On Wednesday, November 4 2015, partners from the Michigan Child Support Program gathered at the Hall of Justice for the annual Partner Forum meeting. The meeting served as an opportunity for the partners to celebrate the program’s accomplishments and envision goals for the future.

Erin Frisch, Director of the Office of Child Support, started off the day welcoming the partners: “Thank you for making the time to engage in improving Michigan’s Child Support Program. I always look forward to this opportunity for us to talk about the big picture issues and ideas pertinent to our program. Today, we are going to have some serious fun while we do so.”

With a focus on increased collaboration and communication across the program, the day’s agenda consisted of sessions such as “A Mad Tea Party: Thinking through purpose and context, TRIZ”—a session about making space for innovation, and “Crowd Sourcing”—an activity for generating and sifting powerful ideas.

For the Crowd Sourcing exercise, each partner was asked to write down on a note card a big project that the program needs to undertake. The partners passed around the cards and scored them; cards that scored higher were prioritized, while the rest were set aside. The top 10 issues were sent to their respective groups during the team meetings as “priority projects.”

The work improvement teams (WITs) and workgroups were also recognized for their accomplishments and progress. Highlights of these accomplishments include:

Case Management

• Many Case Management WIT members participated in user acceptance training for case closure and related reports. Case closure went into production as part of the Michigan Child Support Enforcement System (MiCSES) Release 8.11 on March 6, 2015.

Enforcement

• The Enforcement WIT reviewed policy documents introducing the MiChildSupport Calculator. The WIT also provided a demonstration of the Calculator.

Establishment

• Many Establishment WIT members participated in the E-842 effort and the development of the MiChildSupport Calculator.

Financial

• The Financial WIT assisted in the establishment of electronic billing coupons. The WIT also submitted proposed changes to FOC10, Uniform Child Support Order.

Intergovernmental

• The Intergovernmental WIT completed work on international case processing and added it to the WIT’s problem statement. The WIT is also reviewing the Michigan-specific version of UIFSA 2008 and assisting in identifying potential training issues that the field may need.

MiChildSupport

• The MiChildSupport Workgroup released billing coupons that are now available electronically. Additionally, the Workgroup has established notifications in the system, where users have the ability to receive notifications for upcoming court hearings, payments received, payments on hold, etc.

Performance Management

• The Performance WIT set performance factors for the fiscal year 2015. Phase I of the Establishment Management Reports is complete; a training webinar was presented in September to educate users about these reports, and a recorded webinar is available online on Mi-Support.

Customer Service

• The Customer Service Workgroup created an IVR card for each of the Friend of the Court offices, which provides relevant contact information.

Even with these accomplishments, the Program continues to seek ways it can improve. The 2015 Partner Forum resulted in new priorities being assigned to most WITs and Workgroups, as well as the decision to form a new Workgroup focused on collaboration and communication between partners. Priorities for 2016 include:

• Improve the establishment process, including reducing the time from application to order;
• Review locate processes and tools, and provide recommendations on how to improve locate efforts;
• Improve intergovernmental processes with better documentation, training and communications;
• Define large allocation business requirements;
• Allow parents to update contact information on MiChildSupport;
• Review and evaluate effectiveness of enforcement activities; and
• Work on branding and marketing materials for the program.
• A comprehensive list of the program’s accomplishments, priorities, and strategic goals is in the June 2015 publication of The Pundit. http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/SCAO/OfficesPrograms/FOC/Documents/Pundits/Pundit-May-June2015.pdf

Erin concluded the meeting with a positive message to the Partners: “I’m excited about these priorities and encouraged by the work of the Partner Forum participants to guide us in a direction that will improve the lives of children in Michigan.”