LGA Consortium Meeting Sacramento, CA Web-Based Time Survey Solution Presented by Dan Gardner July 8, 2010

Time Study Buddy

Bad News Remember the time survey month? One month per year. That was relatively easy. Then the economy collapsed, Obama was elected, and the federal auditors got serious. Now County LGAs will need to do time surveys more frequently, many continuously. And this added administrative burden comes during a time of hiring freezes and spending cuts. What to do?

Use the Web! ✓ More efficient ✓ More revenue ➡ Easy = more participation = more revenue Levels of automation: 0. Manual 1. Spreadsheet 2. Database 3. Application 4. Web - Based

Good News The Buddy is two years in development - over 25,000 lines of programming code November first pilot May go live Multiple browsers: IE-6, IE-7 and Firefox

Key Features Easy setup One click to start new quarter Worker list shows status of each worker View, edit & print individual time surveys Automatic reports - no need to re-key data Complete audit trail in Excel

Bad News The Buddy was specifically designed for County Social Services but... They are very similar! Err*rrr#hhh!!!

Comparison MAA/TCMSocial Svcs. Codes12250 PlanFormalInformal ActivitiesYesPart of Code Quarterly Inv.Yes Invoice NameInvoiceClaim PayrollMostly 2 weeks

Time Surveys & Studies MAA/TCMSocial Svcs. NameTime SurveyTime Study 1-Mo/QtrYes - randomYes - middle 4-Wks/QtrYes - randomYes - middle 2-Wks/QtrYes - randomNo ContinuousYes Random Mom.Yes

Implementation MAA/TCMSocial Svcs. Pilot2010Nov Mo/Qtr2011Feb Wks/Qtr2011May Wks/Qtr2011 Continuous2011Oct Random Mom.2012

Worker Training Videos Go to:

Admin Features Easy setup One click to start new quarter Worker list shows status of each worker View, edit & print individual time surveys Automatic reports - no need to re-key data Complete audit trail in Excel

Easy setup - about 2 minutes per worker

One click to start a new quarter

List shows the status for each worker

View, edit & print individual time surveys

Excel reports - no need to re-key data

Complete audit trail - in Excel

The Buddy only does Time Studies & Surveys No MAA/TCM Plan No Invoicing No Consulting Just Time Studies & Surveys And we do our best to do them well!

Time and technology permitting let’s go online...

Thank you

Appendix Administrative Processes

Step 1 - Send out blank time studies CurrentlyBuddy Most counties use Excel to customize the time study template for each worker, including header information and some of the most commonly used codes. This information is updated and the time study is printed and routed to the worker using intra- office mail. Just click on “begin new time study month” and an is sent to each worker. Their time study is ready.

Step 2 - Worker receives a blank time study CurrentlyBuddy The worker receives their blank time study in the intra-office mail. Because of the time needed to process and send them out, they are often received late, after the time study month has already begun. The worker receives a “Welcome Back” . Clicking on a link in the takes them directly to their new time study at

Step 3 - Wait until the end of the month CurrentlyBuddy Wait....There’s a lot going on here. Because the admin is able to easily view the completion status for each worker, reminder s are sent out as needed. Also, preliminary reports are available that when used along with a mock claim tool, allow you to see where things are heading.

Step 4 - Collect signed time studies CurrentlyBuddy This is usually the beginning of a long and frustrating process. You probably wait two or three weeks and then begin tracking down all of the missing time studies. They begin to trickle in but those still outstanding become a problem and hold up the entire claim. Because you’ve been tracking them all along, there’s only a few “delinquents” to deal with. When finished, the workers print their time study from the Buddy and sign them. They are then sent to their supervisor who reviews, signs, and forwards to you.

Step 5 - Quality review CurrentlyBuddy Now that you have the signed time study in hand you begin to check the math (does everything add up!) and check the hours to the payroll time sheets. There’s usually lots of problems that need to be corrected and sent back for signing. There’s no need to check the math, and the quality review built into the Buddy helps ensure their hours match their payroll time sheets.

Step 6 - Summarize time study data CurrentlyBuddy Each time study is now “keyed” into either a spreadsheet of database for summarization. Not only is this very time consuming, but there’s many opportunities to make an error. Automatic

Step 7 - Make sure all time studies are in CurrentlyBuddy Typically a list is maintained for all time studies sent out, and then tracked to see those outstanding. With all that’s going on, it’s easy to get things mixed up a bit. The Buddy provides an easy to work with list of each time study, including their current status: such as percent complete, completed and printed, and signed and received.

Step 8 - Prepare supervisor pro-rata calculations CurrentlyBuddy This is typically preformed using Excel or in a database in which the time study data has been re-keyed. Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.

Step 9 - Prepare DFA 55 time study hours input report CurrentlyBuddy This is typically preformed using Excel or in a database in which the time study data has been re-keyed. Often data from more that one source needs to be combined. Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.

Step 10 - Prepare DFA 403 FTE input report CurrentlyBuddy This is preformed in a variety of ways, some using payroll reports and others calculating the FTEs from the time study hours. Automatic, including detailed audit trail reports in Excel format.

Step 11 - Draft claim #1 - “Houston, we have a problem!” CurrentlyBuddy This is usually where management realizes that the spending to allocations derived from the time studies fails to provide enough revenue. Thus begins the time consuming and ethically uncomfortable process of changing time studies. And with each time study changed, steps are repeated. The Buddy allows you to manage the use of time study codes pro-actively, rather than retro-actively.

Step 12 - Repeat steps for each “draft” claim CurrentlyBuddy Things get really busy during the month the claim is due. Much easier

Step 13 - The claim is completed and filed CurrentlyBuddy Gather and file all of the signed time studies. Gather and file all the reports needed to prepare the claim and to provide an audit trail. Gather and file all of the signed time studies, same as currently. However all of the reports and audit trails are in one place. They can either be printed in Excel, or saved, or both.

Step 14 - Adjusted claims - 9 month later CurrentlyBuddy Yet another chance to change time studies to gain more revenue. The entire process is repeated again. By using the Buddy’s pro- active tools, hopefully this will not be needed. However, tools are provided to easily amend time studies and automatically process the necessary reports.

Thank you