Oregon Employment Department. Unemployment Insurance Call Center Upgrade. May 28, Submitted by: Troy Rutten, CIO Oregon Employment Department

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1 Oregon Employment Department Unemployment Insurance Call Center Upgrade May 28, 2010 Submitted by: Troy Rutten, CIO Oregon Employment Department Category: Improving State Operations Project Team: Tom Byerley, UI Director Troy Rutten, CIO Jon Debban, Deputy CIO Leonard Higgins, Portfolio Manager Steven Wollenburg, Project Manager Terrie Ray, Testing Manager Marty Liddell, Architect - 1 -

2 Executive Summary The Oregon Employment Department (OED) offers exceptional public service through 47 offices located across the state to support business and promote employment. This mission of service is accomplished in four ways by providing: Unemployment Insurance (UI) assistance, employment services for job seekers and employers, timely labor market information, and ensuring access to quality child care. Oregon has three UI Call Centers dedicated to assisting citizens with unemployment benefits. Oregonians unemployed through no fault of their own are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits that supply temporary wage-replacement income paid for through employer payroll taxes. In 2009, OED paid more than $2.6 billion in benefits with $2.4 billion, or 92% of the total benefits paid, processed through UI Call Centers. In 2008, the national economy started a downward turn and unemployment began to rise; incoming calls into UI Call Centers went into overdrive. The State s unemployment rate is continually higher than the national average. With the onset of the recession, Oregon ranked as high as third in national unemployment. Due to the inundation of calls, each call center was maxing-out on the volume of incoming calls supported by the existing hardware infrastructure. The rapidly changing economy and employment environment created a sense of urgency for upgrading this infrastructure. OED began looking at alternatives that included Cisco products. Previously, in 2007, the State of Oregon successfully incorporated Cisco technology in the state network. Maintaining alignment with state and national priorities was an integral part of the Call Center project plan, and ultimately Cisco was the chosen platform. The final solution is referred to as the Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise (UCCE) and consisted of intelligent contact routing, call treatment, network-to-desktop computer telephony integration (CTI), and multichannel contact management over an Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure. This unified solution combines multichannel automatic call distributor functionality with IP telephony, thus enabling the OED to rapidly deploy a distributed contact center infrastructure. Since the deployment of the Cisco UCCE, OED has seen vast improvements in the functionality and maintenance of the Call Centers throughout the state. The hardware formerly located at each center is now centralized with greater system redundancy and improved reporting capabilities. Citizens reach agents faster as calls are transferred to the next available call center agent, regardless of the number dialed. This increased call distribution has proven to be beneficial to OED UI overall business processes and allows for greater hardware flexibility. No longer does UI need to staff a diverse group of agents at each call center location, every day. Citizens have access to a diverse pool of agents that speak a wide range of languages, such as Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese, regardless of their location within the state. OED has successfully deployed an Enterprise Call Center solution meeting a wide range of public and government needs statewide. We are now discovering all the great things we can do from a business perspective with the new, unified call center system, says Tom Byerley, Director Unemployment Insurance

3 Description The mission of the Oregon Employment Department (OED) is to support economic stability for Oregonians and communities through the payment of unemployment benefits. OED operates three Unemployment Insurance (UI) Call Centers around the state to process initial unemployment claims, weekly unemployment benefit claims, and adjudication of issues related to claims. Prior to October 2009, the Centers operated independently with dedicated resources, infrastructure, and customer dial-in lines. Each Center serviced customers in one of three geographic regions, however high call volumes at any one Center would result in customers having to call another Center for service. During this time period, Call Centers statewide were receiving approximately 110,000 calls each month. Problem: The hardware infrastructure in all three Call Centers was approaching the end of its life cycle and software supporting operations would soon follow. Also, the cost of maintaining multiple Call Centers was growing exponentially, and maintaining services for unemployment customers was becoming increasingly difficult with the available resources. Many of the Call Centers were operating at capacity and would soon require upgrades to handle the forecasted call volumes. Challenge: OED Information Technology Services (ITS) was asked to provide a call center solution that was transparent to both the UI team and their public customers. A solution needed to be in place within nine months and ready to handle a forecasted spike in the call volume. This was an extremely aggressive project completion date even under the best of circumstances. In addition, this project that was highly visible to the state legislature, as well as the public during a time when the unemployment rate in Oregon placed the state among the highest in the nation. The failure of a state unemployment process would have significant consequences. The project budget also faced approval during a period of declining state revenue and legislative budget cuts, and upon approval, the funds would be closely monitored for deviations. Solution: Alternative solutions spanned a wide range of technology from hardware upgrades for the three existing Call Center infrastructure s, to the replacement of each center either individually or as an enterprise. The risk of failure increased exponentially with each of these choices. Identifying the solution included consideration of the business problem, associated challenges, risks, and other key decision factors. Based on state economic forecasts, the number of Oregon unemployed citizens was expected to increase an additional 25%, reaching a state unemployment rate of 10%. The Nortel software on current systems was also nearing end-of-life. Nortel support was still available, but future technological advancements were limited. Nortel software requires a Microsoft Windows 2000 Server legacy platform with Microsoft support terminating in Multiple call centers are costly to maintain in dollars and resources

4 Call Centers operating independently challenged the ability of the state to deliver a standard level of public service and human resource management. In the end, ITS decided on an enterprise solution to meet OED Strategic Objectives, the UI business requirements, and the needs of unemployment customers located within and outside the State of Oregon. This solution was a higher-risk alternative and a strategic partnership was identified as the method to mitigate a majority of that risk. More specifically, ITS partnered with Verizon and Cisco to deploy a Cisco Unified Communications (UC) platform across all three Call Centers using the Unified Contact Center Enterprise and Customer Voice Portal solution. This solution: Aligned OED with the chosen network infrastructure of the State Data Center (SDC). Utilized the state network backbone and provided an increase in bandwidth, reliability, and redundancy. Took advantage of existing Call Center PSTN telephony infrastructure to the greatest extent possible to reduce project scope, cost, and time while improving the quality of voice services to the customer. Leveraged the partnership with the SDC to include governance and integrated change management processes. Reduced the maintenance footprint of sustaining three separate Call Centers. Supported NASCIO, Oregon, and OED priorities and strategic objectives. Innovative Characteristics: Utilizing a VoIP-based Call Center solution compatible with the Cisco network platform chosen by the SDC, provided a flexible, cost-effective, and scalable solution. The new centrally managed VoIP infrastructure provides longterm flexibility for call routing to Call Center locations. Choosing a system based on the Cisco platform also provides synergy with the daily operations of the OED and SDC data networks, resulting in a lower overall total cost of ownership. The enterprise design reduces the maintenance footprint previously required to support three Call Centers, and improves the efficiency of processing state unemployment customers. Leverage: The Unified Communications (UC) platform developed for the UI Call Centers strategically positions OED for future growth and development in the following areas: Incorporation of two additional OED Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems. Deployment of VoIP services to other offices replacing analog technology. Conference bridging with recording capability; currently an outsourced service. Providing video conference access and services for over 40 field offices throughout the state; reducing government travel and per diem costs. Increasing accessibility to OED infrastructure; improving business

5 Providing the framework for a workforce management solution to schedule Call Center agents based on historical call volumes. The Project: OED used the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBoK) framework for Initiation, Planning, Execution, Control and Closing processes. Senior Project Managers from OED and Verizon managed project activities under the guidance of the project steering group. OED maintained full oversight of the project and was directly responsible for the outcome. Call Centers were brought online individually with implementation of the last Call Center occurring October 1, 2009, on schedule. Contracted Quality Assurance services providing external monitoring and evaluation of project activities and successes from planning through execution, gave the project a final rating of Excellent for achieving 90% of the stated project goals, standards, and requirements. Results of the project were so successful that Cisco requested and received approval to document the project in a Case Study that is distributed globally. Significance The enterprise system with web-based user interfaces opened information and management doors that were previously accessible only to trained technical staff. The UI team has gained considerable control over the management of staff in the system, real-time call management, and user customizable reports. In addition: State leadership has access to real-time monitoring and reporting of statewide unemployment calls. UI managers and supervisors are able to immediately detect fluctuations in call volume and direct human resources accordingly. OED can now provide notification messages to the public within hours compared to the weeks it previously took an outside vendor. This capability also reduced the workload of Call Center staff and provides the public beneficiary at the beginning of a call, with timely information regarding new federal and state unemployment programs or benefits, or delayed check processing. This often eliminates the need for a caller to speak directly with a UI representative. Supervisors have an improved performance reporting capability to monitor employees for advanced skill qualification, conformance to established standards, and opportunities for remedial training. Technical Support staff use real-time monitoring and alert tools to respond to technical issues, prevent outages from affecting business operations, and improve system performance through system and component analysis features. OED has greater hiring flexibility for Call Center staff. A Unified Communications platform eliminates the need to staff each center with all skills and languages. Benefits Implementation of the UC platform came at a time when Oregon s unemployment rate was slightly over 11%, higher than previously forecasted at the beginning of the project

6 Even with a higher call volume, the public received immediate benefits of reduced wait times and improved voice quality. Examples include: Citizens and employers connect faster with employment service representatives through balanced workload and call prioritization. Citizens and employers receive notification of the current estimated wait time allowing them to plan for the duration of their call. Citizens receive special information announcements at the beginning of a call that may save them from having to stay on the line to talk with an agent. Employers receive faster service from Call Center Adjudication agents by accessing dedicated English and Spanish employer queues. Impact: Consideration of OED and State priorities and objectives occurred during project Initiation and Planning processes. The project successfully achieved these priorities and objectives and met NASCIO priorities for Strategy and Technology as noted below. OED strategic objectives: o UI Program Consistency and Quality 07-02: Improve quality and consistency in UI program delivery to improve customer satisfaction. o Business Continuity Planning 07-14: Ability to respond to unexpected events and restore services to the workforce community. Oregon State priorities: o Act on opportunities for consolidation and shared services with the State Data Center. o Ensure the continuity of state government operations in the event of a disaster or other business interruption. o Continuously improve the use of IT in support of state government programs and services. NASCIO priorities: o Consolidation: centralizing, consolidating services, operations, resources, and infrastructure. o Networking and unified communications. A strategic objective for ITS is to lower the maintenance footprint and associated costs needed to support and maintain delivery of public services. The Call Center Upgrade Project achieved steps towards that objective and recognized short-term benefits at the five-month point, much earlier than forecasted during project planning. This success is attributed to the solution chosen, coupled with the training of business and technical staff. This combination has created levels of OED self-sufficiency that are greater than what was possible with the previous Call Center system

7 The UI team is able to use a web-based GUI to add, move, change or re-skill agents within the enterprise Call Center. Additionally, the UI team has accessibility to larger amounts of information, and is able to create, modify and customize reports to fit specific needs. This ability has reduced the level of dependency on technical support. ITS currently has three highly skilled technicians to support hardware and application components of the system, and provide on the job training and mentorship to other members of the technical staff. These skilled technicians have already completed two complicated tasks that previously would have required contracted support; an estimated savings of $25,000. Outcome: In the first month of operation, agents received an additional 31,000 calls for a total 144,675 calls, an increase of 27.4% from the previous month. Subsequent months have experienced an average increase of 22,100 calls when compared to preproject monthly averages. The project is showing a high level of stability handling the increased call volume. Supporting key indicators of improved stability and performance, are fewer abandoned calls resulting mostly from technical difficulties, or excessive wait times. Pre-project data indicates an average of over 35,250 1 abandoned calls each month. The average number of abandoned calls each month following implementation is 15,955, a significant monthly decrease of approximately 20,000 calls. This is an extremely positive indication of improved stability and shorter public wait times. Return on Investment: OED is a public service organization with emphasis on providing quality service through human and technical resources. The quality provided through this project was immediately observable to the public through the notification of estimated wait time, special notification messages, quick responses by Call Center agents, and crystal-clear voice quality. Even more impressive is the quality of service that the public cannot see; the ability to seamlessly handle large call volumes every day with a reduced number of public customers dropped from service. OED will continue to provide this level of quality service and support using internal staff and relying less every day on contracted resources. Although secondary to quality, financial return was apparent within the first six months of operation. OED staff performed tasks normally outsourced, for an estimated savings of $50,000, with a total timesaving of over two months. This trend will continue throughout the life of the project and rise as the skills of OED staff members increase. Another exciting return on investment is the significant reduction of our carbon footprint. OED eliminated 22 physical servers and hardware appliances during this project through technology upgrades and utilization of virtual servers. This combined approach reduced our carbon emissions (CO2) by an estimated tons, the equivalent of removing 21 cars from the road 2. 1 The previous Call Center system could not record certain types of abandoned calls based on the point at which the call disconnected. The actual number of abandoned calls is higher than the figure displayed. 2 The sustainability conversion calculator was provided through

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