Talkin' SaaS
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Talkin' SaaS
Journey to Modernization with Ala. Home Builders Licensure Board’s IT Manager Suanne Parnell
Ala. Home Builders Licensure Board’s IT Manager Suanne Parnell shares her agency’s journey to modernize—from a “forward thinking” board to COVID’s impacts on her agency and a shift from paper. She explains why modernization is worth it.
GL Solutions helps governments run, grow and adapt. For more information about GL Solutions and our modernization service for regulatory agencies, visit us on the web at www.glsolutions.com. Or connect with us via Facebook, X or LinkedIn. Reach our host, Sam Hardin, at hardin@glsolutions.com or on LinkedIn. We look forward to hearing from you.
You know, I think what I'm finding is that a lot of agencies are in similar situations, maybe a little bit earlier on the stage, as you guys are with with, you know, I put in air quotes, this modernization effort, really, it's just kind of, you know, keeping up with the times and stuff like that. But a lot of them aren't as proactive as you guys are. So, you know, I will he'll hear certain comments around the country, with people saying, Oh, gee, that sounds great. You know, or like, like, it's like, a goal that's unattainable, or like something that they couldn't even fathom, like, beginning or starting that track. They're just like, yeah, that would be awesome. If, if we could do that. It's like, well, I mean, I guess you could start, I understand that. It's a big undertaking, but like, you could make the first step. And it doesn't even have to be, you know, doing agency transformation or anything like that. It could just be, you know, we're going to create a plan, you know, I don't know. So I just, I think, your guys's feedback, because you kind of are on the more proactive side, and just how you think about things I thought that would be really valuable for some of our agencies to hear is like, okay, it can be done. And this is how other people like think about it, and kind of strategically move through it. So yeah, so I just appreciate you guys, I really appreciate you jumping on and talk to me. And, and so yeah, I'll just get into it. But so the first question I had is so when we came on site and visited with you guys, you had mentioned that your board, and even in your strategic planning that you guys have talked about modernization, and I'm using modernization as a broad term here for for making advancements in the system of grades, you know, expanding your IT functionalities, specifically to GL. Can you kind of talk about, like, where that idea came from? Where the notion of modernization came from do that was at, you know, that start with you guys? And it kind of division? Or did it? Did it come from the board, or both, you could
Suanne Parnell:Actually, actually the board really has driven it, you know, they have our board members or you know, they're all private business owners. And so they're pretty, pretty aware of what's going on out there. And they're the ones that have really pushed for us to have more of an online presence and to be more available electronically. To our licensees, and our agency. I have started, we had done a strategic plan, several years ago, back in will, when the agency first came about a few years in and then they just then they just went, we didn't have any major changes. So there was really no reason for to have a really true strategic plan. So then back in 2017, you know, we had gone through a lot of changes we had, and we had implemented new license types with the limited license, and we were going into the roofers license, and we had some major legislation that was coming down. And so the board decided at that point, we need to start doing strategic plans on a regular basis. So in 2017, we had our first real strategic planning session meeting. And to get us through for five years, there was a five year plan. And we managed to meet 90 Outside 95% of that plan within four years of the plan. And so we got well ahead of it. And again, because we got a very forward thinking board members, they started in 20. You know, that plan was supposed to last us from 2018 to 2023. They started in 2022, saying, you know, don't we need to start looking at a strategic plan. Again, this one's about to about to be at the end of life for it is time to start planning for the next five years. So last summer, well actually about this time last year. Um, we started talking about it and finding, we did some work and found some professional consultants that you You come in and assist us with the process. And, and, um, we did they they met in August the board meeting in August and reviewed everything with their professionals and they came back and provided some recommendations and, and in November was it Molina?
Melanah Poole:Correct.
Suanne Parnell:In November, they adopted the strategic plan that went into effect January 1 2023, it should get us through 2020 Yay. And ironically, a lot of that plan centers around more electronic and a bit a stronger presence online, more availability of our, of our processes, to our licensees, to our, our building officials and to the public in general. So, ironically, GLS, comes in in January, with the agency transformation process, and it was like right on the nose of what we're wanting to, to move forward with. So it's all coming together at the perfect time, so.
Sam Hardin:That's awesome. And I love to like, that was one of my questions below. And I'd love to hear that is that you guys were following up on this strategic plan and kind of keeping track of where you were at. You know, because sometimes I think people, you know, it's, you know, some people will create a plan, or some agencies will create a plan, and then, you know, throughout the year, they kind of won't refer back to it. And so it's great that they created a plan, but that follow up is really crucial. And so that's awesome that you guys were able to kind of burn through it quicker than you would even plan to.
Suanne Parnell:Well, it's amazing how quickly you can get something done if you Right. Um, you know, I'm a, I'm a firm believer in to do list. And to me, that's what that plan is. And it also it also called me to sit and think about, okay, what exactly do we want? And where are we going, and it gives you some direction. And what we do, what we've done, Sam is we take the strategic plan, which is the big picture of, you know, like, the last strategic plan we had, it was we needed to get some legislation passed. So the one of the goals, I mean, that's a huge thing, one of the goals was get that legislation passed, and when that legislation was passed, it would require us to, um, it would probably it was going to involve in enlarging our staff, well, our facilities couldn't handle this, you know, any increase in staff. So one of our goals was to increase our facility to build a new building, or the addition to the building, which obviously, that got done. And, you know, there were those all of those sorts of things. So, um, so now that we've got the builder know that this strategic plan, nail was, okay, we've got everything we need. What can we do to improve what how the agency is functioning, and to improve our outreach and our how we communicate with our with the outside with the public?
Sam Hardin:Yeah, that's interesting, because I could see that being kind of frustrating at times, is some of your strategic plan will be tied to legislative measures, and, you know, whether they're going to pass or not. And so I could see that as being just challenging, you know, being like, well, we want to accomplish this, but it's contingent upon, you know, legislative changing or being granted. And if it doesn't, then we're kinda, you know...
Suanne Parnell:Yeah. And that's in that last strategic plan, the one for 2018 to 2023. It was totally dependent on that legislate legislation passing, which it did, fortunately, but we already kind of had the, the things in order that Okay, once it's passed, we're ready to go. So you, but you know, you almost have to look at, um, especially with an agency like this, that where everything we do hinges on rules and regulations and statutes and everything, and it's like, our legislation is is in session right now. And our executive director chip in and Seth, our chief legal counsel spend a large part of their time Um, at the legislature because the, you know, there's there's things that affect our industry, you know, insurance, that, you know, the Insurance Board and, and building codes and all that affect our industry. So they have to be very involved in, in that sort of thing. And it's because they have their finger on the pulse of that, that we're able to, to anticipate what may be happening, so.
Sam Hardin:What So my next question was that, so it kind of came from, it almost sounds like it came from, you know, external stakeholders, if you will, so, so the people that you service, then it went to the board members, and then from the board members that kind of came to you guys, and then that's what developed the strategic plan, and then it kind of grew from there. But was there anything that was specific? That you can remember that, that that was noticed as like, oh, gosh, we really need to, to increase this, or we really need to modernize this portion, or we're here in this on the, you know, on the streets, if you will, that that really kind of caused or kind of created some excitement around it.
Suanne Parnell:Yeah. Well, I think it is maybe jumping ahead to some of your other questions. But I think one of the things that was pushing it was just, um, how did how did I put it? Melanah with the generational demands?
Melanah Poole:Yeah, yeah.
Sam Hardin:Expectation of?
Suanne Parnell:Yeah, we get more, more and more of our licensees that, you know, there's a, there's a document that and someone here will say, Well, you can fax that and they'll say, Well, can I just email it? Or is there Can I just go to the website and download it. And, you know, society is pushing it so much, because people are getting more and more tech savvy. It truly is a generational thing. And that's one of the one of the things I've had to remind she have been in people for the past couple of years, because we've been talking about doing every going, putting everything online and becoming a paperless office. And I've tried to tell them, you know, you're a generation away from that, because we still, you know, in the building industry, you've just got good old boys out there that know how to swing a hammer, and they're not, you know, I talk to them all the time. I don't know this computer stuff. I know how to build a building, you know? Yeah. Well, their sons or their grandsons are getting, you know, the technology. So I think we're getting closer and closer to where generationally, we're gonna hit the people that know how to use the computer and want that to work smarter, rather, rather than harder, so.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, yeah, I think it is an interesting time I hear it too. You know, with our other agencies and boards, where it's kind of split, like they're there, the population that they serve is split, though, you know, that they hear the grumblings of, you know, you know, I have to go online and do this. And, gosh, this is so complicated now. And then, you know, the other side that's, like, why are you know, like, can I, you know, use DocuSign you know, why do I Yeah, why do I still have to, you know, attest to something, why can't I just, you know, sign my, I can do it with mortgages, you know, and so it's like, it's, it's very kind of split down the middle. And yeah, so it kind of creates this need, but I could see where also, like, you deal with it on the other side, too, with people or just, it's, the change is coming. And it yeah, if you're not tech savvy, I could see it kind of being daunting. It's like, oh, gosh, I've been used to doing this. Doing it this way for so many years. And now it completely changes.
Suanne Parnell:Exactly.
Sam Hardin:Yeah.
Suanne Parnell:And and that's right. Yeah. And we keep talking about the public side but on this side on the back end with staff and everything you know, that's that's one of the battles we fight is that the old the older our older staff members and I don't mean older by age, I mean older by been here the longest.
Sam Hardin:Yeah
Suanne Parnell:You know, they're accustomed to doing it the old way, the paper way, and it takes sometimes it takes, you know, pulling teeth to get on No, let's do it this way. It really will make your job easier.
Sam Hardin:Yeah
Suanne Parnell:But, um, so yeah, it's a it's a push and pull on both sides. And younger, our newer not going to say younger, but our newer staff members, they come in and all they know is gls. And they tend to, you know, embrace it a lot easier. But um, yeah. So.
Sam Hardin:Okay, well, so kind of along those lines, my next question was just about how COVID changed the way that How has COVID? Or did it change the way that your agency operates? So whether it was was anything kind of new pressures or gaps created by COVID? Or was there anything that kind of came to light during the pandemic? That maybe? Maybe it was out there, but didn't boil to the top, if you will? Before? Anything like that?
Suanne Parnell:I would say absolutely.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, kind of changed everybody's lives.
Suanne Parnell:A prime example was our very first board meeting during the during the first months of COVID, before anybody learned how to do a zoom meeting, or a Cisco WebEx or a team's meeting, it was a fiasco trying, because there were no, there were no, you know, we have to do everything. There are regulations about how, how and when and where we hold a meeting. And we there was nothing in place for us to know how to do that. So we had, we have the Open Meetings Act, so we had to make our meetings available to everybody, that how do you do that? When everybody's in, you know, 12 different places? And, oh, it was crazy. So yeah, you know, since COVID, we now have a complete audio visual system in the board room.
Sam Hardin:Oh, nice. I can attach that very nice.
Suanne Parnell:It's great. And you know, it even with, um, even with my communications with GLS, you know, for years that we've been using teams, it really didn't. I really didn't think anything about it, but we've gotten our our investigators, for years and years, they were coming into the office once a month, to hold their investigators meeting. So that means there was the cost of travel. And if it was gonna be a long meeting, they might need to be overnight or whatever. So they were coming in from all over the state to spend three hours, three or four hours, and then they would be paid to travel back. Well, now they just they can hold a team's meeting, and get everything done, they need to do we have the same thing with some of our board committees. You know, rather than we have the Investigative Committee, where three of our board members serve on it, and they alternate months of who's going to serve on the committee. And, you know, some of them, it's not convenient for them to travel, you know, from Huntsville down to Montgomery for two hours, they'll do a teams meeting, you know, not every time but, um, a good amount of time. And so it's really his, has opened a lot of opportunities that we had before the pandemic, that because we weren't forced to use them, we just kind of ignored them. Yeah. And didn't utilize them in the pandemic forces to learn how to use it into into.
Sam Hardin:Well, yeah, you guys were pretty, you know, on the licensing side. You guys have been pretty forward thinking on the website. So we have some webs. We've had some websites for you guys. But even before then, you guys were correct me if I'm wrong, it was mostly mail out. So you didn't have a lot of people, you know, general public showing up to the, to the office. Whereas...
Suanne Parnell:We just don't We don't have a lot of foot traffic in your traffic in the office. But we have so much paper that there has to be someone present in the office to process. Yeah, totally, you know, because even now, we're still printing licenses, license certificates and wallet cards. So there has to be somebody present to print those to put them in an envelope. Put it into mail. Yeah, you know, app new applications and consumer compliance have to be notarized. So they have to be submitted, original documents and someone has to stamp on me and and process on. You know, so there's got to be someone present. Now the actual processing and reviewing of things can be done remotely. But basically, there's always got to be somebody in this office to do something.
Sam Hardin:Well, it's pretty, you know, some of the agencies and departments that didn't have that online presence, but did receive a lot of foot traffic before pandemic, I don't know. You know, they were really kind of in a hard place. Because, you know, my personal story that, you know, I, I'm moved back to Oregon, and, you know, needed to get my driver's license updated, but I couldn't get in the DMV, and they and they didn't yet have it set up to do it online yet. So, you know, I was kind of just stuck with my old driver's license, and then for for, like, over a year, and then, and then I moved to Montana. So then I didn't get it changed. And then I, I got it stolen. So you guys will appreciate this. So now I have to go back and take my driver's test, written test and driving test all over again. Because it's a requirement that if you get a new one, you have to have a physical like I have, I have a photo of it, but it's a requirement in the state of Montana, that you have your physical, if you're transferring from state to state, so they're like, Yeah, I'm sorry. So you know, I was joking with Bill that I'm going to be in Driver's Ed with his with his daughter. So hopefully, I passed, you know,
Melanah Poole:Like you said, if anything, that's what COVID exposed us to was that we couldn't fully shut down because of how dependent we were on paper. So there was, so we were working alternate schedules to make sure that people there was the right amount of people in the office at the time to follow regulations. But we couldn't Yeah, we couldn't all be remote. Yeah. Which made it challenging.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, okay. Well, Iwant to hear, I'm excited to hear about what you guys are excited about with monetization. So is there something that I don't know? Is there? Is there? Is there a specific one thing that that you guys are really excited for? Yeah, well, yeah. If you guys could just talk about that go through some of those things. I think it would be, you know, I'd love to hear about it. So.
Suanne Parnell:Go ahead, Melanah.
Melanah Poole:Well, I know one of the things that we're going to be excited about is the the reduction of phone calls come renewal time of people asking us, how do you log in, because of the monitors, and then being able to have their own stret their own way to log in, we don't have to keep track of, you know, security questions and passwords, and just the the reduced phone calls alone are going to be fantastic.
Sam Hardin:Yeah. Yeah, Open ID through, you know, whether it be Microsoft, Google, or, or whatever it will be, will really help out. Because, yeah, you get to kind of both, you know, GL and you as the agency get to get out of the driver's seat as of controlling people's credentials, and updating that going along with your, the, the initial part of this of this conversation is, like, so many people are used to having some sort of an account with somebody that, you know, has the means to, you know, do all the security stuff and keep up on that. And then just kind of review the credentials since like, yeah, why do we need to do this? You know, they're gonna use it, they're gonna use their Google credentials anyways, they're always gonna have that they're always gonna have a Gmail, or they're always gonna have a Microsoft account. So yeah, let's just keep that and I think, I don't know, when I log into websites, like, I actually appreciate it too, because then you don't have already have enough websites, or passwords, excuse me. So you know, I'm running out of sports players to choose for passwords. So I appreciate it when I log into a website, and I'm like, Oh, cool. I gotta use my you know, I gotta use my Google password or my Google credentials. So.
Suanne Parnell:Well, and most people only have one password and they use it on every site anyway, so this way, you know? You're good to go. Yeah. I think that I think that's a huge thing. Um, for me, I'm most excited about the possibility of never having to print a wallet card or license certificates ever. Again. Yeah, oh, or a paper renewal ever get on those, those three things, the paper renewal packets that we mail out during renewals, and the licensed certificates and the wild cards had been a burr under my saddle since 2011. Yeah, and not because and not because of GLS, necessarily, we've had issues with the printers that were purchased, the paper went and run properly, and, um, that the license certificates were printed on or that the, the renewals were printed on. So you got paper issues with printers, and then inevitably, nothing lines up properly trying to align a wallet card every year, you know, on pre printed paper, because it that pre printed, that pre printed document is, you know, one millisecond off alignment did it throws everything off. So if I only ever have to see or try to show somebody how to print any of those, I could die not very happy.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, it's yeah, it's expensive, too. I don't know, even just like so that the upfront cost of the printer, if you if you want to get a nice, fancy printer that, you know, can handle you know, because at renewal time, there's hundreds, if not 1000s, that you're printing, so you got to handle one that can handle a bulk amount. But then, you know, I wasn't really privy to the understanding of just the cost of like stamps. And we had an agency in Arizona that that actually took us through their budget of like, how much in just mail and stamps and that it cost them. And I was like, wow, I didn't even think of that. And so there's a reduced cost right there. And he was actually able to compare the ROI on that and say, like, Well, okay, I can, I can spend this much amount to put this on the web and enable people to print it. And that saves me X amount of dollars. And it just something that like, you know, I knew the printer, that's kind of obvious, but then I was like, Well, yeah, gosh, I didn't think about the volume that you guys do. And so the amount of the stamps and just sending them out and, you know, then it takes a physical, you know, Stafford to put those together and send them out. And so yeah, I think that's a big one. And I hope yeah, I hope everybody can move past that and move forward. No one should have to stuff stamps anymore. Or stuff envelopes.
Melanah Poole:I mean, it's yeah, it's the efficiency of it all. Yeah, yeah, that modernization brings, it's just gonna be so much. So much more efficient in the office.
Suanne Parnell:And more cost effective to and you you've brought out, you brought up a good point, you know, not only are we paying for the printer, but we paid for the toner for the printer, we pay for the envelopes, we pay for the printing, you know, not just the paper, but the, the these are pre printed documents, so we pay for the printing of them and the and all of that. And the postage, you know, you add all the cost of that together for one year and you've paid for whatever project we're gonna pay for to get those darn wallet cards online.
Melanah Poole:Yeah, absolutely.
Sam Hardin:Yeah. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I feel like we have, you know, somebody from the printer company representative in our office every month looking at it, you know, so I don't know what they're doing. But you know, I because I sit right next to the printers I can see at night, every month there's there's somebody there.
Suanne Parnell:Vacuuming.
Sam Hardin:Yeah. Well, thanks for their for sharing that. That's, that's awesome. Let's see. So I want to get a little bit more into you guys's strategic plan and the roadmap. So and you touched on a little bit earlier, but my next question was, what are some of the resources and, and, and what supports the idea in the creation process of the strategic roadmap? Like I said, it is it is I see it a lot on the CIO level and at the higher up you know, they publish their their AI It strategies, and it's very well documented and lined out. I don't know if I always, and they may not post it. So, you know, I might just not be able to see it. But you know, I don't know how much planning is going on to that level? And then I'm not sure how much following up on that plan. So what are some of the resources? And, and and how do you guys create that strategic plan? And what's the process there?
Suanne Parnell:Well, like I say, I didn't we started last year, about this time coming up with to begin the process for this new strategic plan. And generally, what we do is we'll get all of our division heads together, you know, and, or the division heads will go to their staff members, you know, we'll take everybody, whoever's supervising licensure today will go and pull all the licensure people together, say, you know, what are what, what are things that we're doing that can be that you think, needs to change? Where are you seeing, you know, what do you need to do to make your job more efficient? What do you need, so the division heads will do all of that in with their own staff. And then, um, then those division heads will come together and bring to the to the meeting, you know, what they have learned from their staff, and then they'll kind of hash out Well, sounds like, you know, this will be whatever is going on with this division could also benefit that division, and so forth and so on. And then they've they formulate, you know, then they bring on all the administrative staff, which basically, in our case, is all the same people. Yeah, our division, he is our, our, our administrative staff. So, you know, licensure, we all kind of have an idea of what's going on. And we'll get together and we'll, you know, brainstorm on okay, this is what I see going on, this is what, you know, they'll, you know, I'm involved talking about what can GLS do for us in this instance, and this sort of thing in which they will formulate recommendations to give to the board that, okay, this is where this, this is what the staff needs to continue functioning, or to improve our efficiency, this is what the staff needs. And then they all take that to the board. And the board generally, contracts with a professional consultant of some type that does this sort of thing, you know, that they come into companies to do to help them formulate a strategic plan, and they go through the, what is it that those sower method? What is it, you know, that I don't remember what the acronym stands for, but different steps of where you identify where you're, you know, what are your What are your strengths, here are your strengths,
Melanah Poole:What are your strengths? What are your opportunities?
Suanne Parnell:Aspirations? Yeah, thank you Melanah.
Sam Hardin:That's, I actually am sorry, either. So that makes sense, though. Yeah.
Suanne Parnell:Yeah. And, and they, you know, the, the consultants will facilitate all of this, and they, generally, they will do a questionnaire to just the board members, you know, to get what they see the board needing to do and the board members are going to be more about, there's going to be more about the industry there is their focus is going to be more about the industry and the the licensees, and that sort of thing, where's the staff is more about the production part. So the consultants will bring all of that together, you know, hearing and listening to what everybody needs, and then present what they think is a plan strategy to go forward with. And they give that to the board and the board reviews it and, you know, if it looks like yeah, this is what we need to be doing. Um, they adopt it, and then they give it to chip and say, Okay, this is what we want to do within the next five years. Now you figure out how to do it.
Sam Hardin:Is there any? Is there any disagreement? So like, when you guys meet with the administrators and you know, your division heads, and they might bring something up, or they might have an idea that or they might say, you know, this will really drive efficiency? If, if x happens, is there any times where they bring that to the board? The board is just like, Absolutely not No. Or is there any disagreement or is it usually pretty agreeable?
Suanne Parnell:I don't know Melanah.
Melanah Poole:Yeah, I'm trying to think if I wouldn't say there's necessarily any disagreements, I think it's more of a priority. Yeah, they want to know, okay, if you knew what needs to be done first, what can you do now? Kind of thing. But for the most part, I think, the staff, especially having to deal like, we're the ones that get the phone calls and everything from the public, we have a pretty good idea, okay, if we're constantly getting a phone call about this issue, we probably need to be able to address it to make it easier, not only on our licensees, but on us in our processes. And so by time, we've hashed all that out and brought it to the board. They're, you know, they're pretty much on the same page as us because again, we have board members who are still active builders. Yeah, they still hold a license with us. And so they're, they're out there in the field, and they're seeing it too. And people are coming to them, like, hey, what if we do this? What if, you know, we could use that? So, so I definitely don't think that there's ever been a time where they were really in disagreement with us. The difference may just have been in the approach, or in the time.
Sam Hardin:Yeah. And just, you know, prioritization of like, okay, you know, this is higher up on our list, and this will come later. Okay, that makes a lot of sense.
Suanne Parnell:And, and the only the only, and to build on
Sam Hardin:Oh, absolutely. Yeah. what Mulaney just said, in the timeframe, our biggest hurdle is putting the reins on the, on our board members, you know, because, again, they're all they all most of them have their own businesses in, in there used to, you know, let's do this, they make the decision, and it's done, it can start doing so, you
Suanne Parnell:And so. Yeah. So that would be that, that's the know, getting them to slow down and work within, you know, the restraints that we have as a state agency, you know, because we have to go through all of the, you know, the purchase order processing the quotes in the purchase orders and getting approvals. And all that we, you know, we just can't go off willy nilly tomorrow, and, you know, hire somebody to do something. And so, getting them to slow down and understand, you know, and understand this is going to take some time is it's like I said, they've been pushing, they've been wanting more stuff online for years. And I've I've been trying to hold on back only difficulty we have with with that, I think is just getting them to understand. It's gonna, it's gonna take a little knowing that, that we have the capability, but that the system time.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, we can.do it. It can happen. It just, you know, we have to follow the processes, we have to, you know, wasn't the system wasn't prepared for what was capable, get the proper approvals and, and go through the different if that makes sense. avenues.
Suanne Parnell:And also, in our case, it's the money, you know, yeah, we might, we might have the money somewhere. But we're restricted by whatever our budget is for this year. So we can only spin was budgeted. And and since the budgets, how long did they say the budgets are set two years out. And the line is that was, say two years in advance two years in advance. So if it's not in our budget this year, it's not going to be in the budget for another. You know, what this budget is already set this budget next year's budgets already set. So if we can't cover it within those two budgets, it's going to have to weigh Gotcha.
Sam Hardin:So every two years, the budget is reviewed. So what happens in the case where it's like, you know, I'm just a little bit unfamiliar, but the process of saying, Well, what happens in the case of an emergency or something, something happens or, you know, what's the process for that? Or how do you if you had to go back and say, gosh, we really need this or, you know, the budget didn't incorporate, you know, the pandemic happening. So it didn't think that would happen. So we didn't budget for this. What do you what is the process to kind of Go back to the well, if you will, or, or at least submit a request or Oh, yeah.
Suanne Parnell:Yeah, it would have to be, um, you know, I, um, you know, from I'm not the accountant, but having had conversations, I'm sure that when the budget is created there cushions put in it, you know, and there are places, you know, just like we talked about earlier with the printing, you know, our printing cost are budgeted for next year for already budgeted for this year, next year, based on what was spent two years ago. So if we decrease that, then that's going to have money in the budget that can be moved to another line item. So that's, you know, that's where the accountants come in and work their magic on on things. So and I'm sure there's like a discrepancy fund or something somewhere, there's probably an emergency or something. You know, if our system heaven forbid, just blew up for no reason that there was something that could be done to get it back. So yeah.
Sam Hardin:So do you do Suanne report for like your department, the IT department?
Suanne Parnell:I am the IT department.
Sam Hardin:Do you give do you give the accounting people a number that you're saying? Well, I think we'll need about this because I, you know, I reviewed it last year, and I review it this year. Do you give them numbers?
Suanne Parnell:No, I've never laid eyes on a budget.
Sam Hardin:Okay. Gotcha.
Suanne Parnell:Maybe because yes, I am the IT department. Yeah, yeah. But but we also um, Id department but that's just basically the only thing I do is a manage the database and work with you guys. And then troubleshoot minor issues, it issues within I look at really act more as a liaison between our agency and the state it and we have a a kind of a professional contract with a computer company that handles all of our interior. Networking, and insecurity. So they help with the budget for you know, they're contracted is what that budget is based on us, I suppose. But you know, I am they refer whenever we have to review the the maintenance support plan for each year, you know, they come to me for for my recommendations, I'm yeah, we need that, or no, we don't or, you know, we can reduce it, or we need to increase it based on what, what we've got going on and what I see coming down the pike. So.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, I find it pretty puzzling that, you know, sometimes we'll talk to agencies. And, you know, typically, it's the smaller ones, but they don't have they don't budget for any it. Resources or any it expenditures. Yeah. And like, so how do you think that's gonna work? You think, you know, the system you got 10 years ago, it's just gonna keep on chugging along and be great. You know, it's like, I don't know, I guess, and I know that it's really complex, there's a lot of stuff that I don't understand. But, you know, just in your personal lives, if you were still using, you know, Microsoft Word 97 You might have or Excel 97, to be able to do some of the things that you want to do. Or it might not be compatible with some other systems. You know, it's, it's, it's just interesting sometimes.
Suanne Parnell:I think it I mean, I'm not a simple simplify too much. But it goes back to that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Sam Hardin:Yeah. There's a lot of that.
Suanne Parnell:You know, oh, I think back to when we went live with GLS. Prior to that, that was in 2010. Okay. In 2010, we were using the agency was using an Access database database that had been created for the board when it was first set up in 1995. So for 15 years, you know, and there's never been there never been any improvements made on it. It was just it was what it was, and that's what they had used and it wasn't until I came in and out been my big mouth and started questioning? Because I had been out in the world and seeing new or better things. Yeah, I'm like, why are y'all? Why are you using a mail merge to send these letters. I mean, this is how bad it was, they were, if they were seeing if there's a time of the year, they send the three year expired letters, and there's like, there could be anywhere from three to 500 letters, okay. They were ranting, they had a template, a Word template that they would print, on letterhead, however many copies of it they needed. And then the accounting, the senior accountant would run a, an Excel list of all the people that needed to get the letter. Now he wouldn't email, he wouldn't do the list, he would actually create the labels because nobody knew how to do the labels, he would print two sets of labels. And they would put a label on the letter and a label on the on the envelope and stuff the envelope all at the same time. And I'm like, why are y'all Why are you not at least doing a mail merge people? Yeah. And they were like, what's that? And I was like.
Sam Hardin:Oh, we're gonna come a long way. Wonder if we could go back to that person and tell them Well, here's...
Suanne Parnell:My goal when we first started with GLS was like, okay, the people that need to run a mailing list, don't shouldn't have to go to somebody else to run that list or to run that document, they should be able to do it themselves. And that's what my goal was.
Sam Hardin:Great, thank you. Yeah, that the next question I have is, so as we've kind of talked about takes a lot of effort to modernize, you know, whether it be financial or staff resources. Why was and you guys have touched on this a little bit? The Why was modernization worth it for for you guys, for
Suanne Parnell:This is, this is where I said, um, the your agency? generational demand. I mean, we're just getting it right and left people wanting to know, you why can't I do this online you know. And the fact that the society is just pushing it, it's pushing everybody to, you know. Our mantra for the day was either row or get out of the boat.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, what I would assume probably some of the just the efficiency internally, you know, as you mentioned earlier, staff internally saying, you know, we could make this process more efficient by doing this or, you know, by having this online or doing it this way or so, I think that's probably a driver as well.
Suanne Parnell:Yeah. Well, I tell you, another part of it is the, um, and one of the this goes back to what are you most excited about, one of the things I'm really excited about with our agency transformation is going to be the, the training aspect of it, having the training videos and having our all of our process guides updated, and functioning properly, because we spend so much time training and then retraining because some of the things, if you don't do it on a daily basis, then when you do have to do it, it's like, Wait, how do I do that? Rather than rather than having to stop somebody from what they're doing? It's like, okay, tell me again, how do I do this? Just going through the process guide?
Sam Hardin:Absolutely
Suanne Parnell:So the training tools that will be included are an exciting part of it, too,
Sam Hardin:That, you know, that that is one thing at GL that, that we've really been trying to work on, and advance for our clientele. You know, one of the areas for me personally, where it's come out and, you know, revealed itself is in implementation or like, you know, taking somebody from to a new system, whether they have a legacy system, or whether they, you know, didn't have anything before, you know, those first couple months as, as you you might remember something from from back when we went live with GLS it's like, there's so much going on, and it is such a transition to a new system, everything's different, everything looks different. Everything's in different places, compared to, you know, the, the system you're on before what you're doing before, and, you know, you can provide, you know, GLS provides training and, and we go through that but, you know, if you have a let's say you have a department of 50 people, and you're trying to, you know, you're jumping on a team's meeting and trying to train them? Well, you can bet at least five or 10 of those people are not doing anything and watching the NCAA tournament on their phone trainings going on, you know, it was just inevitable that there's going to be people or, you know, not even that they just, they might get stuck on on step one, and they don't want to speak up, because, you know, we found that is working with our clientele where it just didn't seem to be as effective as possible doing that kind of group training, because there's no way to validate. Everybody got it. So you kind of just like, Okay, is everybody good? We deliver the training? Do you feel good? It was like, Yep, we're good. And then, you know, the next day, you get questions about it, and you kind of just scratch your head, like, so. But I don't think that's like, to me, that's not something that that's natural, I think, you know, that's normal, you're always gonna get to add that. So.
Suanne Parnell:There's, there's nothing you can do to avoid that you're, yeah, get that. And also, another thing is, this is something I have to remind people around here all the time. You're only there for a couple of weeks, you know, at the most and unless you're unless you're training in real life circumstances, there's gonna be a scenario that comes up that you have not anticipated inevitably doubly. And, and that's one of the things I find when I'm testing stuff, and gos. You know, like, when I'm testing the online renewals, and I'm testing things, I tell everybody, okay, to the best of my knowledge, everything works. But now once we turn on that, but enable those online renewals, and some Joe Schmo out there, you know, who's using some odd browser gets on there, and he can't do something. You know, it may not, you know, I can't, I can't account for that. So it's, it's the same thing with training, you can't account for every scenario. So I think it's great that those that you're going to have those training videos, I think, of course, we need one for all of our licensees to learn how to log in, but, um, y'all were gonna take care of that for us.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, it's nice. And you do you do see it on some of the modern websites, you know, they have, you know, kind of the basic levels, they'll have the FAQs. So, you know, if you if you have questions, you can go to that. But, I mean, how many people these days learn from YouTube? Or, you know, I can't do anything, I'm gonna jump on YouTube, and I'm gonna watch somebody show me how to do it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's, that's a big thing for we've gotten a lot of positive feedback about that with the videos and, and putting them on the website, so that the end user can just watch a video for how to do that. It's, it's, it's helped greatly. And then another thing that we've implemented, people don't love it, but it is effective. So we, we, we assign homework now. For like, installs. So you know, everybody that's supposed to be, you know, like, let's say you have your licensing specialist group, and, you know, they have to know how to be able to process an application or process or renewal, will actually create, like, an assignment for them to demonstrate that they know how to go through that process. And just like you said, so and it's, you know, it's not going to account for Joe Schmo, using, you know, I can't account for every single possibility. But, you know, that's, that's the, you know, that's the one off scenario or that's the, that's the minority, but, you know, so so that we have found that to be pretty effective, people don't love it, because it kind of makes them feel like they're back in grade school. Again, they have to, you know, they have, but it helps with that, like, Okay, where are you paying attention, but it also helps for it gets them the need, or the help that they they need, they just may not be voicing it, you know? So, so it kind of forces them to go to the manager and say, Hey, I got a little bit confused when when GL was training me on this and they did this button can can you show me that and it just kind of brings it to resolution faster than, you know, three down three months down the road, and then it becomes a you know, a crisis and you know, you got a mad mad person on another line. So, right, yeah. Okay, well, my last question here. If so, my number six here if you had a dream vendor or a partner in achieving your goals within modernisation, what kind of things would that partner do? And what would that relationship look like?
Suanne Parnell:And how did I answer it earlier, Melanah?
Melanah Poole:Well, I mean, you stated that one of them, one of the one of the things that our dream vendor or partner would do is they have, they have that broad understanding of processes that are unique to like government or regulatory agencies. Yeah, because we're kind of a special little brand. And we can be applied to all processes. And they will also have a finger on the pulse of technology, so that they know how to guide us in how we want to go in the future. They know what path to put us on and what direction we need to take. And then, of course, the ability to easily interface with all of our resources that we need, especially the ones that are just crucial to our processes. We, we want to vendor, we want a partner who, who can understand the the relationship that we have with those resources and can easily help us interface with that.
Sam Hardin:Yeah, that's, that's great. I appreciate that, that.
Suanne Parnell:Basically, it would look like GLS.
Melanah Poole:Yep.
Sam Hardin:What I'm hearing from you guys, is you're saying like, well, I want you guys to present me with everything. And you know, I'll pick and choose from there. But I want to know, what's out there, you know, that kind of being on the cutting edge. It's like, if there's something new out there, tell me about it. You sold me on it. Yeah. And then we can and then you guys can take that back and meet with your team and decide and say yea or nay. But if you don't know what's out there, how, you know, how would you implement it?
Suanne Parnell:We're in the business of doing what we do, and kinda are dependent on you guys been in the business of knowing what's out there and available. And I'll tell you, a lot of a lot of things I've become dependent on with GLS is learning from what other agencies do is like I was, I felt really good. Yesterday, I met with Brandon Berkshire on a spec of for a CE spec. And we were working on calculations. And he told me that what we what we had on this specific document was really simple compared to what other other agencies have. And that made me feel really good. Because I thought, oh, my gosh, what this? Yeah, hey, we were joking about how we were having to do calculus, and I was just basic math, you know. Yeah. You know, but having your, your expansive knowledge of how other regulatory agencies are functioning and how they handle situations and stuff is very helpful. Because sometimes we know what we want, or we know that what the end product we want, but we don't know how to get there. So a lot of times, I have found that I've been dependent on you guys telling me okay. First is our our dashboard, our login to dashboard that was in us that was you guys said, Look, we're gonna set you our y'all need a new login and dashboard. And that was all in a step to get us towards this online portal, you know, a client portal kind of thing. So which I never would have thought of our login was working just fine. Before what you know, it ain't broke. Why fix it?
Sam Hardin:Yeah. I think that's a good point. I do hear that from a lot of our, our clients is they they want to know, you know, what people are doing in other states. And, you know, I know that you guys have the conferences and, and so you'll, you'll talk there, but you know, that's kind of a broader conversation where people want to know, you know, what the contractors board and another state of the home builders board in another state is doing. And so you guys can kind of see what's out there, and kind of talk strategy. So I've always thought, you know, we used to do a lot of webinars and invite everybody on and do questions. You know, that's one way that we kind of like to bring people together. But you know, we serve a lot of clients that are in the same exact industry. You know, accounting boards, cosmetology boards, contractors, boards, and so sometimes I think, like, I tried to think how could we bring them together? Because you're right, a lot of the new product development comes from you guys. It comes from our interactions with you guys and what you Tell us you need and, and then you know. So the more the merrier, the more the feedback that we can get the better and it can help us lead our, our development of new products or so yeah, it totally makes sense. I'm I'm just trying to think of a way to bring everybody together a little bit more. Because everybody seems to really like it.
Suanne Parnell:A user conference in Montana would be really nice.
Sam Hardin:I know, I know!
Suanne Parnell:June is a good month to be in Montana.
Sam Hardin:I know, I know, trust me, I'm already dropping a drop for that. And Bill's ear that we used to do that. And he's like, I would love it. I think it'd be great. So I Yeah, we should do it. Well, guys, that's my, that's my last question. I really appreciate your time and speaking with me today. It's really good insight. And I, and I just appreciate you too. So.
Suanne Parnell:You're very welcome. We appreciate you. Okay. Thank you, Sam.
Melanah Poole:Yes we do.
Sam Hardin:Alright. Thank you so much. And I look forward to hearing from you soon. And I think the next you guys will be Thanks guys. Bye. . talking about agency transformation with your board here pretty soon and I'm sure we'll hear from you soon.