Process re-engineering for government

A high-profile government program needed to replace its identity verification system and wanted to use a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product as the foundation.

In addition, the department wanted to improve its processes to substantially reduce the volume of manual work involved and improve the efficiency and accuracy of the program.

In order to address processes and systems which were disparate, broken and had multiple workarounds, Frame used ‘blue sky’ techniques — building new systems and processes from the ground up to see what’s possible.

The blue-sky approach enabled staff to be innovative and creative in the design of new processes that better met their needs and those of their customers. By re-engineering the processes, Frame assisted the department to reduce wasted effort as well as ease staff workloads, leading to cost reductions for the program.

Based on Frame’s recommendations, the department chose Serena Software to develop the new identity verification system. This was implemented in August 2013, with high levels of acceptance and user satisfaction.

The solution has exceeded its financial goals and is forecast to deliver a return on investment within 6 months (based on its current $1 million spend on software). The ongoing savings are forecast to be about $500,000 per year.

This was primarily a business process re-engineering project. Given the customer-intensive nature of the department’s functions, it was imperative that any new system focused on meeting customer needs and reducing the department’s substantial amounts of paperwork and rework.

In a series of workshops, Frame used business process management (BPMN 2.0) and customer experience management techniques to develop the blue-sky processes. The processes provided the clarity needed to define the technical solution for the replacement identity verification system.

Frame recommended a prioritised shortlist of COTS products that met the requirements, considering the risks and weaknesses of each. We outlined the level of customisation required, as well as cost and time estimates to implement the system. Each vendor on the shortlist was then invited to develop a prototype for the department to review.

Following the department’s selection of the preferred product, Frame assisted in developing the data dictionary and the data migration plan, and conducted the post implementation review.