For Release 8 a.m. CST, October 23, 2002

For more information:
William Sanders, (785) 296-5075, wnsanders@hr.state.ks.us
http://www.kansasjoblink.com/

Kansas Department of Human Resources Honored for Technical Excellence at Government Customer Support Conference

TOPEKA, Kan. - During the Government Customer Support Conference held in Vienna, VA, October 22-24, 2002, the Kansas Department of Human Resources' Unemployment Call Centers were awarded the Government Customer Support Excellence Award for technical excellence.

The 1st Annual Government Customer Excellence Support Awards recognized public sector help desks and call centers that excelled in teamwork, technical excellence and customer focus. "A total of 47 nominations were received from federal, state and local contact centers," said Daryl. L. Covey, Conference Co-Chair and Chief Field Support Section at NEXRAD Operational Support Facility. " The high quality of the applications made the selection process a very difficult one, with final decisions heavily based on the customer impacts."

The Kansas Department of Human Resources received the award for the Tax, Appeals & Benefits Self-Service project (TABS), which is part of the Kansas Job Link system. Kansasjoblink.com is a part of the America's Job Link Alliance and is the Kansas State Government's first computer application to provide comprehensive workforce development services across the boundaries of multiple state agencies.

Highlights from the TABS' winning application include:

• The TABS program doubled KDHR's productivity with approximately the same number of staff while radically improving customer service through greater speed, access and reliability.
• Queue times for unemployment compensation claims dropped by more than 75 percent.
• A 76 percent reduction in the average number of minutes required to process a unemployment claim was achieved -- from a high of 47 minutes in FY 1999 to an all-time low of 11 minutes in December 2001. This was a result of changing the service delivery model to take unemployment claims via self-service and by improving call center operations.

"These efficiencies were made possible by automating processes, reducing paper flow, increasing data sharing, allowing customers to serve themselves as much as possible and increasing the reliability of call center technologies," said William Sanders, KDHR's Chief Information Officer and Employment Security Division Director.

"Many states have implemented call centers. Some other states are taking claims on the Internet. A couple of states have even linked the two," Sanders continued. "But, no other state has implemented such a broad array of employer and claimant services linked together in a complete system that provides such in-depth management tools and data integration to assist staff."

America's Job Link Alliance

The TABS system will also be shared with other states in the America's Job Link Alliance. The America's Job Link Alliance builds technology solutions while allowing members to maximize a return on their investments in workforce development strategies. This innovative concept driving the Alliance creates a framework for states to accept, modify and implement technology solutions built and tested by others. In return, states share their modules, programs, and enhancements to the system with the other members, reducing the development risk and cost for all members of the Alliance.

Currently 27 states use AJLA products.

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