DMV delays: Agency still grappling with Genesis system

Monday, May 14, 2001 | 10:55 a.m.

Schoolteacher Vincent Vespe used his lunch break to replace a lost driver's license by going to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety office in Henderson.

But on Wednesday, an hour into his wait, frustration set in as he sat in anticipation of his number being called.

"I've gotten out of here in a half-hour," Vespe said. "I don't know what the problem is, because it seems like (there are) the same amount of people here. It was a lot faster the last time I came. I have to go back to school."

Vespe suggested the DMV provide a wider variety of customer stations -- for motorists who have to replace lost licenses, for example. When it comes to offering suggestions for the agency to improve service, Vespe is not alone.

But DMV Deputy Director Ginny Lewis said a number of improvements are anticipated over the next year that are designed to make it easier to deal with her agency. One is a budget request that has been moving through the Nevada Legislature to increase the size of DMV's computer software-programing staff from 13 to 24.

Lewis said this is significant, because the agency has been grappling with a bug-plagued $35 million computer system -- known as Project Genesis -- that has been riddled with problems since it was activated in September 1999.

"We currently don't have enough resources on our information technology staff to make all these necessary changes," Lewis said. "The computer application is pretty complicated, but it can evolve over time."

Henderson consulting firm Analysts International Corp. recommended to the state in January that it freeze the Genesis system, with a few exceptions, so that it could be re-engineered.

"Start with a full assessment of the true customers' needs, and with involvement of the front-line technicians, and redesign the application one business process at a time," the company recommended.

The report concluded that the Genesis system, which was intended to streamline paperwork, was too complex for technicians to use even when the customer required a simple transaction. One consequence is that technicians would often take data processing shortcuts that wound up fouling up the customer's computerized records.

Though Lewis agreed with the report that more than 600 DMV employees were ill-trained to handle Genesis, she said a freeze of the current system is unnecessary. She said many of the more common computer applications can be modified to improve customer service without disrupting the entire Genesis system.

"When we issue a title, it used to take four or five screens, and now it takes 13," Lewis said. "We want to simplify these screens so that it helps the technicians, and then customers are served more effectively."

Within the next six to eight months the DMV expects to expand the services available through its Internet website, dmvstat.com. Nevadans, who are able to renew their licenses and vehicle registrations online, would also be able to change their addresses and order personalized plates.

Lewis said the agency also supports Senate Bill 520, which would give motorists the option of paying for their vehicle registration renewals two years at a time. The bill, which passed the Senate and is in the Assembly, is being viewed as another way to help reduce lines at DMV's 20 offices statewide.

The agency also plans to spend more than $200,000 beginning later this month on a media campaign to publicize its Internet website and its toll-free number, (877) 368-7828, which can also be used by customers for license and registration renewals. The DMV handles more than 1.6 million registered vehicles.

Though Lewis said customers still average about a one-hour wait in most of the urban Clark County offices -- far less than was the case for most of the 1990s -- she said some things are beyond the agency's control.

Many Las Vegans, such as casino workers, insist on making cash transactions and therefore have to go to the offices. The 4,000 to 8,000 newcomers to Nevada each month also make it difficult to reduce waiting times, Lewis said.

"The number of people moving into the state is what is killing us," Lewis said.

But Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who chaired the legislative subcommittee that reviewed problems with Genesis, said more Nevadans should be using the Internet, toll-free number or mail to renew their licenses and registrations.

"The majority of the DMV customers at their offices are not Nevada taxpayers, because they're newcomers," Beers said. "But for most Nevada residents, with few exceptions, you shouldn't have to go to the DMV except once every six years to get your picture taken."