About the Engagement 

At the onset of the 2020 pandemic, a state-level agency received the task to distribute funds from the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), acting as a grantee in the nationwide initiative that amassed approximately $46.5 billion. The program aimed to deliver substantial economic relief to assist households with low and moderate income who were at risk of homelessness or housing instability by offering support with rental arrears, temporary rental assistance, and utility arrears. 

Business Problem
The reporting analytics team required a centralized tool to analyze data for over 100,000+ applications, which equated to $1.25 billion in funding. The reporting analytics team was overwhelmed with data dumps, and how to effectively analyze and report data to leadership; therefore, the engagement team was tasked with developing an enhanced data reporting process to ensure pre-payment determinations were made in a timely, concise, and consistent manner.  

Challenges 

The reporting team had to analyze thousands of applications to determine payment eligibility without a clearly structured, centralized data-verse. This inability resulted in team members inefficiently disseminating system user data and delays in briefing pre-payment and fraud related statuses to leadership.

Project Impacts and Outcomes 

The engagement team worked across a series of targeted areas to address the business problem in a timely, concise, and consistent manner. These areas included

• Requirements Gathering & Data Management: Completed a current-state assessment of reporting status; worked directly with reporting teams to gather detailed requirements for various reports; created and maintained daily reports for pre-payment quality checks and payment determinations. 
• Internal Communication: Standardized check-in structure to include key topics like project progress and escalations; standardized agendas, notetaking and action step captured; defined expectations for performance indicators and shared accountability across the agency. 
• Training, Learning, & Development: Conducted cross-functional training to ensure staff knowledge and ability to perform pre-payment report generations and refreshes; conducted regular demos to ensure business teams are trained on technical system capabilities; developed a system for project management to prioritize and implement business requirements for operational teams.