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British Columbia Ministry of Small Business and Revenue
A Centre of Excellence for Revenue Management
New Consolidated Revenue System Brings Multi-Million-Dollar Benefits
Challenge
In June 2005, the British Columbia Ministry of Provincial Revenue became the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue. Its mandate is "to further our government's commitment to the small business community and create a centre of excellence for tax administration and revenue management."
At the time of the change, the government had more than 40 accounts-receivable systems dispersed among its ministries. They were responsible for collecting all manner of taxes, royalties and fees, but their efforts were compromised by data-integrity issues, antiquated and overloaded technology, delayed collections and inconsistent and improperly applied policies.
As a result, over-90-day accounts receivable exceeded $800 million, and bad debt expenses and write-offs were increasing. Moreover, customers had to deal with many contacts in various offices, which resulted in confusion, frustration and inconsistencies in enforcement and compliance.
Solution
The Ministry of Small Business and Revenue (SBR) responded by creating Revenue Services of British Columbia to manage the receivables that the ministry is responsible for and, ultimately, other ministries' revenue.
A Centre of Excellence was established in 2005 in Victoria. The centre is operated under contract by EDS Advanced Solutions, a subsidiary of EDS Canada. It uses the name Revenue Services of British Columbia, which is B.C.'s official brand. Its original 350 staff all came from SBR.
Among other commitments, EDS's 12-year contract entails:
- Outsourcing SBR's revenue-management business processes;
- Outsourcing the ministry's IT responsibilities;
- Re-engineering the outsourced business processes to improve revenue realization and customer service.
A central component of the Centre of Excellence is a revenue-management system. It consolidates business processes using a number of components from SAP Canada, including the Public Sector Collection and Disbursements module, which supports the financial functions.
Customer service, billing, account management, payment processing and collections are all carried out by the Centre of Excellence using automated processes. IT services include systems architecture and engineering, business applications and infrastructure.
During its first year of operations, Revenue Services of British Columbia standardized various processes within the revenue-management system to improve service to taxpayers. Collections protocols were automated, for example, using business rules that ensure fair treatment.
Other technologies, such as new remittance-processing equipment, upgraded telephone equipment and increased skip-tracing abilities, have reduced billing and payment processing errors.
Results
Over the 12-year life of the contract, SBR anticipates gross financial benefits of $905 million. Revenue Services of British Columbia's share will be $288 million, which will offset its investment in new technologies and improved service. Of the ministry's $617-million share, $100 million will go to infrastructure and operating costs.
Much of the improved revenue flow, which includes an increase in the collection of outstanding debt, can be attributed to higher customer satisfaction. That is, if people know exactly who they should contact and receive prompt service, they will more readily remit what they owe. Daily monitoring has found that:
- In the first two full years of operation, customer contacts increased to 191,000 a month from 97,600.
- The number of customers getting busy signals dropped to virtually none in 2006 from 27,000 in November 2004.
- Customer call wait time was reduced to 2.1 minutes in 2006 from an average of 15.9 minutes (for billing and remittance inquiries) in November 2004.
- First-call resolution rates are tracking at almost 95 per cent, significantly exceeding the 75-per-cent performance target.
- Customer telephone service hours have been increased by 16 hours a week and now include Saturdays.
- All payments are now processed the same day.
Innovative use of technology
The Centre of Excellence for Revenue Management is unique within the revenue-management field because it provides full integration of all revenue-management tools.
The system is substantially integrated with source systems (where debt is established), as well as imaging and telephony systems, resulting in innovative and efficient business processes.
A 2007 CIPA Winner!
For exceptional application of information technology to transform processes and bring benefits to its stakeholders, the British Columbia Ministry of Small Business and Revenue has been awarded a 2007 CIPA Gold Award of Excellence in the Customer Centricity, Not For Profit category.
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