Reducing Payment Processing Errors at LA County Using Lean Six Sigma

Reducing Payment Processing Errors
at LA County Using Lean Six Sigma
A Lean Six Sigma Success Story

Presented by Alex Ogunji
Lean Six Sigma Program Coordinator
at LA County Registrar Recorder County Clerk (RR/CC)
About LA County
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Program

Coordinator, Master Black Belt
Alexander Ogunji.
The RR/CC’s LSS Program strives to:
•Identify and control root causes of

variance and defects
•Employee empowerment to do
process Improvement by using LSS
tools and methodology
• Eliminate Errors and Variability
• Reduce operational cost

INSITUTION OF LSS
PROGRAM:
•43 Sections, across

4 Bureaus utilize Idea
Boards
•1,000 Yellow Belts
Trained
•160 Green Belts
Trained
•8 Black Belts Trained
Los Angeles County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Tri-Bureau Presentation
Project Certification
Variance Project
Recorder/County Clerk Bureau Administration Bureau Information Technology Bureau
(Ana Henderson, Jena Chen, Henrietta Willis-Kendall, David Palafox, Nilza Christopher, and Terrie L. Salazar)
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Background
➡What is a variance (as it relates to this project)?
• A discrepancy in credit card totals between JEDI and VitalChek
➡Discrepancies are caused by transactions being saved in one

system and not the other.
➡All three bureaus are impacted by these discrepancies.

Recorder/County
Clerk Bureau
Administration
Bureau
Team
Work
Information Technology Bureau

Swim Lane Map

Variance/Issue Process
Customer
Purchase Delay: Correctly

Customer
document waiting charged
County Clerk
Recorder/
User error Get feedback Report to

Delay:
OR Research Contact IT for from IT Administration
Payment
Error between JEDI variance assistance variance is variance is
process
and VitalChek resolved resolved
Delay:
Find credit card Manually search Contact Verify during
Admin
variance during Recorder for reconciliation

for variances for
reconciliation corrective research & variance is
process action resolution resolved
Information
Technology
Provide Research &

assistance to resolve
Recorder variance
Recorder/County Clerk Bureau

Problem (Defect)
➡ User error
• Credit card transactions were not voided in JEDI or VitalChek
• Supervisors did not change the received method from “web” to “counter” which
caused duplicate transactions
➡ Knowledge gap
• Supervisors needed more knowledge and training to fix VitalChek issues
• Cashiers did not know how to handle transactions when VitalChek failed to
provide a confirmation
Impact
➡Customers waited for extended periods of time
➡Transaction processing delays
➡Workflow interruptions
➡Inability for Section Heads and/or supervisors to properly balance

collections at the end of the day
Solution
➡BDM SMEs assisted IT with identifying frequently recurring variances
➡Cashiers and supervisors received standardized training by IT
➡Cashiers and supervisors received 8 credit card troubleshooting cheat

sheets from IT
Benefit
➡Standardized solutions for recurring
variance issues
➡Ability to handle issues and variances

within BDM without IT assistance
➡Improved ability to balance cash

drawers at day’s end
Administration Bureau
Cash Management Unit (CMU)
Problem (Defect)
CMU finds a variance during the collection reconciliation process
➡Staff had to manually compare paper

documents to locate variances
• 3 hours spent on locating each variance
➡23 variances discovered in a 9-month period

(06/11/15 - 03/30/16)
• Total time spent on locating variances is 69 hours
Impact
➡Requires dual custody in partners of 2 staff
➡Disrupts the time-sensitive reconciliation process
➡Creates a trickle down effect

• Time allocated for Daily Distribution Report is shifted
- 3 staff to manually locate variance
- Other staff must perform double or triple dual custody shifts to replace
those 3 staff
➡Delays the generation of the Daily Distribution Report which affects

another Finance unit
Solution
➡Developed streamline method to locate the variances using Microsoft Excel
➡Created a step-by-step reference guide for CMU
➡Developed hands-on training for CMU Staff with mock variances.
➡Completed all training for CMU staff

Benefit
➡Time reduction
3 hours à 10 minutes
➡Increased productivity
3 staff à 1 staff
➡Less disruption to workflows
Information Technology Bureau

Business Systems and Analysis (BSA) Section
Problem (Defect)
➡No standardization on how to prevent or resolve issues and
variances
➡IT was always called to assist when issues and variances could have
been handled internally within the respective section/unit
➡Variances caused by archived incomplete web orders not

appearing on Finance reports
Impact
➡Disruption of analytical work
➡Resources of 3 analysts per variance
➡Substantial amount of time spent for research and resolution

• 18 hours per week which equates to 936 hours per year
Solution
➡Purged incomplete web orders after 90 days
➡Created the list containing various variances encountered
by staff
➡Created 8 different resolution cheat sheets for cashiers and
supervisors
➡Provided two types of user training

•Cashier Training
•Supervisor Training
•HQ: 94% of staff trained

•District Offices: 29% of staff trained (in process)
Benefit
➡Variance reduction
8 variances à 1 variance per month
3 analysts à 1 analyst
➡Time reduction
936 hours à 60 hours per year

Total Benefit (Across Three

Bureaus)
➡Variance reduction
8 variances à 1 variance per month (800% reduction)
6 staff à 2 staff (300% reduction)
➡Total time reduction
1028 hours à 66 hours per year (1557% reduction)

Questions?
Just-In-Time Podcast
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Reducing Payment Processing Errors

at LA County Using Lean Six Sigma

A Lean Six Sigma Success Story

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Program

The RR/CC’s LSS Program strives to:

•Identify and control root causes of

• Eliminate Errors and Variability

• Reduce operational cost

•43 Sections, across

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

➡Discrepancies are caused by transactions being saved in one

➡All three bureaus are impacted by these discrepancies.

Information Technology Bureau

Swim Lane Map

Purchase Delay: Correctly

User error Get feedback Report to

variance during Recorder for reconciliation

Provide Research &

Recorder/County Clerk Bureau

➡Transaction processing delays

➡Inability for Section Heads and/or supervisors to properly balance

➡Cashiers and supervisors received standardized training by IT

➡Cashiers and supervisors received 8 credit card troubleshooting cheat

➡Ability to handle issues and variances

➡Improved ability to balance cash

➡Staff had to manually compare paper

➡23 variances discovered in a 9-month period

➡Disrupts the time-sensitive reconciliation process

➡Creates a trickle down effect

➡Delays the generation of the Daily Distribution Report which affects

➡Created a step-by-step reference guide for CMU

➡Developed hands-on training for CMU Staff with mock variances.

➡Completed all training for CMU staff

Information Technology Bureau

➡Variances caused by archived incomplete web orders not

➡Resources of 3 analysts per variance

➡Substantial amount of time spent for research and resolution

➡Provided two types of user training

•HQ: 94% of staff trained

936 hours à 60 hours per year

Total Benefit (Across Three

8 variances à 1 variance per month (800% reduction)

6 staff à 2 staff (300% reduction)

➡Total time reduction

1028 hours à 66 hours per year (1557% reduction)

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