H&R Block Streamlines and Facilitates Enrollment Process ...



Overview

Country or Region: United States

Industry: Professional Services

Customer Profile

H&R Block is a leading provider of tax, financial, mortgage, accounting, and business consulting services and products. The company has prepared more than 400 million tax returns since 1955.

Business Situation

Billions of dollars of government assistance are left unclaimed, largely because of the associated lengthy and complex qualification process. H&R Block wanted to streamline the process.

Solution

With Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 3.0 as the foundation, Nets to Ladders (N2L) and H&R Block built the Benefits Enrollment Network—a Web-based service that connects people to government benefits.

Benefits

■ Offers a streamlined, collaborative enrollment process

■ Supports high adoptability

■ Strengthens client relationships

| | |“We needed a platform that could be used by multiple parties. Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a familiar interface that works the way Microsoft works, which is the way the world works with computers.”

John Thompson, Assistant Vice President, Outreach & Business Development Group, H&R Block

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| | | |Millions of people in the United States rely on government assistance. But the complex enrollment |

| | | |process causes billions of dollars to go unclaimed and is expensive for government and non-government|

| | | |organizations to deliver. To effect change, H&R Block and Microsoft® Certified Business Solutions |

| | | |Partner Nets to Ladders (N2L) developed the Benefits Enrollment Network. Built on Microsoft Dynamics™|

| | | |CRM 3.0, this Web-based service closes the gap between unclaimed benefits and those who qualify for |

| | | |them. The Benefits Enrollment Network is easily adopted by human services organizations and H&R Block|

| | | |Tax Professionals; provides a central access point to client information; matches clients to |

| | | |available federal, state, and local benefits; and supports electronic enrollment. Overall, it |

| | | |simplifies the process and enables H&R Block clients to obtain life-altering government benefits. |

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| | | |[pic] |

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Situation

H&R Block has long been known as the trusted tax and financial partner of the United States. Over the company’s 50-year history, it has established over 11,000 offices across several continents and, today, serves more than 19 million tax clients annually. Recently, H&R Block dedicated itself to expanding the list of financial solutions and advisory services it provides to low- and moderate-income (LMI) families and individuals—a group that makes up over 60 percent of the company’s clients each tax season.

For example, in 2001 H&R Block launched a series of savings initiatives to leverage the opportunity that tax time provides to facilitate savings:

■ Access to a lump sum of money (in the form of a tax refund).

■ Access to a savings platform (in the form of a new account).

■ Access to assistance (in the form of a Tax Professional).

Through this program, H&R Block helps LMI families and individuals get the maximum tax refund for which they qualify and provides assistance and solutions to help clients save a small portion of that refund in a new savings account. For a majority of those clients, it is the first time they are able to save for their future.

Today, H&R Block is taking these services to the next level, narrowing the chasm that exists between eligible LMI families and individuals and the government benefits they can receive but have not claimed. Doing so may provide clients with access to discretionary dollars that help them meet their savings goals and improve their day-to-day financial lives.

Federal, state, and local government agencies provide a wide variety of benefits to hard-working families and individuals. These benefits can be found (at the federal level) in the form of food stamps, Medicaid, housing assistance, and more. There also are countless other localized benefits in addition to support services offered by non-governmental organizations. But unfortunately, many LMI families and individuals who qualify for this government assistance never access it because either they don’t know they qualify or they are overwhelmed by the complex, lengthy enrollment process. For example, up to 25 percent of eligible households fail to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit[1]. In addition, only 54 percent of households that are eligible for food stamps participate in the program[2], and according to government estimates only 47 percent of the people who are eligible are insured by Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program[3].

“Many government benefits are delivered through separate entities with separate rules and qualification criteria, which require different paperwork. In addition, the enrollment process may be entirely manual for the consumer and for the agency,” says John Thompson, Assistant Vice President for the Outreach & Business Development Group at H&R Block. “There was an opportunity to act as a strategic advocate for our clients, helping them to navigate the complex rules associated with accessing government benefits and helping them receive all the benefits they are entitled to. H&R Block saw a chance to provide a valuable service to our clients, and to build upon the relationship that we already have in place.”

Solution

To help LMI families and individuals access government benefits, H&R Block teamed with Nets to Ladders (N2L)—a Microsoft® Certified Business Solutions Partner and provider of business process automation technology for large corporations. Together, the two companies built the Benefits Enrollment Network. This Web-based service connects LMI advocates, including H&R Block, employers, community-based organizations (CBOs), hospitals, medical clinics, and schools, with state agencies to facilitate the enrollment and qualification process.

Selecting a Customer Relationship Management Solution

At the start of the project, H&R Block and N2L had a list of requirements that the Benefits Enrollment Network had to fulfill:

■ Support the management of client information.

■ Enable collaboration around client information by multiple participants, with significant capability around role-based access in order to secure information and safeguard consumer privacy.

■ Support the complex business rules associated with each government benefit.

■ Be accessible and provide excellent usability so everyone involved—from nonprofit organizations to H&R Block agents—can use it, easily.

While the team briefly considered building a solution from scratch, in the end it decided to use Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM 3.0 business management software as the foundation for the Benefits Enrollment Network. Marc Ferguson, President for N2L explains, “Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports all the requisite functionality in the Benefits Enrollment Network and can be customized to support the ‘granular’ business rules associated with each benefit. These capabilities were critical in making our selection.”

Developing the Benefits Enrollment Network

The Benefits Enrollment Network is currently being piloted by over 600 people both within H&R Block and at several nonprofit organizations. Looking forward, the Benefits Enrollment Network could eventually support over 20,000 users. The solution is hosted by a third-party organization and, in addition to Microsoft CRM, uses two Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database clusters, six Web servers running the Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 operating system with Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, three servers running Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, and three instances of the Active Directory® directory service. Together with Microsoft CRM, these integrated software tools give H&R Block an extensible, reliable infrastructure for the Benefits Enrollment Network.

At its core, the Benefits Enrollment Network solution interfaces with systems that H&R Block Tax Professionals use to collect information during the tax interview process, and, if proper consent is provided by the client, it stores this information in a form that is used for eligibility screening and enrollment. The solution also maintains all the rules about government benefits at federal, state, and local levels. This combination of information, along with business rules built into Microsoft CRM, allows for a complete transformation in the qualification and enrollment process for government benefits.

Benefits

The Benefits Enrollment Network delivers the functionality necessary to streamline the government benefits enrollment process and helps enable multiple human services organizations to work together. In addition, the solution provides the familiar Windows® operating system-based user interface to help ensure high adoption. And last, because the Benefits Enrollment Network enables H&R Block to provide more than just tax and financial assistance to clients, it is helping the company to boost customer satisfaction and retention.

“One of the best ways we can assist our clients is to help them navigate the myriad of government benefits that are delivered outside of the tax code, just as we do for benefits that are delivered through the tax code. The Benefits Enrollment Network is helping us to do just that,” says Thompson.

Offers a Streamlined, Collaborative Enrollment Process

Enrolling for government benefits often is a manual process that requires effort (like filling out paperwork) and time (such as waiting in lines) for clients. As a result, it may take 30-40 days for a family to complete the qualification and enrollment process for a benefit such as food stamps. With the Benefits Enrollment Network, however, H&R Block and N2L are expecting to shorten this process to as little as two or three days—an accomplishment achieved with digital processes, collaboration, and information sharing.

The Benefits Enrollment Network provides a central, digital repository for client information and a Web-based interface. This centralization means that human services organizations finally can work together as a cohesive unit to provide families with the assistance they need.

For example, after an H&R Block agent enters client information into the system, that agent can then automatically screen the data to identify which government benefits the participant qualifies to receive. Depending on the benefit, the H&R Block agent can access and submit (either by mail or electronically) the requisite paperwork to the appropriate state office for processing. If the benefit falls outside the realm of expertise for the H&R Block agent, the client is referred to the appropriate nonprofit organization that can provide further assistance. By using the Benefits Enrollment Network, this third-party organization has the same access to client information as the H&R Block agent. The end result is a collaborative, electronic network of parties who are working together to simplify and speed the process associated with getting qualified participants valuable social services. (See Figure 1.)

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM brings business process automation to an otherwise complex, multi-step process,” says Ferguson. “We’re introducing today’s technology into a well-meaning, yet flawed system.”

Supports High Adoptability

One of the most important considerations when developing the Benefits Enrollment Network was that the solution could be used by many people with a wide range of technical know-how. To ensure adoption and success, the solution needed to provide a familiar interface and support a familiar way of working.

“We needed a platform that could be used by multiple parties,” says Thompson. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a familiar interface that works the way Microsoft works, which is the way the world works with computers. Consequently, Microsoft Dynamics CRM provided us with a solution that we could realistically provide to nonprofit organizations, hospitals, schools, employers, and others.”

As shown in Figure 2, the Benefits Enrollment Network provides a familiar, comfortable interface that is similar to that of other Windows-based applications.

Strengthens Client Relationships

Out of the 13 million LMI families and individuals that H&R Block serves, 44 percent might qualify for government-provided children’s health insurance. However, to date, only 13 percent of those qualifying families are using this benefit. H&R Block is hoping to improve these numbers with the Benefits Enrollment Network. This goal is just one small example of how H&R Block is helping its clients access billions of dollars of unclaimed government benefits. Implementing the solution also demonstrates the company’s commitment to building long-term relationships with each client—a commitment that the company expects will result in a significant improvement in the retention rate of existing LMI clients for tax services at H&R Block.

But more importantly, H&R Block is happy to provide such a value-added service to its clients. Thompson explains, “Today, H&R Block has a service that will enable our clients to access the benefits they deserve, on an ongoing basis. Through these benefits, we’re putting money into our clients’ hands and creating opportunities for them to change how they participate in the financial structure of the United States.”

Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems that your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success. 

 

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:

dynamics

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[1] United States Department of Revenue.

[2] Food Research and Action Center ().

[3] United States Census Bureau.

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| |Software and Services

■ Microsoft Dynamics

− Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0

■ Microsoft Servers

− Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

− Microsoft SQL Server 2005

− Microsoft Windows Server 2003 |Technologies

− Active Directory

− Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0

Partner

■ Nets to Ladders | |

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM brings business process automation to an otherwise complex, multi-step process. We’re introducing today’s technology into a well-meaning, yet flawed system.”

Marc Ferguson, President, Nets to Ladders

| |

© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, Active Directory, Microsoft Dynamics, the Microsoft Dynamics logo, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Document published June 2006 | | |

For More Information

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For more information about Nets to Ladders products and services, call (512) 225-1011 or visit the Web site at: -(Nnxz"

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For more information about H&R Block products and services, call (800) 472-5625 or visit the Web site at:

[pic]

Figure 1. The Benefits Enrollment Network links human services organizations to low- and moderate-income (LMI) family and individual information and government benefits.

“One of the best ways we can assist our clients is to help them navigate the myriad of government benefits .... The Benefits Enrollment Network is helping us to do just that.”

John Thompson, Assistant Vice President, Outreach & Business Development Group, H&R Block

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Figure 2. The Benefits Enrollment Network’s application screening page.

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