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RPA in Action: State Government Success Stories

Nationwide, state and local governments who have properly incorporated robotic process automation (RPA) bots into their workforces are reaping major returns every day. At these agencies, RPA is making a difference in fields as diverse as finance, healthcare, human resources (HR) and transportation. Regardless of their function, agencies that boost their ranks with RPA bots can make life easier for their human employees.

Consider the following state governments. Using Blue Prism’s RPA bots, these agencies have transformed their workforces and the labor they perform for the better.

New York Power Authority

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is a state public-benefit corporation unlike any other in the U.S. As America’s largest state public power organization, NYPA’s finance and HR processes operate on a unique scale. Using RPA bots, however, NYPA has automated scores of workflows that were once performed only manually.

Since adopting RPA, NYPA now pays invoices and schedules interviews for external candidates. NYPA also leverages RPA for its year-end forecasting and handling its employee transaction workflows. RPA bots additionally aid NYPA by onboarding vendors into its platform for competing for bids related to its services. Jointly, these RPA programs are helping NYPA improve how power is delivered to New York’s tens of millions of citizens.

Virginia Department of Transportation

Every year, Virginia’s Department of Transportation (VDOT) uses RPA bots to help make the state’s winters more tolerable for citizens.

First, VDOT provides real-time analytics to its bots tracking Virginia’s snowplows and how the services they provide are reimbursed. Second, VDOT’s bots compile geospatial tracking data and information about Virginia’s snowplow fleet to understand how to best service roads.

As Virginia taxpayer dollars increase each winter, VDOT then validates and verifies the best routes for its snowplows. In turn, this helps reduce fraud and waste in VDOT’s service contracts.

In the future, RPA bots are also bolstering VDOT’s efforts recovering wildlife from roads, addressing potholes and assisting drivers with emergencies. Although weather can be difficult to predict, VDOT’s bots can lend the agency a hand no matter the season.

New Mexico Department of Health and Human Services

New Mexico’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) offers proof that artificial intelligence (AI) and RPA can reap big returns for agencies pairing them together.

DHHS manages dozens of state programs involving such diverse benefits as day care and food stamps. Using a cocktail involving AI, automation and RPA, DHHS has made it significantly easier for citizens to apply for or inquire about these initiatives. Working together, DHHS’s AI and RPA bots decide which benefits citizens might qualify for or need the most information about. It’s an outcome that eases the burden on public servants while improving the customer experience (CX) citizens receive.

Texas Medicaid Health Partnership

Medicaid is a federal and state program that assists people with limited income and resources who qualify with medical costs. Given the benefits can help cover such services as nursing home and personal care, Medicaid can have a life-changing impact on citizens and their help.

Texas’s Medicaid Health Partnership (TMHP), for its part, provides outsourced and third-party Medicaid services, such as claims and enrollment processes to the state government. RPA bots are now helping this relationship run more smoothly by optimizing some of TMHP’s business processes.

By taking over responsibilities such as downloading PDFs and moving them through workflows, RPA is helping TMHP focus on its mission. The result is that TMHP’s human employees can focus less on manual tasks and more on improving citizens’ well-being.

Fiscal Information System for California

The Financial Information System for California (FI$Cal) is the Golden State’s statewide accounting, budget, cash management and procurement IT system. Developing FI$Cal required a cooperative partnership between California’s Controller, Treasurer and the directors of its Departments of Finance (DOF) and General Services (DGS).

Signed in 2007, this collaboration was formalized with a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Although MOUs aren’t legally-binding, FI$Cal required a serious commitment from all agencies involved. Since then, RPA bots are helping the various agencies involved in FI$Cal perform data migration activities. Helping FI$Cal succeed, finally, matters as California ranked as the world’s fifth largest economy in 2018.

Georgia State Accounting Office

Georgia’s State Accounting Office (SAO) is a major agency as it establishes statewide accounting and reporting standards and practices. Currently, SAO uses RPA to help with various challenges for the greater good of Georgia.

For starters, RPA bots help operate and improve Georgia’s statewide financial and human capital management systems. After that, they also train Georgia’s accounting and payroll personnel in new policies, procedures and standards.

Perhaps most importantly, RPA bots assist with preparing Georgia’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), the state’s annual financial audit. SAO’s bots can additionally provide statewide financial information on an interim basis. Subsequently, these bots are crucial for improving Georgia’s accountability, efficiencies and internal controls.

This article is an excerpt from GovLoop’s recent e-book, “Your New Digital Coworker.” Download the full e-book here.

Photo credit: Kim Giseok on Unsplash

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