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Conclusion

The significant time and money savings resulting from adoption of the appraisal waiver processwere clear to most of those involved. As Chart 6 illustrates, the savings in most States wereenormous. Florida did not realize the monetary savings from the appraisal waiver process to theextent of the other four States due to state rules and policies, not the appraisal waiver process

itself. Chart 6 depicts the cost savings y State as well as an accumulative total.

Opportunities for Improvement

!o evaluation on "uality management systems would e complete without noting the potential foradditional improvements. The "uality process demands a push toward continuous improvementof customer focus and operational procedures. #uality is a $ourney, not a destination.

There are four ma$or opportunities for improvement in the "uality planning process%

&. Additional strategic planning initiatives'. (rganizational goal setting). *valuation of correct performance indicators+. evelopment of additional internal and external performance measures for the

organization.

-n most of the organizations studied, strategic planning too place at levels higher in the (T andincluded limited input from the various /(0 divisions. -n other words, the /(01s goals were in alarge part set y others outside of the division. The opportunity exists for /(0 divisions toimplement their own strategic "uality planning initiatives that include su2goals, action items,resource deployment plans, and recognition systems specific to the needs of the division. -n thisway, the mission and goals of the division can e aligned with the mission and goals of the larger

organization.

Along with the strategic planning initiative comes the opportunity for everyone to tae part in thegoal planning process. 3oals set y the division should e measurale, and personnel within theorganization should e held accountale for them.

-n order to evaluate these goals, organizations need to deploy the correct performance indicators.4erformance indicators should measure input to a process, not the output of it. /(0 divisions

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should periodically reevaluate their performance indicators to mae sure that they truly measureperformance.

Finally, within the planning process, there is the opportunity for /(0 organizations to developadditional internal and external measures of performance. -n this way, divisions can collect a well2rounded cross section of data pertaining to customer evaluation of their operational excellence.

-n addition to oservations pertaining to planning, there are three opportunities for improvement inoperational processes, including 5& the opportunity for continuous employee training andempowerment, 5' the opportunity for improved communication sills, and 5) the need for sharingprocesses and dataases throughout the entire organization.

Additional education and employee empowerment lead to increased $o satisfaction and personalperformance, and put decision2maing closer to the customer. There is the

opportunity in any technical arena to improve communication etween technical personnel andthe rest of the organization. -mproved communication in a technical setting can help smoothworload re"uirements, prevent misunderstanding, and uild common onds etween personnel.

Finally, there is an opportunity for ST organizations in general to develop processes anddataases that are used across functional and geographic oundaries. 7uilding an integratedtransportation system is more that $ust the design of that system, the procurement of the parcels,or the construction of the highway. -t is an integrated process that demands integrated processesand dataases to ecome truly effective.

The Journey

There has een a ma$or shift in the mindset of managers and employees in many /(0organizations on the "uality improvement process. They realize that "uality can e seen with $ore"uirements, internal employee satisfaction, and external customer supports. /(0 divisionshave come to view "uality as not 8$ust another program8 or additional cost to the organization, utas an investment in their future. This investment has led to significant, measurale improvementsin the processes and services provided y the various States in this study, including the costsavings that result from doing the $o etter.

Good luck in implementing your quality improvement process and enjoy the journey