Her determination to reduce bad debt, improve
service and minimise opportunities for fraud to occur have given sharp focus to
Vicky Shuping’s daily activities. She notes that progress has been made, but
says there is still much to do.
The executive director in the revenue and customer relations management department, Vicky Shuping
I
N
her first year as the executive
director in the revenue and customer relations management department, Vicky
Shuping oversaw revenue collection of R6,2-billion.
And
a recent independent survey of customer satisfaction shows that the City is
rating well as far as its front-office services in customer service centres is
concerned. The numbers of abandoned calls and outstanding queries had all been
reduced, while queries were being resolved faster, the survey found.
A
B-Juris qualification from Unisa gives Shuping a solid understanding of the
complexities of a work environment that is highly regulated and legally
prescribed. And "when dealing with money collection, legal issues always come
into play", she stresses.
Clean
data
Shuping
has no illusions about the long road ahead. The one challenge still being
grappled with is the status of the City's customer databases, she says.
"To
achieve an African, world-class status, data need to be cleaned up as we cannot
issue correct bills if addresses are incorrect."
However,
she maintains that about 82 percent of the City's billing information
is correct; the balance is un-metered users or users with incorrect personal
information.
There
is a concentrated effort by the department to clean up its customer databases,
supported by the Department of Provincial and Local Government, which is
funding the work being done by a private company.
"They
are doing data analysis of current customer information and highlighting
problem areas. They are also actually doing some of the data clean up," she
says.
At
the same time, the City is converting its revenue and customer interface
information technology (IT) platforms to a single IT system. As part of the
conversion, the quality of customer data is also being interrogated and
updated.
"We
want to ensure that when we convert to the new IT system, the customer data
that is moved across is clean. So there is a team working on ensuring all the
addresses are right, all the customer identities are captured; that the meter
numbers correspond with the stand numbers; that the stand numbers correspond
with the correct customer names, and so on.
"The
City has also aligned almost every property in the city with the Deeds Register
- for the first time ever."
Finally,
she says, there are on-going operational clean ups of data. "We regularly communicate
with our customers and request them to let us know their new information - like
their postal addresses, cellphone numbers or email addresses. This is done
daily during the normal course of work."
Significant
progress has been made so far through these initiatives, Shuping says. "We have
a technical steering committee co-ordinating all the initiatives and setting
data standards and ensuring quality control extends into the future."
Johannesburg
has more than a million residences and with the addition of sectional title
properties as individual account holders from July 2008, the amount of data to
maintain will increase substantially.
Single
view of customers
To
address the challenges of billing and revenue collection, the City set up Project
Phakama in 2005. Once it is completed the entire city will have one billing
system running off a single IT platform (SAP).
Home of the department of revenue and customer relations management
The
benefits are substantial and will include "a single, accurate data source of
customers and a single point of accountability". It will also improve the
quality of customer service, Shuping says. "Among other things, we hope to
eliminate the frustration experienced by residents being sent from pillar to
post during enquiries; and we will be able to issue refunds within a day or
two."
Long
turnaround times relating to refunds and clearance certificates are the biggest
complaint from residents. The target for 2006 was that 95 percent of
refunds be issued within 30 days and 85 percent of clearances within
30 days. "We want to set a target of 95 percent of all refunds and
clearances within 30 days [for this year]."
For the first time, under Project Phakama the City will have one view of a customer. "The design phase has been completed and programmes are currently in the build and test phase."
However,
she cautions that with any project of this size accurate timelines for
completion are always a challenge. "It is a high-level design for a completely
new service organisation. Resourcing around the project remains a challenge not
only in rand and cent terms, but also in terms of human resources."
Culture
of payment
Perhaps
a bigger challenge lies in instilling a culture of payment among residents.
Non-payment by some residents who enjoy the benefits of services remains a
prickly issue. But Shuping maintains that wilful non-payment by residents is
relatively low.
Educating
consumers on their rights and responsibilities is one of the department's main
focuses.
"We
educate people on the importance and benefits of paying their bills on time as
this money is used for service delivery, building houses, stadiums and
maintenance of [Johannesburg] infrastructure."
Through
the City's Municipal Services Subsidy Scheme, 118 000 residents have
registered as indigents and over R1,5-billion in accrued debt has been written
off since 2005. Residents can still register for the subsidy scheme -
low-income earners or unemployed people, disabled people, pensioners,
HIV-positive breadwinners or those with Aids, orphans, and child-headed
households qualify.
"All
applications for the subsidy received after March 2006 to the present day
qualify for a service subsidy related to refuse and sewer billing." Although
arrear debts of indigents are no longer written off, exceptional cases are
considered on merit.
Bad
debt
Some
bad debt is simply irrecoverable for economic or legal reasons, Shuping
explains. The reasons are that debtor information is lacking, that the amount
owed is too small to justify collection costs, or that the debt is too old.
Irrecoverable
debt is informed by the Prescription Act. In terms of this Act, municipalities
can legally pursue debt in respect of rates and taxes for 30 years and debt on
services such as water and electricity for three years. Much of the bad debt
the City carries is very old and, therefore, is probably irrecoverable, Shuping
says.
A
panel of attorneys does arrears debt collection on behalf of the City and
advises on debt that is considered irrecoverable. Also, the Better Buildings
Programme in the inner city allows for debt to be written off when a building
is repossessed as a result of outstanding debt.
Under
that project, the building is resold on condition that it will be upgraded and
renovated, Shuping explains.
But
the battle continues. Current bad debt is more than R7,2-billion. Of this,
R2,6-billion was collected during the last financial year. "[We] continue to
implement the City's Credit Control Policy, which includes termination of
services on arrear accounts [and] consumers in arrears are being contacted
telephonically to pay their accounts."
Bad
debt is not merely wiped off in blackboard and chalk style. After consultation
and on the advice of the panel of attorneys, the revenue department submits a
report to the mayoral committee on irrecoverable debt. Write-offs exceeding
R20-million have to be approved by the council.
Veracity
underscores all her actions and decisions. "When one deals with money, there is
always a need for strong integrity."
Although
the struggle against fraud is never won, Shuping has made headway in this area
too, running ongoing fraud awareness campaigns in the department. She
attributes part of her success to her approachable nature and the fact that she
is first and foremost a people's person - Shuping bases her life on the
principle of "batho pele", or "putting people first".
When
she takes time off to relax she does this in company. "I am passionate about
live theatre and soccer, and a staunch Pirates supporter."
Related stories:
|
