Using Change Management to Improve Check Dispersal Systems: A Success Story 

In 2019, a coworker of Suzanne’s in the division of Child Support Services started to gather information from their check dispersal program. They realized from their research the program was costing more than it needed to, and efficiency could be implemented. Not long after, this coworker (Heather Rego) moved to a new position and Suzanne took the lead on the project. 

The biggest issue she and the group wanted to address with the new system was the loss of money spent on printing and issuing checks. They discovered that over $290,000 could be saved annually by implementing a more efficient process.. And in addition, the families receiving the checks would also benefit from a change by reducing the amount of wait time they experienced. Previously, it could take five to seven days for checks to arrive at the family’s home after dispersal, which left the families waiting for important resources.

Once the team spent time identifying the issues that their current system was creating, Suzanne and the workgroup reached out to other state agencies to see how they handled their disbursements. After talking to other Colorado State agencies they found that there would be only two options for receiving funds (A), prepaid debit card or (B), a direct deposit to a bank account. They ended up choosing to mainly utilize option B, the direct deposit. But because not everyone has a bank account, the work group also set up a system where they could automatically issue a prepaid debit card.

Before the program could be launched though, they wanted to ensure their customers knew the change was coming. To do so, notices were printed on the checks that they were dispersing and other forms of communication were utilized as well. In January 2022 they launched the program and saw success with the new system and experienced only a few issues.

After the system was implemented, some unexpected benefits were discovered. For the families that were receiving money on a state-issued card, the team could request from the vendor handling the debit cards to provide a report showing families that hadn't used their cards in the last 90 days. They were able to contact customers and in some cases found out that they hadn't received their debit card and didn't realize there were funds on the card. It could then be explained to them how to request a replacement card. This has helped the team troubleshoot issues and follow up with individuals so they can find where people are missing information and what they can do to improve their utilization of the money that’s being sent. 

Suzanne noted that it was extremely important to the success of the project that her and her team were transparent with the stakeholders and customers. If they hadn’t been thorough with notices and notifications to their customers, she notes that they likely would have had a lot more issues once the new system was implemented (if you utilize the ADKAR model, this is the Awareness step).

Besides Suzanne's lessons learned, this story illustrates the importance of identifying places where efficiency can be improved, as this has had a direct impact on families that require financial assistance for raising their children. What other places in government could we innovate to improve the lives of our employees and customers? The office of Process Improvement encourages you to find where you can innovate, so we can all continue to improve our experiences, and those we serve experiences’.

Thank you Suzanne for innovating and improving our government services!