TeamMate Comes to the Quality Management Branch (QMB)!

TeamMate - what is that? Didn't the QMB staff always work as a team? Well, we do. However, we have found a way to improve our processes! As we encourage our contractors to continually look at their operations and find areas in which they can improve, we too are looking at our systems and at ways to improve our processes. TeamMate will help us do just that!

TeamMate is a Windows-based Audit Management System produced by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It was developed to bring efficiencies to the audit and project management processes. TeamMate covers all aspects of the monitoring review process, from pre-review preparation to the review itself, report generation, storage and retrieval, all in an electronic format. This will make the monitoring files accessible to multiple users in varying locations while enhancing quality, productivity and cost effectiveness. Although TeamMate can be very flexible, it will also ensure the application of consistent working practices, yet at the same time, deliver efficient, high quality, value-added benefits to the process. TeamMate even allows a review team to share files with each other in a way that cannot be accomplished in a paper-based environment.

The QMB has been moving toward a "paperless" or electronic preparation, reporting and processing of corrective action plans (CAPs) system for the past several years. The contractors have no doubt noticed that the QMB is encouraging electronic communication in ways such as the site visit pre-planning surveys, agendas, review tools and corrective action plans.

So what does this mean to our contractors? How will it affect them? Well, one of our goals is to expedite the turnaround time of our reports after a monitoring visit is completed. The reports will also look a lot different in that they will be reports by exception, meaning that only the findings will be listed. So instead of having as many as 14 pages for one report, a contractor with few findings may only have a one-page report. Contractors will still be able to access the QMB website for the core and programmatic tools for use in self-audits.

Although the TeamMate implementation process is still in the set-up and testing phases, we are geared to roll it out with the FY '08 reviews. This is an exciting time in the QMB as we continue to move into the technology age with greater scales of efficiency and ease for staff and contractors alike.

For More Information Regarding This Article Contact:
Nancy K. Taylor, RD, LD
WIC Group Manager
Quality Management Branch
Department of State Health Services (DSHS)
512.458.7111, ext. 3153