When the City of Charlotte needed a new automated helpdesk system, it called on K2 blackpearl. But the city had bigger plans for the software.
“We have K2 because we need to answer a lot of needs — not just to build one workflow,” said Dennis Drury, City of Charlotte business process consultant. “We will never run out of processes to automate; and with each K2 workflow we build, the organization becomes more efficient. Essentially, we’ll just keep streamlining our operations further and further.”
The City of Charlotte’s helpdesk system — for new hires, terminations and employee transfers in the 3-1-1 department — is live, and seven other applications are in development or testing.
After evaluating more than a dozen software offerings, the City of Charlotte chose K2 blackpearl because of its ease of use, scalability, the visibility it provides and its integration with Microsoft Office SharePoint.
“We had already made significant investments in SharePoint, and K2 blackpearl enables us to create the applications we need on top of these investments with seamless integration,” Drury said. “Without K2 blackpearl, we’d have to write a large amount of code and wade through complexities that we just don’t have time for.
“We also went with K2, in part, because of the growth it affords us. It’s hard to find software that lets you expand and retrofit the way K2 blackpearl does. It is customizable, too, so you get more than what comes out of the box.”
Like many government organizations, the City of Charlotte relied on manual processes that were inefficient, sometimes ad hoc and prone to error. When the city needed to find a new solution for its helpdesk system, planners saw an opportunity for efficiency organization-wide.
But they would have to act fast — the new system needed to be up and running in just a couple months — and they would have to find something that worked well with the city’s large SharePoint investments.
Charlotte’s K2-based helpdesk system was built and implemented by K2 partner Guidewire Solutions in less than 90 days. All processes — application submission, communications, hiring and onboarding — are automated, paperless and easy to use. The solution works across multiple line-of-business systems, content management systems and record centers.
SharePoint, which Charlotte employees were already familiar with, acts as a foundation for the entire system. Documents and information are stored here, and tasks are accessed and completed here. Built-in notifications and escalations, handled by the K2 workflow engine, keep the processes moving; rules and policies prevent errors; and K2 visibility and reporting capabilities give Charlotte meaningful information that can lead to better decision-making or allow business consultants to identify process weaknesses.
“One of the most important things, for us, is the visual process map that you can get into and see real-time status,” Drury said. “We look at process status in a Visio-style diagram and can see what the function is, the route of the process, any bottlenecks, etc.
“My bosses might not understand a workflow or how an application is built, but they understand productivity, cost savings and timelines. K2 visibility allows us prove results and/or make improvements in all those areas. That is key.”
K2’s multiple designers, familiar interfaces and ease of use mean that applications can be created and changed by non-developers — without writing code. This ensures processes suit the organization’s needs perfectly; and it is important for the City of Charlotte, whose IT resources are often limited.
“With K2, we can also reuse workflows or parts of workflows to build new ones,” said Sonya Hawkins, a business process consultant for the city. “We don’t have to rip everything up. We can use what we have, pull it all together and make enhancements where we need to.”
Charlotte’s next K2-based solution to go live will be a vehicle requisition process, which works across many domains — police, administration, aviation, utilities and more. Drury said this process will result in a 60 percent time savings.
Support and training
K2 partner Guidewire Solutions, based in Atlanta, Georgia, built the solution, provided training and has stood by the City of Charlotte to help solve challenges and lend support since the implementation.
According to Drury and Hawkins, Guidewire’s services have been invaluable.
“K2 is easy to use, but Guidewire’s training was immensely helpful,” Drury said. “And we have a complex environment with multiple servers, Web front ends, etc. Ron Douglass (Guidewire principal) and Eric Eichler (Guidewire process consultant) calmed our concerns, helped us to get everything to function correctly and helped us to get K2 blackpearl to play nice with all our other apps and technologies.”
“Guidewire has done everything we’ve asked,” Hawkins said. “They set up our systems, they answer our questions, they help us ask the right questions and they have stuck with us through a lot of changes. They essentially gave us a groundwork and empowered our organization to get where we are, helped us to focus on the overall picture. Now we are rolling with it and everyone is happy.”
Also aiding the City of Charlotte along the way has been the community-driven support site, K2 Underground (www.k2underground.com).
“The Underground has done exactly what it said it would do,” Hawkins said. “If I find an error or have a problem, I go to the site and almost always find a solution right away.
“The free, fast support we find here makes a huge difference.”