How Simi Valley Achieved Accountability with Digital Workflows

Simi Valley Unified School District (USD) is one of the largest districts in Ventura County, serving over 15,000 students and 600 teachers and staff. The district, a recipient of the Golden Bell Award for equity and access, promises "to inspire each and every student to succeed in school, career, and life." Since 2014, Ron Todo has been the Associate Superintendent of Business and Facilities at Simi Valley USD. With a large community to serve, it can be challenging to keep processes moving efficiently. Accountability has been a key focus for Mr. Todo, ensuring that staff follow through on tasks and deadlines while maintaining transparency in district operations. The district's Request for Personnel process, essential for hiring and staffing, was prone to delays and bottlenecks due to reliance on inter-office envelopes and emails. Simi Valley USD has digitized over 30 district processes across several departments, achieving 60% of Intent to Return forms within 48 hours and 83% within the first week.

Challenge

The Request for Personnel Bottleneck

The speed and efficiency of the Request for Personnel (RFP) process is integral to keeping daily operations running at the district. Designed to quickly fill positions for various situations, including substitutes, permanent roles, vacancies, and staffing for student-facing extracurriculars, the process would quickly become cumbersome given the many different signatures needed for approval.

During peak times, often around the beginning and end of the school year, the Human Resources department could receive hundreds of requests from any one of the dozens of school sites or departments.

Lack of Visibility and Accountability

After secretaries would submit RFPs for their department or site, it was unclear how long the request would take to approve. The district often relied on inter-office envelopes or emails to get requests to the correct approver for signature, creating the perfect opportunity for bottlenecks.

"We needed a workflow solution for accountability."

Ron Todo, Associate Superintendent of Business and Facilities

Intent to Return Process Delays

The district's journey to transform its internal processes began with the Request for Personnel process. The team moved to another important district process, Intent to Return. The process is simple in thought but mired with delays.

Previously, it would take days, if not weeks, to receive the majority of Intent to Return forms from employees after sending them through the mail.

Solution

Clarity through Digital Processes

After digitizing the RFP process, there was a clear, positive difference in the speed at which the district could process requests.

Digitizing the Request for Personnel process provided clarity previously unavailable to the Human Resources department. Timestamped signatures and submissions made it simple for the Human Resources department to hold employees accountable for meeting deadlines.

"The transition from paper to digital allows you to clean up your processes."

Cassie Meehan, Senior Administrative Assistant

Strategic Implementation Features

Through personalized consultation with their dedicated Informed K12 Implementation Manager, they utilized key features to maximize the benefits of digitalization even further. Senior Administrative Assistant Cassie Meehan now uses routing questions "to streamline the process and get the form to the correct approver."

The Request for Personnel process was adopted across all school sites and includes multiple signatures and approvals. Internal controls restrict which fields are accessible by initiators and approvers.

Collaborative, Prioritized Approach

Simi Valley USD took a collaborative approach by involving key stakeholders from various departments - such as HR, Business Operations, and IT - during the planning phase.

Each department identified pain points within its workflows and processes that needed improvement. This allowed the district to prioritize high-impact processes and ensure the solution was comprehensive rather than siloed.

The collaborative, prioritized approach increased support from teachers and staff for the change in how district processes were managed.

Outcomes

Dramatic Improvement in Intent to Return

The impact after digitizing the Intent to Return process was substantial. Previously, it would take days, if not weeks, to receive the majority of Intent to Return forms from employees after sending them through the mail.

The district received 60% of its Intent to Return forms within 48 hours and 83% within the first week. It was abundantly clear to Mr. Todo that workflow automation could improve operational inefficiencies across the district.

District-Wide Transformation

The success of the initial implementation of the digital RFP process then became a catalyst to begin adopting Informed K12 as a district-wide solution.

Simi Valley USD has digitized over 30 district processes across several departments, including Mileage Reimbursements, Field Trip Requests, and Employee Onboarding. These processes span across Business (ERP/Payroll), HR (HRIS), and Schools (SIS), including:

• Request for Personnel

• Onboarding Packets

• Emergency Contact

• Intent to Return

• Budget Transfer

• Request for Overtime

• Mileage Reimbursements

• Field Trip Requests

Improved Employee Experience

Without losing sight of the approval of teachers and staff, digitized processes have brought improved efficiencies for the district.

"Much better than completing the info on a card, making the info easy to retrieve."

Employee Emergency Information

"Love it all around!"

New Hire Packet - Certificated Substitute

"Fast and easy to complete."

Personal Vehicle Use Form

"The form was easy to follow, sign, submit, and print."

Frontline Absence Management Notification

"Love these new forms. Saves a lot of time."

Field Trip Request

Faster Customer Service

Simi Valley USD's improvements in speed and efficiency for its Request for Personnel process is only one example of how Informed K12 transforms district operations. Tangible success is momentous for Mr. Todo, but so is improving the "customer" experience for district employees.

"We try to offer the best customer service to tackle the problem," Mr. Todo states. "When you have a system like Informed K12 where you can identify the issue, the customer service can happen a lot faster."