<p> International Cooperative Administrative Support Services MINUTES ICASS INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP MEETING ICASS Service Center Tuesday, December 14, 2016, 10:00 a.m.</p><p>IWG Chair, Philip French, chaired the meeting.</p><p>1. Introduction of IWG Members and Attendees.</p><p>2. Adoption of Minutes of the October 12, 2016, IWG Meeting: Minutes for the October 12, 2016 meeting were approved and adopted with no changes. </p><p>IWG Chair updates: Philip French, IWG Chair, announced that the next IWG meeting will take place on January 11, 2017. He noted that between January and May, the presentation topics will focus on the State Department Regional Bureaus (WHA, NEA/SCA, EUR/IO, EAP, and AF), and that WHA’s Executive Director will be the first to present. The other bureaus will make their presentations in subsequent IWG meetings. Citing 6 FAH-5 H-221.2-1, he reminded the IWG of the requirement to attend most meetings, and asked those calling in to use the new system that records their name and affiliation, to ensure they are credited with having attended. </p><p>3. Presentation: Management Analytics Portal (MAP) and Customer Services Center (CSC): Margot Shoemaker and Grace Levin, Management Analysts at M/PRI, updated the IWG on M/PRI’s Collaborative Management Initiative (CMI), which includes the MAP and CSC. MAP is configured to be a “one-stop shop” for data, and the CSC transition toolkit assists posts that want to set up a Customer Support Center.</p><p>CSCs, as “one-stop” shops that focus on providing quality customer support, have increased in number at posts around the world. CSCs are not mandatory because they are usually not the right fit for all posts, particularly those with a small ICASS platform. The main benefits of CSCs are improved customer service, greater coordination among sections, better oversight by management, and improved data analytics. A CSC’s key feature is to facilitate, but not actually provide the service. </p><p>The CSC toolkit was demonstrated online using Embassy Pretoria as an example. The toolkit explains how to establish a CSC and includes real world examples, templates for best practices, position descriptions, and marketing material to promote CSCs at posts. The site also lists the countries that have set-up CSCs. Website: http://cas.state.gov/customerservicecenter/</p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 1 In response to several questions from IWG members, it was noted that: CSCs are usually a management initiative at post, rather than one pushed by customers; the implementation of myServices facilitates CSCs because they can perform a coordinating function within the system; CSCs provide a “human element” to the process of integrating families into post, increasing their satisfaction.</p><p>M/PRI noted that they have not established any standards for the size of posts that could benefit from CSCs because even some small posts may find it worthwhile to do so.</p><p>In response to questions about the larger Collaborative Management Initiative (CMI), M/PRI noted that their role in data integrity is to foster improved practices and systems to ensure posts can perform the vital task of understanding and improving the quality of their data. They noted post successes with MeterNet deployment and other aspects of the Overseas Cost Containment Initiative (OCCI) in reducing costs and improving data integrity.</p><p>The second part of the brief focused on the Management Analytics Platform (MAP), with a stated goal of bringing actionable information to the manager – similar to a “balanced scorecard” approach. Still in the pilot phase, its goal is to bring access, visibility, and insight on actionable information to post management. It is a collaborative effort between several offices at State, including M/PRI, IRM, A/LM, and the ICASS Service Center, with significant participation from the field. The four quadrants of MAP on the Dashboard reflect the following: 1. Workforce -- Are my staff operating efficiently? 2. Finances – What is my cost per unit of service and my burn rate? 3. Customers – Am I meeting the service standards and are my customers happy? 4. Operations –How am I doing as measured by several business process metrics?</p><p>In answers to a few questions raised by IWG members, M/PRI staff indicated that OPS data will be reviewed for inclusion in the MAP as that system comes on-line, and that some data related to space is being pulled currently (an example from Abidjan was cited). In response to a question about the financing of MAP, M/PRI staff indicated that the effort is currently funded entirely by State, but that more funding would be necessary to expand the data analytics capability. Finally, it was noted that Steven Gibson had worked on the original Uniform Service Standards, and that since then 64 USS had been updated and recalibrated, with 19 more to come in 2017.</p><p>4. Presentation: Work Life Wellness initiative: Darrel D. Kniss, PhD, Manager, Health and Wellness Program, M/Med, presented a new Med initiative known as Work Life Wellness Coordination. The pilot program is a collaboration with the Human Resources Office (HRO), and is seen as an important management tool that benefits the entire community at a post. This is not a new process, and has been studied and implemented widely in the private sector. </p><p>The first pilot took place at Embassy Bogota. Using the OPM Wellcheck metric rating, Med saw an overall score increase of 16% in wellness in just eight months, including </p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 2 improvement in the two priority categories of stress management and depression(57% and 41%, respectively). This initiative allowed Med to gain a better understanding of the potential challenges, which have been addressed as Med moves forward with the pilot design.</p><p>The expansion of the pilot program is set to begin in early 2017. A request for proposal cable was sent to posts with a December 19, 2016, deadline. As of this meeting, Med has received eight proposals, and more than 45 posts showed interest in becoming a pilot post for this new initiative. Four pilot sites will be selected with an estimated cost of $315,000 for two years. The funding will come from ICASS Med carry-overs, and will be used to hire and train Work Life Coordinators (Eligible Family Members – EFMs) at post. The program will be assessed using several methods, including wellness and viewpoint surveys, OPM Wellcheck, the coordinator’s quarterly report, as well as subjective and observational evidence. </p><p>The main question asked regarding this initiative was how Med will fund the program after the initial two years are complete. Med indicated it will first go back to posts to see if they want to continue this program. Then Med plans on reporting their findings to the IWG. The Executive Director, Med/EX, Paul Wedderien, stated that we [Med] are true believers in the program, and the pilots will allow us to learn the best practices and lessons learned. Med would like to see this program at every post, but the initiative and yearly funding must be provided by post.</p><p>5. Reports and Committee updates:</p><p>. ISC Director’s Report: ISC Acting Director Peter Hogan bid farewell to Steven Gibson, Policy Coordination and Training Team Lead, who is retiring at the end of the year. John McComb, Information Management Specialist, is also leaving the ICASS Service Center in January 2017, and will be joining the Foreign Service. In the front office, Nobue King departed to take a position in OBO, and Kalaya Byrd joined our team as the new Admin Assistant. </p><p>ISC training and outreach in the past couple of months has been extensive, with a focus on workshops, webinars, and consultations. From October to December, the majority of the ISC team was on the road supporting Budget and Management workshops in Bogota, Cape Town, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, and Bangkok. In Kuala Lumpur the ISC participated in a unique session for the Priority Staffing Posts (PSPs). In Cape Town the ISC briefed a combined GSO/FMO session to strengthen the relationship between these two important sections. Several Executive Summary Quarterly webinars were also completed, and a “targeted” webinar was done specifically for Mission Kazakhstan, in the aftermath of the ending of USAID’s ASP in Almaty.</p><p>Finally, the Bureau of Budget and Planning (BP) and the INL/Airwing circulated a memo to the IEB addressing the fare increases for flights operated by Embassy Air in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although this is a non-ICASS cost, the Airwing wanted the maximum </p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 3 distribution possible of the changes it is implementing as it moves to full cost reimbursement. (See the Director’s report at the end of these minutes.)</p><p>. Budget Update: Trish Garate, ISC, spoke about the new scorecard process incentives for FY2017. This year if a post obtains an “A” score on the initial budget, they will automatically receive an A for the following year. The ISC believes this is an excellent incentive for posts, and will do a full review next year to determine its feasibility. She said that it will be interesting to see if the number of “As” received in the initial budget is much higher than in the previous fiscal year. She also put to a vote the nomination of a co-chair for the budget committee, James (Slim) R. Beamon, DECS, DoD. Mr. Beamon was unanimously approved by the IWG. She also noted that delinquent invoices would be notified to the ICASS Executive Board in the coming days.</p><p>. Service Provider Update: </p><p>Howard VanVranken, Deputy Executive Director, NE-SCA/EX, reported that FS assignments are a strong area for concern for the Department. Identifying personnel in the various specialties has been successful with the exception of Information Management, where there are insufficient personnel to fill all of the billets, especially in AF and NEA/SCA. Regarding data integrity, he noted that the Department sees this as an urgent matter, noting that OBO is working hard to clean up CSCS data and HR/OE is doing the same with the introduction of OPS. </p><p>. Policy Committee Update and Final Notes:</p><p>Phil French, IWG chair, said that the policy committee will meet right after the IWG meeting (12:45) to vote on two updates in the ICASS Handbook: 1. IWG Chair Leadership – 6 FAH-5 H-221.2-2, and 2. NSDD-38 process – 6 FAH-5 H-351.2. He also highlighted the importance of all USG ICASS Executive Summary webinars, which serve as an excellent management tool for all the agencies. Janine Hines, CDC, found the quarterly CDC webinars extremely helpful, especially the questions posed by the participants. She encourages everyone to participate. Bill Hoover, ISC Lead Trainer, congratulated Erin Sullivan, Commerce, on the superb webinar input and the use of ICASS by Commerce for internal data analysis. He said that the next quarterly executive webinar will be in mid-January and feature Homeland Security.</p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 4</p><p>December 14, 2016</p><p>TO: ICASS Working Group </p><p>FROM: Peter Hogan, Acting Director, ICASS Service Center </p><p>SUBJECT: December 2016 Director’s Report</p><p>ICASS Service Center Staff Changes</p><p>As I briefly mentioned in October, we have some upcoming staff changes in the ISC. We bid farewell to Steven Gibson, who has worked on ICASS or related management issues since the program’s inception. Steven was the Peace Corps rep to the IWG, before joining the Center in 2000. He left to take a position in M/PRI, where he worked on the development of the Uniform Service Standards and helped institutionalize the quality coordinator positions overseas. Returning to the Center as the Team Leader for PC&T, he led the Team in the transition from post-based to distance learning and webinars. We wish him all the best as he leaves to pursue a life beyond ICASS. John McCombs is leaving us to join the Foreign Service as an Information Management Specialist. John provided invaluable expertise in reengineering both our OpenNet and internet SharePoint sites, and in managing the ICASS customer survey. I can’t think of a better position for John to take up to deploy his talents in support of post operations. We’ve had a staff turnover in the front office, as well, with Nobue King departing to take up a position in OBO. We welcome Kalaya Byrd as our new Admin Assistant.</p><p>Outreach and Training</p><p> ISC staff provided a briefing on the basic operations of ICASS to the Department of Commerce/Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) during their conference held in Washington, DC for all of their overseas Economic Control Officers (ECOs) and their LE Staff. </p><p> ISC staff conducted the quarterly Executive Summary of ICASS for HHS/CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This webinar has been offered since August, 2012 and is now a regular feature of required orientation for CDC personnel so that they understand their required role in ICASS, at post, or in a support role at headquarters. </p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 5  On Wednesday, 16 November the ISC continued its series of quarterly webinars entitled “Executive Summary of ICASS” for the entire USG. This webinar series was modeled on webinars that have been offered to HHS/CDC since 2012 and it is now a regular quarterly offering. The webinar presents a basic overview of ICASS and the roles that participating agencies are expected to play in ICASS governance. </p><p> ISC staff conducted a webinar for the ICASS Council and Budget Committee of Mission Kazakhstan. Participants were located in both Astana and Almaty. In addition to an overview of the general roles and responsibilities of Council and Budget Committee members, the ISC offered guidance on the recent change in the status of Almaty as an ASP and suggestions for how the seven different Council members can carry out their duties when they have a presence in only one of the two locations. </p><p>Budget and Management Workshops</p><p>ISC staff attended three budget workshops this fall, in Bogota for WHA, in Cape Town for AF, and in Kuala Lumpur for both EAP and NEA/SCA. All the workshops included ISC-led sessions on current “hot topics” of interest to posts, as well as breakout sessions on Data Quality, Furniture and Appliance Pools, the Budget and Data Integrity Scorecard, and new features of the ICASS software. Post consultations and budget checking occurred at all of them. In Cape Town, GSOs from AF attended a parallel workshop, and ISC staff provided sessions to them on ICASS Basics plus furniture pools. ISC staff in Kuala Lumpur attended a special day of meetings on issues unique to the priority staffing posts of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.</p><p>I attended two management officer workshops, for EAP in Bangkok, and for NEA/SCA in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sessions on ICASS metrics, plus ICASS by the Numbers occurred at both. The EAP workshop included a hands-on exercise using the Management Analytics Portal you saw today. The NEA/SCA workshop included sessions on the large support contract for Foreign Military Sales personnel operating in parallel to ICASS in Abu Dhabi, on Amman’s method for tracking TDYers, and on the opportunities in the regions for post to post support and regional support mechanisms.</p><p>Budget and Invoices </p><p>As of early December, 27 ICASS FY 2016 invoice agreements are outstanding, for a total of $3.3 million. The first FY 2017 CR Recapitalization invoices were issued at the end of October, for $433 million. The second CR Recap invoices will likely be issued in February. FY 2017 initial budget submissions are proceeding, with the last ones expected before the end of the month.</p><p>Memo to the IEB related to Increases in Embassy Air Prices Effective 2017 </p><p>Included in the IEB materials is a memo to the Board from the Bureau of Budget and Planning and the INL/Airwing related to non-ICASS costs of tickets for flights operated by Embassy Air in Iraq and Afghanistan. While this is a non-ICASS cost, the memo is addressed to the Board to ensure the broadest distribution of the information related to the fare increases as the Embassy </p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 6 Air platform transitions to a full cost-recovery service. In addition to the IEB distribution, we’ll be sending an electronic copy to IWG members. We have a few hard copies here if anyone wishes to take one away today.</p><p>December 14, 2016, IWG meeting Page 7</p>