Running Clean and lean:

The new disCiplines of eThiCs, peRfoRmanCe and publiC aCCounTabiliTy ThRough Case managemenT

a strategy paper from

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several years ago in communities across america, a ground-swell began for more public information and government ac-countability. government reform, or transforming the way the public’s business is handled by making it more transparent, is at the heart of what White House Chief of staff rahm emanuel meant when he said, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste.”

the economic crisis is deep and lasting, and it is bringing the reformer out in almost all public officials. the public trust is the single most important asset for any government.

to gain and continue holding the public’s trust, certain agen-cies implemented case management systems, which helped to watch and document an incident or person through the system until the “case” could be considered “resolved.”

typically, case management systems went hand-in-hand with social services and public safety; for example, many organizations have implemented anonymous helpline services such as 311 so citizens can report problems and concerns, and have used internal case management tools for social and legal services.

there are, however, many other uses for this technology — in education, in city government and in human resources, to name a few.

Focus on governmentfederal, state and local governmental agencies want to help

their organizations create and foster a culture of principled decision-making, promoting an elevated level of transparency and oversight to their operations as they enforce high ethical standards across their organizations. Whether the agencies are trying to ensure compliance to mandates, increase communi-cation with constituents, or provide a safe and productive work environment for their employees, governments recognize that knowledge is power when it is actionable.

since the 1990s, federal, state and local governments have been beset by “performance mania” — performance, outcome assessment and accountability were guiding principles for gov-ernment at the close of the 20th century. performance projects have been embraced by reformers as a means for improving the efficiency of government operations and the accountabil-ity of public administrators and elected officials to citizens. Concerns about productivity and efficiency are at the heart of the performance orientation of government, but so too are accountability and ethics.

an emerging term that combines new disciplines for monitor-ing performance and accountability in public agencies is “ethics case management.” Using a proven suite of technologies and methodologies (case management and business intelligence), in addition to helpline services, ethics case management can solve intractable problems and create a new digital platform for doing the public’s business differently and transparently. What makes ethics case management so important in public service is that it goes beyond thought and talk to performance and action.

Definitions

Ethics Case Management – emerging term of art that combines disciplines of ethical leadership, monitored performance and public accountability using case management, business intelligence and information technology service management.

Case Management – refers to a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individual’s needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost-effective outcomes.

Business Intelligence (BI) - refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its operations. Business Intelligence applications provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of BI applications are reporting, analytics, data mining, business performance management, benchmarks, text mining and predictive analytics.

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Building constituent trust

promoting an ethical and accountable culture is a key lead-ership responsibility. equity, transparency, honor, integrity, commitment and stewardship are standards for excellence in democratic local governance. trust is both the foundation of and the result of ethical leadership. as Dr. John Knapp, mann family professor of ethics and Leadership and the first director of the frances marlin mann Center for ethics and Leadership in Birmingham, ala., points out that these are cynical times, and they have led to a “trust deficit.” He cites a National opin-ion research Center survey where, in 1979, 51 percent of americans agreed with the statement, “most people can be trusted.” In 2006, that had fallen to 33 percent.

there are, however, three dimensions of trust that lead to ethical leadership — credibility, respect and fairness. the components of credibility are transparency, which requires open and accessible communication; competence, which is the ability to properly manage human and material resources; and integrity, which consists of applying proper values to the proper vision.

open and accessible communications requires access to information, as well as monitoring and reporting events in a systematic way. many organizations have implemented helpline service such as 311 to capture reports of issues and events. monitoring and reporting are ongoing activities that require measuring organizational performance against an organization’s stated standards. as previously stated, case management was once synonymous with only social services or the law department. But now, the automated work flow at the core of advanced case management systems is coupled with helpline services and an organization’s ethics standards to identify issues, assist with analysis, investigate events, follow up internally and externally, track trends, and report to the public and officials.

ethics case management goes well beyond utilizing a helpline or Web-based reporting system that analyzes issues and event reports in a spreadsheet. a comprehensive and proactive case management approach not only helps an organization reduce risk (and reduce the cost of ethical and legal transgressions), but can also significantly improve public perception and trust.

using ArrA Fundingtoday, a city in the midwest and fairfax County public

schools in Virginia are examples of how public-sector agencies are using or planning to use advanced case management for a comprehensive approach by applying for the american recovery and reinvestment act (arra) of 2009 stimulus funds.

In addition, those who apply for and receive arra funding are presented with new challenges around collecting, moni-toring and communicating key information about their use of public funds. arra requires the accurate, timely and effective flow of data among all fund recipients in support of transparency and accountability objectives.

transparency of process and results is a fundamental arra requirement. recipient agencies must monitor, track and report on all activities receiving arra stimulus funds and submit required reports on a regular basis that describe their use of granted funds. With the multiple levels of reporting necessary to meet the objectives of the act, a unified and flexible reporting infrastructure that can provide a single view across different source systems and input processes, is seen by public-sector agencies as a critical ingredient in meeting arra requirements for transparency.

ethics case ManageMent goes well beyonD utilizing a helpline or web-baseD reporting systeM that analyzes issues anD event reports in a spreaDsheet.

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several cities and counties contacted stated that there is a need for the most complete, open and integrated solutions to meet these challenges.

By using advanced case management tools, as well as Customer relationship management (Crm) and business intelligence dashboard solutions, arra fund recipients can meet the reporting requirements and achieve required levels of transparency. this is accomplished by leveraging data cur-rently existing in their financial, planning and tracking systems used to maintain accountability for operational, infrastructure and technology programs.

public-sector organizations noted that an enterprise solution must provide the framework for capturing the required data and providing the up-to-date information about key perfor-mance indicators to the granting federal agencies, the office of management and Budget, state stakeholders, local entities and citizens in a participatory process.

these organizations believe business intelligence and advanced case management could provide unmatched capabilities to pull together data from a variety of sources into a single consistent reporting environment. Dashboard and map-based display capabilities could provide easy access to performance metrics, with easy drill-down into the detailed data, providing complete visibility into the following:¸funding streams¸Budget allocations¸Contract expenditures ¸project performance¸elimination of waste

Beyond transparency, continuous financial and program accountability is noted as a critical arra requirement. all agencies felt that to provide public-sector organizations with the tools that improve and demonstrate accountability, as well as manage risk, an enterprise solution must include:¸financial management; ¸project management;¸human capital management; ¸policy management;¸customer service; ¸case management; and ¸comprehensive governance, risk and compliance.

cAse study: in the midwest …tasked with investigating allegations of corruption, fraud

and waste across a city government with 40 major agencies and 16,000 employees, a major department in one city in the midwest has found case management to be a powerful, cost- effective solution. the department is an independent group of investigators, attorneys and auditors that responds to complaints about city government’s performance from citizens and city employees. In addition to their own investigations, the department has worked closely with other law enforcement agencies to secure federal convictions and expose millions of dollars in fraud and waste.

Like other public organizations, this entity is regularly chal-lenged by both private citizens and public officials to do more with less. In a time of lowered budgets and scarce resources, the department recognized that a new technology-based case management solution was an opportunity to dramatically im-prove their performance. their outdated legacy system was fast approaching its limits, and it regularly required labor- intensive manual processes and maintenance. after considering the options, the department leadership felt the right approach and a highly-automated process would help them spend less time tracking information or completing redundant work, and more time investigating cases. shortly after deciding to pur-sue a new case management solution, the department identi-fied several business requirements. the ideal solution would offer a single location to store case information from a vari-ety of systems — including documents, e-mail messages and

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multimedia files — to help users construct case briefs and process approvals. It would also allow secure, role-based information access, as well as highly-usable interfaces and reporting options. finally, it would be proven in similar environments such as law enforcement and compliance.

today, the department accelerates and simplifies its case processes. a few examples: ¸attorneys have a single source to access case information

they previously stored in a variety of formats and locations;¸administrators have reduced the time it takes to produce

reports for the mayor’s office from one week down to just seconds, and they quickly prepare large numbers of letters by letting the solution automatically add case-specific infor-mation to prebuilt templates; and

¸investigators can determine patterns by connecting people, places, property and vehicles to one or many other cases.

Case management also provides the department with the flexibility to meet evolving ethics and compliance standards and guidelines. their solution is built on a business processes automation platform — it can readily accommodate emerging technology such as advanced data visualization and text anal-ysis tools. as a result, the department now has an advanced case management solution that can effectively meet its busi-ness needs no matter what the future holds.

cAse study: FAirFAx county PuBlic schoolsIn addition to government, schools also need a powerful com-

munication tool to relate metrics and reporting to and from stu-dents, parents, residents and public officials.

In Virginia, located across the potomac river from Wash-ington, D.C., fairfax County is the area’s most heavily popu-lated county. It is also home to fairfax County public schools (fCps), the nation’s 12th largest school system with more than 22,000 employees and 168,000 students. already well known for providing world-class teaching and learning, the school system also has a national reputation for integrating technology that has been recognized by publications such as CIO and Computerworld.

a known technology leader, fCps has built on this reputation by using a proactive case management system to help handle communications, meet compliance demands and improve student achievement.

Like other school systems, fCps must balance the pressures of increasing enrollments and decreasing budgets with the de-mand for higher levels of service. among the organizations challenged to do more with less are the fCps superintendent’s office and school board, which receive and must respond to an ever-growing number of requests, comments and complaints.

While effective communication may seem to be simply good customer service, there is strong evidence that it plays an important role in student achievement. fCps leadership understands it must continually engage students, parents, residents and public officials to build trust in the organization

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and support for quality education. at the same time, their messages must each meet rigorous county regulations such as those that govern student confidentiality. for these reasons, responsible, cost-effective communication management is among the school system’s principal challenges.

though fCps had invested heavily in technology, they used an outdated manual process to track their commu-nication. faced with inconsistent, difficult-to-access data and a growing school system, they needed a solution that allowed them to submit, update and report on their efforts.

the school system began looking for a ready-made solution, and they found a case management system that would meet their needs. after a careful review, they realized case management met all of their requirements, and it would not require expensive customizations. It also provided robust parent and child tracking, securely handled sensitive informa-tion, and allowed them to segregate data so the school board and superintendent’s office could use the same solution. the system was built to integrate an action request system with legal policy mandates.

mAPPing A PAth to cAse mAnAgement

many organizations appear to be mapping out a progres-sion of case management automation, starting with initiatives designed to smooth communications to and from constituents and employees, then moving on to investigative systems that could lower costs and increase efficiency and compliance. a majority of organizations are looking to control documentation and validation, planning for enterprise-level dashboard and re-porting, and real-time monitoring technologies to meet arra requirements — all with a focus on improving trust of the pub-lic through ethical leadership.

Hence, organizations are looking at the key dimensions of ethics case management: functionality, organizational span and cultural change to improve trust. ethics case management is more than just a helpline, contact center or reporting system — it requires analysis and reporting tools that can detect patterns of vulnerability before they result in compromises. ethics case management also requires an organization to develop a consis-tent set of policies and procedures in response to a perceived

then – reactive

¸Hotline or contact center for incident reporting

¸Policies and procedures accessible by all, via central repository

¸Mandatory training with emphasis on continued learning

now – transitional

¸Issue and event analysis tools (departmental focus)

¸Clearly-defined responsibilities for monitoring potential exposures

¸Reporting system for incidents and all actions taken toward resolution (case management, CRM)

¸Awareness campaigns designed to build a sustainable, secure and ethical culture

future – proactive

¸Issue and event analysis tools across departments, geographies, time periods

¸Workflow-driven case management review and resolution tools

¸Dashboard tracking key performance indications and incident data

¸Scenario-based simulations to test incident response protocols

¸Formal incident response teams and protocols by incident type

¸Post-mortem reviews as input for policy and procedure modifications

Figure 1: the stAges oF cAse mAnAgement

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problem as in the case of a confirmed ethical transgression or system breach.

ethics case management is an approach that manages risk across departments, geographies and time periods while recognizing and reducing the incidence of cascading or interdependent patterns of risk/concern from a constituent’s point of view.

ethics case management accomplishes this by using the latest incident reporting, issue and event analysis tools (case management); workflow driven case management review and resolution tools (business service management); dashboard tracking of key performance indicators and incident data (business intelligence); and scenario based simulations. a long-term commitment to culture change is also required by an organization employing an ethics case management system with specific plateau targets to consolidate gains and to introduce the next level of advancement (see figure 1).

conclusionWe all have an image of our better selves — of how we are

when we act ethically, or are “at our best.” We probably also have an image of what an ethical community, an ethical busi-ness, an ethical government or an ethical society should be. ethics really has to do with all these levels — acting ethically as individuals, creating ethical organizations and governments, and making our society as a whole ethical in the way the public is treated.

aristotle and other greek philosophers have reiterated the idea that all individuals should be treated equally. today we use this idea to say that ethical actions treat all human beings equally, or if unequally, then fairly based on some standard that is defensible. We pay people more based on their harder work or the greater amount that they contribute to an organization, for example, and say that is fair. yet there is debate over Ceo salaries that are hundreds of times larger than the pay of others; many ask whether the huge disparity is based on a defensible standard, or whether it is the result of an imbalance of power and hence is unfair.

sometimes it is easy to see when things go wrong in gov-ernment as well: elected officials take bribes, candidates lie about their opponents and city officials make important public decisions in secret meetings.

other times, the right thing is not so obvious: should a councilmember represent the wishes of the majority even when he or she thinks the majority is wrong? Is it accept-able for a governor to appoint a family member to his or her cabinet if the appointee is the best person for the job?

Whether the ethical issues are obvious or complicated, they are easier to address if the public has access to information technologies, applications and practices to help them acquire a better understanding of the issues. major organizations in government today agree that results-oriented, data-driven case management is essential to successfully and effectively meet the challenges of rebuilding public trust.

Case management today is far different from case manage-ment in the past — it is transparent, accountable, performance driven and dynamic. the power is not in the data, but in the information organizations and the public can gather from it.

government at all levels needs to take the time to address all aspects of advanced case management solutions including reporting, query and analysis; dashboards and visualization; powerful data integration; insightful information; and performance management to help them rebuild the public’s trust by embedding ethical values and expectations in the organization’s systems, behaviors and actions.

Building and supporting an ethical, open culture through the use of advanced case management technologies may not be as visible as a beautiful downtown, but it pays dividends to the community for years to come.

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Acknowledgements:

Dianah L. Neff is a consultant to local government. she is a former senior partner at Civitium where she led the firm’s municipal broadband consulting practice. she previously served in government for 20 years as the CIo for City and County of philadelphia, pa.; City of san Diego, Calif.; City of Bellevue, Wash.; County of san Bernardino, Calif.; and City of palo alto, Calif. she is recognized as the “mother of municipal Wi-fi” for her work in making philadelphia the first major city in the U.s. to implement a citywide wireless network. prior to working in government, Dianah spent 14 years in the private sector working for high-tech software and hardware firms in silicon Valley.