CITY PROCESS ASSESSMENT PLAN

City Efficiency Task Force

November 2008

Revision Sheet
Release No. 2 3 4 5 6 Date 06/17/2008 07/28/2008 08/12/2008 09/11/2008 11/18/2008 Revision Description Addition of City Assessment Purpose and Scope Addition of Process Review Listing Addition of Process Assessment Protocol Addition of Process Approach Addition of Executive Summary

CITY PROCESS ASSESSMENT PLAN

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page #

1.0

GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 Purpose...........................................................................................................................4 1.2 Scope ..............................................................................................................................5 1.3 Points of Contact ............................................................................................................5

2.0

ASSESSMENT PROCESS 2.1 Process Listing ...............................................................................................................6 2.2 Process Definitions .................................................................................................... 6-7 2.3 Roles and Responsibilities .............................................................................................7

3.0

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.8-9

1.0 1.1

GENERAL INFORMATION Purpose

The City Administrator and city council have agreed to work with the Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism (OACCT) to develop recommendations on efficiency in city operations. The City would like the committees to be made up of Leadership Owatonna Alumni, which is a program of the Chamber. What: Efficiency Task Force Goal: The goal of each task force will be to develop a list of recommendations to reduce costs, and/or become more efficient with what they have. Outcome: The recommendations will then be presented to the Administrator and department heads and then to the City Council for their consideration. Each committee has only the power to provide recommendations, it will be the city council's decision to implement or not. City Assessment Objectives 1. The process assessment will focus on evaluating business and financial procedures in regard to good business practices. 2. The Purpose of the assessment is to help improve operations not to find something wrong. 3. The objectives and scope of the assessment will be broken down and determined by process rather than department. 4. Are there current process problem areas that need to be included in the scope of the assessment? 5. What assistance from personnel other than those attending this meeting is needed to answer detailed questions concerning the processes being assessed? 6. How are we going to handle assessment concerns? Some concerns will need to be reviewed at the time they arise. The purpose of discussing each assessment concern is to verify that the facts defined in the concern are accurate. Some findings may be resolved orally. 7. How frequently do you want to provide updates? 8. Any information obtained during the assessment is considered confidential. A final report will be delivered to the City Administrator and summary to the City Council. 9. What are the working hours, working area, access to records, and any other information that details office routines? 10. Identify information needed to complete the process assessment. * 11. Establish a tentative schedule for the draft report based on the project hours. The purpose is to establish a goal to work toward and to provide an estimate of the time needed. 12. Are there any questions concerning anything discussed at this meeting or any questions in general about the assessment approach?

*-listed on next page

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* List of items requested to complete the process assessment Organization Chart Chart of Accounts Budget Report List of Processes for each area to determine the scope of the assessment Copy of Policies and Procedures for each process assessed List of laws governing the process Key Contact Names for the process List of Systems/Applications used in the process assessed

1.2

Scope
The scope of the project is to identify the processes in each of the following departments: Police, Parks & Recreation and Finance and Administration. Once those processes are determined, identify which processes will be evaluated by the task force (approx. 9 processes). Evaluate the processes, present to the city administration and city council for their review and potential implementation.

1.3

Points of Contact

City Administration Kris Busse, City Administrator 507-774-7340 Email: Kris.Busse@ci.owatonna.mn.us City Finance Brad Svenby, Finance Director 507-444-4300 Email: Brad.Svenby@ci.owatonna.mn.us Police Department Shaun LaDue, Chief of Police 507-774-7201 Email: Shaun.Ladue@ci.owatonna.mn.us Parks & Recreation Department Jeff McKay, Parks & Recreation Director 507-444-4300 Email: Jeff.Mckay@ci.owatonna.mn.us

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ASSESSMENT PROCESS Process Listing

Category Department

Process Assessment
Purchasing

State Purchasing Bidding Process Miscellaneous Purchasing

Administration

State Purchasing Bidding Process Miscellaneous Purchasing

Police Department

State Purchasing Bidding Process Miscellaneous Purchasing Preventive Maintenance Equipment

Park and Recreation

Police Department

Parks

Park and Recreation

Government Buildings Program Review Fitness Center Youth Recreation Adult Recreation

Park and Recreation

Park and Recreation Park and Recreation Park and Recreation

2.2

Process Definitions

For the purposes of this document formal means the following: documented, reviewed, monitored, measured. Purchasing there are three types of purchasing processes identified; State Purchasing, Bidding Process and other miscellaneous purchasing.

Preventive Maintenance- within the departments identified for this review there are different categories of preventive maintenance. Equipment has been identified for the police department, parks for Parks and Recreation Department and buildings for the Park and Recreation Department. Program Review this is an area identified to walk through a program in the department identified. For Parks and Recreation it would be for example a program of youth recreation.

2.3

Roles and Responsibilities

Process Management: The organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources for implementing a process management system. Process Assessing A key management tool for achieving the mission and policy statements, and objectives of an organization. Used to assess the effectiveness of processes and their ability to achieve objectives. The results of assessments can be used by management to improve process performance and the organization. What is a process assessment? A systematic and independent examination of process activities. Determines if process activities and related results comply with planned arrangements (process documentation). Assesses effective implementation of processes and the suitability for achieving objectives. Two Types of Results Observation A statement of fact regarding the assessment results which can be positive, negative or neutral in nature. Example: Employees were friendly and helpful. Employees knew of the Mission Policy, where to find it and how it applied to their jobs. The area is adequately staffed at this time. Upon completion of training the staff will meet company requirements. There are two new employees in the area. Their work environment is good. Two Types of Results Improvement Opportunity A gap or undefined activity in a process, unfavorable process results, unacceptable variation or waste in a process. Noncompliance to a standard due to the lack of or no documentation to fulfill the provisions of the requirements. Example: Competence, Awareness and Training, 1. Employee records do not list any departmental training for two employees with hire dates of 06-04-06 and 07-15-07. Process Records, 1. Records are not stored or retained per statute xxx. Monitoring and Measurement, 1. There is no process defined for documenting and managing discrepancies / non-conformances. Objective Evidence * Qualitative or Quantitative Information, Records, or Statement of Fact * Always Verifiable * Based on Observation, Measurement or Test
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 * Pertinent to Products, Services or Management System Implementation * Can be good or bad. Objective evidence should be evidence to support statements or findings that can be verified. Task Force Member Protocol Managing Documentation and Information: All documentation and information pertaining to this exercise is proprietary and must be treated in a controlled manner. Any changes or distribution must be handled through Brad Meier, OACC President. Representation: Maintain a professional and positive attitude. Be Prepared: Be organized and prepared for the assessment to ensure a productive session. Maintain Control of Situation: Control of the situation should be maintained at all times. Ask Questions, Not Statements: Ask open ended questions to get the most volunteered information as possible, but also make sure your questions are simple, straight forward and easily understood. (i.e. who, what, where, when, how and why) Listen Attentively to Responses: Listen attentively to the person being interviewed and resist the temptation to lead them to the answer you expect. Relax Person Being Interviewed: Attempt to make the person being interviewed feel at ease and comfortable with the situation. Avoid Arguments: Do not become argumentative or opinionated with the person being interviewed. Avoid Suggestions: Avoid the temptation to give advice or suggestions for improvement to ensure an unbiased relationship is maintained during the interview. Gather Information and Data: Carefully take concise notes on the information received so that the information is well documented. Process Assessment Steps Notify the process area of intent to perform assessment. Contact Kris Busse, City Administrator (Kris.Busse@ci.owatonna.mn.us) Schedule and complete opening meeting to review process assessment checklist items with process owner. Perform the process assessment and complete the checklist. (this may take several meetings) Communicate progress after each meeting to process owner throughout the entire process assessment. Compile and prepare results Observations Improvement opportunities Schedule and complete closing meeting to review results with process owner. Schedule and complete closing meeting to review results with Efficiency Task Force Committee.

3.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Observations

The City/Chamber Efficiency Task Force formed in May of 2008 between City Administrator and Owatonna Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism. Ten process assessments were completed with the work of 14 volunteers from the business community. A majority of the volunteers were Leadership Owatonna alumni. The chairpersons for this effort were: Don Boutelle, Viracon; Tim McManimon, Profinium Financial; and Vicki Jensen, Jensen Agency.

The following process assessments were completed-Purchasing, Preventive Maintenance, Program Review Departments included: Administration & Finance, Park & Recreation, and Police Launched: June 2008 Estimated Volunteer Hours: 250 300 hours The interaction each of our volunteer teams had with the city personnel indicated a sincere pride in their jobs. The city employees are positive about their work, they care deeply about the programs and people they serve. Personnel were cooperative to work with and knowledgeable in their work. The willingness to work with and interact with other departments and government agencies to gain efficiencies by utilizing assets for infrequent tasks and specialty equipment and projects. The City of Owatonna has no human resource specialist or purchasing agent. The city web site and intranet are excellent examples of using technology to connect employees and the community of Owatonna.

Improvement Opportunities
For the purposes of this document formal means the following: documented, reviewed, monitored and measured. Mission Statements-Recommend city leadership establishes requirements and use of mission statements or objectives for consistency with in each city department. This should include the frequency for review to ensure adequacy. Document Control- Recommend developing a process for controlling city process documentation (i.e.-web site, intranet, procedures, instructions, checklists, forms, charts, etc.). Control of Records and Data-Recommend developing a formal process for controlling records and data management (i.e.-storage, method of filing, retention, purge and disposal, etc.). Resources (Human)-Recommend developing process measures to determine staffing adequacy (i.e.-how much time does it take to maintain xyz documented). Time and material should be tracked when resource sharing between other departments and government agencies to work on special projects. Training-Recommend developing a process for managing the various training, license, certification and registration records for employees (i.e.-include what, where, how long and ensure they are readily accessible and retrievable). Purchasing-Recommend developing a process to ensure purchased products and services meet requirements including quality and service (i.e.-defining the position of authority, dollar amounts for purchases and approval of receipts). o Recommend developing a process to record, identify, notify, evaluate, segregate, and disposition discrepancies on purchased products and services that dont meet requirements. o Recommend developing a process for outsourcing (programs, contracts, projects, etc). o Recommend establishing a policy to determine buying local vs. lowest bid.

Programs-Recommend developing a formal process for programs, including the functions of: marketing, evaluation of programs & personnel, customer feedback including customer complaints, outsource contracts, goals, tracking attendance, upgrading of technology, adding infrastructure, and job descriptions for volunteers. o Create a formal process that defines the various steps to add or remove a program. Monitor and Measure-Recommend non-financial process measures are developed for purchasing, preventative maintenance and programs (i.e.-complaint data, customer satisfaction, quality, on time, and performance benchmarks). o Recommend using the capacity of the new financial software to improve account detail expense for projects and services (i.e.-automate the payroll system, fuel management, Fitness and Tennis Center usage and overall financial management).

Conclusion
We recommend these Improvement Opportunities be acted on prior to pursuing additional process reviews. We believe these Improvement Opportunities would add value and efficiency to the city operations, management and ultimately the citizens of Owatonna.

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