Winners - January 2002

Department of Labor and Industries

Innovation Project Team

Department of Labor and Industries

New and Improved Data Backup Team

Department of General Administration

Dolliver Building Renovation Project Improvement

Department of Social and Health Services Electronic Purchasing Focus Group


Department of Labor and Industries

Innovation Project Team

Labor and Industries' workplace safety and health rules were poorly organized, difficult to read, and riddled with confusing bureaucratic, legal jargon. This made it difficult for employers to find, understand and comply with their workplace safety and health responsibilities, thus potentially endangering the well being of their employees.

In collaboration with business and labor, L&I redesigned, reorganized and rewrote the rules to make them easily accessible and understandable to employers and employees. This was accomplished without adding any additional employer requirements or removing any worker protection. The new Safety and Health Core Rules were made available and distributed to employers in August 2001. This single book of core rules provided about 80% of small non-manufacturing employers with a complete, easy-to-use set of requirement. (Additional industry specific rules are currently being re-written.)

Results:

Team Members:
Richard Apple
Craig Blackwood
Steve Borst
Steve Cant
Ronald Dillon
Stefan Dobratz
Michael Farley
Grace Giorgio
Jeffrey Grimm
Arlene Hallom
Glenn Harvey
George Huffman
Gail Hughes
Cindy Ireland
Melvin James
Rowena Johnson
Daniel Locke
Joseph Luce
Alan Lundeen
Donna Manders
Paul Marsh
Lance Mayhew
Dan McMurdie
Cheryl Moore
Gil Paganini
Michael Radach
Nichole Rose
Marilou Russell
Michael Silverstein
Paul Snow
Anne Soiza
Tracy Spencer
Carol Stevenson
Connie Stewart
Christine Swanson
Kim Telasky
Myron Thompson
E. Susanne Waits
Lena Wang
James J. West
Ed Whitney
Michael Wood
Martha Work

L&I Innovations Project Team


Department of Labor and Industries

New and Improved Data Backup Team

Everyday during non-work hours, Labor and Industries backs up and stores computer data to prevent its loss in the event of disaster or other system failure. At times storage space has been exceeded, and the back-ups take longer than the non-work hours in a day. This will result in the back-ups being completed during work hours, causing work slow downs and stoppages, as well as back-up failures for open files.

A goal was set to double the speed of the back-up process, and triple the storage space available for back ups. An innovative "back-end network" was developed to back up and store data via a new connection that is separate and independent of the traditional links used to perform work. It allows ten different servers to share a common storage solution and runs five times faster with three times the previous backup capacity.

Results:

Team Members:
Marv Clarambeau
Marjorie Dausener
Russ Kalista
David Karakas
Pasha Naini
Robert Reed
Bob Santeford
Bruce Santy
Ron Shively
Arlene Smith

L&I Data Backup Team


Department of General Administration

Dolliver Building Renovation Project Improvement

The old Olympia Post Office, constructed in 1914 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, sat vacant from 1994 to 1996. Although located near the Capitol Campus and downtown, the federal government couldn't find tenants or a buyer for the building.

In 1998, the federal government transferred ownership of the building to General Administration (GA) at no cost with the caveat that all renovation work maintains the historic integrity and the significance of the structure. GA remodeled and renovated the historic building at minimal costs for use by the Office of the Secretary of State. The Department of Personnel leased the space during the design phase of the remodel. The project team reduced costs by using recycled marble and light fixtures throughout the building. Crews from Correctional Industries did most of the demolition work. In addition, most of the demolition waste from the building was recycled, saving landfill costs and generating additional money for the budget. The building was renamed the James M. Dolliver Building, in honor of the former State Supreme Court chief justice. The historic structure combines the ambiance of its past with the functions of a modern office building.

Results:

Team Members:
Roy Childers
Nick Cockrell
Ted Cohen
Duncan Crump
Rhoda Lawrence
Dave Lohrengel
Bob MacKenzie
Kenneth L. Mensching
Richard Price
Stuart Simpson
Mary Thompson
Steve Wagner

GA Dolliver Building Renovation Team


Department of Social and Health Services

Electronic Purchasing Focus Group

For years the process of acquiring goods and services started with filling out a multi-part purchase request, routing for approvals, and submitting to purchasing staff. After awarding a purchase request to a vendor, the purchasing staff mailed copies of the request to different parties for filing, which required handling the same paperwork many times. Stacks of purchases had to be entered into a database and processed for delivery before the cutoff. Expenditure information had to be calculated manually.

With input from a cross department focus group, a new electronic purchasing system was developed in-house where all purchasing functions, from initiating to ordering, were automated into a database. The purchase request is now initiated, approved, and submitted electronically, and the status can be viewed from the database at any time. Management and audit reports can be generated within minutes.

Results:

Team Members:
Robert Beets
Mary Brennan
Victoria Burr
Bridgitt Butcher
Peter Carlson
Lorie Christoferson
Arlene Crawford
Janis Dahlberg
Diane Daniels
Diane de Leon
Gary Downs
Wanda Emmick
Laura Ettinger
Wolf Fletter
Joanne Gripp
Marcus Harris
Gail Hesselholt
Kim Hewitt
Lynn Graham-Hoey
Molly Hughes
Charles Hunter
Janice Huntley
Bonnie Jacques
Wendy Jarrett
Jim Judge
Kevin Kernan
Kim Kirkland
Paul Knapp
Larry Kronquist
Darwin Kumm
Alice Liou
Matthew Matlock
Lora McKiddy
Jay Minton
Connie Minton
Ken Moses
Lien Ngo-Tran
Ellie O'Dell
Linda O'Sullivan
Rena Patch
Oscar Pierce
Diane Robbins
Kelly Robison
Judi Rogers
Pat Sanborn
Teresa Sapp
Roger Slack
Lindakay Stacy
Nancy Wilkinson
DSHS Electronic Purchasing Team

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