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SR 05-14-2019 3K City Council Report City Council Meeting: May 14, 2019 Agenda Item: 3.K 1 of 4 To: Mayor and City Council From: Katie Lichtig, Assistant City Manager, City Manager's Office Subject: Request First Modification of Contract with Experience Engineering for continued services related to the Total Workplace project. Recommended Action Staff recommends that City Council authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a first modification to agreement #10686 in the amount of $178,940 with Experience Engineering for change management, process re-engineering and staff engagement and training services related to the Total Workplace project. This will result in a 2-year amended agreement with a new total amount not to exceed $528,940, with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval. Summary Total Workplace is the City of Santa Monica's effort to align our customer service, ways of working, and environmental impact with 21st century government principles, practices and workplaces. The project has undertaken several measures to help improve customer service, including evaluating the permitting and business license and utility customer service processes, as well as implemented measures to modernize the workplace. As part of preparing the City for a 21st century workplace and the City Services Building, staff identified the need to develop a strategy for digital records management and provide support to divisions preparing to move into the City Services Building. To support a series of additional strategic and tactical activities deemed critical success factors in the overall objective by staff, additional scope of work is recommended. Staff recommends a contract amendment with Experience Engineering in an amount not to exceed $178,940 to achieve the added scope of work. Experience Engineering was previously awarded a contract to support the City’s transition into the City Services Building after a competitive process. This additional work supplements and enhances the work already underway and a separate selection process would be inefficient and unnecessary. 2 of 4 Discussion The Total Workplace project has undertaken several activities and measures to improve the customer experience and make better use of technology to prepare City staff for working in the 21st century. The three main focus areas for the project are process redesign of key City services, improved technology tools and services, and training and staff engagement to promote adoption of new ways of working as they become available. Process Redesign and Staff Engagement. The City engaged Experience Engineering to conduct workshops to identify and implement improvements to both our permitting and business license processes and City utility customer service processes, and engage City staff to modernize workplace practices. Through these workshops, staff identified over 200 ways to improve City processes in these areas. Finance, Water, and Resource Recovery and Recycling staff identified 104 improvements to how staff process utility payments and serve customers, including: • training utility customer service staff on different customer protocols and clarifying terms and language • integrating processes for Water and Resource Recovery and Recycling since customers often have both services • rolling out a new, more sophisticated customer service portal this fall Likewise, subject matter experts from Planning, Business License and Building and Safety identified 103 ways to improve the Permitting and Business License process, including: • developing a customer guide that includes steps for both permitting and business licensing • adding business licensing steps to planning applications • promoting use of existing online services for business license renewal • bringing more permitting processes online later this year 3 of 4 Improved Technology Tools and Services. In addition to making process improvements, the Total Workplace project is also working to prepare departments for working in the new City Services Building opening April 2020. This involves adopting new internal processes, such as digital signatures on contracts, making paper forms into electronic workflows, and providing staff with computer equipment and software to be more collaborative, and to be able to work effectively in a variety of locations such as in conference rooms, at off -site meetings or while teleworking. Specifically, the project has enabled the Information Services Department to rollout laptops and virtual phones to allow staff to connect and work away from their desks, implement a Learning Management Software to support training and provide online learning content; scan and digitize City’s paper records; provide secure, remote access to City systems and software; bring additional permit processes online; and prepare departments to adopt SharePoint for collaboration and file sharing. This work has identified the need for additional services as part of the Total Workplace project to continue to improve customer service and work more efficiently. By reallocating funds within the Total Workplace project and City Manager’s Office, Experience Engineering would coordinate the rollout of projects to scan paper files, move file shares to the cloud, and adopt new collaboration technologies such as SharePoint and Skype for Business. They would also provide a logistical needs assessment for the fifteen divisions moving into the City Services Building to help ensure the seamless transition of services as we occupy the new workspace. Experience Engineering would develop a digital records management strategy to help the City update its records retention schedule and develop policies on where digital records are stored and can be accessed. Effectively leveraging digital content management solutions and policies can significantly reduce the City’s file paper storage needs, facilitate collaboration on projects across departments, and streamline the City’s response to public records requests. 4 of 4 Past Council Actions 05/22/2018 Attachment A Authorization of Total Workplace Contract with Experience Engineering Financial Impacts Staff seeks authority to increase the amount of contract 10686 with Experience Engineering. Contract/Agreement/Purchase Order Modification Request Agreement # Current Authorized Amount Modified Request Amount FY 2018-19 Budget Dept/CIP Account # Total Revised Contract Amount 10686 $350,000 $128,940 SO019701.689000 $528,940 $50,000 1200001.552010 TOTAL $178,940 $528,940 Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval. Prepared By: Christopher Smith, Assistant to the City Manager Approved Forwarded to Council Attachments: A. Oaks Form - Experience Engineering B. May 22, 2018 Staff Report Authorizing Total Workplace Contract with Experience Engineering (Web Link) REFERENCE: Modified Agreement No. 10686 (CCS)