1. Business Process Reengineering
Lean Transformation
How Arizona UI used Lean reengineering to improve processes for both staff and customers

2. Background
In dealing with the Great Recession, Arizona UI created a number of processes that were the best solutions at the time
After the Great Recession, the budget shrank and we added additional solutions to cope with the reduced staffing
Examples
Requiring claimants to file claims online
FAQs online to answer questions
Examples included
requiring (most) claimants to file new and continued claims online
we added more FAQs online and hoped that they answered most claimant and employer questions
For those who needed to call, we had only a few staff dedicated to answering claimant questions resulting in long waits made worse with an outdated phone system

3. Background
By late 2014, I was looking into Six Sigma and Lean to correct some of these past efficiencies
In early 2015, Governor Doug Ducey had the various Departments begin to use Lean to reengineer processes
UI was ready and we were one of the first areas in our Department to Lean our processes

4. Lean Reducing the call wait times was our first Lean project
Selected a team
Mapped the processes
Implemented the changes
Tracked, measured and adjusted
We selected a team that included call agents and a few of us from the leadership including a Lean expert
We tacked a huge sheet of butcher paper on the wall and mapped the process with drawings and multi-colored Post-its
Identified the waste
Identified other improvements such as our Interactive Voice Response, and webpage
We increased the amount of information on the IVR, which answered many of the common questions
We improved the amount of information on our webpages but also how the information was worded and presented
Implemented the changes, tracked, measured and adjusted

5. Call Wait Times Reduced 100 minutes to 10 seconds
UI Inquiry Calls
Call Wait Times Reduced
100 minutes to 10 seconds
Calls Answered Percentage
47% to 100%
The 100 minutes were usually over two or three days
We did this without adding additional staff (Erlang C indicated that we’d need over60 staff, we had about 20)

6. Improved Online Claims
Weekly Continued Claims
85% to 90%
Paper Claims
60% reduction
Although we had required all claimants to file initial and weekly continued claims online, we still had a percentage who filed paper claims
The online CC system would only take one week, If someone missed that, they had to call and agent or got to a reemployment office to get a paper claim
The other paper claims were initial claims, mostly filed by migrant and seasonal farmworkers who lived in Mexico but worked in Arizona. Filing online was difficult, so they would go into one of the two remaining local UI offices and complete a paper claim.

7. Other Projects Tax Account Applications Reducing “No Issues” Imaging
Increasing Workforce Full Registration
Online Filing
Reduced the amount of time to file an new Tax application
Reduced the number of claims that needed adjudication but were not actual countable issues
Reduced the time and volume of documents scanned by the Imaging Unit
Claimants complete a partial workforce registration during the UI claims process. We are working on increasing the number of claimants that fully register with the Workforce Administration in order to provide complete services
Increase the number of employers that file tax reports and payments online

8. Keeping Up the Lean Momentum
Desk Aid
Gemba Walks
Huddles
Scorecards

9. Presented by
Andy Baldwin
Arizona UI Director