INDUSTRY:

Local Government

SERVICES:

Health Insurance Subsidy and Enrollment

COMPANY SIZE:

34,500+ Employees

OPERATING BUDGET:

$4.1 Billion (2017)

HEADQUARTERS:

Martinez, CA

PROJECT OUTCOME:

• Selection of vendor and platform for key Joint Billing System
• Application roadmap enabling County to plan projects and deliver business value early in the JBS program

OUR CLIENT’S CHALLENGE

The County of Contra Costa administers permits for development and other land use activities for 19 cities, including Richmond, Walnut Creek, and San Ramon. The county’s Joint Billing System (JBS) for tracking land use projects and for managing permit requests was self-developed over the period of several years and by several different developers. The county identified several areas for improvement:

• The system did not provide self-service capabilities to the public
• The system’s 50 users were constrained by system limitations and had built up a large number of time-consuming, error-prone off-system workarounds
• The county’s IT support team was spending a considerable amount of time patching and supporting the JBS
• The county’s database vendor had notified them that the Oracle version which JBS was built on was approaching end-of-life and would no longer be supported

TEN2ELEVEN’S APPROACH

Ten2Eleven assembled a team with a broad set of experience to drive platform selection and creation of a roadmap for the new Contra Costa County JBS.

Phase 1: Platform Selection

Ten2Eleven conducted initial fact-finding sessions with the County team, identifying current state and defining key factors to help the County determine the best solution for the anticipated needs. Ten2Eleven utilized proprietary platform-selection frameworks developed over many previous projects to structure the fact-finding and decision-making process.

Ten2Eleven worked with the County team to identify three primary platform options:

• Build a custom solution
• Purchase cloud-based local government vertical offering and customize
• Purchase on-premises-based local government vertical and customize

Key decision factors included the platforms’ fit with the County’s current and anticipated needs; the ability of County staff to maintain and customize the platform; the ability to integrate with County timekeeping and financial systems; and the anticipated total cost of ownership.

Phase 2: Application Roadmap Development

Ten2Eleven conducted several workshops with different County teams to understand the overall set of features and capabilities which the new JBS would need to provide. This included discussions with representatives from adjoining County systems which the new JBS would integrate with, as well as end-users, managers, support teams, and land-use administrators.

Ten2Eleven developed an application roadmap covering a 24-36 month timeframe after initial deployment of the new JBS. The roadmap identified new capabilities to bring online at approximately 4-month intervals, which was the optimal rate of change which County staff could support. The roadmap was reviewed by County staff and management and adopted as part of the new JBS initiative.