Case Study: Government Case Management With a CRM Product in Victoria, Australia
10 July 2006
John Kost
Source: Industry Research
Note Number: G00141870
In Victoria, Australia, the Department of Human Services is creating an enterprise case management system based on a commercial CRM product. The experience taught many lessons.
CRM products have tremendous potential as case management solutions in the government human services environment. So long as complex eligibility engines do not have to be built to satisfy the needs of the agency, CRM products provide caseworkers, agency administrators, contractors and other stakeholders tremendous insight into the needs of agency clients, while optimizing the ability of clients to take advantage of all services that will meet their needs. When buying and deploying commercial CRM products, government agencies must take care to ensure that effective procurement and project management techniques are used and that the project is owned by the business of the agency.
Through 2011, governments will spend more than $1 billion for commercial CRM products to be used as case management tools (0.9 probability).
Like all government departments that care for the social needs of its citizens, Victoria's Department of Human Services (DHS) manages multiple programs that its clients can take advantage of. These programs include Child Protection, Juvenile Justice, Disability Services and Early Childhood Intervention Services. As in most large and diversified human services agencies, each of these programs has its own business rules, eligibility criteria, work rules and staff. Victoria was determined to build a case management solution that offered a more holistic view of its clients across all these programs in order to provide a more effective approach to meeting clients' needs. DHS has 11,000 employees and an annual budget of $10.1 billion (AUD).
In 2002, Victoria's DHS identified the following problems that needed to be addressed:
The project DHS undertook set the following objectives:
DHS wanted to avoid building a custom solution by taking advantage of commercial technology that had already been built. It wanted a case management solution that would provide a holistic, client-focused view of the needs of all clients, particularly those in need of services available from multiple programs within the department. DHS believed, based on demonstrations and product due diligence, that commercial CRM products had the necessary workflows to fit the DHS environment. In addition, DHS wanted a solution that would enable and promote collaboration among workers and services across the department. This was not a decision made lightly because, up to that time, the human services sector of government had relied almost entirely on custom-built solutions, and thus had to deal with all the risk such an approach brings. In almost all governments, custom-built solutions were designed and built specifically for the needs of the agency with little thought or incentive for creating a system that could work across programs or agencies. CRM products became commercially available in the 1990s and began to be accepted in government, particularly local governments, throughout the world beginning around 2001. For many governments, CRM products proved that governments could keep track of citizens' needs, the promises made to resolve problems and the services rendered. With increased focus on voter/customer satisfaction by many government leaders, CRM also became widely accepted as a technology that could connect a knowledge worker to existing siloed systems to provide a 360-degree view of citizens. Victoria made its purchase decision before many of the commercial CRM vendors unveiled "case management" solutions for government.
Based on its own due diligence, DHS issued a request for tenders in October 2002, seeking a systems integrator that could implement a commercial CRM system across the department. The intent of the new system was to create case management tools where there were none, replace the outdated ones that existed and link the systems together to provide a common view of the client.
DHS received a total of 11 bids, all of which were evaluated. As hoped, all 11 included commercial CRM products. The evaluation process resulted in three firms being selected to be part of a two-week trial (during which each firm worked with DHS to build a real-time prototype, enabling DHS to test the firm's ability to build a solution, as well as determine the chemistry between the integrator and the state).
DHS had seven teams as part of the evaluation process, each reviewing its own area of expertise as follows:
The solutions were evaluated based on the following primary criteria:
Ultimately, DHS chose BearingPoint with a PeopleSoft CRM solution because the DHS users preferred the look and feel of PeopleSoft, the integrator had the most positive attitude toward the project, and the PeopleSoft pricing solution was based on enterprise licenses, which can be a significant advantage in managing product for a large and constantly changing agency such as DHS. DHS used a 10-year total cost of ownership model to evaluate the cost/price component of the bids and determine the best value for the money.
At the time of the initial contract, the total cost of the project, in Australian dollars, over the 10-year life was expected to be as follows (not counting internal DHS personnel):
The contract between DHS and BearingPoint was signed 1 September 2003. Work began 8 September 2003. The new case management system went live in May 2005 for Early Childhood Intervention Services and Juvenile Justice within the Office for Children. The Disability Services Division went live in November 2005, and Child Protection is scheduled to go live in April 2006. Early Childhood Intervention Services is utilizing CRIS as its first automated tool. The November phase also included access to more than 15 nongovernment organizations in Victoria, with the goal of providing access to more than 200 agencies that provide services to DHS clients. Where appropriate, the project includes transformation of various activities revolving around a more holistic view of the client. Caseworkers now have additional data about clients and the services rendered to them. Greater coordination across programs is now possible, though some more significant transformation activities will be enabled once all four primary business units have been deployed. Furthermore, DHS and the integrator are concentrating heavily on training internal workers as well as external nongovernmental service providers in how to optimize the capability of the tool.
While the system is still being deployed, it is noteworthy for several reasons:
The case management system — once fully deployed and able to replace all the intended legacy systems — is expected to save $7 million (AUD) each year in legacy system maintenance costs and staff time spent on administering each case. The business case did not assume redundancies in job roles (or position elimination as a result). The system will eventually affect about 5,000 of the department's case management positions.
Both DHS and the systems integrator agree there were important critical success factors in getting the project to where it is, including:
The DHS project is not yet complete. However, it is making clear progress in implementation and in the effect it is having on the department and its caseworkers. Some lessons learned include:
