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The ChallengeSiloed data sources made it difficult for staff to capture, compare, and analyze taxpayer data in support of collection and auditing activities.

The StrategyLeveraging Information Builders business intelligence data, integrity, and integration technologies, the agency built a comprehensive environment for data retrieval, reporting, and analysis that addresses critical data quality issues and provides a single view of taxpayer information.

The ResultsInstant access to comprehensive information makes tax collectors, auditors, call center representatives, and other staff members more productive. Workers spent 50 percent less time researching information, and taxpayers are better, more efficiently served.

Information Builders SolutioniWay Data Quality and Integration technologies, WebFOCUS Pro Server, ReportCaster, InfoAssist, and RStat.

New Hampshire Boosts Productivity and Revenue Generation Department of Revenue Administration Gains a Single View of the Taxpayer

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) can more efficiently administer state tax laws thanks to business intelligence (BI) and analytics, integration, and data integrity solutions from Information Builders.

“Instead of manually gathering, combining, and sorting taxpayer documents and data, we instantly view everything about a taxpayer on a single screen,” said assistant IT director Karen Sampson. “This makes us more productive, since workers spend 50 percent less time researching information. Our tax examiners, compliance officers, call center team, and auditors see a taxpayer’s entire history and all related correspondences with just one search command.”

Each year, the New Hampshire DRA processes more than 425,000 documents and 290,000 payments, and collects in excess of $2 billion in tax revenues. The biggest challenge isn’t managing these transactions; it’s harnessing the vast amount of information they generate. DRA uses more than 20 disparate tax applications to administer various taxes, maintain taxpayer information, and manage licenses in a manner that promotes public confidence in the agency’s integrity.

“Our information systems are extremely diverse and aren’t well integrated,” said Sampson. “Each system has unique search capabilities and log-in requirements. Staff spent a substantial amount of time collecting and compiling information to track where revenues were coming from, monitor taxpayer activities, analyze historical trends, and conduct future planning. Our collection and auditing efforts lacked coordination and it was difficult to provide information to legislators.”

WebFOCUS iWay Software Omni

Customer Profile

OrganizationThe New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA) administers the state’s tax laws, and assists in matters of budget, finance, and real estate appraisal.

The New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration

The State’s goal was to unify taxpayer information across all sources and provide better reporting and statistical analysis, so users at all levels – from senior-level leadership to tax collectors – could get a better handle on taxpayer filing status, examine patterns and trends that correspond with revenue, estimate the impact of new taxes and fees, and assess the net effect of new tax legislation.

Improved Access to Taxpayer HistoriesDRA built a series of compelling, intuitive dashboards with Information Builders’ WebFOCUS BI and analytics platform, as well as iWay integration and data integrity solutions. The first dashboard, the Single View of the Taxpayer portal, provides a complete, accurate, timely view of each taxpayer’s history. The underlying Information Builders technology directly accesses and consolidates taxpayer data from across all systems, while addressing the data quality issues that are crucial to the single view concept.

While the first version of the Single View portal was adopted by a small group of users, the second version, which included numerous enhancements, is currently used by 80 percent of DRA’s workforce. Users search by name, ID, license, e-mail, or phone number to view current, comprehensive taxpayer details and drilldown to relevant historical data, such as outstanding notices, types of taxes owed, and relationships with other taxpayers. Information can be viewed in multiple formats such as HTML, Excel, or PDF. Visual capabilities highlight “alerts,” drawing attention to the most pertinent data points.

Accessing forms in the department’s document image viewing application is also time-consuming. The tool did not allow for easy scrolling through the electronic document. The Single View portal makes this more efficient by incorporating images, so users can retrieve entire tax returns in a single PDF file.

“Staff in our Call Center report decreased call times, because they can instantly retrieve the information taxpayers are inquiring about.”

Lindsey M. SteppCommissionerNew Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration

Customer Profile

The Compliance Officer Portal allows officers to closely track aspects of their cases, such as balances and payments.

The benefits are clear. Everyone – from management to call center employees – is on the same page, using the same information to perform their jobs. Tax collectors and examiners can better prioritize their cases, and more rapidly identify and rectify inconsistencies. The elimination of manual information management processes has made everyone more efficient and effective.

“Staff in our Call Center report decreased call times, because they can instantly retrieve the information taxpayers are inquiring about,” said Lindsey M. Stepp, Department of Revenue Administration commissioner. “In some cases, the staff begin their search for information based on the incoming phone number, gathering details about the caller before they pick up the phone. This not only boosts productivity, it significantly improves the taxpayer experience.”

The success of the Single View of the Taxpayer portal led to the creation of other dashboards. A Compliance Officer (CO) Portal provides insight into cases assigned to each officer, with complete taxpayer histories, as well as alerts to lien and license expirations, calls required, field visits pending, and other required actions. COs track visual displays of revenues, such as balances due and payments planned or received. A Collections Management Portal measures productivity for the Collections division, and an Administration Portal provides a high-level summary of revenues by tax type, large refunds pending, and outstanding high-dollar Notice of Assessments.

Each portal incudes role-based security, to keep sensitive information fully protected from unauthorized viewing. Users are presented with only the data they are allowed to see, based on their log-in credentials.

Improving Data Quality With the implementation of iWay integration solutions, the WebFOCUS dashboards reach into DRA’s different information systems, including a COBOL application called the Taxpayer Information Management System, along with several Microsoft .NET applications that handle various revenue functions. Data is also gathered from numerous e-filing systems and transformed into DB2 tables – a function that was created with the help of Information Builders’ Professional Services team.

“Our portals let us look across all of our silos to gather timely, relevant, and complete information about an individual taxpayer or a group of taxpayers. Thanks to faster access to better information, we’re more productive and can provide the best possible service to our taxpayers.”

Karen SampsonAssistant IT DirectorNew Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration

Ted Chen, the lead system development specialist on the project, received the “State Suggestion and Extraordinary Service” award for his work on the Single View portal.

Customer Profile

Most DRA data is stored in DB2 on the iSeries Power 6, with additional data in Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The DRA plans to collect information from a third-party vendor and the process will replace an Adobe LiveCycle process.

Information Builders’ iWay data integrity tools address data quality issues. For example, a taxpayer may be listed as John Smith, Jonathan Smith, and John W. Smith, as well as by a taxpayer ID. The DRA can edit, match, and merge the data, to make sure each taxpayer is addressed consistently in all systems. The iWay integration tool transforms data from XML files into legacy DB2 tables in order to expedite the reconciliation of the department’s daily revenue deposit.

“Our portals let us look across all of our silos to gather timely, relevant, and complete information about an individual taxpayer or a group of taxpayers,” Sampson concluded. “Thanks to faster access to better information, we’re more productive and can provide the best possible service to our taxpayers. In the future, we plan to create additional portals, including one for our audit team, to help us realize even greater benefits.”

Customer Profile

Find Out MoreWe can help you succeed. Talk to your local Information Builders representative to learn how. Visit us at informationbuilders.com, e-mail askinfo@informationbuilders.com, or call (800) 969-4636 in the U.S. and Canada. To improve your skills, visit education.ibi.com.

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