Ok, so one of my biggest strengths, as well as my weaknesses is my overactive OCD. Not to say that I was one of those people who keeps an immaculately clean room or that my car is spotless, more along the lines of when I work everything has to be exactly the way I like it. I tend to think that I know best how to simplify any task assigned, and will push my way onto others. That being said, people either love to work with me or hate it.
So when exactly am I going with this and how in hell does it pertain to what we learned in class yesterday you ask? One slide got stuck in my over crammed brain, the one pertaining to data cleansing. You have no idea whatsoever how mad it makes me when people can't do something the same exact way every single time they do something. The more you do something over and over again, the better you get at it. So, when you do something the same way every time, you leave room for much less error.
Hating to use the POA as a prime example again, but when you know something so well, you go with it. When I first started working @ the POA it was a nightmare come true. Smack in the middle of "boat season" (boat, golf cart, annual golf, annual dues...), learning every single type of form and procedure possible was daunting @ best. The worst by far was the processing of the insurance certificates. Looking up insurance records in the system, I noticed spelling errors, inaccurate dates, incorrect company names, and much more. For example, a policy that was continuous until cancelled would have an expiration date in the computer regardless of the "cont." on the certificate. There were others that were listed as continuous that had actually expired years before. And just forget about company names. Some coworkers listed insurance company as "Accord", which if one has not seen a certificate, Accord is the form, not the company, which is actually listed in the box labeled "Company".
I couldn't stand it! I wanted to hold each person accountable every time they put a new certificate into the computer. So I had to stop the madness. I personally took over the processing of the insurance certificates. I first went through over 4,500 files and purged the expired insurance policies, I made sure whatever was in the file matched up in the database, I collected the new policies arriving in the mail everyday and input the new information on my own. I would get pissed off if someone else did the "insurancies" when I had a day off. People knew how overprotective I was, so they would hide them, just to spite me.
I know that I sound like the biggest pain in the a** to work with, but all of this served a purpose. With only one person inputting the data for the insurance policies, I held myself personally responsible for them. If a member would call or come in and inquire about their policy, I would be the person to go to. if something had been faxed or mailed in missing even one of our key elements required, I would let the member know what needed to be changed, so they could tell their agent. Sometimes, I would have to call multiple insurance companies a day, with agents so confused by our terms. In the end, no more huge insurance mistakes. I made sure that the company names were all listed to same, for example "Allstate" not "Allstate Insurance Company" since the field already stated "Company Name". I made sure that in the notes the boat or golf cart was Year(19xx not just 'xx) Manufacturer (Correctcraft not Ski Nautique which was the model). I also made sure that the policy was applied to the right boat, and if there werre expired policies in the database, that they were deleted just as the ones in the files were purged. I made it easier on everyone working in our department. I wasn't ever appreciated for my work until I quit to finish school. Only now do the people still working there realize what a true asset I was, not that any of them are going to be willing to step up and fill my shoes.
So when exactly am I going with this and how in hell does it pertain to what we learned in class yesterday you ask? One slide got stuck in my over crammed brain, the one pertaining to data cleansing. You have no idea whatsoever how mad it makes me when people can't do something the same exact way every single time they do something. The more you do something over and over again, the better you get at it. So, when you do something the same way every time, you leave room for much less error.
Hating to use the POA as a prime example again, but when you know something so well, you go with it. When I first started working @ the POA it was a nightmare come true. Smack in the middle of "boat season" (boat, golf cart, annual golf, annual dues...), learning every single type of form and procedure possible was daunting @ best. The worst by far was the processing of the insurance certificates. Looking up insurance records in the system, I noticed spelling errors, inaccurate dates, incorrect company names, and much more. For example, a policy that was continuous until cancelled would have an expiration date in the computer regardless of the "cont." on the certificate. There were others that were listed as continuous that had actually expired years before. And just forget about company names. Some coworkers listed insurance company as "Accord", which if one has not seen a certificate, Accord is the form, not the company, which is actually listed in the box labeled "Company".
I couldn't stand it! I wanted to hold each person accountable every time they put a new certificate into the computer. So I had to stop the madness. I personally took over the processing of the insurance certificates. I first went through over 4,500 files and purged the expired insurance policies, I made sure whatever was in the file matched up in the database, I collected the new policies arriving in the mail everyday and input the new information on my own. I would get pissed off if someone else did the "insurancies" when I had a day off. People knew how overprotective I was, so they would hide them, just to spite me.
I know that I sound like the biggest pain in the a** to work with, but all of this served a purpose. With only one person inputting the data for the insurance policies, I held myself personally responsible for them. If a member would call or come in and inquire about their policy, I would be the person to go to. if something had been faxed or mailed in missing even one of our key elements required, I would let the member know what needed to be changed, so they could tell their agent. Sometimes, I would have to call multiple insurance companies a day, with agents so confused by our terms. In the end, no more huge insurance mistakes. I made sure that the company names were all listed to same, for example "Allstate" not "Allstate Insurance Company" since the field already stated "Company Name". I made sure that in the notes the boat or golf cart was Year(19xx not just 'xx) Manufacturer (Correctcraft not Ski Nautique which was the model). I also made sure that the policy was applied to the right boat, and if there werre expired policies in the database, that they were deleted just as the ones in the files were purged. I made it easier on everyone working in our department. I wasn't ever appreciated for my work until I quit to finish school. Only now do the people still working there realize what a true asset I was, not that any of them are going to be willing to step up and fill my shoes.
1 comment:
OK, and THIS photo shows?
Besides data cleansing (which you have had a personal experience with!), don't overlook the problems with flat or traditional files....
Sorry for the confusing Access demo...hopefully, I'll do better on Tuesday...
Doug
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