-track methodology, a complete new way of implementing Documentum. After the requirements analyses, technical consultants configured a working prototype of the application. With this prototype, consultants and client’s teams tested functionalities and simulated real cases scenarios in a series of workshops, where they could make and check changes in real-time. In-between workshops, configuration continued to ensure the solution was completely in line with the actual processes and requirements of the client. As users were already familiar with the platform’s layout, workflows and features, final testing focuses on bug-finding. At the end of this stage, the solution is ready for deployment, shortening the overall development time to 50% compared to traditional methodologies. These savings also had a positive reflection
on the total project costs.
After a challenging journey, we can proudly confirm that our client cases are now 100% digitally handled
Karlijn Oosterbaan,
Product Manager myInsight
and consultant at AmeXio
With a digital end-to-end Documentum case management solution, AmeXio helped this public organization evolve to a new, adaptive way of working that aligns technology, people, content and workflows
For case workers, this means a 360-degree view of each case, full insight into their workload and fast access to information – all the flexibility they need to provide better services to the public. For managers, access to real-time performance data helps them focus on real priorities as well as eliminate the often manual work of repeatedly gathering information to report on performance to government authorities. The realtime insight across the organization is also the lynchpin for a number of benefits.
By eliminating manual tasks and paperwork, case workers have more time to spend on completing meaningful work, while ensuring no information ‘slips through the cracks’. With personalized dashboards, they now have direct control over their workload, access to the history of each case and all the information needed to get their work done, in just a couple of clicks. The flexible workflow designer alone took down timeframes of creating new case types from weeks to just a couple of hours. Since everyone involved on each case is kept in the loop, team members can easily share vital information, delegate assignments or request consultations across the organization.
Transparency and accuracy in responses is ensured through the uniform case templates, real-time reports and audit trails of activities. These tools also contribute to prevent unnecessary delays, eliminate unanswered requests due to information being out of reach, and even reduce the likelihood of complaints that can stem from errors or slow resolution.
This simpler way of collaborating makes it possible for this public authority to adapt processes to individual circumstances and provide faster follow-up, vastly improving the experience for users, all without further increasing headcount. This high-quality, personalized service, in turn, strengthens the governmental performance, inspiring citizens’ confidence in the national public institutions.
With a long-standing relationship with governmental institutions, we are proud to have made, once more, a positive and long-term contribution to improve the performance of public services in Europe.
Marco van Schaijk,
Professional Services Director at AmeXio
