AGCCE - - Ever heard of it?
The City of Jacksonville Florida’s City Link is a service accessed by local citizens, the city’s customers by placing a local call to 630-CITY. Customer inquiries come in the form of requests for information, requests for service, and concerns or complaints about service received.
This city-based service is one of the pioneering local government call centers nation-wide and is fortunate to have Monica Rubi, a former leader with the local Sterling and Malcolm Baldrige quality award winning Merrill Lynch as the Customer Service Manager.
Monica helped to start the city’s call center efforts several years back, and is a founding member of a related national association of government call centers called AGCCE. Here’s what their web site
http://governmentcallcenter.org/index.html tells us about the organization:
The Association of Government Call Center Employees, Inc.
They say two heads are better than one. If that's true, imagine what dozens of heads can accomplish. That's the concept behind the Association of Government Call Center Employees, Inc. Representatives from Government Contact Centers meet annually to exchange ideas, experiences, training
methods and systems.
Mission
Committed to communities, to share what we learn, to grow from what we share, and to accept the challenge to make a positive difference.
The Association of Government Call Center Employees, Inc. was established in 2003. Members of the association meet annually to share best practices, explore new technology, network and learn from each other. Throughout the year members seek advice from other members via e-mail.
In 2001 Cookie Hall and Marianne Blodgett created and hosted the first Government Call Center Roundtable in Lexington, KY. At this conference presenters discussed how to set-up a call center, hiring the best candidate and the best utilization of Geographical Information Systems to enhance customer service. Conference attendees also toured Lexington’s government offices and participated in a roundtable discussion.
Board Members:
Dee Crayton, Charlotte, NC- Chairman
Jo Piscioneri, Mobile, AL - Vice Chairman
Cheryl Garcia, Columbia County, GA - Recording Secretary
Monica Rubi, Jacksonville, FL - Corresponding Secretary/ Webmaster
Vacant, Treasurer
Janet Henderson, Charlotte, NC - Board Member
Marilyn Givan, Louisville, KY - Board Member
Liz Henley, Chattanooga, TN - Board Member
Dottie Disher, San Jose, CA - Board Member
Don Lupo, Birmingham, AL - Board Member
Scott Reed, Durham, NC - Board Member
Plan to Go to "Racing to the Winner's Circle" … AGCCE’s Annual Conference
Making your Contact Center a Triple Crown Winner
Hosted by the City of Louisville, KY
April 26 - 28, 2006
For further information about AGCCE's annual conference go to:
http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroCall/agcce_conferenceAt the City of Jacksonville, Florida contact: ... for further information about the City of Jacksonville’s City Link and the city’s involvement in the AGCCE please feel free to call Monica Rubi, Customer Service Manager at 904-630-7670 or John Becker, Quality Improvement Officer at 904-630-4715.
Benchmarking - - The City of Jacksonville Style!
Since Fiscal Year 1999-2000, the City of Jacksonville has conducted over 20 formal benchmarking projects. Each of these projects has followed a standard, 10-step benchmarking process that requires nine- to 12-months of weekly benchmarking process team meetings to be conducted under the guidance of a certified benchmarking process instructor/ mentor, following a highly structured, disciplined approach.
The established benchmarking reports that follow for review here have been presented to the City of Jacksonville's Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) at their weekly SLT meetings. This initial citywide leadership presentation is traditionally followed by a one-year out report for each of the benchmarking projects where the benchmarking process team's progress thus far, as well as both three- and five-year out recommended action plans are presented for review and action:
Now to consider some less formal benchmarking opportunities ...
Is your organization required by law to do Performance Measurement?
At the City of Jacksonville, there's a city ordinance called the Performance Measurement Unit Cost Ordinance that does in fact not only require performance measurement, but also requires a specific type of measurement called 'unit costing' throughout the local government.
This ordinance reads, as follows:
Sec. 106.219.
Performance Measurement Unit Cost System
The Mayor shall establish an ongoing performance measurement unit cost system, which will include measuring the quality of the service, to measure up to the top ten services provided by each of the major city programs in the General Fund. The performance measurement unit cost system shall be implemented for at least two city departments during Fiscal Year 2000-2001 and then implemented in all city departments during Fiscal Year 2001-2002. The unit cost measures shall be presented to the City Council beginning in Fiscal Year 2001-2002 and in all future fiscal years thereafter. The Mayor and the Department Directors, as part of the budget process, shall explain the changes in the unit cost measures and service quality measures from one period to the next period and shall, if possible, compare these costs to the private sector and/or other governmental units in an effort to benchmark the city departments' costs, encourage greater operating efficiency and measure and increase the quality of the services.
(Ord. 2000-274-E, § 1)
As a result of this local law, the city's Budget Office prepares an annual report of unit costs for review by the City Council Auditor's Office and the City Council Finance Committee.
Also as a result of this local ordinance, the city's balanced scorecard system (used by each of the city's 90 or so key processes each year) requires there to be certain types of performance measures included. Among those mandatory measures for each city process are: total cost of the process, number of units produced or services provided, and the average unit cost.
Making local government perform like businesses in the for-profit organizational sector is what is being sought after here. Part and parcel of that effort is to make local government in the City of Jacksonville measureable, accountable for the tax dollars spent, and of the highest quality possible for the tax dollars invested by the community's local taxpayers.
At the City of Jacksonville, Florida contact: John Becker, Quality Improvement Officer (904-630-4715/ jbecker@coj.net) for further details.
How is Local Government Leadership organized or structured for success in your community?
In the City of Jacksonville (COJ), the acronym MQMB is short for the Mayor's Quality Management Board.
The city's MQMB is charged with debating, designing and implementing policies, such as the city's
Performance Measurement Unit Cost Ordinance and the
24 Hours of Training per Employee per Year Policy.
There's not really any sort of a hierarchical structure of such groups in Jacksonville's city government, but here's some COJ leadership team tips in that regard:
1) The city's topmost leaders (mayor's office staff, agency directors, associate directors, and division chiefs) are known as the city's
Senior Leadership (85 to 90 people) and they meet once or twice per year at what are called Senior Leadership Retreats (which the Management Analysis Office both organizes and staffs),
2) The topmost group of those leaders (the Senior Leadership) are known as the
Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) and they meet each Thursday morning (23 to 25 people - - staffed by the Management Analysis Office, as well) to review at least one of the city's key process team's performance improvement efforts,
3) A subset of those two groups (plus a few, local performance measurement experts thrown in just for fun) are known as the
MQMB (7 to 8 people) which meets monthly, and
4) The city's 15
Departmental Quality Management Boards (DQMBs) are in place in each of the city departments/ agencies to come together monthly, laterally communicate across their organizations, share ideas and collaboratively communicate/ act surrounding the city's performance measurement efforts, associated training, policy design and deployment, and general city quality business. They meet with their respective process owners and other key leaders monthly to problem solve, review process and business plan performance, and hopefully communicate effectively with their senior leaders about both the successes and the opportunities for improvement that the city is facing.
The DQMB Team Leads (a collaborative effort of the top persons from each of those 15 city agency DQMBs) also meets monthly and is a working group of the chairpersons of those DQMBs and the city's Management Analysis Office staff who see it as our collective purpose to work together to best understand, craft solutions, provide input/ recommendations, and communicate together about how we're doing what we're doing city wide.
The smooth and effective functioning of the DQMB Team Leads is a key performance management objective within the Management Analysis Office staff's performance management objectives.
Just wanted to share how the City of Jacksonville is getting the word out about our role in populating the FBC test data base this summer, and the live FBC data base deployment next winter.
At the City of Jacksonville, Florida contact: John Becker, Quality Improvement Officer (904-630-4715/
jbecker@coj.net) for further details.
What do Quality of Life (or Regional) indicators mean for the future of your local governmental organization, and most importantly for your citizens'/ customers' satisfaction with your services long-term?
Everyone's so efficiency and economy-minded in local government these days, ... but what about the need to understand our customers' needs, as well as their satisfaction with their local government's services?
Here's an example of some quality of life-minded, best practice thinking as excerpted from the City of Jacksonville's community experiences that just might provide a model road for your community to follow ...
The Jacksonville Community Council, Incorporated (JCCI) is a nonpartisan civic organization that engages diverse citizens in open dialogue, research, consensus building and leadership development to improve the quality of life and build a better community in Northeast Florida and beyond. Their web site is:
The City of Jacksonville funds JCCI as a local not-for-profit agency to conduct studies of the city's quality of lile, of which over 60 such studies have been conducted thus far:
For 20 years, JCCI has collected data and tracked trends on the quality of life in Jacksonville and Northeast Florida. These community (or regional) indicators tell us where we have been, where we are today, and which areas may need community attention for us to reach our shared vision for the future.
The JCCI Quality of Life Progress Report is located at:
http://www.jcci.org/statistics/qualityoflife.aspxThe Quality of Life Progress Report measures 119 indicators in nine areas, or elements, of the quality of life, including education, economy, natural environment, social environment, arts and culture, health, government, transportation, and public safety. An annual survey, donated by American Public Dialogue, provides additional information on our community's perception of the quality of life. Detailed reference data, including charts and graphs, are also provided for those who wish to explore these trends further.
At the City of Jacksonville, Florida contact: John Becker, Quality Improvement Officer (904-630-4715/
jbecker@coj.net) or at JCCI contact Laura Lane, United Way Planner (904-396-3052/
laura@jcci.org) for further details.
What's Information on Demand mean for your organization's bottom line?
Everyone's so efficiency and economy-minded in local government, ... and rightfully so these days with the most passionately debated subject of taxes and other similar both man-made and other natural disasters seemingly abounding.
Here's an example of some economy-minded, best practice thinking as excerpted from one Florida city's experience that just might give you pause ...
The City of Jacksonville is in the process of deploying an 'information on demand' computer environment using Citrix technology to replace local PCs throughout the organization over a two- to three-year time frame, replacing local PCs with much less expensive 'dumb terminals'/ thin client devices (new, more politically correct lingo) as each PC's obsolescence occurs.
Interestingly enough, existing PCs are found to survive longer in this new environment and this new technology also allows traditionally desk top held software and disc space issues to be controlled better/ more efficiently, centrally by server, instead of out in the field on each local PC.
Administrative costs are much reduced with this new type of environment, as well as a much better/ controlled computer security system has resulted.
A much improved remote access system has been deployed, as compared to what the city had available in the past.
Finally, the performance of system-wide technology is much improved for the established enterprise-wide, much more memory intensive computer systems applications, as well.
Conservatively projected, strictly new procurement savings oriented, five-year cost savings : $2 to 3 Million
At the City of Jacksonville, Florida contact: John Becker, Quality Improvement Officer (904-630-4715/
jbecker@coj.net) or Dave Lauer, Deputy Director - Chief Information Officer (904-630-7547/
dlauer@coj.net) for further details.