| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The project team adopted a 4-step process in managing the CRMS project – Think, Create, Launch and Engage.
Think
The project team reviewed the old FTS and identified areas for improvements. Officers were also interviewed to get their user experience in using the FTS, as well as their expectations of what they hope to see in the new CRMS. System features were then sorted into out-of-box features and customized enhancements to be implemented in phases based on priority accorded to business needs.
Create
After the project plan and route map have been planned, an external application developer was engaged to develop the application. Numerous meetings were held together with the vendor and user departments to ensure that all parties were aligned with the strategic goals of the project and the ultimate product that was to be launched.
Launch
In moving to the launch stage, User Acceptance Testings (UATs) were thoroughly conducted to ensure that each of the modules and system flows mirrored that of business processes as well as users’ workflows. Prior to the official cutover of the new system, training sessions were also conducted for all the officers to ensure that user onboard would be smooth. Communications to officers were frequent to update all parties of the eventual launch of the new CRMS so that all parties were prepared for it.
Engage
After go-live, the project team constantly engages the users to get their feedback on the new system and identify gaps. A user experience survey was also conducted to understand user behaviour with the CRMS as well as the challenges that our officers face in adopting the new system. This allowed the project team to better strategise its change management techniques to ensure smooth transition from the old to the new.
The project plan is shown in the attached file.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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A Project Steering Committee (PSC) co-chaired by Divisional Director of Service Quality Division, Divisional Director of Strategic Development and Transformation Office, and Chief Information Officer was set up to oversee the whole project implementation. The remaining PSC members included Divisional Directors and Directors of all business units to provide guidance and sponsorship, terms of reference set forth as below:
• Ensure project is aligned with NEA’s organizational strategy
• Ensure project makes good use of assets
• Assist with resolving strategic level issues and risks
• Approve or reject changes to the project with a high impact on timelines and budget
• Assess project progress and report on project to senior mgt and higher authorities
• Provide advice and guidance on business issues facing the project
• Use influence and authority to assist the project in achieving its outcomes
• Review and approve final project deliverables
A mirrored structure of the PSC was also set up at the working level through the Project Working Committee (PWC), with terms of reference as below:
• Ensure all participating departments contribute effectively to the progress of project
• Monitor and control project progress
• Participate and contributes actively in requirements gathering sessions
• Report progress regularly to the Project Sponsor and Steering Committee
• Review the Implementation plan
• Propose new work processes and ensures compliance with agency’s procedures (if necessary)
Other than internal stakeholders, the project also had the support and sponsorship of NEA’s parent ministry, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The cost of implementing the CRMS was as below:
• One-time development cost - $5.2 mil
Licensing costs
Professional services (vendor) for implementing iCARE
System Hardware and Software
• Yearly recurrent cost - $1.3 mil
In terms of human resources, the project was driven by the project manager from system owning department, Customer and Quality Service Department, together with project managers from IT Department and involved representatives from all business units.
All the above costs involved in developing the CRMS were wholly internal funded.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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For NEA staff :
With the rolling out of iCARE, officers can better capture structured information of cases to improve the accuracy of details so that they can better manage them. The system also presents a ready view of aged cases in the form of dashboards to remind officers of pending cases. The system also helps ensure quality in case closure by making mandatory fields necessary to be completed before officers can close a case. iCARE also allows officers to have a 360° holistic view of our customers and their history of cases so that we can serve and engage them better. NEA officers are also able to generate statistic reports of cases easily, which in turn assist them in policy sensing and sense making for the formulation of more relevant and beneficial public policies and regulations.
G2G:
Through iCARE, NEA officers can also route a case to other agencies if the reported issue does not fall under the purview of NEA. When a case is routed so, the system automatically sends all the necessary case details to the external agency so that the other party can attend to the case immediately without the need to contact the customer to get details all over again. This has enhanced the collaboration between NEA and other agencies in a concerted effort to deliver the No Wrong Door (NWD) policy.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The project is closely monitored and endorsed by the PSC and PWC. A PSC meeting is convened every quarter to update Management on the progress of the project, whereas a PWC meeting is held every month to update all parties on the on-going issues as well as updates on the pipeline enhancements.
Through the iCARE user representatives community comprising of 1 or more officers from all business units, the 1000+ users agency wide are kept updated of the latest developments involving the system, and at the same time, help and support are readily available for users should they encounter any issues in using the system.
A user experience survey is also held annually to measure user satisfaction with each of the module in the system and to solicit new ideas for enhancements.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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One of the main challenges that the project team faced was the diversity in the scope of operations that NEA is involved in and the differing business processes inherent in each business unit. The user interface of various modules as well as system flows had to be designed to the best fit that could accommodate all the varying requirements. User requirements gathering and confirmation often involved a long tedious process in gathering the users together and to articulate their business needs to translate into system flows.
To tackle this challenge, the project team thus prioritized the system enhancements and broke it down into phased implementation in order to mitigate the risks involved.
Another challenge that the project team faced was change management in transiting from the old FTS to the new CRMS. More often than people, people are resistant to change and prefer work systems/processes that they are already familiar with. The project team mapped out the change management process into – Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing and anticipated users behaviour and sentiments in the transition period and managed accordingly. For example, expecting users to be “lost” in the first month of system cutover, the project team provided an on-site support in each of the off-site offices, and also ensured that users had ready access to the help and support service desk.
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