Administration

SmART Program

Statewide Outcome(s):

The Small Agency Resource Team (SmART) supports the following statewide outcome(s).

Efficient and accountable government services.

Context:

SmART seeks to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of financial and human resources services for small agencies, boards, and councils. SmART enables administrative efficiency by sharing the specialized resources and expertise of a larger administrative organization. SmART currently serves 15 entities and the primary funding is a general fund appropriation. This activity also receives funding from agencies with collaborative agreements.

Strategies:

The work of SmART can be divided into the following categories:

·         Financial management and human resources – Provide financial and human resource services centrally to avoid duplication of staff and to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy.

·         Strategic direction and guidance – Understand the business needs of the entities served to enhance the direction and guidance provided; over time this guidance can influence the knowledge base of the small agencies, boards, and councils.

·         Technical expertise – Provide a wide range of expertise that small agencies, boards, and councils could not replicate.

Results:

When small agencies, boards, and councils work with SmART for their financial management and human resource services, it results in higher quality services provided more efficiently and at lower costs. SmART measures customer satisfaction and performs direct cost comparison estimates to track the value of its services.

Performance Measures Notes:

1.     On a scale of one to five, SmART customers identified an overall 4.8 satisfaction rating in FY 2010. Customers will evaluate services again in FY 2013.

2.     In FY 2010 and FY 2012, SmART served ten customers with the general fund appropriation. This measure looks at the cost of each customer performing the technical financial and human resource duties independently. It assumes that without SmART services, each customer would have employed or detailed at least a 0.5 employee in a technical classification (accounting technician) to perform financial and human resources duties. Totals above are percent estimates of savings and reflect a benchmark of SmART services being at least 30 percent cheaper than the alternative.