LA County Registrar Recorder County Clerk continues to pave the way for process improvement. Watch this 30 minute project presentation webinar to learn how Alex Ogunji is helping government reduce waste, build capacity to deliver more value and minimize costs by reducing payment processing errors. Find more Lean Six Sigma Success Stories at goleansixsigma.com/success. Happy Improving!

1. Reducing Payment Processing Errors
at LA County Using Lean Six Sigma
A Lean Six Sigma Success Story
Presented by Alex Ogunji
Lean Six Sigma Program Coordinator
at LA County Registrar Recorder County Clerk (RR/CC)

2. About LA County
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Program
Coordinator, Master Black Belt
Alexander Ogunji.
The RR/CC’s LSS Program strives to:
• Identify and control root causes of
variance and defects
• Employee empowerment to do
process Improvement by using LSS
tools and methodology
• Eliminate Errors and Variability
• Reduce operational cost

3. INSITUTION OF LSS
PROGRAM:
•43 Sections, across
4 Bureaus utilize Idea
Boards
•1,000 Yellow Belts
Trained
•160 Green Belts
Trained
•8 Black Belts Trained

4. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
Tri-Bureau Presentation
Project Certification
Los Angeles County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk
Variance Project
(Ana Henderson, Jena Chen, Henrietta Willis-Kendall, David Palafox, Nilza Christopher, and Terrie L. Salazar)
Administration Bureau Information Technology BureauRecorder/County Clerk Bureau

5. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Background
➡What is a variance (as it relates to this project)?
• A discrepancy in credit card totals between JEDI and VitalChek
➡Discrepancies are caused by transactions being saved in one
system and not the other.
➡All three bureaus are impacted by these discrepancies.

6. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Team
Work
Administration
Bureau
Information Technology Bureau
Recorder/County
Clerk Bureau

7. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Swim Lane Map
Variance/Issue Process
Admin
Recorder/
CountyClerk
Information
Technology
Customer
Purchase
document
User error
OR
Error between JEDI
and VitalChek
Find credit card
variance during
reconciliation
process
Contact
Recorder for
research &
resolution
Provide
assistance to
Recorder
Delay:
Customer
waiting
Delay:
Payment
process
Delay:
Manually search
for variances for
corrective
action
Research
variance
Contact IT for
assistance
Get feedback
from IT
variance is
resolved
Research &
resolve
variance
Verify during
reconciliation
variance is
resolved
Report to
Administration
variance is
resolved
Correctly
charged

8. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Recorder/County Clerk Bureau

9. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Problem (Defect)
➡User error
• Credit card transactions were not voided in JEDI or VitalChek
• Supervisors did not change the received method from “web” to “counter” which
caused duplicate transactions
➡Knowledge gap
• Supervisors needed more knowledge and training to fix VitalChek issues
• Cashiers did not know how to handle transactions when VitalChek failed to
provide a confirmation

10. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Customers waited for extended periods of time
➡Transaction processing delays
➡Workflow interruptions
➡Inability for Section Heads and/or supervisors to properly balance
collections at the end of the day
Impact

11. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡BDM SMEs assisted IT with identifying frequently recurring variances
➡Cashiers and supervisors received standardized training by IT
➡Cashiers and supervisors received 8 credit card troubleshooting cheat
sheets from IT
Solution

12. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Standardized solutions for recurring
variance issues
Benefit
➡Ability to handle issues and variances
within BDM without IT assistance
➡Improved ability to balance cash
drawers at day’s end

13. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Administration Bureau
Cash Management Unit (CMU)

14. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Problem (Defect)
CMU finds a variance during the collection reconciliation process
➡Staff had to manually compare paper
documents to locate variances
• 3 hours spent on locating each variance
➡23 variances discovered in a 9-month period
(06/11/15 - 03/30/16)
• Total time spent on locating variances is 69 hours

15. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Requires dual custody in partners of 2 staff
➡Disrupts the time-sensitive reconciliation process
➡Creates a trickle down effect
• Time allocated for Daily Distribution Report is shifted
- 3 staff to manually locate variance
- Other staff must perform double or triple dual custody shifts to replace
those 3 staff
➡Delays the generation of the Daily Distribution Report which affects
another Finance unit
Impact

16. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Developed streamline method to locate the variances using Microsoft Excel
➡Created a step-by-step reference guide for CMU
➡Developed hands-on training for CMU Staff with mock variances.
➡Completed all training for CMU staff
Solution

17. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Time reduction
➡Increased productivity
➡Less disruption to workflows
Benefit
3 staff à 1 staff
3 hours à 10 minutes

18. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Information Technology Bureau
Business Systems and Analysis (BSA) Section

19. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Problem (Defect)
➡No standardization on how to prevent or resolve issues and
variances
➡IT was always called to assist when issues and variances could have
been handled internally within the respective section/unit
➡Variances caused by archived incomplete web orders not
appearing on Finance reports

20. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Disruption of analytical work
➡Resources of 3 analysts per variance
➡Substantial amount of time spent for research and resolution
• 18 hours per week which equates to 936 hours per year
Impact

21. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Purged incomplete web orders after 90 days
➡Created the list containing various variances encountered
by staff
➡Created 8 different resolution cheat sheets for cashiers and
supervisors
➡Provided two types of user training
•Cashier Training
•Supervisor Training
•HQ: 94% of staff trained
•District Offices: 29% of staff trained (in process)
Solution

22. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Variance reduction
➡Increased productivity
➡Time reduction
Benefit
8 variances à 1 variance per month
3 analysts à 1 analyst
936 hours à 60 hours per year

23. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
➡Variance reduction
➡Increased productivity
➡Total time reduction
Total Benefit (Across Three
Bureaus)
8 variances à 1 variance per month (800% reduction)
6 staff à 2 staff (300% reduction)
1028 hours à 66 hours per year (1557% reduction)

24. Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Tri-Bureau Presentation | Variance Project
Questions?

25. Just-In-Time Podcast
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