Lean Six Sigma in MIDAS

1. Lean Six Sigma in MIDAS

2. Lean Six Sigma is a recognized industry best practice for business improvement which focuses on increasing the speed and quality of a process It is comprised of phases that allow processes to be defined, measured, analyzed, improved, and controlled What makes LSS different is: Highly Structured Approach Driven by Quantitative Measurements Process Improvements Developed are Significant The purpose of using LSS is to identify process efficiencies Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Defined Lean: Enhances efficiency by eliminating waste Six Sigma: Improves quality by reducing variation & eliminating "defects" Lean Six Sigma Methodology Define Measure Analyze Improve Control • Define Objective • Collect Data • Analyze Data • Improve Processes • Control Change

3. LSS Role in MIDAS • MIDAS Program is using Lean Six Sigma (LSS) to evaluate business processes to increase productivity and reduce costs while maintaining or improving the quality of service and responsiveness to our customers • FSA is identifying business processes for improvement and conduct LSS Projects (Business Process Improvement) based on: • Document current and future enterprise wide business processes for delivering services to customers (Enterprise Business Process Improvement implementation) • Identify “Quick Hit” projects that require: • Minimal IT solution efforts • Minimal effort to implement a form/procedure/policy change • In other words, a “Quick Hit” project could be implemented in a very short period of time (~0-6 weeks) • Improvement opportunities identified by the FSA County Service Centers • Identify MIDAS requirements as input to the MIDAS acquisition effort

4. LSS – Past Efforts • In 2008, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) captured its current business processes using the Lean Six Sigma methodology. • The effort included visits to FSA county offices throughout the country • Top five farm benefit programs were looked at for this effort, along with common processes (examples, eligibility, POA, SCIMS etc.) • Captured pain points and/or recommendations, along with requirements for MIDAS system • Developed “to-be” business processes from the captured “as- is” processes and pain point and/or recommendations

5. Total of 5 cycles completed plus the initial pilot site visit (Jan – Sep 2008) Site Visits to 12 States, 15 States participated, 5 USDA regions covered Site Visit to 12 Service Centers with 140 Service Centers participated Top 5 programs covered, representing 95% of all Farm Programs (# of Transactions and $$ Spent) Common processes that affects all Programs also covered (Eligibility, Acreage reporting, Recons, Sig. Auth/POA etc.) LSS methodology used to document as-is processes and to gather pain points (issues) and recommendations from county staff ~2200* pain points & ~900* recommendations were elicited *actual number of pain points and recommendations elicited, before consolidation and/or removing duplicates LSS Past Efforts - Site Visit Summary

6. Some Pictures from LSS Site Visits

7. Results from LSS Site Visits

8. Quick Hit Projects Completed so far • Reduce redundancy and time to fill the 770 checklist (savings of $815,552/yr) • Reduce compliance errors associated with writing “By” or “For” during signing process(savings of $1,699,544/yr) • Signature Authority: Reduce time and errors for FSA staff to make legal determinations (savings of $8,041,994/yr) • Combined savings of *$10,556,190/yr (*Combination of soft/hard savings) • Note: • Hard savings are the actual dollar savings that can be tracked by the accountants (i.e. reduction in budget) • Soft savings are typically time savings that don’t result in budget reductions. They are harder to measure directly—other examples include improved job satisfaction, lower turnover, less absenteeism, etc.

9. LSS - Current Efforts • Supporting 3 business functional teams • MAL (Initial scope – Loan origination) • Common Process (Customer data, eligibility, fiduciary) • Common Land (Farm records, Acreage reporting, GIS) • Primary focus is to analyze current business processes and policies • Identify and implement process improvements • Assisting FSA business teams in supporting the system Integrator

10. LSS – Future Efforts • Process Improvement activities using DMAIC • Review/approve functional requirements of Workflows and Process Models • Support Farm Programs, transition and management • Part of POC solution testing at selected counties • Close loop on “As Is” by addressing end user concerns. • Key Organizational Change Management Resource • Conduit for FSA and SI communications

11. LSS - Summary • Primary objective is to ensure business processes and policies are simplified and standardized before automating • MIDAS is not just IT – it includes business process improvements • Foster a culture of continuous improvement, focusing on customers (internal and external)