About ICA
The Industrial Commission of Arizona (ICA) was formed in 1925 as a result of legislation establishing a workers’ compensation system in Arizona. Since its inception, the ICA’s responsibilities have grown to include various labor-related issues such as occupational safety and health, youth employment, resolution of wage related disputes, minimum wage, earned paid sick time, vocational rehabilitation, and workers’ compensation self-insurance. Headquartered in Phoenix, the agency has over 200 employees that seek to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of Arizona’s workforce.
The Challenge
As with many state agencies, the ICA’s technology infrastructure was brittle and outdated. In 2016, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey encouraged state agencies to embrace new technologies and migrate to more modern, cloud-based platforms. In 2017, following the Governor’s lead, the ICA initiated the “Workers’ Compensation Claims Modernization Project” with the goal of utilizing leading-edge technology to more effectively and efficiently serve parties in the workers’ compensation system.
The agency was using COBOL, a monolithic computer programming language developed in the late 1950s, for many of its core operational processes. However, the language had become outdated, and it was challenging to find knowledgeable programmers to keep the system fully operational. This created an environment of risk and uncertainty, and it was apparent that moving to a cloud-based solution would be imperative for sustainability and scalability and offer an opportunity to improve programs that serve the citizens of Arizona.
- Lack of support for aging legacy systems
- Premise-based
- Disparate, manual systems
- Complex learning curve
- Limited customer-facing services
The Challenge
As with many state agencies, the ICA’s technology infrastructure was brittle and outdated. In 2016, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey encouraged state agencies to embrace new technologies and migrate to more modern, cloud-based platforms. In 2017, following the Governor’s lead, the ICA initiated the “Workers’ Compensation Claims Modernization Project” with the goal of utilizing leading-edge technology to more effectively and efficiently serve parties in the workers’ compensation system.
The agency was using COBOL, a monolithic computer programming language developed in the late 1950s, for many of its core operational processes. However, the language had become outdated, and it was challenging to find knowledgeable programmers to keep the system fully operational. This created an environment of risk and uncertainty, and it was apparent that moving to a cloud-based solution would be imperative for sustainability and scalability and offer an opportunity to improve programs that serve the citizens of Arizona.
- Lack of support for aging legacy systems
- Premise-based
- Disparate, manual systems
- Complex learning curve
- Limited customer-facing services
The Solution
After receiving project approval from the Information Technology Authorization Committee (ITAC), the ICA published an RFP to locate a vendor that could assist with the system transformation. MST Solutions (MST), an award-winning provider of Salesforce and marketing automation consulting, was chosen for the project. MST is a local company headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, which was an additional benefit.
- Salesforce Service Cloud
- MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
- Salesforce Community Cloud
- Salesforce Knowledge Base
- Pitney Bowes Print and Mail System
- ICM ViewCenter Document Management
- AWS Integration for ViewCenter
- Nintex DocGen
- Adobe eSign
- Google Mail & Calendar Integration
- RightFax Integration
- SFTP Integration
MST worked with us to understand the business process, identify our pain points, and guide us into the right solution. Any time there’s a problem, we know who to reach out to and we get immediate feedback. It’s a great partnership.
– Julie Hill
Salesforce Admin/ICA Project Manager
MST worked with us to understand the business process, identify our pain points, and guide us into the right solution. Any time there’s a problem, we know who to reach out to and we get immediate feedback. It’s a great partnership.
– Julie Hill
Salesforce Admin/ICA Project Manager
Value Created
- Cloud-based self-service portal
- Automated workflows
- Automated printing and enveloping of correspondence
- Advanced reporting and analytics
- Increased scalability and system agility
Outbound Document Automation Increases Efficiency
The ICA launched one of the most comprehensive and complex modernization projects in the state of Arizona. The Claims Division, which went live with Salesforce in 2019, migrated close to 45 million records, including 3.8 million claims, 78,000 ALJ cases, and 26+ million documents into the new system.
The agency’s outbound document flow has also seen a significant improvement in time savings and efficiency. “Prior to working with MST, we lacked a centralized mailing process, and it took 15 human touches to produce a single document,” explained Tate. “Today, documents are automatically generated, printed, enveloped, and sent to the mailroom for printing and processing. This helped reduce the process to a single human touchpoint.”
With the new cloud-based interface, ICA staff can work remotely. “The fact that most employees that worked on site were able to work from home during the pandemic was incredible,” noted Hill.
The ICA has an ongoing support relationship with MST and has plans to transition each of its other business units to Salesforce.
As a result, approximately thirty unique application types were digitized to a branded web portal with a modern customer-centric look and feel. Aside from land and lease application processing built on Salesforce Service Cloud and Communities, the cloud solution included integration to the legacy ERP, document management system, and several custom apps that provide project tracking for the commissioner’s office and the Real Estate and Trespass divisions.
Business value was delivered throughout-from workflow processing, document digitization and migration, integrations for online fee payment systems, and organizational change management. A community portal was created to help citizens submit and check the status of electronic applications along with an online payment system for application fees. Other benefits and accomplishments included:
“We can now deliver value as fast as the business needs it. As a result of the continuous improvement steps, we have really leaned into transitioning existing processes into Salesforce,” said Spratling. “Salesforce really shines when it comes to adding bells and whistles. Just a few examples include help desk tickets, purchase orders, and billing.”
The project, which was completed in several phases, helped ASLD optimize and strengthen their service delivery capabilities on one of their core processes that directly supports their mission. The agency is better connected to their customers, which allows employees to more easily service and respond to customers’ needs. Since the launch of the system, paper applications have been reduced by 95% and end-user adoption rates have increased to 98%.
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