CalPERS Customer Education Center Slated for On-Time Delivery

The customer education center (CEC) redesign for CalPERS pension and health customers is estimated to be completed by the end of this fiscal year, which is still on target with the plan, according to the most recent budget discussion by the board. The estimated total cost is $2.3 million.

The Customer Service and Outreach Division (CSOD), which the CEC is a service of, acts as the method of contact between employers and member services, with the CEC serving to educate customers through self-service tools as well as provide better customer service.

The project started when CSOD and the IT division began gathering business needs for the new system’s proof of concept in FY 2015.

The board documents cite FY 2017-18 proposed funding at $1.3 million for:

• design and testing consultants ($1.2 million)
• scanning solution to replace manual process ($0.1 million)

The center’s redesign was dependent on in-house resources to make appointment scheduling and class enrollment easier. Since my|CalPERS was prioritized, upgrades to the 10-year-old CalPERS Education Center software were postponed, causing security concerns and faulty integration with the my|CalPERS program.

The new system will:

• improve education delivery efficiencies for the regional offices
• streamline the scheduling and appointment process for customers
• improve data integrity with my|CalPERS
• improve the quality of reporting and provide improvements to the CalPERS Benefits Education Events registration process