Delays can result in backlogs, in which more and more victims are forced to wait for financial assistance. Every program should seek an optimal number of personnel that will help ensure fast and accurate work on applications, and executive and legislative decision makers in state governments need to be aware that compensation programs need financial support to provide good service. Yet every program, regardless of its staffing constraints, can and should do many things to improve its processing speed and efficiency. Each program can analyze its work flow and seek to eliminate duplicative and unnecessary steps. Every program should explore automation and other technological means to make its employees as productive as possible.
Every manager has a responsibility to motivate and supervise staff.
Tools like policy and procedure manuals and management reports can be useful to every program. Each program, no matter what its resources, can take important steps to improve productivity and performance, and the objectives and strategies in this section should serve as a guide in this effort. Some of the common stumbling blocks to smooth processing, such as incomplete applications and slow police and provider response to requests for information, also can be addressed directly by programs. Clear and simple instructions on forms, training for victim advocates who help victims apply, and continuing efforts to impress upon police and providers the importance of quick turnaround can help tremendously in removing obstacles to efficiency. Attention to each of these objectives, and consideration of various strategies by which they can be addressed, should help every program to be as productive as possible, while maintaining a high quality of claims analysis.