King County Retirement & Benefit Services is paving the way for process improvement in Government. Watch this 30 minute Project Presentation Webinar to learn how Kimberly Fleming is identifying and eliminating waste in a process to deliver more value – faster! Find more Lean Six Sigma Success Stories at goleansixsigma.com/success. Happy Improving!

1. Improving Position Eligibility by
Identifying & Eliminating Waste
A Lean Six Sigma Success Story
Presented by Kimberly Fleming
Retirement Team at King County
State of Washington

2. • Kimberly Fleming
• Retirement Team
• King County – Finance &
Business Operations
• Benefits, Payroll and
Retirement Operations
About Our Presenter

3. POSITION
ELIGIBILITY

4. Find instances of the
8 wastes
In your value stream
and start a project
to eliminate it

5. ¡Defects
¡Overproduction
¡Waiting
¡Non-Utilized Talent
¡Transportation
¡Inventory
¡Motion
¡Extra-Processing
8 WASTES
D
O
W
N
T
I
M
E

7. LET’S STEP BACK

8. What am I really trying to
“improve”? A form or a process?
How big of a change? Single point
problem or the entire system?
Micro or Macro?

9. ¡What is the responsibility/job
of the retirement team?
ROLES
&
GOALS¡What is the responsibility/job
of my customers/partners in
the HR field?
¡How can I streamline this
process to meet the needs and
improve its value to both
parties?
Without pushing work up
or down the line!!

10. ¡PEW being emailed
back & forth
¡Getting the
employee to sign the
form
¡Scan/Print @ the
Department and in
Benefits
¡Bottleneck
¡Transportation
¡Motion
¡Over-processing
¡Waiting
PAIN POINTS = WASTE

11. Stakeholder:
State Department of Retirement Systems (DRS)
Requirements:
¡ Employer to make PERS retirement eligibility
determinations based on RCW 41.40.010 and WAC
415-108-010
¡ Employer to document and keep determinations
¡ Employer to provide information/verification upon
request
REQUIREMENTS

13. CURRENT STATE

14. REMOVE THE BOTTLENECK!
¡ Takes me 3 minutes,
so not long to do
each one.
¡ It will give others an
opportunity to grow
their skills
¡ It will free me up for
other tasks

15. Stakeholder:
State Department of Retirement Systems (DRS)
Requirements:
¡ Employer to make PERS retirement eligibility
determinations based on RCW 41.40.010 and WAC
415-108-010
¡ Employer to document and keep determinations
¡ Employer to provide information/verification upon
request
REQUIREMENTS

16. STATISTICS

17. REVIEW 18 MONTHS OF PEWS
¡ 15 % of all the
positions that should
have had a PEW
actually did
¡ Things are getting
missed
¡ 15% is costing at
least $4,800

19. ¡Should a push be
made to get a PEW
for all new and
changed positions?
¡Essentially
increasing the
workload and cost
for both our
customers and staff
expeditiously!
¡If not using the PEW
is working for the
majority of
positions…WHY ARE
WE USING IT AT ALL?
¡Is there another
way?
DECISION TIME

20. ¡ Do we have the data
we need in PeopleSoft
our system of record?
¡ Employees are being
notified on their hire
letters about their
participation

21. ¡ Retirement team runs queries to catch positions that
we haven’t received PEWS
¡ We have a worklist in PeopleSoft that populates with
newly approved positions
¡ These are catching the majority of the positions.
THINGS THAT ARE WORKING

22. FUTURE STATE
The determination hinges on how the position is set up in
PeopleSoft. It’s critical that the positions are correct.
LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY!!

23. ¡ We no longer need to create/send/print or have signed PEW
forms
¡ HR can run a query to determine the eligibility determination
of any recently created/changed positions (two business days
after the position has been approved in PS)
¡ Use that information on the hire letters
¡ The Benefits/Retirement office no longer wants/needs PEWs
or hire letters as all the information in contained in the
system of record (PeopleSoft).
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN??

25. NEXT STEPS

26. ¡ Create a query for Department HR to run to see the
determinations. DONE POS_RET_DETERM
¡ Create a query for the Retirement Team that captures more
positions. DONE, we are using it now
¡ Create an eligibility guide for HR staff. Map what different types
of positions would look like. First draft DONE, will be emailed,
would LOVE your feedback
kc.retirement@kingcounty.gov
¡ Continue communication plan to HR/departments about the
changes In progress
NEXT STEPS

27. ¡ Will there be hic-ups?
Likely, but we will PDCA to work through it.
¡ Who do I go to with questions?
email kc.retirement@kingcounty.gov
¡ Does the Retirement team still need anything from
us?
YES! We still need the Retirement Status Forms! This is
the only form that's information is required by law. Please
remember to key the Employee PeopleSoft ID number on
the form.
BUT…

28. Thank you!
Any
questions?
Be the Best…
Live in a Constant State of Awesome!

29. Deliver Value
Optimize for Systems
Optimize ValueShift Org
Structure
Focus on Value
Shift
Team
Culture
Shift
Team
Skills
Shift Org
Culture

30. Q&A

31. Just-In-Time Podcast
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GoLeanSixSigma.com/success

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