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PLO 6&7 Proposal Reneathia Daniel EDU-697 Capstone: A Project Approach Instructor Christopher Sorensen

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Outline I. II. III. Learning setting Organizational Mission Statement and Purposes (or Strategic Goals) Program Evaluation Proposal, which includes: a. Overview b. Proposed Program Logic Model including: i. Assumptions (Employee Performance Problem or Issue) ii. Inputs (at least four) iii. Activities (at least four) iv. Outputs (at least four) v. Outcomes (at least four) vi. Impact (at least four) IV. V. VI. VII. Use of Evaluation Results Timeline for Evaluation Cycle Conclusion References

Learning Setting

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The City of Detroit is undergoing tremendous hardships. The city is currently in the bankruptcy process. This is has come about from years of mismanagement and corruption within the government. The effect of this bankruptcy has caused flight in the City of Detroit. It has also caused increased crime and the deterioration of the family neighborhoods. The city must find a way to retain some of the residents. I believe that one of the ways is to improve city services. The city can do this by leveraging technology. Organizational Mission Statement and Purposes I work in a Department where things have been antiquated for quite some time. Recently the Department that I work for have began reorganization. Within this reorganization the there has been improvements by utilizing more technology and improving customer relations. I am creating a proposal to enhance customer service within my Department by proposing a way to better service our customers and secure the information that is given to us by the customer. The proposal/ project request is to purchase a queuing system for our customers. Project Description The project description would be to determine the feasibility/benefits of a customer service queuing system that would assist DWSD payment centers with servicing our customers, without having to call customers by name and/or service address. Business Problems or Opportunities The business problem is the Greeter/Receptionist assigned to record a customers name and service address has to then be read allowed to acknowledge to the customer they are next for service. This person spends most of the work day

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manually gathering customer data, ascertaining the availability of representatives by phone, and directing customers to the work station. The business opportunities are the elimination of having a receptionist assigned at the front desk to call out the customers service address for everyone in the audience to hear and recording customers information. This would allow privacy to our customers. In addition the greeter/receptionist could focus more on screening customers concerns and validating the required documents for service (i.e. Landlord Tenant process; Wayne County Deed; etc.) During extremely high traffic volume, long lines to be signed in would be greatly reduced. Critical Success Factors Improved customer service Reduction of Wait time to be signed in by greeter More opportunities for customers documents to be validated More efficient flow of customer traffic Customers knowing where they are next in line to be serviced Upon arrival to payment center customer can determine if he/she can wait prior to pulling a number Eliminate need for customer to provide his/her information twice Allows privacy and security of customer name and address Greeter/Receptionist no longer system organizer.

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Process Flowchart

Customer enters the customer service office.

Customer enters name and address into the queuing system.

The queing systems provides the customer with a number. The system knows the representative is available by the representative pressing a button to give the desk number. After the completion of service for the customer at the desk. The queuing system reports informatioin to the site manager.

The queuing system sorts the work amongst the team.

The first customer is assigned to the first available representative.

The queuing system then displays the customer's number on the customer monitor.

The monitor then give the desk number that the customer should go to.

The reports will show the average wait time and what the customer visited the office about.

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The Logic Model A logic model is a systematic and visual way to present and share your understanding of the relationships among the resources you have to operate your program, the activities you plan, and the change or results you hope to achieve (W. K. Kellogg Foundation, 2004). The logic model presented below includes the planned work and also the intended results that I am expecting. The logic model identifies the resources/ inputs, activities, outputs and the outcomes/ impact that I believe should result from the proposal.

Your Planned Work Resources/Inputs Activities Computer Access To obtain Quotes To complete a request for proposal (FP)

Employees/Personnel

Cost Comparisons

To create a presentation

Management

To present the request to Management

Your Intended Results Outputs Outcomes Impact Decision is Improve use of 5 Quotes Obtain made on the technology quote Based upon the quotes finalize RFP is Improved how five different Finalized employees RFPs serve customers 5 different cost comparisons Final decision Improves based up the made on the budget quotes and RFPs cost comparison received Convince the The purchased Improves how management of the queuing management team to accept system is made will feel after the best queuing based upon the customer system based approval of service is upon the RFPs management increased

Assumptions The assumption is that the employees are unable to provide quality customer due to the lack of technology. Customers always complain that they do not feel safe when their name or address must be broadcasted in front of other customers. This is the biggest problem for our

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customer base. It all ties in to improving services for customers and improving the morale of employees. Resources/Inputs The resources/inputs Inputs are the resources that are required to operate the program; they typically include money, people, equipment, facilities and knowledge (McDavid, 2013). The four things that I include in my proposal for the logic model that I thought would be good resources and inputs for this project are computer access, employees/personnel input, a cost comparison, and the management team. The four things that are listed are very important for this project to work. Computer Access: Computer access is very important in this process because it is needed in order to obtain prices and telephone numbers for the various different types of queuing systems and the companies who would be able to provide the quotes. The computer will allow us to create cost comparisons. Cost Comparison: A cost comparison is very important because it will help us control the cost of the equipment we are looking to purchase for the queuing system program. The comparison will save the Department in the long run if the cost comparison is done properly. The cost comparison is a very important piece of the program. The cost comparison will provide the pros and cons and the cost of the queuing system which will help in the decision. Employees: The employees are very important because they are the ones who will be using the queuing system. The will play a very key and important part of the queuing selection. They have to use the system. The system will be a very important part of the employees job. The employees will have to feel comfortable with the product that is selected and become subject matter experts (sme) when using it.

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Management: Management is a key input; without the approval of management the queuing system cannot be approved. The management team is a very important piece of the program request. Management will have the last word in what will be purchased. The above inputs are the key input component for the logic model. Activities The four things that I think are important for activities are obtaining a quote, completing a request for proposal (RFP), Create a presentation and finally presenting the presentation to management. Activities are about getting the things done in the program that are necessary to achieve the intended outcome (McDavid, 2013). Obtaining Quotes: The next very important step is to obtain a quote for the queuing system is very important. This will help you to narrow down your options based upon the cost comparison that you have completed. This will give you the opportunity to establish a RFP for the future. Request for Proposal (RFP): The RFP is very important because this will help in the final selection of who will obtain the contract for the queuing system. Each company will provide their final proposal to offer their best deal for a selection to be made by the management team. Creating the Presentation: After selecting the best request for proposal (RFP) has been selected, then a presentation would be created to present to the Management team, in order to provide the best RFP to the Department. The presentation is key component in order to sell the idea of the queuing system to the management team. The presentation would include examples of other places that may have used the actual queuing systems that have been selected. Presenting Presentation to Management: The proposal must be presented to the management team in an excellent presentation is very important; it will help to reach the

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outcome that is expected. This must be done in order to make sure that we can get the queuing system. If the management team does not approve the queuing system then the output will not be the final result that the Department is looking for. As a result, the activities are very important in producing the final outcome that I am looking for. Outputs Outputs occurs as a result of the activities or the work done, and can be viewed as the transition from program activities to program outcomes. Outputs are typically tangible and countable (McDAvid, 2013, p.55). The outcomes should reflect the number of things that are coming from the work that is being done. This is very important when completing the logic model. Five (5) Quotes: This is the output I am looking for because this will narrow down what should be presented to the management team. The quotes will be given personnel to narrow down the options to review before making the final decision to present to the management team. Five (5) Different RFPs: This will be proposal based upon the quotes received from the various companies. The RFPs will be included in the decision of the final presentation to the management team. Five (5) Different RFPs: The different RFPs will be narrowed down to five that will be presented to the management team. Acceptance of an RFP: After presenting all of the proposals hopefully the management team will make a final decision. This will be great and allow us to move forward with obtaining the new queuing system.

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Overall, the outputs are a very important piece of the logic model. If the numbers that you are looking for have not been obtained the logic model will not be of any use. Outcomes Outcomes are the intended results that correspond to the program objective (McDAvid, 2013, p.55). The outcomes should e the final impact that the logic model will have. It is very important that the outcome that you were looking for is reached. Sometimes the outcome that you plan may not be obtained but it is very important to record what has happened. Quote Decision- The final decision of which quote was best for the Department should have been made based upon the final five that it had been narrowed down to. This is very important in the in the finalization of the project Final Cost Comparison- The final cost comparison is extremely important because it help to save the department in the long run financially especially for a city that is going through bankruptcy. This will make or break the final decision by the board. RFP finalized The finalization of the RFP will allow the Department to make decision fairly and give all companies a fair shot at being the contractor for this project. This will leave out the play to play that has been so prominent in the city of Detroit in the past years. Purchase of Queuing System After the selection of the contractor/company that will be the final thing that is needed. This will impact how the Department services customer. This queuing system will help to keep the identity of customers as so many customers have requested in the past. It will improve the overall customer service. Customers will be ecstatic especially with rising crime in the Metropolitan Detroit area on the rise. This will give the Departments customers a sense of security.

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The outcome is what is looked at to see if the logic model is functioning as it should. If the outcome is not what you are looking for then the model should be revisited and revamped to try and obtain the outcome that you are looking for. Impact The overall impact that is wanted is improved customer service. The four impacts that I look for this project to have are improvement in the use of technology,; improvements in how customers are serviced; improvements in the budgets bottom line; and finally improvement in how management feels about customer service given to our customers. All of these things are the impacts that I hope the proposed project will result in. Evaluation Results The evaluation would have to have both summative and formative evaluations for this program. I say this because according to our text summative evaluations ask the tough question and the formative evaluation looks for feedback (McDAvid, 2013, p.23). The results that will come from the evaluation will ask the question such as was the intended outcome met. It will also look for feedback from customers and employees to see if the intended goals were met. This can be done by data collection from an online survey given to the employees and customers. The online survey can be created on a site called surveymonster.com. The data that will be collected from the use of these surveys will help to further improve customer service. I also believe that the use of empowerment evaluation will give employees a sense that they have something to do with the final outcome of their well being. "Empowerment evaluation is defined as the use of evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination" (Fetterman, 2000). By using this as a means of evaluation will help them to improve on their skill set and how they learn how to use the queuing system for the customers.

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Timeline for Evaluation The timeline for the evaluation would be approximately six (6) months. This would allow time to understand how the queuing system works. The employees would be trained on the system the first month. The second month the product would be put in place to be used by employees. During the third sixth month surveys would be issued to customers and staff to see if the product is reaching the actual outcome and having the impact that the Department was looking for. This would also give time to be able to answer the hard questions. Conclusion The proposal that has been presented will have a positive impact on the future of the City of Detroit. I believe that by following all the steps with the logic model will keep the proposal on the correct path as well as provide a visual direction as to what the outcome should be. I really believe that this proposal will be a start to new and improved ways that customer service will be given throughout the city of Detroit. At the end of the day, it is very important the proposals impact and outcomes are met. If they have not been met, the feedback from the employees and customers will help to make improvements on the next step towards better customer service.

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Reference Fetterman, D. (200). Empowerment evaluation. http://www.stanford.edu/~davidf/empowermentevaluation.html McDavid, J.C., Huse, I., & Hawthorn, L.L. (2013). Program evaluation & performance measurement: An introduction to practice (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage W.K. Kellogg Foundation. (2004). Using logic models to bring together planning, evaluation, and action: Logic model development guide. Retrieved from http://www.wkkf.org/~/media/36693510092544928C454B5778180D75/LogicModel.pdf