Employ a tool to help managers develop effective case management strategies to meet their individual unit's annual performance goals.

Texas Office of the Attorney General Child Support (OAG) handles over one million cases a year. The Information Delivery Analysis System (IDEAS) is an innovative web based application that provides managers around the State with the power of Statistical Analysis System (SAS) to extract and use data from the Texas automated system, TXCSES, via the Intranet. Case data is extracted monthly from the TXCSES and transferred to a server that is independent from the TXCSES mainframe. This allows 24-hour/7-day access without interfering with ongoing TXCSES operations.

IDEAS allows field managers to:

IDEAS was developed by OAG Management Information Services (MIS) staff and has been in operation since December 2001.

IDEAS successfully extends the power and flexibility of SAS to field managers, and allows them to obtain many reports and work-lists in under one minute. Field staff generated 7,010 reports and work-lists in the first three months of operation. Examples of reports and work-lists are: cases for which an acknowledgement of paternity exists, but no support obligation has been established, cases that are 45, 60 or 90 days delinquent, field office, regional and state caseload profiles, and federal incentive reports drilled-down to the field office level.

IDEAS is available statewide to all IV-D field managers through the Child Support Intranet site through an "icon" on their computer.

Regular Federal Financial Participation (FFP).

IDEAS' biggest shortcoming is that the data is only updated once a month. Field managers are requesting that it access more up-to-date information. MIS staff are reviewing possible ways to refresh the data more frequently.

Improve timeliness of response to customer requests by effective use of automation tools and personal contact.

Over the last three years the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Child Support Division has made significant strides in its effort to improve customer service. As part of that effort, Texas has decentralized its one statewide call center, given staff the right tools to answer questions quickly and correctly, established the award winning Child Support Interactive web page, and created a statewide ombudsman program to ensure that action is taken on customer inquiries. These efforts have resulted in more inquiries being answered, increased customer satisfaction and fewer inquiries from public officials. In 2001, the Texas Legislature demonstrated its confidence in our ability to serve our customers by authorizing 36 additional call center staff for the 2002-2003 biennium. Over the next two fiscal years, each of the eight child support regional administrative areas will have at least one call center.

The Texas multi-dimensional approach to improve customer service effort has succeeded on many fronts:

Regular FFP

The results of a customer service survey done in 2000 shows that our efforts to improve customer service are paying dividends. The 2000 survey demonstrated an overall increase in customer satisfaction from 51% to 63% for all custodial parents over an earlier survey. This is an increase of 12 points, which equals an overall improvement of approximately 24%. Another survey will be done in Spring 2002.

Further information about this effort can be found in the report: "Delivering Effective Customer Service - Final Report." The study can be found at the OCSE website at:

/programs/cse/pubs/reports/customer_service_report.html#N102AD

Institute a mechanism to promptly revise agency policy and procedures when changes are made to state or federal law, replace hardcopy policy and procedure documents and provide on-line training opportunities to IV-D staff housed in over 70 field offices, regional offices and regional call centers across the State.

Since 1998 the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has been maximizing use of its Child Support Intranet site to ensure that every employee has access to policy and procedure documents. This method of delivering information eliminates the problem of staff not receiving the latest version of a policy manual that was updated manually. The site is designed to meet the needs of both new employees and tenured staff. More recently and consistent with these actions, in order to reduce costs, maximize efficiency, minimize travel costs and other budget expenses, the Texas State Legislature enacted legislation encouraging state agencies to use the Internet/Intranet for training purposes. All agency employees can access the site through a browser on their computer. Additionally, on-line training is used to complete the 25 hours of mandatory training/professional development required each year for non-attorney staff. The site is maintained by state office training staff in Austin and includes the following options:

Intranet Training Resources Under Development:

The OAG no longer distributes hard copy policy and procedure manuals, policy memos, and informational memos. These documents are now electronically distributed or updated on-line. This allows staff immediate access to the most recent version of agency policy documents. On-line training allows staff to obtain quality training without encountering the traditional constraints placed by budget and travel restrictions. Although relatively new, on-line training is becoming the first option for new employees and those needing non-technical and software skills.

This service is available statewide to all IV-D staff through the Child Support Intranet site, which can be accessed by clicking on an icon on their computer.

Regular Federal Financial Participation (FFP)

Keep CBT courses short, interesting and succinct. If a CBT course is too long, the students become restless or distracted. Training staff are developing "short" lessons within CBT courses, so staff don't have to view the entire CBT at one time. Policy and procedure documents and on-line training courses need to undergo regular review and revision to ensure that they are up-to-date.