State Regulator Continues Innovations with Roadmap Strategy

Successes include: online licensure, improved efficiencies, reduced barriers to licensure

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (“IDFPR”) built upon its 2015 agency accomplishments by implementing a strategic blueprint approach to modernize Department operations and instill lasting solutions. Under the leadership of Governor Bruce Rauner and Secretary Bryan A. Schneider, IDFPR adopted a Roadmap approach to help articulate its vision for 2016 and enable the implementation of actionable, strategic projects. The 2016 roadmap included a focus on streamlining internal processes to save state resources, implementation of online and digital technology modernizations and an increased focus on reducing barriers to licensure.

“In January of 2015, IDFPR was an agency encumbered by paper-intensive business processes and mitigating problems with short-term solutions,” said Bryan A. Schneider, IDFPR Secretary. “We knew that if we wanted to bring our state’s regulatory body into the 21st century, we needed to be strategic in our methodology. By implementing a roadmap strategy, we have experienced exciting gains that allow us to better serve our applicants and licensees, affording them a modernized regulatory experience. As we look to 2017, we will continue this approach, guided by our principles of providing a state regulatory body that is responsive, innovative, transparent, and efficient.”

2016 IDFPR Roadmap accomplishments included:

Implementing cost-saving measures such as reducing paper and postage use through online license renewal notifications, saving approximately $593,000 and 16,500 hours of work annually;
Launching the conversion of a digital application process for its occupational professions and reducing their respective processing times by 70%;
Improved call center productivity, reducing call wait time by 45%;
Reducing barriers to entry in Illinois’ professional landscape by easing pathways available to cross-border applicants and ex-offenders;
Hosting a series of industry-centric Turnaround Town Halls and garnered productive feedback from regulated stakeholders.

Guided by the roadmap strategy, IDFPR leadership collected, scored, and ranked business proposals identified by each of our four Divisions and operational units. The resulting projects were prioritized by their alignment to the Department’s key criteria, and scheduled to begin (and in many cases end) over a year-long timeline based on resource availability. Utilizing a governance structure enabled the tracking of project reports and to formalize the flow of communication between project managers, involved business units, and executive staff.

“As we begin 2017, IDFPR will continue its roadmap strategy, exploring opportunities to further its goal of modernizing Illinois’ regulatory agency, while increasing government transparency and implementing innovative policies to remove unnecessary barriers to licensure,” said Bryan A. Schneider, IDFPR Secretary. “Providing our licensees and the public with a superior regulatory experience will continue to be our guiding principle.”

The complete 2016 Roadmap summary can be found here. The proposed 2017 project list/summary can be found here.