Process Improvement & Rental Safety Inspections
Collaborating with City departments to foster a culture of continuous improvement
by: Genevieve Miller
“We’ve always done it this way.”
This statement might be seemingly harmless at first, but the underlying mindset turns out to be one of the most powerful barriers to innovation. As a Department of Innovation & Technology, one of our core goals is to foster a culture of continuous improvement. In order to do so, we must constantly work to recognize our very human tendency to stay within our comfort zones.
Once a process has been implemented, teams often neglect to reevaluate its efficiency and effectiveness at regular intervals. As a Business Analyst team, we encourage other teams across the City to do so and provide support and resources along the way. While process improvement can be a powerful tool, it can sometimes be difficult to convince teams of the value in spending the time and effort that is required. This is why it is incredibly helpful for City teams to lead the way and to serve as examples of the power of process improvement.
Partnering with Code Enforcement
One such team is our Department of Code Enforcement. Over the past few weeks, we worked together to identify a program or service that could benefit from process improvement and to lay out the steps we would take to do so. We chose to focus on the Rental Safety Verification Program (RSVP), a program that promotes the health and safety of residents by requiring proof that rental properties are kept in safe and sanitary condition.
The first step of this process improvement project involved our Business Analyst team shadowing both the RSVP office and inspector teams. This allowed us to have a better understanding of their current processes, as well as the pain points they were experiencing. The second step was to then sit down together with each team and review the current process maps for each individual workstream. During this time, we discussed our observations from shadowing and potential options for streamlining and simplifying workflows. By the end of the project, we had collaboratively developed a new set of process maps that contained actionable solutions for each team’s pain points, as well as best practices for increased efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. Our recommendations included:
1. Utilizing a consistent inspection checklist and notes format
2. Providing headlamps for inspectors
3. Implementing a proactive reporting structure for program KPIs
Code Enforcement has been a leading example of the courage and commitment it requires to step forward and dedicate time and effort to process improvement. And even more importantly, they are an example of the powerful results of this work, not just for their own team but ultimately for our residents. This kind of purpose-driven work and these inspiring colleagues are why I love showing up for work every day as part of the Innovation & Technology team.
Genevieve Miller is the Senior Business Analyst at the Department of Innovation & Technology.
