Case Study - Phase 2
Creating a Unified Experience for SD’s Reemployment Assistance Benefits Framework
Client
State of South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation
Services Provided
ServiceNow Expertise
Research & Insights
Data Architecture
High Fidelity Mockups
Integration Services
Mobile Optimization
Training & Knowledge Transfer
01
Overview
A Centralized Hub for South Dakota’s Reemployment Assistance Applications
During phase 1, Servos worked with South Dakota’s DLR team to digitize and create workflows for unemployment assistance.
To build on these initial efforts, DLR’s Reemployment Assistance (RA) Division has asked Servos to continue with additional enhancements to the Claim process. These enhancements include transitioning Weekly Certification workflows into ServiceNow and enhancing the overall user experience.
This second phase establishes a centralized hub for all RA processes, simplifying claim submissions and weekly certification requests. South Dakota citizens now have a more intuitive experience when applying and receiving temporary financial assistance.
02
Challenges
Disconnected Workflows
The Weekly Certification workflows for reviewing, approving, and managing certification requests were disjointed and separate from the new ServiceNow platform built in phase 1. This separation in workflows created friction for agents processing claim applications, as they had to switch between ServiceNow and the external framework.
Lack of Claim Status Clarity
Claim submissions and Weekly Certification Requests often lacked clear guidance on the subsequent steps a user should take. Vague messaging and unclear statuses occasionally led citizens to guess or call for clarification.
User Navigation Across Multiple Platforms
Citizens seeking reemployment assistance had to navigate between two distinct platforms—one for gathering information and resources and another for filing their claims and submitting weekly certification requests. This back-and-forth process proved unintuitive and added cognitive load to the user experience.
03
Process
Empowering South Dakota While Ensuring the Delivery of a High Quality Product
We utilized our agile Work Smarter Methodology to maximize value during all phases of the project. During our understand and discovery phases, we gathered requirements and conducted design workshops to capture the required functionality and address pain points.
During the second phase, we collaborated with South Dakota's BIT team to co-develop user stories. This collaboration facilitated the integration of our standard code-review and testing processes without compromising our internal QA. It also prevented an extensive knowledge transfer at the end of the project since BIT, the department responsible for long-term maintenance, was involved from the beginning.
Our goal was to empower BIT to develop and maintain their own platform while ensuring the delivery of a high-quality product.
04
Solution
Connected Workflows
To create a more seamless system, the Servos team extended the workflows developed in Phase 1 to provide users with a unified experience. Now, citizens can access a single platform to submit unemployment assistance claims. Once approved by the DLR team, they can also file weekly certification requests from the same location. This streamlines the submission and request processes for citizens and facilitates better management for DLR agents.
Connection of workflows was achieved through ServiceNow's Flow Designer, enabling processes such as allowing users to select the weeks for which they were eligible to file for benefits.
Smarter Claim Status Notifications
To enhance guidance on users' next steps, we decided to consolidate statuses, notifications, and messaging into a single dynamic widget. This created an intuitive focal point for action items, next steps, and supporting documentation—resulting in an improved claim status notification widget at the top of the user's page.
Maintaining the latest user criteria and status information in this widget was crucial. Our team leveraged custom components to retrieve data from SDLR’s SQL database and cross-referenced it against our claim status records table to calculate eligibility.
We also implemented a feature with success pages that cleared the user criteria cache to ensure the latest widget state was presented.
This custom functionality powers the claim status widget and allows citizens to view their claim and weekly certifications in real-time, even if their status changes while they’re on the portal. Additionally, a small refresh button is provided as a last resort to allow users to manually refresh the widget if needed.
Improved User Navigation with Guided Steps, Resources, and Knowledge Articles
Guided steps assist users in quickly grasping the benefits request process. They separate the concerns of new users needing to learn more vs. users that are already familiar with submitting requests. Once users log in, they will see a list of claimant responsibilities with additional knowledge links below. This approach reduces friction for new users while reminding existing users of their responsibilities.
To further enhance organization and accessibility, we introduced a tabbed resources widget, serving as a centralized hub for essential resources. This responsive widget empowers users to efficiently find what they need, whether accessing the platform from a desktop or a mobile device.
By incorporating Knowledge Base articles within ServiceNow, we significantly reduced the need for users to navigate between different websites. Frequently asked questions and other valuable articles now reside on the same platform where users submit their weekly requests, streamlining their overall user experience.
“We had a specific plan for the Department of Labor and Regulation Reemployment Assistance site with a clear priority for the citizen experience. Servos was just the partner we needed because of their expertise on the ServiceNow platform and with state and local government. “
—Andrew Szilvasi, Technology Development Director for South Dakota’s Department of Labor and Regulation
About the Author
Shelby Foister
Delivery Lead
Shelby Foister is a Delivery Lead at Servos. He is collaborative and detail oriented and enjoys automating and simplifying complex manual workflows. He has a proven track record collaborating with business units to drive successful organizational change through continuous process improvement.