Depth Study Paperwork Team Project Report: A Study to Find Ways to Reduce Paperwork So That Service Delivery Staff Could Spend More Time Providing Direct Services to Clients

摘要

The report discusses a study undertaken to find ways to reduce paperwork so that service delivery staff could spend more time providing direct services to clients. Based on the initial findings, the team developed and tested possible solutions to the paperwork management problem. The team documented that the department had no single system to coordinate and control major paperwork activities and that there was no single policy or set of standards to give direction to the development of department issuances such as regulations and manuals. The department was found to be strangled by paperwork in the form of excessive regulations and procedures; manuals, forms, and informational notices that were difficult to understand and use; and obsolete manuals and forms that had never been removed from workers' shelves. As a result, the department eliminated 70 obsolete agency manuals and 1,365 obsolete forms. Additionally, 695,000 individual copies of obsolete forms were disposed of and recycled. The team recommended that a paperwork management system be established to set standards and control future paperwork activities.