The goal of this project is to empower the employees in the Titles and Registration Office, at South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, with the necessary tools and skills to be effective as well as efficient in performing the tasks that are before them daily

Rivers, Shirley H.

South Carolina State Documents Depository

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SHIRLEY H. RIVERS
CERTIFIED PUBLIC MANAGEMENT
PROJECT
How to Improve the Research Process for the
Department of Motor Vehicles Titles and
Registration Office
S. C. STATE LIBRARY
AUl1 b LUM
STATE DOCUMENTS
FEBRUARY 12, 2004
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Research is asking questions and finding answers. It involves locating and
retrieving information and working with or communicating that information. If you know
where to go or the person to ask to get answers to your questions, you've developed a skill
that you can use all your life.
How can we improve the research process? We first have to look at the past, the
present and the further. We can't change the way things were handled in the past,
however we do have control somewhat on the way we do things now, which will effective
the further. There are a lot of elements that playa vital role in improving any type of
process. Many enhancements have been made that continue to make our researching
process more efficient.
My goal is to empower the employees in the Titles and Registration Office, at South
Carolina Department ofMotor Vehicles, with the necessary tools and skills to be
effective as well as efficient in performing the tasks that are before them daily. This
requires additional training and equipment.
In order to improve the research process, we must first look at the research tools that
we currently have to work with. Currently we have two computer systems that we use to
do research. Before August of 2002, we use what is commonly know as micro-film and
micro-fiche. Our documents were stored on one or both of these type offilm.
Performing any type research, required a manual search, which could take from a few
minutes, to days. This is part ofwhat is known as our Main Frame computer system. Our
new computer application was implemented in August 2002, namely Project Phoenix.
From this system we have our document management system called Ascent Capture.
There are many different ways information is entered into the computer to perform a
thorough search. For vehicle information, some ofthe searches would be, vehicle
identification number, title number, owner's name or license plate number. Once you
have this information, and are still unable to retrieval the desired information, the real
task begin. For example, was the information entered correctly in the beginning? In a
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vehicle identification number, there are no alpha "0", they should always be the number
"0". The most important part of improving the research process is to make sure the
information in handled in the beginning properly. To get a correct out-put, the in-put
must have been handle properly.
How do we received research request? There's a number of ways request of
information is received. A few are, by mail, fax, phone and in person. Let's look at how
the mail is handled when received. If the correspondence is sent by registered mail,
priority mail, Federal Express, Airborne or certified mail, it is all track by the number that
is assigned to it and the date received. Therefore if a customer should call and inquire
about a request that was sent, we would be able to inform them ofthe status of the
inquiry. We also have the clerks that process this type mail to list on a log sheet (see
attachments) if the request was process or returned for additional information or funds. If
the request was sent regular mail, at this time it is kept by the date received until it is
process. Ifthat request can not be process, a letter is also sent requesting additional
information or funds. We are still working on a possible metering or bar coding system
that we can log all incoming mail.
For research request by fax, or in person, the necessary forms (5027A) must be
submitted at the time ofthe request. The phone request are only done for account holding
customers that have the Privacy Agreement that is required by law on file with the
department. These requests on keyed into our system so that the account can be charged
and also this gives us a records of who requested the information for further research
requests.
Even when you request information from the department, your request becomes a
part ofour files that will or could later be part ofa research. Now, let's take a look at the
new system that we have and how it has and is effecting the way we do business here at
the Department ofMotor Vehicles. We will start with the type of system and how it
worked in August of2002 in comparison to how it is working now. What has changed
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and what still need to change? Has it helped make our job easier? How does it compare
to the old system?
WHAT IS INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL?
An information storage and retrieval system combines a reference database system
with the ability to retrieve desired document pages as text or as images and to print or
display them. With the system we have, namely Ascent Capture, with Kofax software,
the documents are first prepared for scanning, then the scanning process take place,
followed by recognition and validation, which involves an indexing process. The
documents are then released for retrieval.
When this system was first implemented, the goal was to have all documents
scanned at the place of origin, namely at the branch office where the transaction were
process. The procedure was to have a person or persons to check the documents for all
the necessary information. This person or persons would be a part of what is call the
Quality Assurance group or (QA). The documents would then be scanned and released
for retrieval. Having the work scanned at the place of origin, reduces the chance of
documents being mishandled or lost in route to a centralized location.
Some of the things we experience were documents being left out or put with the
wrong transaction. If the work was reviewed and scanned at the place oforigin, the clerk
would notice that something is missing, locate the missing documents before the work
was scanned. When the documents are sent to a centralized location, the clerks that are
doing the scanning, are not familiar with what paperwork is needed to perform the
transaction, therefore incomplete documents are being scanned. The recommendation is
to put the scanning process back in the branch offices, with trained personnel to review
all documents before they are scanned. This would improve the research process greatly.
The less we handle a document, the chances of it being lost or misplaced decreases.
Since this was not an option at the time, we had to look at improving the way that
documents were handled in our centralized location.
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HOW TO PREPARE DOCUMENTS FOR SCANNING?
To ensure documents are received on a daily basic, a log sheet had to be developed
to track when a branch office sent in work to be scanned. (See attachment). Once the
work is logged, it is then reviewed for completeness, and prepared to scanning. Any tom
pages are repaired and all staples are removed. All odd size pages should be taped to a
full size sheet of paper or copied onto a full sheet. The work is then separated by
document type.
For each document type, there is certain information that should be present on the
cover sheet to make the retrieval process easier. For example, if the transaction that is
being done involves the transfer of a title from one individual to another and the purchase
of a license plate, the cover sheet should reflect the following information: document
type, customer number, customer last name, vehicle identification number, title number,
license plate number. Also the bar code at the top of the cover sheet should be dark, and
there shouldn't be any marks or breaks in the above reference information.
The Quality Assurance tmit that is preparing the documents for scanning had to be
trained to recognize when information is missing. The needed information is researched
and added in order to have the documents scanned correctly. This process can be as
simple as re-printing a cover sheet or adding a license plate or vehicle identification
number. In other cases, it can be as complicated as the wrong customer was selected, and
the complete transaction need to canceled and process correctly. This would involved
letters being sent to the customer and the lienholder is there is one to get back a incorrect
title and registration.
Once the QA unit was trained, we still had some cases when everything appeared to
be in order, but somehow the documents was scanned out oforder. We had to develop
ways to find documents that was not retrievable the conventional way.
When we had utilized the normal or the conventional way as set forth by the KoFax
software application to retrieve a document with no success, the real task came. How
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will we find these documents? I spoke with the IT Manager about some enhancement to
the methods for searching for a document. Another search field will added that would
allow us to do what is comparable to the way we browse, or manually searched the old
Main frame system. The field that was added was a document number field.
Once a document was scanned and released, it was issued a document number. In
order to search by document number, you would have to have the date of application and
the clerk that perform the transaction. From that you would have to pull that clerk's
activity report for that date and check some transactions before and after the transaction
you're searching for. Our success rate of retrieving documents since this enhancement
have improved about 80%.
We have the problem of multiple customer numbers for the same customer. Until
the database is cleanse and the customer numbers are combined, we have to search under
all the customer numbers. Therefore, we had to make sure we were performing correct
and complete searches in order to provide the information that is requested. For example,
if a request came in asking for all vehicles owned by an individual, we had to check all
name variations to make sure we have all vehicles on record for that customer. This
search could involve searching under difference customer numbers for the same
individual. For the research areas to become proficient in this area, it took some
extensive training.
The next problem we had was documents being scanned under the incorrect
document type. For example a title document should be a document type TL followed by
a number. And a drivers license document should be a document type DL followed by a
number. Therefore since we discovered document being scanned under the wrong
document type, we had to search under all document types for the customer. Our success
rate have greatly improved using this search method.
OUf new Document Management system is a wonderful way to make documents
available at each clerk's desk. Once the necessary training and methods of searching for
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documents was identified, the ability to provide effective and efficient customer service
improved greatly.
I have found that with any new system, until all the enhancements and adjustments
have been made, we sometimes have to change the way we do business in order to
receive the output we are looking for. My goal was to find ways to improve the research
process. Empowering the employees with the tools and the knowledge was the biggest
obstacle. The department had a new computer system installed August 2002. Therefore,
we all had to learn the new system, and also make sure that all the information was
converted correctly from the our old system. Our way of doing business, changed
completely. This was definitely a process improvement challenge. This change, not only
affected the headquarters office, it affected all branch offices in the state.
There was clearly a problem that needed an immediate solution. The Titles and
Registration Research office was the center of attention as to finding a solution. After
numerous brainstorming sessions with the Information Technology office, the Director's
office, and Customer Service Administration, we knew that something had to be done.
With input from the clerk's in the research department, we develop a plan and set
guidelines as to how to perform proper searches, what to do when we are unable to locate
documents and when to notify IT or the scanning department when we feel that there is a
technical problem.
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Date
-----
". Field Office Date Date On
Name/No. Received Envelope
AtHQ From F.Office
01 Abbeville
02 Aiken
03 Allendale
04 Anderson
05 Bamberg r _.
06 Barnwell
07 Beaufort
08 Moncks Crnr.
09 St. Matthews
10 Charleston
11 Gaffney
12 Chester
13 Chesterfield
14 Manning
15 Walterboro
16 Darlington
17 Dillon
18 St. George
19 Edgefield
20 Winnsboro
21 Florence
22 Georgetown
23 Greenville
24 Greenwood
25 Hampton
26 Conway
27 Ridgeland
28 Camden
29 Lancaster
30 Laurens
31 Bishopville
32 Lexington
33 McCormick
34 Marion
35 Bennettsville I
36 Newberry r -.
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'.
. Field Office Date Date On
r Name/No. Received Envelope
At HQ From F.Office
37 Seneca
38 Orangeburg
39 Pickens
41 Saluda
42 Spartanburg
43 Sumter
44 Union
45 Kingstree r -_.
46 Rock Hill
48 North Augusta
49 Greer
51 Irmo/Ballentine
54 Lake City
55 Shop Road
56 Batesburg
57 Mail In Regstn.
58 Bluffton
60 Charleston
61 Columbia
63 Greenville
64 Belton
65 East Cooper
67 Dutch Plaza r '-.
74 N.Myrtle Beach
75 Titles F. Wdw.
76 Titles
79 Woodruff
80 Fountain Inn
81 Ladson
83 Mobile Unit
85 Chrlstn D Ctrl.
87 Spartanburg
89 Pageland
92 Decker Mall
93 Ashley Landing
94 Myrtle Beach
96 Rock Hill
Date
-----
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Type Of Mail Customer Name Sent to Person Receiving
... _ ....
I
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DATE ASSIGNED TRACKING # LEINHOLDER'S NAME CUSTOMER'S NAME FORWARDED TO
-
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DAILY TRACKING LOG FOR ALL EXPRESS AND CERTIFIED MAIL
NOTE: TURN IN LOG SHEET DAILY AND PLACE IN BINDER
EMPLOYEENAME _
Type of Mail
(Please list the entire number) (List first & last name) P RDate Trackin2 Number Customer's Name Process Retum


How to improve the research process for the Department of Motor Vehicles Titles and Registration Office

https://dc.statelibrary.sc.gov/bitstream/10827/6432/1/CPM_How_to_Improve_Research_2004-2-12.pdf

How to improve the research process for the Department of Motor Vehicles Titles and Registration Office

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