Friday, March 27, 2009

HCD Business Process Improvements a National Model
Financial Management Division to be Highlighted by Influential Newsletter, Considered for National Award

The Government Finance Officer’s Association (GFOA) will highlight business process improvements implemented by the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as a national best practice in an article published in the GFOA Treasury Management newsletter on Friday, April 3. Fairfax County will also be considered for the national GFOA Award for Excellence. Selected award recipients will be notified in May. 

HCD’s Financial Management Division along with the Information Systems and Services Division created a new Tenant Collection and Cash Management process implemented in February 2008. This complete business process redesign involved the replacement of many manual steps with automated ones, which allowed the HCD staff to move from a predominantly process based work effort to an automated, risk-based, analytical one.  This process has been awarded the Virginia Government Finance Officers’ Association’s (VGFOA) 2008 Innovation Award.  Along with this honor, HCD staff presented this new business process at the VGFOA’s 41st Annual Fall Conference in October, 2008.  VGFOA has also highlighted the process on their website.

Steve Solomon, Director of the Financial Management Division of HCD, expressed his appreciation to staff: “I'm happy that HCD staff in several divisions are being recognized for their effort and success in creating a process that is efficient and has dramatically improved the customer service aspect of rent collection, increased internal controls and reduced staff time spent on manual processing of checks.”