Centralized Administration of Service Delivery Case: Basic Sliding Fee Program

The responsibility and authority of administering service delivery rest with the administrator in a centrally managed social service program. An alternative decentralized management structure delegates operational authority down to the program management level while keeping responsibility for the service at the administrator level. Organizations with decentralized management or administration in general have higher employee engagement and morale while delivering higher quality service. Management burden on the administrator is also reduced. Administration, however, is required to be functionally skillful in identifying quantitative goals and results, as well as incorporating these measures in operational planning.

Take the case of a county administrating a Basic Sliding Fee service for the state. Operationally, the service consists of clients admitted to the service and waiting for a space in a pool of clients being served. In this pool, clients receive temporary economic assistance and work support. Once the transient need ends, the client exits the service. The service is operationally planned on a fixed budget with funds allocated from the state. When program management becomes aware of empty positions in the pool, a request is sent to administration to allow a number of waiting clients into the pool. This county experienced 15% monthly variability of funds usage for client assistance within the pool and was 14% under budget monthly.

Another county providing the same service chose to contract a vendor to manage its basic sliding fee program. High level service delivery metrics allowed county administration to keep funds usage in line with budget in a decentralized manner. This best practice became a model for the former county to improve the delivery of its basic sliding fee service.

Contributed by Noel Jagolino, consultant