Industry view: Case management underpins the delivery of many public services. Specialist systems proliferate across the country, but it is now possible to build a commoditised platform to underpin both the organisation and multi-agency working, writes Ben Austen, operations director at Tisski
It is difficult to identify hard and fast rules for case management in the public sector. The specialist factors involved, the desired outcomes and the relevant regulations can vary function by function, and organisations need to design the processes and configure their IT to meet user needs.
This can be made more difficult by changes in government policy on the relevant issues, or amendments to national regulations; and by the possibility of a person’s entitlement to one service being affected by whether or not they are receiving another. It creates a significant challenge for any organisation.
Compliance with the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act provides an excellent example of this. Twelve years after coming into force, it is still causing headaches for plenty of public sector organisations, many of which have struggled to comply with the requirement to provide a substantive response within 20 working days.
But, paying careful attention to the common case management factors can make a big difference, and this is where the Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM platform can have a huge impact.
A shared solution for common problems
Identifying the commonalities across business processes can save organisations considerable cost. There are some basic requirements that come with managing any process; having the ability to monitor the performance of the relevant teams against their service level agreements; and the provision of an intelligent knowledge base that helps staff reduce the time needed to resolve a case. It’s the combination of service standards and information that makes the difference between an effective and a struggling operation.
Alongside this is the need to draw on the appropriate data to make intelligent and justifiable decisions. Any system has to be able to find the data easily, often in real time, and the provision of a dashboard that is clear and easy to manage is often a major asset.
However, a small number of issues do need to be taken into consideration when developing a common solution. One is that the case management process should be deployed consistently across the organisation. Development will usually involve a number of department and business specialists [DB1] and they need clarity over what they need to do, when they have to do it, and to be confident that their different tasks will be precisely aligned to ensure the end-to-end process runs as smoothly as possible.
As the demand for user-centricity and efficiency intensifies, there is also a need to reduce staff workloads by enabling online self-service for the public. The greater their ability to input information and monitor progress of a case themselves, the better for them and the organisation, whose staff can then devote more time to the more complex elements of the job.
Looking forward, machine learning and artificial intelligence are going to become more important in speeding up the processes behind public service delivery, making things easier for the service user and providing better outcomes. It will not be long before these are seen as essential elements of a case management solution.
Need for expertise
It helps to draw on an in-depth expertise in dealing with these issues, which is where Dynamics 365 specialists Tisski can make a pivotal contribution. They have a strong record of working with public sector bodies to help them get the most they can from the available technology and a deep pool of experience and knowledge in the field. It has used this to develop Resolve, a specialised core case management solution to handle processes from end to end.
This can be configured to meet your desired business outcomes and ensure regulatory compliance for any stream of specialist case management within the public sector. It has the flexibility to deal with the basic issues while responding to the specific conditions of an individual process, and does so on a commodity IT platform – avoiding the excessive costs of a bespoke approach.
Tisski is staging a webinar on 26 October at 14.00-15.30 to outline the demands of case management and demonstrate the capabilities of Resolve. Led by the company’s operations director, Ben Austen, contributors include HS2 who will share their experience of successfully using the solution.
The webinar offers a valuable opportunity to learn more about a commodity offering that could resolve the challenges faced by many public sector organisations today. You can register for the webinar here
