There Are Some Obvious Conclusions to Draw from the Results of This Assessment

U.S. Forest Service
Business Operations Transformation Assessment
Phase I Report
December 20, 2005

Preamble

There are some obvious conclusions to draw from the results of this assessment:

·  The field units are not afraid to share their explicit opinions about Business Operations to Forest Service executives.

·  Those that expressed their opinions are dissatisfied with the level of service they have received from B&F and IRM to date.

·  These employees are concerned about the future and the ability of the Forest Service to adequately support its mission if Business Operations service levels do not improve.

For the Business Operations functions, there will be several tremendous challenges in trying to recover the trust and cooperation of the field. However, the results of this assessment provide executives with an opportunity to start moving the centralized organization towards a better relationship and improved cooperation with the field.

Given OMB mandates to reduce indirect costs to 10% of overall budget, the Forest Service cannot retreat to a more distributed Shared Services model than it already has established. The Forest Service has to make this model work! However, there are several recommendations, both short-term and long-term, that executives can pursue without changing the strategic direction down which the Forest Service has to move.

Forest Service executives should decide how to respond to each of the recommendations outlined within this report. Some recommendations can be initiated relatively easily and yet provide the field with a high level of positive impact. Some other recommendations should not be acted upon until further data is available over the course of the next year and beyond. Still other recommendations may simply not be viable, within the current budgetary environment. Nonetheless, the field deserves an explanation of each decision that executives can make and a rationale for those that are not feasible or require more data before action is taken.

Executives should react to each of the issues outlined in this document, but they should not overreact. While changes will need to be made, many current issues should be mitigated over time as improvements occur naturally in the next several months:

·  Service providers should become more stable and proficient in their new positions

·  Field personnel should become more comfortable with new roles & responsibilities

·  Systems should better support efficient transaction processing and reporting

·  Processes should be improved to better facilitate streamlined service delivery

This assessment process has given the field personnel hope that change can and will occur in the near future. Without resolution of some of these issues over the next few months, there will be further resistance against the newly centralized organizations.

Everyone involved in these changes - the WO, the field, the service providers - will need to work together to make this model work. With the results of this report, the path to making this model work, though no less challenging is at least a little clearer.
Table of Contents

Preamble ii

1. Executive Summary 1

2. Business Operations Transformation Assessment 4

2.1 Overview 4

2.2 Activities to Date (Phase 1) 5

3. Overall Phase I Observations & Recommendations 7

3.1 Field-Based Observations 7

3.2 Short-Term Recommendations 10

3.3 Long Term Recommendations 12

4. Information Resource Management 13

4.1 Field-Based Observations 13

4.2 Short-Term Recommendations 18

4.3 Long-Term Recommendations 19

5. Budget & Finance 21

5.1 Field-Based Observations 21

5.2 Short-Term Recommendations 23

5.3 Long-Term Recommendations 24

6. Human Resource Management 26

6.1 Field-Based Observations 26

6.2 Short-Term Recommendations 27

6.3 Long-Term Recommendations 29

Appendix A: Pre-Site Visit Survey Questions 1

Appendix B: Summary of Qualitative Survey Results 1

Appendix C: Average Hours Spent for each Function 1

IRM 1

B&F Travel & Payments 3

B&F - IAS 4

B&F Other 4

U.S. Forest Service Business Operations Transformation Assessment / iii.

1. Executive Summary

This report summarizes the findings from the Business Operations Transformation Assessment (BOTA) Phase 1 activities. These activities included a survey and site visits conducted at four different sites throughout the Forest Service, and involved teams from across the Regions, Stations, and Areas (RSA).

The purpose of the BOTA is to determine how the transformation of Business Operations has impacted field operations. The findings from the BOTA Phase 1 activities have been summarized by each Business Operations Transformation Program (BOTP) function: Information Resource Management (IRM), Budget and Finance (B&F), and Human Resources Management (HRM) as well as several overarching observations. Each area includes the following types of findings: Observations, Short Term Recommendations and Long-Term Recommendations. Short-Term recommendations could be implemented quickly, with existing information, and the results of the implementation should impact the field before the next phase of the assessment occurs. Long-term recommendations may need further data before a decision can be made or where implementation would require planning and investment.

Overall Phase 1 Observations

·  Employees want to focus on the mission of the Forest Service

·  Employees want to be treated as stakeholders in BOTP

·  Effective communications face many obstacles

·  The field staff’s roles and responsibilities have been changed, without proper training or accounting of time needed to perform these changing duties

·  There is low morale and high stress in the field

·  Quality customer service is lacking in coordination with field units

Overall Short-Term Recommendations

·  Improve communications

·  Develop a change control process for management of Service Level Agreements

·  Improve ticketing process

·  Clarify changing roles and responsibilities

·  Assist field leadership with change management

·  Improve training

Overall Long-Term Recommendations

·  Assign accountable parties

·  Achieve standardization, where possible

·  Develop strategy to improve agency-wide line officer support

IRM Phase 1 Observations

·  New service and lack of accountability causes lowered comfort levels

·  Field is frustrated with ticketing management process

·  There is a customer disconnect

·  Service and knowledge are inconsistent and deficient

·  Lack of service leads to loss of productivity and creation of shadow organizations

·  Computer distribution is poorly coordinated

·  The field perceives that technology needs are not being met

·  Inadequate phone and radio support is potentially dangerous

·  Servers lack adequate support

·  E-mail limitations hinder communications with partners

·  Technical approval process is a problem for Research

·  Forest Inventory Analysis needs are not addressed

IRM Short-Term Recommendations

·  Communicate “HelpNow”

·  Establish and distribute Service Level Agreements

·  Ensure quality and inclusive service

·  Improve computer set-up and replacement

·  Significantly reform the ticket management process

·  Begin to develop a shared language and knowledge base

·  Clarify the technical approval process

·  Strengthen the continuity between Customer Service Representatives and customer problems/requests

·  Establish “server farms”

IRM Long-Term Recommendations

·  Customer service ethic needs to be implemented

·  Review the personnel distribution and propose adjustments

·  Improve processing non-standard workers

·  Test new systems before implementing

·  Improve password management

B&F Phase 1 Observations

·  Roles and responsibilities are not effectively communicated to the field

·  Travel Authorizations & Payments have been unacceptably backlogged

·  ASC communications needs substantial improvement

·  Customer Service is inconsistent

·  Field training needs to be improved

·  Field perceives the burden of work has shifted substantially to remaining administrative employees

·  Service Level Agreements should be established and communicated

·  Field Liaisons should be established

·  System testing should be conducted before implementation

B&F Short-Term Recommendations

·  Service Level Agreements need to be communicated

·  Detailers should be used to address short-term backlogs

·  Hardship Payments should be used to help those most in need

·  Adequate training should be provided to the ASC and field

·  Ticketing system should be improved

B&F Long-Term Recommendations

·  ASC should improve its website and communications

·  Future system enhancements should be tested before implementation

·  ASC should be right sized to accommodate startup backlog

·  Enhance the problem resolution processes to include the “point of contact” concept

HRM Phase 1 Observations

·  Impacts on field have already occurred

·  Communications need to be targeted toward field needs

·  AVUE is difficult to use and needs substantial improvement

·  HRM must heed lessons learned through IRM and B&F

·  The loss of personal touch may hinder Labor and Employee Relations

·  The on-boarding of new employees is time consuming

HRM Short-Term Recommendations

·  Provide effective communications targeted towards the field

·  Provide for interim support of field HR operations by Core HR Team

·  Develop a well-communicated transition plan for HRM

·  Invite HRM detailers to help set up HRM ASC

·  Ensure a robust ticket management system

·  Establish and publish Service Level Agreements

HRM Long-Term Recommendations

·  Consider the Field season when planning implementation

·  Test systems thoroughly before implementation

·  Consider field roles from an operations-wide perspective

·  Invest time and money in training before, during and after transition

The next phase for the BOTA will be to conduct another round of site visits and surveys in the spring of 2006. In the time between this report and the next assessment, it is anticipated that BOTP executives will take action towards the implementation of short-term recommendations.

2. Business Operations Transformation Assessment

2.1 Overview

The Business Operations Transformation Program (BOTP) represents one of the largest organizational changes that the Forest Service has undertaken in its 100-year history. The changes are being felt in every office of the Forest Service - every Region, Forest, District, Grassland, Research Station, Research Work Unit, Area and Staff of the agency. It has always been understood that an undertaking of this size would inevitably require frequent assessment to ensure that goals in efficiency and effectiveness are being attained. An assessment also provides opportunities to address areas where corrections need to be made.

There are several ways in which the BOTP is being assessed. A formal feedback channel has been recently instituted through the Board of Customers, whose role it is to review the Service Level Agreements (SLA) that are established between each of the Business Operations functions and their customers. An existing informal feedback channel is the Field Leadership Focus Group, whose role is to provide feedback to program executives through survey responses, conference calls and periodic meetings.

The Business Operations Transformation Assessment (BOTA) is the third part of the BOTP assessment strategy. Using surveys, focus group discussions, interviews, quantitative measurement tools and general observations, the BOTA Team, headed by Hank Kashdan, has teamed with four selected sites from across the Forest Service (Dixie National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest, Superior National Forest, and Southern Research Station) to determine how the transformation of Business Operations has impacted field operations. The work that has been accomplished so far, and reported in this document, is the first phase of the BOTA. In the next phases of BOTA, the teams plan to re-assess progress within these same four sites in both the Spring and Fall of 2006.

This report outlines the observations and recommendations formed during the first phase of BOTA. The recommendations are defined as either Short-Term or Long-Term. Short-Term recommendations are those where it is believed that a decision and corrective actions could be made quickly, with existing information, and the results of the decision should be felt in the field by the second phase of BOTA, occurring in the Spring. Long-Term recommendations are those that may need further data (e.g. from Phases 2 & 3 of the BOTA), before a decision is made or where decisions would require planning and investment.

The results of this assessment will be used to revise existing communications and training efforts, improve processes, make better use of technology, make limited organizational adjustments, and evaluate initial assumptions about field roles and resources. These results will also help the Albuquerque Service Center (ASC) and Information Solutions Organization (ISO) improve their transformation efforts to successfully support Forest Service field operations.

2.2 Activities to Date (Phase 1)

The purpose of Phase 1 of the Business Operations Transformation Assessment was to:

·  Introduce the teams to the participating units

·  Set the ground rules for how the assessment would be conducted

·  Gather baseline data to be used as comparison in future phases

·  Gain field insight in how business transformation had impacted their unit

·  Receive recommendations from the field on how to improve service levels within business operations

For this first phase, the team began with a pilot test site visit at the Southern Global Change Research Work Unit (RWU) at North Carolina State University. Over two days, the team held discussion groups and interviews with key personnel at this RWU. The purpose of the pilot test was to validate or improve the questions being asked in the BOTA survey, focus groups and interviews. This office, under the supervision of Project Leader, Steve McNulty, was instrumental in helping the BOTA team deliver consistent, high-quality site visits.

Once the data from the pilot site was reviewed, changes were made to the questions to be used in the site visits. The core BOTA team then delivered separate communications to the participating field units, all members of the BOTA Teams, and to the entire agency, explaining the purpose, activities and intended results of BOTA. This communication was key in managing field expectations regarding results from the first phase of BOTA.

Phase 1 formally began with the distribution of the BOTA survey to every employee of the four participating sites in early October. The survey asked respondents to quantify time spent on key functions prior to the transformation and afterwards. (Please note that, since HRM has not yet fully implemented its transformation, there are no HRM “burden shift” questions in this first version of the survey.) Respondents were also asked to provide their perception of service levels, training, and communications associated with each of the transformations. Each respondent was also given the opportunity to provide written comments regarding each of the transformation efforts. The BOTA team received 328 responses this survey, which is approximately 33% of the 1,000 employees within the four participating units. (Please see Appendices A – C for survey questions and summary results).