| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The Social Security Counter is installed with Suprev’s workers. The idea is not to generate costs with the hiring of personnel in order to ensure the continuity and sustainability of the initiative. The amount of visiting technicians is proportional to the amount of servers located at the agency visited. Every agency, regardless of size (small, medium or large) can receive the Counter. Partnerships are established with universities, Regional Offices of the Education Department, Health Secretariat and treasury agencies to assist the population that lacks information the most, which is that located in the State’s interior. The dissemination process also uses resources that do not involve spending, such as electronic messages, SMS, in addition to the cooperation of local radio stations, blogs and websites. Visits to the Counter began in the capital and were subsequently expanded with the interiorization, which defined as priority the most populous municipalities. It is expected that all regions of the State of Bahia, which has 463 municipalities, will be attended. The services at the Counter began in October 2011 and, since then, it has individually assisted 4,288 servers, offering 7,183 services. That is, in general, the server goes to the Counter to solve or obtain information about more than one subject. The project also aims to disseminate the social security culture in the State, which is not common in the Brazilian population, which leaves seniors in a situation of vulnerability as regards their proceeds.
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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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The State Administration Secretariat bears the costs with hotels and transportation of visiting analysts;
State universities, Secretariats of Education and Health – by means of their Regional Offices – and the Treasury Secretariat participate in the partnership by providing space for assistance, computers and support to disseminate the event.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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Technical resources: computers owned by the host agency, which also provides assistance area, internet access, and computer network of the Bahia State Government. Human Resources: analysts of the Social Security Superintendence involved with processes that generate social security benefits; Suprev servers involved with resources of the funds that support the state social security.
The costs associated with this initiative are limited to the hotel and transportation of servers visiting municipalities that receive the Counter. In the capital, where there is no cost involved, the Counter is composed of up to five analysts, if the host agency has a large amount of servers. The limit of two analysts per visit was stablished to minimize costs in the rural areas. Each analyst spends around two daily rates per visit. Mid-level analysts are paid hotel averaging USD 36, while top-level analysts are paid USD 50 on average. There was no installation cost of the project.
It is worth mentioning that the Bahia State Social Security administers two social security funds, the Funprev and the Baprev, whose revenues arise out of discounts made from the payroll of all civil servers and active military.
Capital units receive the visit for one day, but, if the number of servers is large, this time is doubled and the service is provided for two days. In the State’s rural areas, the visit lasts from six to eight hours a day, and there are cases in which this service is extended. Around 100 servers are assisted daily. As there is still a large number of seniors that require assistance in Counters, a longer time is needed to provide information. In addition, as the Counter's commitment lies with quality information, the time invested in each attendance varies considerably. The Social Security Counter provides assistance to agencies of the State’s three branches: Executive, Judiciary and Legislative. Most visitors are from the Executive branch. The Public Prosecutor's Office has entered into a partnership and the Counter will be installed in that agency for the first time.
The Social Security Counter is coordinated by the Superintendence’s Advisory Board, which presents an assessment of each visit to the Administration Secretary. SAEB’s Communication Board guarantees the support to visit disclosing activities.
The visits are monthly because the assistance team is the same that leads social security benefits processes, with the exception of the visits that occur in the State’s rural areas, which occur more than once a month because the itinerary includes neighboring municipalities and aim to maximize the resources invested.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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a. Improving information quality for the functional life of the server;
b. Prior and indicative knowledge of the server’s proceeds after retirement.
c. Onsite training of Human Resources (agency at the capital or municipality visited), who are able to better assist servers after the visit to the Social Security Counter, thus improving the service to the public.
d. Dissemination of the social security culture between the State’s servers, from their starting date up to retirement.
e. Change in the service culture in the public service. After each service, a satisfaction survey is filled to evaluate the Social Security Counter, using grades from 0 to 10. In the last survey, carried out from 16 to 19 September, the project received grade 9.62, which is excellent. During this time, the Counter never received less than grade 9, and criticisms were made with the intention of improving the assistance and, especially, with the request to increase the frequency of visits.
A new survey is carried out at each visit. It is not necessary to identify the server grading the Counter, who will also have the opportunity and space to make additional comments. On these occasions, servers have shown satisfaction with the service and the initiative.
In the capital, one representative from each of the Superintendence areas composes the team, which are social security, pension for death, funds administration, and technology. In the interior of the State, however, the team is smaller and privileges areas of greatest demand and technology, which is mandatory in every visit.
At the end of each visit, the Administration Secretary is provided with an assessment of such visit, which includes the number of assistances, the grades given, and a selection of messages logged by servers assisted.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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A satisfaction survey is applied at each visit. The server assisted is invited to answer a survey that evaluates the assistance provided by the Social Security Superintendence server, the place where the assistance was provided, the service requested, service time, clarity of information offered, and an additional space to register complaints, compliments or comments deemed suitable. The data are calculated and a table with the history of visits is updated, in addition to a graphic with the panorama of all visits. The data collected is presented to the Social Security Superintendent and to the Administration Secretary.
In addition to the satisfaction surveys, the strategy is assessed by means of the Management Monitoring System of the State of Bahia Administration Secretariat, in which it is possible to follow up the development and compliance with the targets established to expand the service. A computerized monitoring system of the Administration Secretariat’s actions monitors the compliance with the assistance goals of the Social Security Counter, taking into account the compliance percentage with each goal, obstacles and deadlines.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The main obstacle is the dimensioning of the team of attendants, who are already servers of Suprev involved with the benefits processes, which sometimes causes an overload in the routine activities of the unit.
The size of the State and the amount of municipalities (463), most not served by airports, submits technicians to burdensome and time-consuming travels by car or bus. Due to the long distances among municipalities and between municipalities and the capital – where the headquarters of the Social Security Superintendence are located – technicians have to follow an itinerary of many days to maximize the use of resources.
In the Judicial and Legislative Branches, a server from the unit’s own personal area supports the works developed at the Counter to ensure the accuracy of the server’s historical data, as these agencies have personnel systems different from those used by the Executive branch. It should be further noted that this support is important and that there is not any loss of quality in the work performed at the Social Security Counter at those agencies, and that this initiative has already been consolidated because the obstacles are fully overcome.
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