SMART is the Health and Welfare benefits consultant for the School District U-46, the second largest school district in the State of Illinois. We assisted the Health Care Committee, which is composed of representatives of management and collective bargaining units, in designing a new health care benefit program and employee assistance program. 

With respect to the new program, we also assisted the leadership of the collective bargaining units in communicating the new plan to their members prior to the ratification, created a request for proposal, assisted the District in evaluating the responses to the RFP, advised the District on the business aspects of the agreement, assisted in developing a communication program for open enrollment, and assisted in the implementation process.  We are assisting the District now with the on-going administration of their benefit programs.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) enlisted the assistance of SMART to help them in analyzing the key processes within their procurement function.  With over $2.5 Billion in annual spending, IDOT is continually challenging itself to streamline processes, enhance controls, and improve its strategic operations.  SMART was an instrumental partner in this process by helping the organization identify process enhancements, technology improvements and opportunities to its procurement and finance functions. 

As part of this initiative, IDOT was able to strengthen its procurement function while also enhancing its outreach to minority and disadvantaged business enterprises that work with the organization.  SMART’s extensive experience in procurement and sourcing solutions has provided IDOT with a dependable sounding board and ongoing advisor as it continually improves its procurement practices.

SMART assisted with a county-wide, PARIS-funded document management needs assessment, document inventory, business process review, creation of records handling procedures, and development of a five-year strategic plan.

Mercer County, New Jersey selected SMART to help them gather a comprehensive records inventory, define procedures for handling records and investigate possible shared services opportunities with municipal governments.  For the records inventory, SMART was able to define records handling procedures for each record type, providing all County departments with policies to manage their records inventory and mitigate legal and operational risks.

SMART’s investigation into potential shared services entailed providing the participating municipal clerks with an online tool to gather records information, verifying the records information through interviews, and determining points where:

• The County and municipalities interact directly to share records
• Multiple municipalities interact to share records
• Processes are duplicated between multiple municipalities
• Processes are duplicated between the County and one or more municipality.

This data was used to generate recommendations for shared services based on need, participant ability, cost, and shared benefit. In addition to the records inventory, the records handling policies and procedures, and the shared services assessment, SMART provided a preservation plan, needs assessment, gap analysis, and 5 year strategic plan to assist the County in efforts to focus on streamlining operations and preserving the County’s cultural heritage.