Improving efficiency in the New Zealand Inland Revenue

Simulation of Inland Revenue communications and workload to determine feasibility of Shared Services.

Results

  • Ability to test impact of Shared Services approach in a risk free environment
  • Efficient planning of 2,000 staff and over 30,000 pieces of communication every day
  • Increased efficiency through improved staff utilization
  • Improved customer service by identifying bottlenecks in processes

New Zealand Inland Revenue (NZIR) continuously review the management of their communications workload with a view to allowing them to plan resource on a National, rather than a local basis.

However, their existing simulation tool did not enable them to test changes to their process, and it was not possible for NZIR to make changes to the tool without the input of the initial supplier.

The tool was also very inefficient, taking several days to test scenarios and deliver results. NZIR required a tool that simulates all communications (call center, email, mail, etc) and identifies the subsequent cost and service level impact of changes in workload and resources.

The Approach

SIMUL8 worked closely on-site with NZIR to understand all internal processes and the specific aims of the project.

Following a 3 week consultation period, SIMUL8 developed a "simulator", based on world wide standard SIMUL8 software, to simulate the flow of all work and its interaction with available resources, and to predict backlogs and any under utilized staff.

SIMUL8 also provided full on-site training for the simulator and SIMUL8 software, allowing NZIR to maintain the simulations internally and test any further changes to their processes.

The Results

The new tool has created a confidence amongst NZIR senior management in how to reconfigure staff to achieve goals and get the changes right first time. It now allows NZIR to efficiently plan more than 2,000 staff, test proposed skills changes, and visualize the impact this would have on overall Service Levels.

Overall efficiency has also improved with the ability to run scenarios in 15 minutes, rather than the several days taken by the previous tool, and this means that many more scenarios can be tested. The tool can be used for all Inland Revenue simulation work.

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