Develop Initial Organizational Design (42)

Description:

To enable successful RUC implementation, it is essential to envision the state government organizational design necessary for supporting RUC. Developing this design involves taking preliminary organizational alternatives developed in the research and planning phase, updating them for the RUC-enabling law as passed, and filling out a complete design of state government entities that will support RUC when the system goes live on Day One. The organization of state government may evolve after Day One, and this step is revisited as it does.

Details:

In the research and planning phase, the implementing RUC agency chooses the organizational design option that is best suited to the RUC legislation and any other identified needs. The organizational design should reflect the use of account management vendors and specifically detail how the state will oversee them. The implementing RUC agency will house most of the newly created positions, but organizational design should also include necessary changes to related agencies, such as law enforcement, treasury, and taxation. To ensure that all needs are covered, start by listing the organizational functions required by the law, as enacted, and any other organizational functions identified in the research and planning phase; ensure all the functions are covered by various roles. If separate agencies will administer RUC for commercial and noncommercial vehicles, develop separate organizational designs.

Primary Uses:

Determine the state government organization for the RUC system at system launch, including the organization charter and structure, develop program budgets, and secure agency resources for operations.

Best Practices/Lessons Learned:

  • Specify the implementing RUC agency in the RUC-enabling law.
  • Scale the organization to the system size. If the RUC program starts small, the organization can start small too.
  • Ensure that state employees develop institutional knowledge.
  • Use existing employees where appropriate. Employees can be given multiple roles, as long as they have the time/capacity to fill those roles.
  • Consider the budget for state employees as part of organizational design.
  • Keep the reporting chain from the RUC program head to the agency executive relatively short (e.g., no more than two intermediate steps). RUC is an important program, and it benefits from executive exposure.

State Government Context and Assumptions:

This task is done by one or more implementing RUC agencies, as specified in the RUC law. It is done while the system is being set up, and this task can be revisited as often as needed.