In-plant Helps County Win Innovation Award
Ventura County has been honored with a California State Association of Counties (CSAC) 2014 Challenge Award for its Digitized Business Reply Mail program. The county’s in-plant was a key partner in building this workflow.
Before the process was improved, business reply mail from the Human Services Agency’s (HSA) clients was received, handled, couriered, distributed and manually scanned. On average, it took two to three days from the time letters arrived at the General Services Agency (GSA) mail center, which is part of Document Services, to when they were available to Human Services Agency eligibility workers. In addition, an estimated 16,000 hours annually were devoted by HSA workers to scan documents instead of providing front-line service.
So three agencies, HSA, GSA and IT Services, collaborated to centralize the scanning of 4.2 million images annually at the new GSA Digital Mailroom. The collaborating parties arranged a method for which physical mail no longer leaves the GSA facility. Incoming envelopes are opened using an automated process. A technician then removes the contents and feeds them into a high-speed scanner, transferring the images into a digital workflow. The county can now scan up to 500,000 images per month, and achieve same-day delivery service.
With the new process in place, HSA has been able to better utilize its workforce. Instead of spending thousands of hours handling documents, the HSA staff can use that time for enrolling the public in health insurance. This redirected labor has provided the county with an estimated $2 million annually.
While HSA has been among the first to see the benefit of the new service, GSA is actively seeking out other agencies that can benefit from it as well. One department that has shown interest is the Behavioral Health Department, which toured the facility and is mulling over transitioning its mail process.
Ventura County will receive its Challenge Award from CSAC at an upcoming Board of Supervisors meeting.