When Less is More Regina Martin Assistant Director San Joaquin DCSS.

When Less is More

Regina Martin

Assistant Director

San Joaquin DCSS

Where are the Resources?

Vacancies: RetirementsFMLADisabilityPersonal leavesBurn Out

Where are the Resources?

• Anticipated Costs Retirement costs Medical costs Step Increases

• Uncertain Costs COLAS MOUs/Contracts

• Flat Funding!!

Decisions

Rally the Troops

Form Partnerships

Seek buy-in from staff

Develop a Plan

Set Goals

Repositioning

• Implement Reallocation of resources

Utilized more staff where needed Reduced Establishment

Teams Increased Enforcement

Team Spanish Speaking

caseloads Work it or bulk it Increased use of CMT

Performance Measures

Workload Data ––––––––––––––––––––Actual–––––––––––––––– Est./Act. Projected

2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Total Distributed Collections $54,219,572 $55,400,148 $57,027,534 $59,697,751 $61,488,684

Cases Open (at fiscal year end) 35,037 36,320 36,730 37,097 37,200

Current Support Collected (%) 59.9% 62.1% 64.3% 66.7% 68.7%

Cases with Arrearage

Collections (%) 64.3% 63.2% 62.9% 66.2% 68.2%

Cases with Paternity

Established (%) 73.0% 72.7% Above 100% Above 100% Above 100%

Cases with a Child Support Order (%) 92.2% 92.7% 93.2% 94.1% 94.5%

Cost Effectiveness (Amount

Collected per Dollar Spent) $3.71 $3.88 $3.84 $3.84 $4.00

When less is MORERaji Bishnoi, Deputy Director

Ventura County DCSS

Objective

We will talk about• The challenges of ever shrinking

resources• Strategies to manage with

limited support• How to determine what help is

needed• Staff buy-in with new approaches

Where are the Resources?

■Struggle with backlogs?

■Need more resources?

■Need more staff?

“The courage to imagine the otherwise is our greatest resource,

adding color and suspense to all our life”

Daniel J. Boorstin

Some Things to ConsiderStrategies

• Does staff offer ideas to improve efficiency?

• Do current policies and procedures promote efficiency?

• Is technology utilized?• Are workload and resource

assessments conducted?• Are there workload

management benchmarks?

Some Things to Consider…

Innovation & Curiosity   

Encourage staff to offer ideas

Implement their ideas

Creating Culture

Business Process Reviews

Review Map Analyze Implement Communicate

Tools and Technology

»Does your staff have the tools to get the job done?

» Macros

» Screen scraping

» e-Court

»Communication and technology

» Email

» Texting

» Outbound Calls

Making the Department even better

Let’s use Technology

To improve Cost Effectiveness

To improve Efficiency

To find Solutions

Workload AssessmentWorkload assessment is a methodology to determine the time, and

resources necessary to carry out the department’s operations 

Gathering Data

Staff Involvement

Management

Support

Analyzing Data

Methodology

Data Gathering Sample

Team Member DateActions In-coming

workMinutes needed to complete each

action

Total minutes spent

Summons & Complaints 10 20 120

Notice of Motion 5 15 75OSC re. Contempts 0 0 0

Defaults 8 15 120Stipulations 6 15 90

Order After Hearing 5 10 50

Genetic Testing 0 0 0 TOTAL 34 75 455

Workload Assessment Reviews

Findings Communicate Findings

Implement Changes

Provide Training Follow Up

Workload Benchmarks

• Determine workload benchmarks

• Communicate expectations to staff

• Supervisor’s Role

• Follow-up

Questions??

Thank you for your participation!!

Raji Bishnoi

Ventura County DCSS

[email protected]

Regina Martin

San Joaquin County DCSS

[email protected]