Case Study: Local Government Centralized Receivables Services (CRS) Process Optimization
Executive Overview
This project involved a comprehensive process review and performance audit of the Centralized Receivables Services (CRS) Team within the Central Finance Division of a large Oregon municipality. As the project manager, I focused on identifying areas for efficiency and process enhancement within the CRS team. The review analyzed existing process maps, desk manuals, and staff workflows, yielding clear recommendations, accepted by management, for readily attainable efficiency improvements and opportunities for future exploration.
Challenge
The primary challenge was a desire by management to assess the CRS team for potential efficiency and process enhancement. The analysis revealed several key inhibitors to efficiency:
Payment Processing Time Variability: The time required to process receivables varied widely, ranging from 5 minutes for "Clean and Easy" payments to 30 minutes for "Other" checks requiring research due to missing information.
Workflow Interruptions: Staff reported that constant interruptions from phone calls significantly reduced efficiency, leading to lost time from reorienting to the task at hand. One analysis showed that five interruptions could increase the time to process a batch of checks from 1.5 hours to 4.8 hours.
Capacity and Duty Allocation: The Management Analyst felt burdened by the current workload, having absorbed coordinator duties, and recommended transferring specific work activities to the Accounting Clerk and Sr. Accounting Clerk to free up a minimum of 9 hours weekly.
Inefficient Information Flow: Critical workflow processes were hampered by poor data storage (e.g., the Telecom spreadsheet being stored on a desktop drive, not a shared server) and slow communication with other departments (e.g., the PDD team for ARS addendums).
Approach
The research was conducted by analyzing three process access points: process maps, desk manuals, and workflow discussions.
Process Mapping: Group process discussions were held with the CRS team to analyze current high-level process maps, which led to the creation of new, granular process maps for complex areas like Customer Creation and Open Item Payment Processing.
Receivables Buckets: Receivables were categorized into seven "buckets" (e.g., Clean & Easy, Telecom, ACH, Other) to estimate and track processing time variations.
Time Tracking & Comparison: Staff estimated the average time to process single payments. This was compared to weekly hour tracking conducted by staff and compared against a prior year's study to identify significant shifts in workload.
Individual Interviews: One-on-one interviews were conducted to identify workflow "pinch points" and gain insights into challenges such as training gaps, phone call disruptions, and staff capacity.
Impact
The project delivered actionable recommendations focused on reallocating workload, protecting focus time, and streamlining inter-departmental data transfer. Recommendations were accepted and implemented by leadership, creating time and resource savings.
Key Recommendations:
Workload Reduction: Transfer specific ARS and AR Account activities from the Management Analyst to the Accounting Clerk and Sr. Accounting Clerk, resulting in an estimated 9 hours weekly time freed for the Management Analyst, which is 468 hours saved annually and roughly $15,000 in annual time loss recovered.
Focus Time: Create a "quiet time" between the hours of 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. where staff do not answer or respond to phone calls, which significantly increased focus time on processing duties.
Process Streamlining: Create a shared server folder between the PDD ARS team and CRS for addendums to streamline communication, and move the Telecom database of information onto the shared server drive, which resulted in documented increase in efficiency and satisfaction among staff.