The 10-month Discovery Phase – completed in late February – was, in a nutshell, a top-to-bottom fact-finding mission, with Program Team members defining high-level business and technical system requirements for all aspects of the AGO debt collections business.
Key activities
Among other things during the assessment, the Program Team:
- Identified the needs of all system stakeholders by extensively interviewing both external and internal groups about how they use the AGO collections system and what they need from the new system. Included in the fact-gathering were inefficiencies and areas targeted for improvement.
- Documented current processes and workflows as well as future processes and workflows in order to ensure that gaps are filled.
- Established stakeholder groups and began developing plans for engaging and training them during the final two phases of the program, as their involvement is crucial to CARES’ success.
Results
The Discovery Phase yielded a wealth of intelligence and insight. Among other noteworthy findings, the CARES Program Team identified:
Next steps
The information gathered during the Discovery Phase is now being used to:
- Set the tone and goals for implementation of the CARES Debt Manager system.
- Help the C&R Software team formulate implementation options for the AGO that prioritize design, functionality and efficiency.
- Finalize a plan for how the CARES stakeholders (both internal and external) will be informed, engaged and trained during the ensuing phases of the project.
The four-month Interim Design Phase – completed in early June – encompassed the initial system functionality and how it will apply to all client groups and other stakeholders.
Key activities
- Began to explore, via design workshops, what technical configurations would work best in Debt Manager, the platform chosen for the CARES Program.
- Designed workflows for Special Counsels and Third-Party Vendors.
- Created data mapping and interfaces for all of the parties who interact with DM.
Results
The CARES Program Team completed the following work during the Interim Design Phase:
- Defined and designed the organizational hierarchy for the CARES Debt Manager (DM). The organizational hierarchy, a prerequisite for other design areas of DM, governs account access, reporting, and work queueing and assigning.
- Documented the field-level data-mapping requirements for Third-Party Vendors and Special Counsels to exchange data with clients. This work includes assessing existing interfaces and layouts to determine future needs, including data source (outbound feed) and intended use (inbound feed).
- Created five functional design specifications (FDS) for Third-Party Vendors and Special Counsel interfaces: placement, outbound maintenance, inbound maintenance, inbound recall and outbound recall.
- Documented field-level mapping requirements to migrate CUBS to DM for all business classes.
- Documented DM workflow configurations for Third-Party Vendors and Special Counsels. The two workflows will be used to educate and introduce best practices to clients on the functional and technical workflow design process and design decisions. The process will be used to design future work flows during the early rollouts.
- Defined and designed a custom “make whole” processing solution for all business classes that might include both core DM and external functionality. AGO clients are “made whole” through an option to forward collections-associated fees to the debtor (instead of paying them themselves).
The Implementation Phase will consist of a series of distinct rollouts to transition AGO clients and external partners from the old system (CUBS) to the new Debt Manager system. This complex process will take multiple years to complete.
Rollout details
AGO clients and external partners will be divided into unique “business classes” for customized training, system testing and deployment. A key consideration in the overall implementation strategy is the sequencing of business classes, which determines the order in which Debt Manager is rolled out for each stakeholder group. The initial rollout introduces:
All business classes (see below for a full list) were evaluated for sequencing and suitability for the initial rollout based on factors that included:
- Business risk and complexity
- Statutory obligations
- Impact on organizational change management
- Development and configuration, including:
- Volume
- Complexity
- Timeline
Ultimately, we decided to begin with a limited number of clients in the business class known as State Client Services (Other state agencies). The CARES Program Team will work with our AGO clients and external partners to determine which business classes are involved in each subsequent rollout.
Our implementation plan gradually builds up the holistic system as each rollout is completed. The entirety of common workflows, interfaces, letters and reports are considered as the solution is built, with 80% of business class workflows completed by the end of Rollout 3.
Key activities
- Rollouts 1 and 2 will be crucial for confirming the new system and migration strategy. When the client agencies in Rollout 1 (a limited number of State Client Services agencies) make the transition, they will see the new system “turned on” for workflows, interfaces, reports and letters — the basics — but only for new debt accounts (certifications). Although Rollout 1 will involve no new capabilities, it is vital, as it will serve to confirm that the new system works as designed. During Rollout 2, the more complicated legacy data and active accounts from the old system will be added, as will new features for the entire State Client Services business class.
- Rollout 3 will introduce the system to one or two more business classes, with the transition for both new certifications and legacy accounts happening together.
- Ensuing rollouts – the total number needed is unclear at this point – will bring the remaining stakeholders onto the system.
Business classes
The current implementation plan rolls out the new system by business class, a designation already used by the AGO’s Collections Enforcement Section. There are 11 business classes, listed here in alphabetical order:
- Bureau of Workers’ Compensation
- Business taxes
- Crime victims
- Department of Job & Family Services
- Department of Medicaid
- Findings for recovery
- Local governments
- Personal taxes
- State Client Services (Other state agencies)
- State universities
- University medical centers