Understanding how NC Fast impacts County Workload

1. Understanding how NC Fast impacts County Workload

2. Understanding how NC Fast impacts County Workload Timothy Scott Business Process Consultant Six Sigma Black Belt timothy.scott@mecklenburgcountync.gov 704-591-5007 Trevor Thomason Business Process Consultant Six Sigma Green Belt 704-363-5447 Mecklenburg County

3. Meeting goals… • Establish time “standards” in NC Fast • Help counties understand how NC Fast impacts their business/budget • Review how counties can measure, track, and analyze the productivity of staff working in NC FAST • Discuss the data we have today • Understand how we captured this information • Are we missing any data • Determine next steps • Review “Capacity Model”

4. Determining Time Standards & Understanding CapacityPhase 1

5. How is NC Fast impacting your county… “NC Fast is slow and processing applications is taking longer...” “Our clients are waiting longer to get their benefits…” “Staff is working more overtime to handle our workload…” “We don’t have enough people in our office to handle the additional work it takes to process a claim…” “My County Commissioners want to understand how this is impacting our ability to serve our citizens…” “How is NC Fast impacting county workload…” How can we take these subjective comments and respond withobjectivedata?

6. Rodney Adam’s, Director ESD, had a business problem… • How is NC Fast impacting our ability to process applications? • How many people do I need on staff for FY 2015 budget? • How many applications can I process with the staff I have? • What service level can be reasonably achieved? • …What is the current capacity in • Mecklenburg County?

7. Be flexible • Develop DSS Strategic Plan • Partner to develop a “Consolidated Services Model” • Increase communication • Increase learning and continuous quality We NEED to understand capacity

8. Move from “Reactionary” to “Predictive” …Tactical to Strategic …Random to Balanced …Unanticipated to Planned 

9. Understanding time in business processes… • Touch Time (TT) – How long it takes to complete a task How can we apply industrial engineering practices to solve this business problem?

10. How can we apply industrial engineering practices to solve this business problem? • Understanding time in business processes… • Touch Time (TT) • Wait Time (WT) – Does the process STOP and wait for something to be completed

11. How can we apply industrial engineering practices to solve this business problem? • Understanding time in business processes… • Touch Time (TT) • Wait Time (WT) • Cycle Time (CT) – Overall time for task to be completed

12. Understanding time in business processes… • Touch Time (TT) • Wait Time (WT) • Cycle Time (CT) • Touch Time + Wait Time = Cycle Time How can we apply industrial engineering practices to solve this business problem?

13. Completed process maps for key activities across DSS… • Identified the major business tasks or “chunks of work” in process maps… • How long does it take to complete the task? • How often does this event happen? • How complex is the task? • Consider business culture… How can we apply industrial engineering practices to solve this business problem?

14. How much does it cost to replace a muffler on my 2007 Toyota pick-up truck? Real world example…

17. Understand repair procedure (process map) Conduct time study with a fully trained technician (gather data from case worker) Allow for non-productive time - locating vehicle, pulling into service bay, test-drive after repair… (non-productive time) Establish time standards How do you establish Time Standards?

18. Complete process map…

19. Identify key tasks…

20. Identify key tasks… Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 6 Task 4 Task 5

21. How long does it take to complete the task – DURATION? (days, hours, minutes, seconds…) • How often does this event happen - FREQUENCY? (yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly…) • How complicated is the business process - COMPLEXITY? (simple, moderate, requires specialization…) • Employee / department differences – VARIATION? (novice, solid performer, expert / job function) • Leader / team attitude – CULTURE? Considerations for time study tool selection

22. Tool selection and criteria…

23. Tool selection and criteria…

24. Medicaid programs… • Work First… • Food and Nutrition programs… • Size of County… • Demographic differences… • Representative sample… • Data collection time frame… • Number of study participants… • Tenure of employees… • How you train study participants… Is this data collection model “Repeatable” and “Reproducible” What are the business tasks and factors we should study?

25. Create tracking tool and train staff on usage…

26. Identify sample size, participants & skill level… Identify skill type across sample population

27. Factors to consider when determining capacity: • Employee productivity • Number of meetings • Vacation, sick days and holidays • Training requirements • Team building days • Overtime considerations • Workdays per year (256 days) • Employee skill level (Expert, Solid Performer, Novice) • Type work done (duration, frequency, complexity, variation, culture)

28. Food and Nutrition Services New Application Processing (Touch Time per Task - Minutes) 114 Minutes of Total “ Average Touch Time” 19 mins 14 mins 23 mins 16 mins 42 mins Processing Application n=37 ISSI Search and Registration n=40 NC FAST Search & Registration n=29 Keying Application in NCF & Assigning n=21 Updating ISSI n=50 1 – 50 mins 1– 31 mins 1 – 58 mins 3 – 75 mins 3 – 90 mins Data ranges for each step in FNS Application Processing n = number of samples taken for a specific step

29. Medical Assistance New Application Processing (Touch Time per Task - Minutes) 126 Minutes of Total “Average Touch Time” 10 mins 18 mins 28 mins 15 mins 55 mins Processing Application n=37 ISSI Search and Registration n=40 NC FAST Search & Registration n=45 Keying Application in NCF & Assigning n=21 Updating ISSI n=50 1 – 31 mins 1 – 97 mins 1 – 112 mins 3 – 51 mins 1 – 228 mins Data ranges for each step in MA Application Processing n = number of samples taken for a specific step

32. TOTAL *Estimates – Time study has not been conducted for these activities **Based on proposed process to manually close case in EIS and re-key as new streamlined application in NCF.

33. FNS: New Application From start to finish, the average touch time to completely process a New FNS Application should take… 110 – 125 min. (Electronic) 110 – 130 min. (Electronic & paper)

34. FNS: Re-Certification From start to finish, the average touch time to completely process an FNS Re-certification should take… 45 – 55 min. (Electronic) 50 – 60 min. (Electronic & paper)

35. MA: New Application – NON MAGI From start to finish, the average touch time to completely process a New MA Application should take… 130 – 140 min. (Electronic) 130 – 150 min. (Electronic & paper)

36. To Do List:

37. Managing variability in processes… Common Cause Variation & Special Cause Variation It’s important to understand the amount of variability… Reduce the amount of variability; compress the upper and lower control limit

38. Developed a forecasting model

39. Developed a forecasting model Given the application volume stated above, this is the number of staff needed to process claims

40. Disciplined and pragmatic approach to determine capacity

41. Determining Time Standards & Understanding CapacityPhase 2 Capacity Model

42. Demonstration

43. Questions?

44. Understanding how NC Fast impacts County Workload Timothy Scott Business Process Consultant Six Sigma Black Belt timothy.scott@mecklenburgcountync.gov 704-591-5007 Trevor Thomason Business Process Consultant Six Sigma Green Belt 704-363-5447 Mecklenburg County

45. Thank you…