A solution for child support payment mail

Processing child support payments and disbursing funds to families is important, time- sensitive work requiring proven automated processes and an experienced project team. In January, ACS State and Local Solutions completed the implementation of the largest child support payment processing project startup in the country in Ohio. The Child Support Payment Central project will handle more than $1.8 billion in collections and mail about 10 million checks and 2 million direct deposits annually for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The federally mandated centralization of child support SDUs (State Disbursement Units) requires rapid turn around of all support payments. As the premier provider of these services, Dallas-based ACS now operates 16 SDUs and processes about 55% of all the support payments in the country. Unlike the retail processing of coupons, child support is noted for the non-standard character of the mail received for processing. Because of the large number of payments made by employers through income withholding (about 70%) and the fact that most payments come from the accounts payable system of the employer, the mail received for processing can be considered 75-80% non-standard. Beginning in the mail room, the equipment and processes must be oriented to the exceptional character of the mail.

One of the significant challenges of the SDU process is the nature of the mail extraction process. It is clear that a child support remittance document does not lend itself to high-speed opening and extraction. High-speed systems require clean envelopes of the same size and contents that do not vary in size or thickness. Child support remittances vary widely from the envelope size of the remittance, to the size and number of the documents in each envelope. Return envelopes are rarely used.

In the early 90s, ACS used a number of different incoming mail opening and sorting machines before settling on the present solution. The TriFold 2000 Dual Station mail opener/extractor from InscercoMfg., Inc., was chosen due to the non-standard nature of the material processed. With almost all the payment volume being "white mail", the optional mill cutting technology offered on the TriFold helped prevent damage to the folded contents during the opening process. This of course helped eliminate the repair and taping that had been previously necessary when less efficient slicing technology was used.

Over the last 5 years, Ultra Systems has been the selected vendor for inbound mail processing equipment in 25% of the States across the nation that centrally process Child Support payments. More important is the fact that the TriFold is opening about half of all child support payments in the US because it is used in the largest states.

The TriFold 2000 provides two major benefits to the ACS process.

* First, ACS has experienced a 10 to 15% productivity increase due to the dual station, the mill cutter and the presentation of envelope contents.

* Second is the near elimination of cut contents. Cut contents result in additional processing time to repair and tape. Additionally, research efforts take longer when folded checks are cut. Since many payments involve a list of employees, a cut along the fold in the paper can eliminate data needed to post a balanced transaction and risks a family missing a payment.

Improving the productivity and eliminating research problems results in improved processing performance. With a same day deadline for complete and accurate transmittal of payment posting data, the elimination of exceptions is an important positive gain.

Since 1998, ACS has worked exclusively with Larry Bartoli of Processing and Storage Technologies to size and deliver the right mail processing solutions for its SDU operations. As President of the Weatherford Texas Company, Larry understands that delivering the right equipment solution and the best possible customer service and maintenance ensure that ACS will be successful. Each of the Ultra TriFold 2000 devices has been purchased through Larry Bartoli. His personal attention to detail and customer service ensured ACS' Ohio project manager, John Polk, that the mail extraction solution would be in place and functional on day one of operations.

Not as much mail preparation is necessary with the TriFold opener/extractor. Mixed size mail is opened on three sides utilizing non-damaging mill cutting technology. The clear view into the folded open envelope by the extraction operator is complete and unhindered. The fully exposed contents are left standing upright in the extract track for easy removal. Empty envelope retention is made easy when necessary. When laid flat, the 3-sided opened envelope becomes just another piece of paper for easy document scanning if required.

Most recently a networked production data collection system providing real time processing metrics from the mail processing units to management has been developed by Ultra Systems in conjunction with PDI of Indianapolis, IN. The information provided is invaluable to the operations centers to help plan staffing and to control production and monitor performance and work flow.