DPS NEWS

Governor’s Team Highlights the Driver License Division

In 2013, Utah Governor Gary Herbert asked each state agency to become more efficient and gain a greater value for every tax dollar invested. While the Governor’s SUCCESS Framework goal was for state agencies to improve efficiency by 25%, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) went the extra mile by gaining 41% efficiency over the last 3 years. One of the initiatives was to improve customer wait times and have customers experience the highest level of service and experience at the Department’s Driver License offices.

The DPS’ Driver License Division reduced average customer wait time for all 13 offices across the state to five minutes, which is among the lowest wait times in the nation. By managing flow, the percent of customers being served within three  to eight minutes has increased from 55% to 79% in less than four years.

The strategy for achieving this goal focuses mainly on excellent management of a queuing system in order to maximize system flow.  The queuing system allows Driver License field offices to triage the type of service customers are seeking, and to customize service window availability based on the customer demand of each day. Since beginning this project at the end of CY2014, the system has achieved an 84% improvement above baseline.  The percentage of Driver License customers being served within three to eight minutes has increased from 54.9% to 78.5%.  This was accomplished even with the number of customers seeking Driver License services increasing by over 16,000 per month.  In addition, Utah’s Driver License’s average wait time for all 13 field offices has been reduced to 5 minutes which is among the lowest in the nation.

Even with the queuing system expertly managed, there are certain areas of the state where customer demand has outgrown Driver License’s capacity.  Thus, in the next 1 to 5 years, Driver License plans to expand services in southern Utah County and in Davis County.  The future goal is to have 100% of Driver License customers served within 3 to 8 minutes. Additionally, Driver License plans to add enhancements to the facial recognition program it uses as an important fraud detection and deterrent tool. Finally, Driver License is experiencing a high rate of employee turnover in field office examiner positions which puts a strain on the overall system.  Driver License is currently working to identify solutions to this issue.