Since 2005, the Department of Personnel (DOP), now Office of the State HR Director (OSHRD), has been monitoring the Washington Management Service (WMS), actively managing its growth, and assessing the need for additional central controls. In November 2009, DOP began implementing administrative controls as follows:
- Formalizing a statewide maximum cap on the percentage of employees in WMS.
- Convening a cross-agency team to develop and recommend to the DOP Director an enterprise process that brings consistency and oversight to administration of WMS.
- Rescinding expedited approvals for WMS performance pay that were not a part of Performance Management Confirmation.
DOP announced the formation of the WMS Administrative Process Cross-Agency Team to develop and recommend an enterprise administrative process. There were 22 agencies who expressed interest in being involved in the effort.
Based on the level of response and realization that the administrative process was only part of the work that needed to be accomplished to bring greater consistency and transparency to inclusion decisions, the WMS Inclusion Criteria Cross-Agency Team was formed to develop statewide guidance on the inclusion criteria.
In developing recommendations for WMS administration, the team had two broad goals. The first was to provide consistent statewide coordination that encourages and maintains best practices across all agencies. The second goal was to design a process and tools that allow the agencies to ensure consistent and transparent administration of the program in making decisions tailored to their unique needs. See the individual reports of the Administrative Process Team and the Inclusion Criteria Team for more information.
In April of 2011, a number of rules and processes were updated as a result of this effort. WMS Coordinators were identified for each agency. WMS Coordinators serve as a liaison to the Office of the State HR Director on all WMS matters. Agencies are beginning the transition to use of the new tools (e.g., WMS Positions Description Forms and Job Value Assessment Charts); all positions descriptions must be documented on the new form and evaluated with the new tools by June 30, 2013.
See the WMS Update for a background and a summary of improvements.