CITY OF VANCOUVER
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: February 16, 2005
Author/Local: Terry Corrigan
/7225
RTS No. 4723
CC File No. 1371
Meeting Date: March 1, 2005
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TO: |
Vancouver City Council |
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FROM: |
General Manager of Corporate Services/Director of Finance |
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SUBJECT: |
Revenue Services System Replacement Project -Staffing Implications |
RECOMMENDATIONS
THAT two Regular Full Time Clerk II positions be deleted effective March 31, 2005 and two Regular Full Time Clerk II and one Regular Full Time Clerk Typist III positions be deleted effective April 29, 2005 from Corporate Services Group, Financial Services Department.
CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS
The City Manager RECOMMENDS approval of the recommendation in this report.
COUNCIL POLICY
City Council approves the creation and deletion of regular full time positions.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this report is to seek Council approval for deletion of five positions. The positions affected are under the jurisdiction of CUPE 15. These positions will be deleted as a result of the first phase in the implementation of a new revenue billing and collection system.
BACKGROUND
On June 22, 2004 Council approved the replacement of the Revenue Service billing and collection systems. The project included implementation of new integrated revenue billing and collection software to replace the old mainframe systems and acquisition of hardware and software to automate mail opening and payment processing functions.
At that time, staff reported that the automation of mail and payment processing functions would result in the elimination of five positions in the Revenue Services division. Staff committed to report back to Council on the impacts on specific positions once the functions were implemented. The five full time positions are currently performing manual tasks related to mail opening and payment processing.
DISCUSSION
The Revenue Services Division bills and collects over $800 million in tax, utility and bylaw fines revenues utilizing five separate and non-integrated systems. It issues approximately 350,000 tax statements, 55,000 utility invoices and manages collection of 400,000 parking tickets annually. Current processes require staff to manually open and sort mail, enter payments into revenue systems, make up bank deposits and file documents for future reference. The time it takes to complete the manual procedures delay the updating of customer accounts and are error prone, negatively impacting customer service.
Through implementation of the automation of mail opening and payment processing the following improvements to customer service have been identified;
o Timely processing of home owner grant (HOG) applications direct to the customer account without any manual intervention.
o Timely updating of customer account information through electronic capture of mail payment information which will allow the City to respond to enquiries faster and more accurately.
o Provision for imaging all documents received in the mail, eliminating the manual effort required to file, archive and retrieve these documents.
In addition, removal of the bottle neck in processing payments will improve overall productivity of other staff in the division. The provision for system data verification and edits, coupled with same day customer account updates will reduce the number of manual adjustments, number of refunds requested, number of unnecessary customer queries and redundant data entry and reconciliation work currently performed by other staff. The staff currently involved in this work can be directed towards providing enhanced customer service support. For example, Customer Service Representatives will be able to spend more time answering telephone enquiries reducing the backlog of calls.
In November, 2004, the automated mail extractor was installed. This machine has automated the opening and sorting of the mail and, in full capacity, will handle the City’s average daily mail volume of 3000 envelopes in approximately two hours with one operator.
The remittance processing hardware and software is scheduled to go into production on May 2, 2005. At that time, all mail pieces will be imaged, payments will be processed direct to the customer’s account, cheques will be automatically endorsed and encoded, and bank deposits balanced ready for same day deposit. It is estimated that the processing of the average daily mail volume can be fully complete in approximately four hours with the equivalent of one full time operator.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The five full time positions in Revenue Services to be eliminated through this are currently performing manual tasks related to opening, sorting, stamping and distributing mail, filing, data entry and payment processing. The mail extractor and remittance processing hardware and software will fully automate these manual tasks.
Through consultation with the vendors, a detailed implementation plan has determined that the best approach is a phased implementation with full automation of mail and payment processing scheduled for May 2, 2005. As a result, the dates for elimination of two Clerk II positions will be March 31, 2005. Two (2) additional Clerk II positions and one Clerk Typist III position are scheduled to be eliminated April 29, 2005.
Starting in April 2004, eight meetings to communicate the impact of the changes on staff were held both with the Union executive and individuals directly affected. Meetings have covered a range of issues including:
· Project scope, proposed implementation plan and financial and personnel implications, including seeking union executive input with respect to staffing impact and commitment to be involved with individual staff directly impacted throughout process;
· Discussion of communication, support and assistance plan for those staff directly affected by the implementation of the new systems;
· Project status updates including implementation schedule and changes to timing of staff impacts as a result;
· Meeting with Revenue Services staff directly affected;
· Detailed discussions around each of the individuals directly affected by the system changes; and
· Communication of Council report in early 2005 recommending deletion of five regular full time positions.
During this time period, discussions have been conducted with each of the affected employees individually to inform and assist these individuals. As well, they each have been given the opportunity for skills assessment, computer training and career development coaching such as resume writing and interview skills. Managers and Human Resources Consultants have been and are continuing to actively work with these employees to seek other suitable employment opportunities within the City.
Where possible, staff reductions will be accomplished by placing employees directly impacted in alternate positions for which they are qualified and through normal attrition and retirements. Staff directly impacted will be able to exercise their bumping and recall rights under the CUPE 15 Collective Agreement.
The CUPE 15 executive has been provided a copy of this report.
CONCLUSION
In the report submitted to Council June 22, 2004 staff committed to report back to Council on the positions that would be deleted and timing as a result of the implementation of the new revenue systems. This report also has highlighted our discussions with CUPE 15 and employees directly affected. It outlines steps that have been taken to mitigate any negative impact on employees.
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