The Michigan Child Support Program is comprised of several entities such as the Office of Child Support (OCS), Friend of the Court Bureau (FOCB), local friend of the court offices (FOCs), and prosecuting attorneys (PAs) who work together in a unique partnership. In order to help facilitate this partnership, there are several Work Improvement Teams (WITs) and workgroups. These WITs and workgroups help the child support program reach its strategic goals by improving the program’s accessibility, timeliness, processes, and customer service. The WITs and workgroups discuss issues, make decisions by consensus, and provide recommendations to the Program Leadership Group (PLG). Membership of both the WITs and the workgroups is comprised of child support partners, including staff from the OCS, FOCB, FOCs, and PA offices. The more diverse the membership of the WIT and workgroup, the more successful the group will be in helping the child support program improve.

INTERESTED IN JOINING A WIT?

If you are a child support program partner, you are eligible to join a WIT. Many of the current WIT and workgroups have openings for various partner members. Members of WITs and workgroups must be able to commit time each month to the WIT or workgroup that they belong to. Much of the work of these workgroups is conducted by e‐mail and phone conferences. The groups have one or two meetings per month, each lasting two to four hours. In addition, members generally spend four to six hours per month reviewing documents and responding to e‐mails. Team members initially agree to three‐year commitments. If, after three years no replacement member is available, members may be asked to extend their commitment until a replacement is found; however, members are under no obligation to extend their commitment.

If you are interested in joining a WIT or workgroup, navigate to the “Partner Activities” menu on the mi-support website (found at: https://mi-support.state.mi.us/default.aspx) and click on the link “PLG, Workgroups, and WITs.” Scroll down for the PDF document titled “How Do I Sign Up?” and complete the form. Send your completed form to Vita Pizana at pizanav@michigan.gov. Individuals who apply to be a WIT or workgroup member will be placed on a waiting list for membership. As members are needed for each WIT and workgroup, the co-leads of the group will refer to the list of interested individuals and will reach out to add them to the groups.

CURRENT WORK IMPROVEMENT TEAMS

The WITs make recommendations on how to improve or enhance the child support program by analyzing its policy, user testing, business requirements, improvements, and by providing system documentation review, enhancement, analysis and recommendations. There are five WITs. Each WIT and its tasks are described below:

Establishment – The Establishment WIT reviews, analyzes, and recommends processes and system enhancements for topics related to the establishment of paternity and child support orders.

Case Management – The Case Management WIT reviews, analyzes, and recommends processes and system enhancements for topics related to the management of IV‐D cases. This includes working with the Department of Human Services on the referral process, analyzing member and case data in the child support system, processing referrals to the prosecuting attorney’s office, and improving the data relevant to all areas of the IV‐D program.

Financial – The Financial WIT reviews and analyzes finance‐related system enhancement requests. It also recommends improvements for financial processes.

Enforcement – The Enforcement WIT reviews, analyzes, and recommends processes and system enhancements for topics related to the enforcement of child support orders, including but not limited to income withholding orders, show cause, license suspension, credit reporting, lien/levy, medical support, federal/state tax refund offset, and review and modifications.

Intergovernmental – The Intergovernmental WIT provides information on child support issues that involve two or more states/entities. It addresses intergovernmental training needs for both new and seasoned IV‐D workers, analyzes proposed system enhancements, and develops a comprehensive work plan to identify and recommend solutions to intergovernmental issues.

WORKGROUP FUNCTIONS

In addition to the WITs, the workgroups provide input on internal program communication methods, protocol, and business processes. There are three workgroups. Each workgroup and its tasks are described below.

MiChildSupport Workgroup – The MiChildSupport Workgroup develops and directs efforts to improve MiChildSupport, Michigan’s website for child support customers, by:

• Reviewing and prioritizing MiChildSupport enhancements.
• Planning releases for future MiChildSupport improvements.
• Performing user acceptance testing for MiChildSupport improvements.
• Reviewing and approving communications related to MiChildSupport.

Performance Management Workgroup – The Performance Management Workgroup develops and implements ways to better manage performance in the child support program, including:

• Identification of specific factors to improve performance.
• Reviewing and monitoring data to ensure that the data is consistent and accurate for operations management and reporting activities.