Operations

The GOED Operations team oversees finance, compliance, policy, business intelligence, contract management, human resources, technology services, and overall facility management.

The team is delivery-focused, ensuring organizational success through efficiency measures and careful consideration of all resources. Recognizing its stewardship of GOED’s accounting, work environment, and human resources, the team strives to deliver innovative and thoughtful service through continuous quality improvement.

The Operations team is a “best in class” cohort. Its members have government and management experience and knowledge, and a history of innovation. The team has institutionalized and maintains operations support for more than 50 active programs. The Operations team serves as the agency’s backbone, upholding all applicable federal and state laws, regulations and agency rules, standards, and guidelines. This essential function protects the integrity of the organization and the taxpayer.

Achievements

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, GOED’s Operations team has developed, implemented, and executed over $140 million in business relief assistance designed to aid in Utah’s economic recovery. This work has played an essential role in providing a holistic and unified approach to confront the economic challenges posed by COVID-19.

During the mobilization of pandemic efforts, the Operations team also implemented GOED’s teleworking solutions for every eligible staff member within a matter of days. The team provided training, infrastructure support, and mobilization of hardware for members to deploy a full-time teleworking structure. The team created toolkits, training instruction manuals, and an effective tracking mechanism for state resources in less than 48 hours.

Moreover, throughout the pandemic the Operations team has ensured that GOED offices and functions remain open and working. To enhance program development and execution, the team created a new full-kit onboarding implementation initiative to provide all GOED programs with consistent systems and methods. The new process has reduced program startup time, enhanced performance metrics and measurements, and improved customer integration and reporting. The team developed an agency-wide budget forecasting tool, employing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, that allows for interfacing with state systems to gather, organize and present financial data to non-financial managers. The forecasted information is reviewed on a monthly basis with program managers to provide immediate financial information for program execution and fiscal management.

The team set and achieved timely payments and increased transparency objectives in FY 2020. This includes processing 95% of all payment requests from receipt to issuance in under five days, averaging 3.4 days to pay.

The Operations team completed a successful closeout of the USTAR fiscal operations, responsibly stewarding assets and managing budgetary closures with 100% successful post performance audits completed by State Finance.

2021 and Beyond

This year has been one of automation and efficiency as GOED works to do more with less. We understand our responsibility to Utahns to be transparent and focused on our mission. Each year brings new challenges as we strive to adapt to Utah’s and the nation’s ever-changing economies. This is especially true as we begin to stabilize loss and re-instill consumer and economic confidence during the pandemic.

In 2020, GOED and the operations team rose to this challenge to ensure the state thrives in this “new normal.” The operations team has also started preparing for the “new future,” with each team member identifying future innovations specific to their functions. We will continue to engage in doing more with less and finding new, more efficient ways to work.

Kori Ann Edwards | Managing Director 801-538-8623 | kaedwards@utah.gov