HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS-11-193 - Parking System Administrator Position - Direct Purchase Representative Position - Senior Quality Assurance PositionREPORT TO:
Finance and Corporate Services Committee
DATE OF MEETING:
October 17, 2011l
SUBMITTED BY:
Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO, Finance and Corporate
Services, Ext. 2347
Jeff Willmer, Deputy CAO/Community Services, Ext. 2325
Pauline Houston, Deputy CAO, Infrastructure Services
Department ext. 2646
PREPARED BY:
Shayne Turner, Director of By-Law Enforcement, Ext. 2753
Wally Malcolm, Director of Utilities, Ext. 4538
Mike Bolger, Manager, Business Systems & DBA, Ext. 2247
WARD(S) INVOLVED:
All
DATE OF REPORT:
Oct 12, 2011
REPORT NO.: FCS-11-193
SUBJECT: Parking System Administrator position
Direct Purchase Representative position
Senior Quality Assurance position
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Parking System Administrator position within the By-Law Enforcement Division
be converted from temporary status to full-time status.
That the Direct Purchase Representative position be converted from temporary status to
full-time status.
That the Senior Quality Assurance position within the Customer Information System
team be converted from temporary status to full-time status.
BACKGROUND:
By-Law Enforcement
The By-Law Enforcement Division was formed in 2002 and, as part of its mandate, began to
transition the administration and enforcement of parking violations from the Traffic Division. The
transition was fully completed in April 2003. The parking system administrative resource in
Traffic did not move to the new Division, thus the system’s administration had to be absorbed by
existing staff
As the Division evolved, 3 key items related to parking enforcement and administration was
transitioned to them from other divisions. These include:
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1. The parking trials process (receiving and processing trial requests, preparing court
dockets, court filing, scheduling of officers for trial, etc.,) was moved from Legal
Services, as part of a review that focused on more logical business processes. This
workload was absorbed within the By-Law Enforcement Division with no additional
resources added.
2. The administration of the private parking officers program was transitioned from the
Traffic Division. This was done with no additional resources.
3. The parking cashiers in the 2 booths at City Hall and the Duke Street garage were
responsible for the data input of all handwritten parking tickets that are issued in the City
(the majority issued by private property officers). When the 2 garages were automated,
the cashier positions were eliminated and the By-Law Enforcement Division was
required
4. To absorb the data input workload (anywhere from 12,000 to 20,000 tickets per year).
This was done with no additional resources.
All of the above noted workload was initially absorbed within the Division with no additional
resources being allocated.
The following statistics indicate the challenges faced based on the growth experienced with
regard to the administration of the parking enforcement program:
- The number of parking trials processed annually has grown from 552 in 2003 to
approximately 1,000 in 2010;
- There are approximately 1,300 private individuals authorized to issue parking
tickets on private property (over 1,000 properties);
- The number of handwritten tickets to be manually inputted has ranged from
12,000 to 22,000 annually;
- Calls for service (parking complaints) have increased from 1200 in 2003 to
approximately 4,200 in 2010.
Utilities
The Direct Purchase Representative position has been a temporary position since 2006. This
position was created to provide support for the Customer Information System testing and to
complete work required until the planned Customer Information System projects were
completed.
Information Technology
The introduction of Stormwater has increased the demands on the Customer Information
System development team and on the associated Revenue resources. It is recognized that the
Quality Assurance team provides expertise in this area and significantly reduces the testing
required by Revenue resources prior to releases and upgrades. Reducing our Quality
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Assurance resources will have a significant impact on Revenue’s role in providing testing
resources.
In addition, the move to a replacement system for our current Customer Information System will
require extensive quality assurance processes for the configuration of the new system,
integration scripts between systems and the conversion of customer data to the new system.
In considering the extension of this position from temporary to permanent staff, any move to
other applications will require significant quality assurance efforts while also maintaining the
existing system over the next 4 years. After implementation of a new system, the Quality
Assurance team will play a key role in both the Customer Information System growth and the
move of this team to new projects in the new or existing environment.
REPORT:
By-Law Enforcement
Currently, the above mentioned workload is being handled by a contract position previously
approved, which has been in place since 2006. The contract position (temporary status) was
originally created in order to reduce the need for officers to be brought in off the street to
perform the administrative work. The implications of having enforcement officers perform the
functions were a reduced level of service (response to complaints) as well as reduced parking
fine revenues.
Staff believes that the length of time that the contract position has been in place is a true
indication that the work performed is, and will continue to be, a mainstay of the Division’s
functions. In addition, there is currently a labour management issue associated with the period
of that subject position has been in place.
Staff are proposing to convert this position to a full-time position. In the event that the
temporary contract position were to be eliminated, they do not foresee the ability to absorb the
work into the current staff complement without a decrease in the level of service relating to their
response times to complaints and enforcement files.
The risks associated with the potential elimination of this position include:
- Jeopardizing our ability to process parking trials, leading to non-compliance with
provincial legislation (Provincial Offences Act);
- Jeopardizing existing fine revenue levels by not processing parking tickets within the
prescribed timeframe;
- Reduce ability to meet acceptable response times to calls for service, by having to have
existing officers perform some administrative functions. Enforcement resources already
have workload challenges.
Utilities
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The Direct Purchase position was expected to be temporary in order to perform Customer
Information System testing and provide a resource to backfill others involved in testing. The
position was also required to perform work that was expected to be automated, however, due to
other priorities; the automated processes have not been completed. The projects include the
Direct Purchase Contracts Module, Large Volume Account Billing and the Gas Distribution
Access Rule Transactions. With the pending investigation to replace the current Customer
Information System, the projects listed are not within the forecasted work plan for completion.
In addition, restructuring in this area of Utilities is required to effectively manage, coordinate and
implement efficiencies associated with the asset optimization and direct purchase contracts as
required by regulation for local gas distribution companies.
Information Technology
In 2008, the need for additional resources to handle Gas Distribution Access Rule (GDAR)
requirements was met through several contract positions. The positive impact and significant
increase in quality of deployed solutions led to discussions for retaining one of the temporary
positions on a full time basis. The volume of work identified and the reduction in impact of
existing ‘business-unit’ staff (primarily in Revenue) led to this request.
The current projects associated with Stormwater Management and the transition to a new
Customer Information System application are just two examples of large projects the Customer
Information System team will be associated with over the next five years. Quality Assurance is
imperative in this customer-facing solution. The use of professional full-time Quality Assurance
staff is both effective and efficient in delivering this service to the ratepayer.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
Conversion of these positions in the By-Law Enforcement, Utilities and Information Technology
areas to full time status supports the foundation of Effective and Efficient Government, as
contained in the City’s Strategic Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
By-Law Enforcement
The costs associated with this position will be funded within the Divisions current Operating
Budget by transferring the appropriate funds from the part-time wages area to the appropriate
full time wages cost centre. This conversion will not result in an increase in the Division’s
current annual operating budget.
Utilities
Funding for this position has been provided in the Customer Information System Budget
(Capital) supported by Utilities. The position will be funded directly from the Utilities operating
budget.
Information Technology
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The costs associated with this position will continue to be funded within the Customer
Information System Capital Budget.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
This conversion is an operational and administrative initiative and does not require a level of
community engagement.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO, Finance and Corporate Services
Jeff Willmer, Deputy CAO/Community Services
Pauline Houston, Deputy CAO, Infrastructure Services Department
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