Recommendation Report to Fix Frequent Errors in Our

Billing Process

Keyla Espino
Hispanic Center of Western Michigan

Recommendation Report to Fix Frequent Errors in Our Billing

Process

August 6, 2015

To
Ronald Colton and Sara Proano
Directors of Accounting and Language Services
Hispanic Center of Western Michigan

Keyla Espino
Hispanic Center of Western Michigan

Table of Contents
Executive Summary

Sections

Pages

Introduction

Problem

Problem Analysis
Causes
Consequences

2
2
2

Solutions

Procedure to Implement Recommendation

Software Training
Manuals
Work Flow

4
4
5
6

Evaluation
Cost of Implementation
Ease of Implementation
Time of Implementation

8
9
9
10

Conclusion

10

Introduction
The Hispanic Center of Western Michigan has always strived to serve the needs of the
Latino community and beyond. Our Language Services department is formed from a
team of expert Spanish interpreters and Spanish translators with specialties in a variety
of areas. With over 37 years of experience, our staff uses their cultural and industry
experience to break communication barriers and guarantee confidential, accurate, and
efficient results for our West Michigan clients. We provide interpretation services for the
healthcare, legal and community fields, yet we are still missing out on new business
opportunities and we are slowly losing the customers we currently serve.
This report recommends a series of steps that the staff of the Language Services
and Accounting Departments at the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan can take to
improve their current billing process in order to retain and create new business ventures.

Problem
The Language Services and Accounting departments have received many customer and
interpreter complaints over the past year. The complaints range from poor customer
service to interpreters arriving late to appointments, and many customers have even been
over charged or under billed more than once in the past six months. The errors are related
to mishaps in scheduling, oversites in appointment details, and the lack of communication
within the Centers staff.
There is no doubt that the services provided by the Hispanic Center are in
demand. But with other organizations and agencies providing similar language services,
there needs to be a change implemented soon. It is no secret to us that the language
services department is the only one of our programs that does not currently receive any

grant funding. The only thing that is keeping that department up and running are the
companies and local customers we are unfortunately at risk of losing.

Problem Analysis
Causes
Through a series of internal evaluations and in-depth studies, several errors have been
discovered in different steps of the existing processes, such as the following:
1. Staff lacking advanced software knowledge and skills
2. Issues in scheduling appointments in the Language Services Department that are
entered after hours and/or the same day
3. Interpreters entering inaccurate information in the system
4. Interpreters completing appointments in software days after they are to have been
completed
5. Verification forms not turned in in a timely manner or not turned in at all
6. Miscommunication between the two departments causing over or under billing
customers
7. No efficient policies and procedures are in place
Consequences
Frequent billing mistakes cause great inconvenience to our customers. When customers
are overbilled constantly they begin to loose trust and confidence in the organization and
its employees. Once a business relationship begins to loose trust, our customers will
begin to look at other interpreting agencies to hire. The Hispanic Center of Western
Michigan has already began to see a decrease in interpreting appointments from certain
customers and has even lost other clients completely. With two of our biggest contracts
coming to an end this year, we need to restructure our whole interpreting and billing
processes in order to remain a top choice in the industry.

It is not an option, it is a necessity. If we want to keep this program open and

available to our community we need to retain our customers. If we want to keep our
skilled interpreters and translators on staff we have to provide them with job security and
fair merit increases. If we want to apply for grants and other financial aid, we need to
demonstrate that we are fully capable of running the program efficiently and with the
upmost accountability.

Solutions
After a comprehensive evaluation of the steps in the existing interpreting and billing
processes, there were several mistakes uncovered. Many of the problems can be traced
back to human error and to the lack of software knowledge. Fluencys software has many
tools and features that arent being used correctly. Some of them arent being used at all.
With knowledgeable staff and an effective use of our software, the Hispanic Center can
greatly reduce or even eliminate mistakes in our billing and recordkeeping procedures.
I recommend putting in place a training class with our software company along
with creating three personalized instruction manuals that address all of the staff involved
in the interpreting and translation billing steps. The manuals will be created to serve as
step-by-step guides on how to most adequately schedule appointments and bill our
customers. We will implement the guides for each department; one manual for the
Language Services Department, another for the Accounting Department, and a third one
for the interpreters performing the work.

Procedure to Implement the Recommendations

Software Training
The first and probably one of the most important steps that the Hispanic Center has to

take is to train all of the staff involved in the billing process, including the department
directors. The training will show our team how to effectively and efficiently use the
software programs we use on a day-to-day basis.
Like any other agency, we have a diverse workforce. Some of our employees have
been with our organization for many years and know the programs we use better than
others. We also have fairly new employees who just know the essentials and not all of the
details or perks available with the software programs. Therefore, we need to establish a
training session to learn about Fluencys tools and features in depth.
A professional instructor from Fluency, the leader in the field of Internet
interpreter scheduling for language service providers, will first review with department
heads and administrative users the scheduling tools to maximize interpreter assignment
efficiency. The will also go over how to adequately process payroll, mileage and invoices
through the program, and how to export billing information to QuickBooks or any other
accounting software.
By establishing an introductory meeting before the training, department leaders
and administrative staff can get a better understanding of the training context ahead of
time. This will enable them to help the rest of the staff to better understand the program
in accordance to our organizations unique structure. In addition, the preparation training
will help the department heads with the creation of the new step-by-step manuals that will
also be implemented.
When the whole team meets for the software training, the directors of the affected
departments will introduce the manuals to the staff and will also walk them through the
new expectations for the improved billing process.

Manuals
The Language Services Department manual will include detailed instructions
related to entering and scheduling appointments, inputting billing notes in the software,
and designating the notes to appointments, customers, and interpreters. The manual will
also provide the steps to verifying each appointment for the billing period in order to
export interpreter timecards, mileage, and customer invoicing data.
In the Accounting Department manual, you would find detailed steps and
descriptive images on how to use the data provided by the Language Services
Department to invoice customers. The manual will also describe step-by-step how
Accounting will take the information to create monthly reports for budgeting and past
due account collection purposes. In addition, the manual will lay out a brief example on
conducting meetings between the two departments every 15th day and every last day of
the month to improve communication breaks during the process.
Finally, the instruction manual for the Interpreters and translators will include
detailed steps on how to time-finish their appointments on time, how to enter accurate
information into Fluency, how to upload their verification forms right onto the system,
and how to enter their own appointment notes to decrease billing errors.
All-in-all, the three manuals will provide structure and guidance to the existing
billing process. They will offer enough details and descriptive images to reduce human
error and eliminate avoidable mistakes. Most importantly, the manuals will be user
friendly and will serve as a point of reference to new and existing users 24 hours a day.
Work Flow

The goal of implementing all of these adjustments is to create a work flow that works in
conjunction with our values and our unique business model. By working together, our
team will successfully complete the software trainings, our team will utilize the manuals
created, and our team will become the ideal language services provider in West Michigan.
Once the Centers staff becomes equipped with the knowledge and resources
needed, we will move forward to reviewing with them what our ideal work flow will look
like. An organizations workflow involves a set of processes it needs to accomplish, the
set of people able to perform those processes, and the interactions among them. Our
model work flow will be made up of four major sections. They are interpreter request,
interpreter scheduling, task fulfillment, and invoicing and payment.
Creating an appointment is where the process begins. As shown in Figure 1, on
page 8, the service requestor will either call or email the Language Services Department
and the designated appointment/scheduling administrator to request a new interpreting
appointment. The administrator will then log into the system and enter the appointment
details. Once the appointment has been successfully entered, the requestor will receive
and email alert informing them that their appointment has been scheduled.
After the creation of a new appointment, the language services department will
then need to determine the best interpreter for the job, if a specific interpreter was not
specifically requested. In Figure 1, you can see that once the staff member assigns an
interpreter to an appointment, the interpreter will receive an email alert with all of the
appointment details. At this point, the interpreter will have the opportunity to accept or
reject the appointment according to their schedule for the day. If they decide to accept the
assignment, they will then print out the appointment voucher.

The next step is when the actual appointment takes place. Figure 1 outlines the
interpreter attending the appointment, completing the work, and receiving a voucher
signature. This is a very important step in the process because the voucher serves as proof
of the work being completed. The appointment verification voucher also outlines the time
start and time end of the appointment and the service recipients signature certifies that all
of the information on the form is correct. Once the voucher is properly filled out, the
interpreter will then scan and upload the verification voucher as an attachment to the
appointment scheduled on our software. The form will then be used by the administrative
staff at the language services and accounting departments for billing and payment receipt
purposes.
Finally, in our work flow process is where the Hispanic Center invoices their
customers for the interpretation and translation services provided. The invoice process is
completely based on verified and approved appointments. When an appointment has a
signed verification form attached to it, the staff of the language services department will
review the original request, look for any notes added or any special requests, they will
review the voucher, and if there are no mistakes, they will approve the appointment for
invoicing. Once these steps are done, the accounting department will triple check the
data, correct any mistakes, and will proceed to billing our customers on a bi-monthly
schedule. Invoices and reports will be generated every 15th and 30th day of the month.
FIGURE 1 Interpreting and Billing Work Flow

Evaluation
Cost of Implementation

Training and technical support is provided by Fluencys IT department under our monthly
service contract with them. Therefore, training costs would be minimal and would only
consist of paying employees for their time.
In regards to the manuals themselves, we would print one manual per person and
have a few more ready at the office for extra backup. A total of 50 manuals will be
printed and an electronic version of the guides will also be kept on record. The manuals
will be printed in house and will carry a cost of .15 cents per page. Each manual will have
around 40 pages, resulting at a cost of $6.00 per manual. Resulting at a total printing cost
of $300.00 for all of the 50 manuals.
The manuals will be written by our Communication Generalist, as part of her
regular job duty, with the help and input from the department directors and Fluencys
technical support team. Keeping the writing and production processes of the manuals
internally will not only help with personalization of the manuals to our organization, but
will also keep costs down to a minimum.
Ease of Implementation
Only one day will be needed for the in depth software training with the staff. A Fluency
representative would lead the training along with the help of the Directors of Accounting
and Language Services. By the day of the training, the instruction manuals will also
already be ready to distribute. The staff will walk through the manuals and the work flow
process together and will debrief at the end of the day. This will allow the staff to ask any
questions, provide their input, and voice any concerns they may have.
Once the staff training is completed, our employees will be knowledgeable on the
software programs we use and will have their step-by-step manual as a guide to any of

their questions or concerns. If further assistance is needed, they will have the ability to
contact the staff at the Center, but will also have the ability to call the technical support
group at Fluency before and after office hours.
Time of Implementation
We estimate the writing of the manuals to be the most time consuming. In order to
produce the most elaborate and detailed step-by-step guides, it would take four to five
weeks for the process to be completed. During this time research will be conducted by
directors and the communication specialist on the best approaches to implement and
produce the guides. The directors will meet twice weekly to check on the process, input
new information, and make the appropriate changes.
Printing would only take one to two days at the most, since the work is being
done on site. The manuals will be put together, in binders, at the Hispanic Center by our
secretary and accounting assistant to save time and money. Once the guides are ready, the
directors will continue the process by scheduling the training with the staff and with
Fluency. The overall process will be short and smooth.

Conclusion
Change is inevitable, change is different, and change is good. We can prolong change,
and try to avoid it, but for the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, change needs to
happen now. The non-profit sector is tough, its unforgiving, and it if we continue to lose
business and to not create new business ventures, the Hispanic Center and the people they
serve will feel the consequences.
I recommend to the Directors of the Language Services and Accounting
Departments at the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan that we join forces now to make

the appropriate changes that our organization needs in order to remain sustainable. As a
team, we will implement three instruction manuals along with a one day training to
improve our interpreting and translation billing process. With the cooperation and
dedication of the two departments and their employees, the process will be cost efficient,
timely, and beneficial to the organization as a whole.