Access Permits Process Improvement Project

Report-out: March 21, 2012

Access Permits Process Improvement Project

1. Strategic Context

“Making government more effective, efficient and elegant means listening to our state employees and learning from them how we can do better.”

- Governor John Hickenlooper, State of the State address

“That is why we initiated the Lean program in almost every state agency, where employee teams are now actively identifying waste and inefficiency to create savings.”

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“Like any business, CDOT needs to constantly review our processes and procedures, then make needed adjustments and improvements to ensure that we are delivering the best customer service possible. ”- CDOT Executive Director Don Hunt

Key CDOT Strategic Initiatives1. Improve business processes for better customer service and

efficiency

2. Use innovation and improved management to get more money to construction from our fixed budget

3. Get more out of the existing system

4. Develop partnerships with the private sector to augment public funds

5. Achieve better transparency and accountability in CDOT’s reporting on budget, project planning and construction, and maintenance activities

6. Provide CDOT employees with training and professional development opportunities

Key CDOT Strategic Initiatives1. Improve business processes for better customer service

and efficiency

2. Use innovation and improved management to get more money to construction from our fixed budget

3. Get more out of the existing system

4. Develop partnerships with the private sector to augment public funds

5. Achieve better transparency and accountability in CDOT’s reporting on budget, project planning and construction, and maintenance activities

6. Provide CDOT employees with training and professional development opportunities

Access Permits Process Improvement Project

2. Details of the Project

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The Team

HQ: Alex Karami Region 1: Richard Solomon Region 2: Valerie Sword Region 3: Daniel Roussin

Region 4: Gloria Hice-Idler Region 5: Jim Horn Region 6: Kirk Allen

The Project Team

The Steering Group

Scott McDaniel (Sponsor), Ina Zisman, Zane Znamenacek, Mike McVaugh, Steve Hersey, Mat Flores, Bernardo Guevara, Sasan Delshad, Gary Vansuch

A team of access professionals representing each region and HQ was formed to tackle the challenge.

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Vision for Access Permits Process• CDOT’s access permits team is comprised of dedicated

professionals who strive to preserve integrity of the State roadway system by balancing mobility, safety, and economic development when assessing potential access to the state highway system.

• CDOT is committed to providing our customers with a consultative experience, and to providing them with clear visibility of both the permitting process and the status of their individual permits.

• CDOT will harness employee creativity and customer feedback to integrate innovative ways to educate our customers, employ teamwork, and improve our communications.

• We will equip our customer-facing staff with the time and tools needed to administer the process promptly and consistently for our customers. How successful we were in fulfilling this vision?

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Objectives for the Improvement ProjectFrom our vision these are the objectives that we have been able to achieve with the short term improvements:

1. Validating the Access Permits process2. Reducing total permit cycle time and decreasing

variability of on-time delivery3. Improving visibility and customer communications4. Establishing a means to track customer satisfaction

and a plan to improve this measure over time

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What has been done? (part 1)1. We worked collectively to analyze and

synthesize our similarities and differences2. We found that, while resources and structures

between regions differ, our objectives and outcomes were quite similar (by examining our Access Permit process)

3. For a better understanding and easier analysis, we began by breaking down our Access Permit process from both the CDOT and customer perspectives in a very detailed fashion

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What has been done? (part 2)

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1. Validating the Access Permit Process

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3. Ensure Clear Visibility to Process & Status of Permit (part 1)

Created enhanced web page that provides customer with permit status and reference documentation

Developed customer FAQ list

Made Access Permits webpage more accessible from CDOT’s external site

3. Ensure Clear Visibility to Process & Status of Permit (part 2)

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Enhance Consultative Process, Expectations, & Customer Education

Developed definitions document for customer reference

Scheduled customer service training for Access Staff (3 per year)

Developed sample application package

Scheduled bi monthly “Access manager on-call”

Developed annual Outreach Training to Local Agencies, Developers, Real Estate Agents, and General Public

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Enhance Promptness and Consistency via Time and Tools

Developed checklists to provide a better process understanding to the customer and for regional consistency (pre-app, pre-design, NTP)

Scheduled quarterly Access Managers meetings

4. Created Clear Measures &Incorporate Customer Feedback (part 1)

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Feedback Point

Distribution Style What Do We Want to Know?

1. Permit Issuance

Include Survey Monkey link permit transmittal letter

Mail surveys in rural districts

• Materials availability, and ease of understanding

• Did we meet timeline /expectations?• Overall Experience of Process

2. NTP Issuance

Include Survey Monkey link NTP transmittal letter

Mail surveys in rural districts

• Did Applicant understand NTP requirements.

• Did we meet the time requirements? • Overall Experience of Process

3. LA/CDOT Send survey along with referral comments

• Do you understand Code Requirements?• Do you know where to locate Reference

Materials? • Is our access process in sync with your

process?

4. Create Clear Measures &Incorporate Customer Feedback (part 2)

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4. Create Clear Measures &Incorporate Customer Feedback (part 2)

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4. Create Clear Measures &Incorporate Customer Feedback (part 3)

These metrics have been developed inside AP 2007 and can be triggered as needed. Team is working on a “Red Flag” report to be used within each region.

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Open Actions: working to make things even better

1. Create banner/link to Access Permit on CDOT’s main homepage (under evaluation by IT)

2. Create customer feedback baseline based on surveys (awaiting survey results)

3. Automate electronic delivery of Surveys (done)

4. Create reference documents page link from tracker (done)

5. Develop new application format (draft under review)

Long Term improvements:1. Migrate AP2007 database to SQL

without loosing critical functionality. Current functionality is critical to avoid loss of customer service and information gathering for management evaluations.

2. Develop “How to” videos for customers3. Create Access Permits brochure4. Restore historic OTIS data5. Add Access Management Training to

Engineering Academy curriculum6. Establish case studies for best practices7. Ensure sufficient & stable resources in

each region8. Increase Cooperation with Specialty

Units

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Other Considerations1. We identified the value of state wide consistency

in the access program to better serve our customers but we also recognized the need for flexibility on the part of the Access Managers to deal with each regions unique customer requirements.

2. We recognized that the Access Program will continue to need technical and management support to fully realize the benefits of Lean implementation.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex.

It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction."

- Dr. Albert Einstein

Access Permits Process Improvement Project

Report-out: March 21, 2012