Robert L. Barbret, assistant manager for invested, auxiliary and plant funds, Financial Operations, who succeeded Chip Simper as a member of the team, says that the system is working well and already has had several enhancements.
He also notes that the new system “eliminated the most repetitive aspects of investment accounting, making it possible for staff members to spend more time on analytical aspects.”
Elizabeth Hokada says that the team’s work also has enabled them to attack the 90 percent/10 percent rule—going from spending 90 percent of the time getting data ready and 10 percent of time adding value, to spending 10 percent of time getting ready and 90 percent of time adding value.
“We have on-demand access to a huge amount of data and a dynamic report-writing environment.”
Charles Hawkins notes that while the group did not have formal M-Quality training, “we did perform the seven steps and continue to rely on the Plan-Do-Check-Act scenario.”
Simper credits the team’s success to a common goal. “We were from different areas and had unique problems, but we went into this with no preconceived ideas.”
He also says that the group has evolved “into a true partnership. We continue to learn from and work with each other.”
Robert Wilke appreciated the opportunity “to communicate across areas. There was no such thing as dumb questions. We were educating each other.”
Linda Berlin appreciated the opportunity “to step out of my area and participate as a member of the team. Each member came from different areas, we all had different kinds of expertise. We were able to step away from our own interests and function as team members.”
