Customer Billing Services Electronic Workflow and Online New Service/ Service Disconnect Application Information Technology Services Financial Services/Customer Billing Services

CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application BACKGROUND Customer Billing Services (CBS) provides billing services for the City. This includes billing for Utility (Water) services, and for various special assessments and loans. City residents and customers communicate with CBS using many forms and communication channels including fax and to request New Service, Disconnects, Turn ON/OFF, Bank Drafts/Direct Pay, Adjustments, Contact Information update and more. Work management for the myriad of paper forms became an issue and CBS requested that IT first look at the possibility of bringing control over the process by building a back-office electronic workflow and subsequently by adding an online service application/disconnect form. ITS agreed to develop a solution with the electronic workflow to be released first to be followed with a web front end portal for the online service application and disconnect. The enabling technology is ASP.NET, ADO.NET and SQL Server database.

PREVIOUS PROCESS Every work item consisted of at least one sheet of paper. This included the Application/Disconnect form. It was difficult to determine which staff member was working on any existing work item. Significant chance of a work item getting lost or attached to another work order item. All paper work order items had to be scanned into the document management system for records retention. CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application

NEW PROCESS Electronic Workflow (Phase 1) Faxed requests are auto-converted to attachments and entered into the workflow. ed requests are automatically entered into the workflow Each individual work item is assigned to a specific employee. Work items are received and viewed electronically. The back-office electronic workflow went live in January Online Service Applications (Phase 2) The online Applications/Disconnect requests will replace the paper forms. Relevant documents such as Leases, HUD statements, drivers’ licenses, Warranty deeds, etc. will be electronically uploaded. The online Applications will feed into the electronic workflow. Development completed in June 2015 – available on Test site. Will be made public in late August following installation of new firewall infrastructure to scan document uploads. CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application

This is the main view of the workflow showing all new work items.

CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application This is the detail page of a work item showing any attachments and allowing attachments to be added, the item to be marked for follow up, the item to be marked as completed or reviewed and ready for archive to the document management system for records retention.

CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application This is the new item screen which allows assigning the item to a specific employee and entering the necessary data about the individual item.

CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application New Online Service Application Form currently available on the development site:

BENEFITS The workflow is live and the online form will be activated to the public in late August 2015 The workflow has brought the process under controls and also provided time and cost savings. No need to scan into the document management system. Completed work items are automatically archived. Easy to determine which employee is working on a specific work item. Work items are no longer potentially lost. They will stay in the system until they are completed. Tens of thousands of sheets of paper are saved annually. CBS Electronic Workflow & Online Service Application