ServiceArizona EZ Service Centers Executive Summary Arizona s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) developed a kiosk-type solution for its customer service offices that has helped reduce waiting lines and produced cost savings, while at the same time familiarizing customers with MVD s e-government services. Fifteen self-service workstations, called EZ Service Centers, were installed in MVD offices to allow customers to complete transactions while avoiding a wait to see a customer service representative. The project began in 2003 as a pilot in one MVD office. After a successful trial period, 14 additional EZ Service Centers were placed in MVD offices around Arizona in 2004, and 13 more are planned for 2005. An EZ Service Center is e-government in its most uncomplicated form, particularly from a customer-user standpoint. The center is comprised of a computer, DSL line, table, chair and desk printer. An EZ Service Center computer is a specially programmed for Internet access. The computer has access to 11 different MVD transactions through ServiceArizona, MVD s electronic service delivery system. The custom programming interfaces the ServiceArizona system directly and seamlessly with MVD s title and registration and driver license systems. Once online, the customer merely follows the online instructions to the desired transaction. A typical transaction can be completed in two to five minutes. Any transaction that requires fulfillment, such as a vehicle registration renewal that requires issuing a registration credential and license plate tab, is specially tagged at the customer service counter to identify it as an EZ Service Center transaction. The customer service representative then issues the credential and tab to the customer to complete the transaction. This project provides a variety of benefits to citizens and MVD: it reduces workload for MVD customer service representatives, especially during peak volume times; it increases customer satisfaction by reducing the time they spend in MVD offices; it is educating the public on the availability of MVD transactions through the Internet, and it produced significant cost avoidance and savings for the state. Usage has increased steadily, with more than 9,000 EZ Service Center transactions now being conducted each month. The transactions currently provided on the self-service centers are Vehicle Registration Renewal, Duplicate Driver License, Address Change, Voter Registration, 3-Day Restricted Permit, 30-Day General Use Permit, Personalized/Special License Plate, Plate Credit Inquiry, Plate Credit Refund, Duplicate Vehicle Registration and Driver License Reinstatement.
ServiceArizona EZ Service Centers Description of Project The ServiceArizona self-service center project began in March 2003. The Arizona Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) and its electronic service delivery partner, IBM, developed an innovative solution using existing technology to help reduce the long lines in customer service offices, also known as field offices. The EZ Service Center concept was initially piloted in one of MVD s field offices in Tucson, Arizona. The EZ Service Center is less expensive and more functional than a traditional kiosk solution. An EZ Service Center is a self-service center comprised of a custom desk, computer, printer, dedicated line to the Internet, and custom programming to interface directly with MVD s title and registration and driver license systems. It utilizes MVD's ServiceArizona infrastructure. ServiceArizona is MVD's e-government program that allows citizens and businesses to perform motor vehicle and driver license transactions over the Internet. MVD faced three major issues in its field offices that required an innovative solution. The first was the increasing wait times for customers in the offices. Arizona's population is increasing greatly each year, approximately 20% between 2000 and 2005. The second issue was handling the distribution of workload during peak vehicle registration renewal days. The majority of MVD transactions occur around the times when vehicle registrations expire, some at mid-month and some at the end of the month. This causes MVD uneven workloads and challenges with arranging adequate staffing levels. The third was that the field offices only accept cash and checks. The use of credit cards as a payment method was not an option for customers. The population growth, the uneven workload distribution and the lack of alternative payment methods coupled with restricted state budgets made it so MVD needed to find an inexpensive, creative approach to reducing the pressure on the field office staffs. MVD had tried a traditional kiosk solution with ServiceArizona a few years earlier, but found it to be too expensive and limiting to provide all the transactions offered on ServiceArizona. A traditional kiosk solution would need several different printer types built into the device to handle transactions such as vehicle renewal, duplicate driver license (replacement of a lost or damaged license), 3-day permits and others. The duplicate driver license transaction needs to print a credential on special plastic while the vehicle renewal needs to print a renewal document on a special form along with dispensing custom tabs or decals that are affixed to the license plate. The customization needed for a kiosk that could do all of these functions, in addition to the complexity and cost, made traditional kiosks an unattractive option. The pilot project in 2003 for the EZ Service Center was very successful. In 2004, 14 additional MVD offices received self-service centers. For 2005, an additional 13 self-service centers are planned for placement throughout the state, and MVD is considering adding second units in a few of the high volume locations. On March 32, 2005, the self-service center in one of the Tucson offices had 234 transactions, nearly one every two minutes. On April 1, 2005, almost 1,000 transactions were performed by all 15 self-service centers combined.
From the outset, MVD determined that for the project to be successful, the customer must be able to pay for transactions easily with a credit card or bank check card and be able to leave the office with the respective credentials in hand. Many of the credentials are printed locally while others (duplicate drivers license and vehicle registration) mandated the use of specific MVD printers, which posed a unique challenge in printing. Both credentials require the use of internal MVD network printers. The object was to somehow link the independently operating self-service center to those MVD printers. In the simplest of terms, this was accomplished by creating identifiers for each of the EZ Service Centers and their respective MVD office printers. A table mapping the identifiers to each specific MVD printer node is maintained within ServiceArizona. Each duplicate driver license or registration renewal transaction generated from a center can then be passed immediately to the appropriate printer in the office from which the transaction originated. Since duplicate driver license printing can take a few minutes and print jobs are held in queue, a tag is provided to each print job originating from the center. This allows MVD customer service representatives to quickly identify the source of the print job. As a result, the EZ Service Center behaves as if it is attached to the MVD network when in fact it is operating completely independently. The integration is seamless. Once in place, the centers demonstrated a positive impact on offices by helping to reduce wait times, increasing flexibility in payment options, creating greater customer satisfaction and improving customer perception of MVD. The transactions currently provided on the self-service centers are listed below: Vehicle Registration Renewal * Duplicate Driver License * Address Change Voter Registration Restricted 3-Day Permit * 30 Day General Use Permit * Personalized/Special License Plate Plate Refund Duplicate Vehicle Registration * Driver License Reinstatement * Plate Credit While all transactions provide a confirmation, those indicated with an asterisk require special credential printing. The objectives of the EZ Service Centers were to: Develop a cost effective way to provide self-service transactions in many MVD offices, not just the highest volume offices. The solution had to be reasonably priced so these centers
could be placed in the majority of offices and still make financial sense for IBM and MVD. To date, the centers have been placed not only in major metropolitan offices in Phoenix and Tucson, but also in mid-size cities and smaller communities around the state. Use the existing technology and applications within ServiceArizona to provide customers with a user-friendly, self-directed way to expedite their transactions. Allow customers to perform self-service transactions and leave the office with the credentials from that transaction (duplicate driver license, tabs, printed registration, etc.) Introduce customers at the MVD field offices to ServiceArizona and increase the possibility they would use ServiceArizona at home the next time they need to interact with MVD. In the eyes of the customer, the Self-Service Centers are comprised of little more than a computer desk, IBM desktop PC and laser printer. The user experience is limited to a predefined site within ServiceArizona by using a secure browser. The browser blocks the ability to visit sites outside of ServiceArizona. Depending on the type of transaction, the credential will either be printed locally or will be passed off to the appropriate type of MVD printer, registration or digital drivers license. Within the office, the networking requirements have been kept to a minimum. Internet connectivity is gained by passing through a firewall and router. Communication bandwidth is at 56k or 128k through frame relay or business class DSL depending on service availability at the office location. Prior to launching a new center at any MVD location, the manager and staff at that location are trained on all aspects of the available applications, how to integrate the center into their daily operations, ways to direct customer traffic to the center and alleviate wait times, as well as the operation and basic support procedures for the center. The office greeter or information counter staff is of vital importance to the success of a center. This is the first point of contact a customer has with MVD personnel. The greeter determines what type of transaction the customer has and the preferred method of payment. If the transaction is available on the center and the customer is interested, the greeter directs the customer to the center instead of issuing a ticket for the MVD queue. During high volume times at an office, a facilitator is a great asset. Facilitators will interview customers waiting in line for the greeter to determine if they are eligible to use the center. Facilitators also can help guide a customer through the transaction to further expedite the process. EZ Service Center transactions are typically completed in 2-5 minutes. For each transaction, a printed confirmation is generated on the center s laser printer. Some of the credentials 3-day permit, 30-day permit and duplicate registration are produced from the center s printer as well. Customers who request a duplicate driver license or registration renewal will receive on-screen directions to the office pick-up window for their credential. This is also displayed on their printed confirmation page when applicable.
Registration transactions require additional handling by an MVD customer service representative to validate the transaction and to provide the customer with new tabs. This is handled at the same pick-up window the customer visits to retrieve the registration credential. Significance to the improvement of the operation of government. The self-service centers impacted the problems described previously by: Reducing customer wait time. The average wait time for a customer to see a customer service representative is 25 minutes. There is virtually no customer wait time for those customers who choose to use the self-service workstation. Reducing customer service representative transaction time. An average transaction takes a customer service representative eight minutes to complete. Of the 11 transactions that can be done on a self-service workstation, nine do not require any customer service representative assistance when completed at the workstation. The two that do require assistance are vehicle renewal and duplicate driver license due to the special credentials. The average customer service representative time for these transactions is one minute. Vehicle renewals and duplicate driver licenses make up 75% of the transactions performed on the selfservice centers. On average, a self-service center transaction saves the customer service representative seven minutes and 15 seconds per transaction. Increases payment options for customers. Vehicle registration renewals in Arizona average $100 to $200 per vehicle. In some cases, this option reduces the need for customers to carry a significant amount of cash. Credit cards allow customers a third payment option at the MVD offices. Credit cards even allow some customers to finance their vehicle renewals over time. Reduces bad checks. The transactions that are performed on the self-service centers are all paid with credit cards. Every payment is verified prior to the completion of the transaction. This reduces the number of bad checks that MVD receives in the offices. Reduces costs of service delivery for MVD. An average transaction costs MVD $12 to perform. The average cost for the self-service center is under $8 per transaction. Encourages customer to use ServiceArizona from home of office. The introduction to customers to the self-service center makes them aware that many MVD transactions may be performed without a visit to the office. Benefits realized by service recipients, taxpayers, agency or state. Savings in customer wait time. At the current pace in 2005, it is estimated the total number of self-service center transactions will be 93,600. The average wait
time savings when using the self-service center is 25 minutes. 93,600 transactions times 25 minutes = 2,340,000 minutes or 39,000 hours saved. Reducing customer service representative transaction time. The self-service workstation saves the customer service representative 7.25 minutes per transaction. 93,600 transactions times 7.25 minutes = 678,600 minutes or 11,310 hours. This equates to approximately eight MVD employees. Reduces bad checks. Approximately 2% of transactions result in bad checks. Of 93,600 transactions projected to be done on self-service centers this year, 80,000 will be fee transactions requiring a payment; the others are transactions with no fee. 80,000 transactions times.02 = 1,600 transactions that will not result in bad checks and related collection activities. Reduces costs of service delivery for MVD. The average cost savings per transaction done at a self-service center versus over the counter is approximately $4. 93,600 transactions times $4 = $374,400 savings per year. Return on investment, short-term/long-term payback (include summary calculations). Projects must exhibit measurable operational benefit. Since IBM furnishes the custom desk, computer, printer and dedicated line to the Internet, the only one-time cost for MVD was the custom programming needed for this solution. IBM's costs are recouped in a retention fee per transaction. This retention fee is included in the MVD cost for doing a self-service center transaction. MVD's one-time programming cost was to integrate the self-service workstation with the MVD legacy systems. This cost was approximately $10,000. The return on investment for MVD in the first year is $374,400 / $10,000 or 3,744%. In dollars the return on investment is $374,400 - $10,000 or $364,400. The investment was returned in less than 1 month ($10,000 / $374,400 =.027 years) 2005 extrapolated numbers = 39,000 * 12 / 5 = 93,600. This figure is conservative due to the fact that 13 new EZ Service Centers will be added in the summer of 2005.