The DSS Office of Quality Assurance and Continuous Quality Improvement (QA&CQI) offers a variety of customized services to help agency employees and programs statewide assess and improve their performance.
CQI Consulting Services
QA&CQI staff can support planning and pre-implementation due diligence activities associated with the launch of a new program or service offering, circumstances where changes are being considered to existing offerings, and/or situations where CQI project team engagement may be premature or inappropriate.
Depending on the nature of a specific request, QA&CQI staff will
- conduct interviews and surveys with employees, customers, and stakeholders;
- attend and/or facilitate meetings;
- perform process mapping and workflow analysis;
- review supplied materials; and/or,
- offer CQI advice and counsel related to policies, business processes, data collection and reporting, feedback loops, barriers, corrective action plans, and related activities.
As applicable, quarterly activity calendars and status reports, as well as a final report will be provided.
CQI Project Team Implementation and Management
This option is suitable for situations where targeted improvement is required or desired in specific program activities and/or performance outcomes. With this option, QA&CQI staff will create, manage, and support a dedicated CQI project team that will function as a collaborative workgroup to identify, execute, and assess improvements to policies, business processes, feedback loops, and related deliverables.
In most instances, these teams will be created as ad-hoc groups within one or more program or support areas with a specific focus and operating timeframe. However, some situations may necessitate the creation of a cross-functional and/or interagency team to manage special projects and initiatives.
Depending on the nature of a specific project, QA&CQI staff may provide training and/or consulting services referenced above, as well as project team management and support functions, such as scheduling, meeting facilitation, recordkeeping, etc.
In addition, specific CQI activities may include:
- creation of a problem statement;
- data collection and information gathering;
- root cause analysis and validation;
- identification and beta testing of possible improvement strategies; and,
- subsequent implementation of new/revised policies and business processes.
Where needed, QA&CQI staff will also help identify and leverage content experts in related agency support areas, such as legal, finance, technology, etc.
As applicable, quarterly activity calendars and status reports, as well as a final report will be provided.
Let’s Get Started!
An initial consultation with QA&CQI staff will identify needs, outcomes, and a proposed scope of work, to include a joint determination as to the capacity to manage the scope of work.
For further information or to request an initial consultation, please contact:
Thomas Robertson
thomas.robertson@dss.sc.gov
(803) 830-2448
