Lean Government

City of Calgary’s newly elected mayor could adopt continuous improvement

What kind of results would this yield? see below

 

Here are some results from a city the practiced excellence in governance for about five years: Cape Coral, Florida

 

Cape Coral Florida.jpg

A previous write up explained by 2007 the return on the invested consulting dollars was 14 times – counting only hard dollar savings.

 

In July 2009 the city report included this sample of results:

 

  • Team reduced the time to obtain a permit for construction 61% from 21 days to 8 days.

  • 54% reduction in time required to hire a firefighter went from 66 days to 30 days.

  • Lot mowing time was reduced 63% from 52 days to 19 days to mow the grass once and send a notice of violation to the property owner.

  • The cycle time for first reviews in Site Plan Development initially decreased to 5 days from 28 days. The time currently is 8 days.

 

18 events in seven City departments resulting in about $2 million in cost savings and/or cost avoidance.  The goal in every event is to increase productivity and reduce cost without sacrificing quality and the service to our citizens.”

- Lean Government Coordinator for the City of Cape Coral: Ms. Roop

 

I save the results in files when I find them, however they change their websites and occasionally the previous links do not work.  I cannot find whether Cape Coral continued generating results beyond 2012.

Cities & governments that continue employing lean thinking achieve ongoing consistent results for constituents, improve services while reduce lead times and costs; Calgary is capable of this.

 

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Here’s an example of a results report at the state level – it can be applied at any organization or government level – this is just a better example of results in a wide variety of government services. Unfortunately the link is not working, just going to copy & paste; formatting is off but read through you’ll get the picture


Continuous Improvement Minnesota

2010/2011 Results

Agency

Division/
Unit

Fiscal
Year

Tools
Used

Results Achieved


Department of Administration

Real Estate and Construction Services

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved real estate leasing process time by 67 percent. 

 

Fleet and Surplus Services (FSS)

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced time to enrol fleet vehicles in M5 be 69 percent.


Department of Agriculture

Dairy and Food
Licensing Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service through an 80 percent reduction in the amount of time necessary for reviewing and issuing license documentation to customers.

 

Lab Services Division

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved operations through a 33 percent reduction in elapsed time and a 25 percent reduction in task time for the “short path” lab results reporting, and a 68 percent reduction in elapsed time and task time for “long path” lab results reporting, with potential staff time-savings of 2.2 FTE per year.

 

Dairy and Food
Licensing Division

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced the time for an establishment to get a license by 99.8 percent.


Department of Commerce

Consumer and Industry Services

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced average time to process an insurance product file by 65 percent.


Department of Corrections

Shakopee Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Used evidence based practices to prioritize and balance offender work assignments and self-development opportunities while maintaining offender programming schedule.

 

Information Technology

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service processes with FootPrints service ticket system for internal and external staff.

 

Willow River/Moose Lake facilities

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced and leveled out inmake movement to reduce congestion, reduce staffing costs, and improve safety.

 

Faribault Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Increased staff productivity, reduced traffic through truck gate, and reduced offender pull-outs and down time.

 

Stillwater Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved the efficiency of the facility movement schedule resulting in increased facility security, increased offender production hours, and maintained facility programming.

 

Shakopee Women's Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the amount of staff overtime, refined current overtime monitoring process, and identified potential cost reductions in the future.

 

Red Wing facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved business operations by developing a staff schedule that maximizes staff resources, increases programming time and maintains staff safety.

 

Togo Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved operations by developing a staff schedule that maximizes programming time, coordinates schedule among units and defines core schedule requirements.

 

Shakopee Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved operations by streamlining intake and transportation processes, resulting in more effective use of staff and other resources.

 

Shakopee Facility –
Work Release Program

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved operations by streamlining work release processes to maximize the length of eligible offenders’ stay in the program.

 

Willow River and
Moose Lake Facilities

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved internal operations by completing 100 percent of mandatory staff trainings with the fewest scheduling tasks and by reducing instances requiring excessive communication.

 

Lino Lakes facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved service by ensuring that 100 percent of offender releases occur on the correct date through the creation of a one-cycle work flow that eliminates duplication of effort and ensures the appropriate use of staff resources on priority tasks.

 

Offender Classification

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved service by refining the process that ensures consistent application of the offender classification system.

 

Faribault Facility

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved service by increasing the number of mandated offenders enrolled in the literacy program; reduce the number of offenders called out from literacy classes and align literacy program schedule with that of other DOC facilities.

 

Togo Facility

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved operations by developing a staff schedule that maximizes programming time, coordinates schedule among units and defines core schedule requirements.

 

St. Cloud Correctional Facility

2010

Kaizen
event

Simplified staffing schedule by reducing the number of officer start times from 17 to eight in order to balance the needs of both the institution and the staff.

 

Willow River/Moose Lake Correctional Facility

2010

Kaizen
event

Created new staffing and training schedules that more adequately balance training requirements and coverage of officer posts.

 

Lino Lakes

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved workplace safety. 


Department of Employment and Economic Development

Trade Adjustment Assistance

2011

Kaizen
event

Redesigned financial process in preparation for new statewide financial software. Reduced tasks by 41 percent, waits by 55 percent, handoffs by 71 percent, and total process time by 47 percent.

 

Minneapolis WorkForce Center/Dislocated Worker

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced time for determining eligibility, standardized forms, client folders and process steps for a 77 percent reduction in process time and 29 percent reduction in task time.

 

Unemployment
Insurance Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service by creating a standard process for applicants to follow; reduced the amount of time applicants need to access specialized employ-ment services.

 

Unemployment
Insurance Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service through a 50 percent reduction in phone inquiry response time.

 

Unemployment
Insurance Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service by reducing the amount of time needed to resolve an extended unemployment coverage request to an average of one day from the previous 14-25 days.

 

Workforce Centers

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved workflow and customer service by redesigning customer service areas, improving signage and improving the allocation of technical resources.

 

State Services for the Blind

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the elapsed time by 71%, and the  task time by  42% to provide an assessment  audio technology requirements for clients seeking employment services

 

Financial Management

2011

2P – Process Preparation

Developed a new process that will allow for the efficient interface between the DEED Workforce 1 work tracking software, and the State’s new financial tracking system, SWIFT

 

Workforce Development/Trade Adjustment Assistance

2010

Kaizen
event

Developed a standard process for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) requests and will create TAA program policies for consistent and accurate responses. The new process reduces total process time by 53 percent and task time by 70 percent.

 

Unemployment
Insurance & Workforce Development

2010

Kaizen
event

Established standard process for referrals from Re-employment & Eligibility Assessment (REA) to Re-employment & Eligibility Services (RES).

 

Minnesota Investment Fund

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced process time for disbursing community development grants by 93 percent.


 

 

 

 

 

Department of Health

Vital Record Unit

2011

Kaizen
event

Standardized birth and death certificate application process, reduce tasks by 40 percent, waits by 79 percent, handoffs by 50 percent, and total process time by 96 percent.

 

User Support Services

2011

Kaizen
event

Standardized video conference scheduling tools and processes to meet increasing demand, save time and maintain high quality of work for a 22 percent reduction in tasks and 25 percent reduction in handoffs.

 

 

Commissioner's Office

2011

Kaizen
event

Created a standardized emergency communication response process to be utilized within the agency and with partner agencies/stakeholders.

 

Licensing and Certification Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the elapsed time to schedule and capture nursing home surveys by 34% and save approximately 3 FTEs of staff time.

 

 

 

Commissioner's Office

2010

Kaizen
event

Utilize a standard electronic system to process and track inquiries and empower key staff to make response decisions. The new process will lead to savings in paper, supplies and staff time and be 67 percent faster than the old process.

 

Licensed Home Care

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced time for home care license pre and post survey process by 62 percent.


Department of Human Services

Contracts Division

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved business operations by reducing the elapsed time for processing a professional/technical contract by 40 percent and reducing the amount of staff time necessary for processing a contract by 30 percent.

 

TSS Testing

2011

Kaizen
event

Documented the testing process, eliminated unnecessary duplication and testing, and detected quality issues earlier in the process while mainting high quality standards. Reduced process time by 46 percent and wait time by 50 percent.

 

Central Imaging Unit

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved business operations and availability of information through a 58 percent reduction in the time required for preparing and imaging health care enrollment documents.

 

Medical Assistance Program

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service through a 37 percent reduction in the time needed for determining eligibility on requests for medical assistance (MA) payment of long-term care (LTC), from an average of 87 days to 55 days.

 

Adoptions Record Unit

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the elapsed time to process a scanned adoption record file by 30%. Reduced the amount of task time required by 3 FTE per year. Will save thousands of dollars in paper and printing costs.

 

Human Resources

2010

Kaizen
event

Developed a consistent hiring process for central office, SOS, and MSOP. The new process will reduce the elapsed time of the bidder fill process by 57 percent and no bidder fill process by 40 percent.

 

Health Care Administration

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved process time for gathering MMIS estimates by 78.5 percent. 

 

Health Care Administration

2010

Kaizen
event

Streamlined the bill analysis and fiscal note processes, created a bill prioritization system, updated forms to match the new process, created standard work and a central repository for all bill analyses and fiscal notes.


Department of Military Affairs

MN Army National Guard

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced the time it takes to capture vehicle usage and distribute vehicles by 80 percent.

 

MN Army National Guard

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced Enlisted Personnel System (EPS) packet process time by 64 percent.


Department of Natural
Resources

Office of Management and Budget

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved internal operations through a 75 percent reduction in the amount of time needed to request and receive legislative authorization, from an average of 12 weeks to an average of three weeks.

 

Forest Planning Unit

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved business operations and resource management through an 80 percent reduction in the amount of time needed to develop and adopt forest management plans, from an average of three years to eight months.


Department of Public Safety

Driver and Vehicle Services

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service through a 70 percent reduction in processing time for expedited title transfers.

 

Human Resources

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced hiring process time by over 50 percent.

 

Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

2010

Process
redesign

Redesigned process for providing customers with permission and connectivity to BCA services.


Department of Revenue

Return Mail Processing Unit

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the amount of re-sent mail by 60 percent, reduce the elapsed time to re-send mail by 75 percent, and reduce costs of re-sending mail estimated at $80,000 per year.


Department of Transportation

 

2011

Kaizen
event

Standardized training announcement process, created announcement template, developed training calendar for a 57 percent reduction in task time, a 33 percent reduction in wait time, and a 38 percent reduction in total time for the training announcement process.

 

Office of Civil Rights

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved service through an 80 percent reduction in the amount of time needed to review and clear Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contract applications, from an average of 63 days to an average of 12 days.

 

Materials Management

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved business operations by standardizing the materials acquisition process and reducing the cycle time from an average of 18 days to 15 days for each contract.

 

Financial Management

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved business information by ensuring that accurate, clear and consistent financial data is avail-able to agency managers and leaders as quickly as possible.

 

IT Development

2011

Kaizen
event

Improved service by streamlining the IT development process, reducing lead time by 45 percent and leading to quicker project assessment, improved customer satisfaction and reduced staff time commitment.

 

Operations Division

2010

Kaizen
event

A 68% reduction in elapsed time for vacancies filled by bid and 69% reduction in elapsed time for vacancies filled competitively. The new process also includes a one-stop shop for vacancy related information and enhancements to the Strategic Staffing Plan.

 

Platting Process

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced time spent developing plats by 36 percent. Eliminated handoffs and reduced total wait time by four weeks.

 

Geometric Design
Support Unit

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced the time it takes to process design exceptions by 85 percent by establishing response timelines and enhancing training.

 

EDMS unit

2010

Kaizen
event

Reduced the Electronic Document Management System process time by 56 percent.


Department of Veterans Affairs

Hastings Veterans Home

2011

Kaizen event/
root cause analysis

Developed a more efficient morning routine for meeting patient needs at the Hastings facility.

 

State Soldiers
Assistance program

2010

Kaizen
event

Improved customer service through a 70 percent reduction in task time and a 58 percent reduction in wait time in the process for reviewing and approving financial benefits for qualified veterans seeking assistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minneapolis Veterans Homes

2010

Kaizen
event

Created standard of work for resident mealtimes and staff break times to make process more resident centered with an emphasis on teamwork and enhanced communication.

 

Minneapolis Veterans Homes

2010

Kaizen
event

Created a streamlined admissions process that is easier, faster and more understandable for families, residents and staff.

 

Hastings Veterans
Homes

2010

Kaizen
event

Created a more efficient referral and lab process.


Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

Office of the Chancellor

2011

Kaizen
event

Reduced the process time for filling vacancies needing classification by 54% and vacancies not needing classification by 62%.

Metropolitan State University

Student Admissions

2011

Kaizen
event


Reduced the elapsed time to evaluate transfer credits and determine eligibility for admissions by 75 percent.

 

Registrar's office

2010

Kaizen
event


Improved class scheduling process time by 61 percent.


Pollution Control Agency

Communications Unit

2011

Kaizen
event

Developed a streamlined, standard process for making updates to the PCA website.

 

Surface Waters

2010

Kaizen
event


Redesigned the water quality assessment process.

 

http://www.lean.state.mn.us/LEAN_pages/results.html

 

 

 

State prisons follow businesses by going 'lean'

Washington's Department of Corrections staff says it's following the lead of companies like Toyota and Boeing in identifying more efficient ways to do business under what's known as lean strategy.

For example, they are saving $1.3 million a year in food expenses. Most of those savings are from streamlining menus across the state. By serving the same meals at the same time, the state is able to purchase ingredients in bulk, and therefore at cheaper prices.

November 1, 2011 article link:

https://www.king5.com/article/mobile/news/local/state-prisons-follow-businesses-by-going-lean/331719587

also here:

http://sustainabilityinprisons.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/king5-prisons-go-lean1.pdf

State prisons follow businesses by going lean.jpg

Initiating Service Excellence practices in the Canadian Federal Goverment

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After some initial emails starting June 2017, received an invitation to speak with Kent Hehr MP Calgary Center to suggest introducing service excellence practices to the Canadian Federal Government. 

Used examples Washington has achieved, published in their 2014 & 2018 Results Washington reports you can see here:

2014 December Lean/Performance Management: Quantifying Results and Exploring the Viability of Self-Funding (PDF) 

January 2018: Results Washington Annual Report (PDF)

Lean on Government

The City of Cape Coral, Florida

The City has initiated a “Lean Government” program for simplifying and streamlining various business processes. The goal is to reduce overall process times, increasing quality and lowering cost.
The method establishes cross-functional “kaizen” teams of City employees who map and dissect the existing processes. They then eliminate non-value-added steps or waste.
The lean approach had its origins in manufacturing but has been used successfully in government and service industries. Lee Memorial Hospital has an internal Lean improvement team, and nationally, the City of Fort Wayne, IN has the leading municipal program, which has delivered well-publicized results.

The City is working to train teams of employees to analyze specific processes and obtain improvements. As efficiencies are realized and improvements made to satisfy our customers’ service demands, there be a reservoir of talent developed who can work throughout City government for continuous improvement. These efforts will meet the needs of a growing city and allow employees to “work smarter” for the public good.
The City of Cape Coral was awarded the Strategic Leadership Award by the International City/County Management Association for the Lean Government System.

1. What is Lean Government?
Lean Government started in the private sector. It is an effort to closely examine, in a very critical and methodical manner, the processes in the City and determine where waste or non-value steps occur and then eliminate the waste. This results in reduced delays and stops, creates more efficiency and saves money while not reducing quality.

2. What has been done thus far?
Since August 2007, the City has conducted 16 Kaizen events. Each has produced dramatic results in how we operate and resulted in savings. To date, the return on the invested consulting dollars was 14 times – counting only hard dollar savings. The savings is much greater considering time saved and efficiencies obtained in each process.

3. What is the process?
A cross-functional team of City employees is established to map and dissect the existing process. The teams eliminate the unnecessary steps (waste) and redesign the process to allow service or information to flow more efficiently. After the new process is in place, it is monitored to ensure that the goals and objectives are met.

3. What other governmental entities are doing "Lean"?

In Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department uses Lean. Nationwide, the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana and the State of Iowa have been leaders in this effort.

4. Why do we need a consultant's assistance?
The consultant's training in Lean and experiences in the private sector are invaluable in teaching the participants to critically examine what they do and why they do it. This review is done in an environment that encourages critical thinking by the Kaizen group members and provides insight into opportunities to eliminate waste.
This training, along with the Kaizen experience that the participants receive, serve to assist in beginning a transformation of thinking — from accepting waste to becoming intolerant to waste. The training also provides daily opportunities to more critically review other processes as well. This is most important in these difficult economic times.

5. Have employees actually taken some of what they have learned and used it outside the formal Kaizen process?
Yes. Some department employees, after experiencing a Kaizen event, have gone back to their departments and identified and eliminated waste in other processes. Both have resulted in savings of time by maintaining just the value-added steps in the process.

7. Will we need a consultant for years to come?
No. Staff’s goal is to take this effort completely in-house within just a few years. Specifically, it is hoped that with an additional full year of experience with the consultant, that a reduced presence by the consultant could be possible in the third year (2010), with the program being completely assumed by in-house staff thereafter.

8. What are future expectations?
Our goal is to sustain existing Kaizen event results, and reduce the number of delays, stops and cycle times in all processes. This will apply to all departments and divisions. We continually will try to identify cost savings/avoidances in all areas.

Link to this excerpt here

July 2, 2009

Cape Coral’s “Lean Government System” Program Receives International Recognition

The City of Cape Coral’s “Lean Government System” has received the Strategic Leadership and Governance Award from the International City/County Management Association. Cape Coral was one of 10 local governments receiving recognition for outstanding programs.

“Being a recipient of the ICMA award for strategic leadership is one of the highest honours a local government can receive,” said City Manager Terry Stewart. “This award recognizes that Cape Coral is leading the way in reforming how government operates, and is focused on finding efficiencies and improvements in all of our operations.”

In August 2007, the City of Cape Coral implemented the Lean Government System. A cross-functional team of City employees is established to map and dissect existing processes, eliminate the unnecessary steps and redesign the process to allow service or information to flow more efficiently. All employees (front line, managerial and executive) are included in the evaluation, planning and implementation of the Lean processes, which ensures that all employees have a voice in the changes.

“We have conducted 18 events in seven City departments resulting in about $2 million in cost savings and/or cost avoidance,” said Stewart. “The goal in every event is to increase productivity and reduce cost without sacrificing quality and the service to our citizens.” Lean Government Coordinator for the City of Cape Coral: Ms. Roop.

Some of the many successes include:

• Team reduced the time to obtain a permit for construction from 21 days to 8 days.
• Time required to hire a firefighter went from 66 days to 30 days.
• Lot mowing time was reduced from 52 days to 19 days to mow the grass once and send a notice of violation to the property owner.
• The cycle time for first reviews in Site Plan Development initially decreased to five days from 28 days. The time currently is eight days.

The City of Cape Coral is working with other local communities to share and assist in implementing a Lean initiative in their areas. In October 2008, the City partnered with the Florida City/County Management Association, the Center for Florida Local Government Excellence and the John Scott Dailey Florida Institute of Government to offer a Lean Government workshop to surrounding municipalities. Participants included Marco Island, Collier County, Punta Gorda and Palm Beach County.

The ICMA advances professional local government worldwide. Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and advancing professional management of local government. ICMA provides member support to more than 9,000 city, town, and county experts and other individuals and organizations throughout the world. The management decisions made by ICMA's members affect 185 million individuals living in thousands of communities, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas.

more examples here