State employees' diverse approaches to solving problems for their departments earned them recognition Thursday morning.
Gov. Mike Parson presented three teams - from departments of Natural Resources, Transportation and Revenue - with the annual Governor's Awards for Quality and Productivity.
Judges recognized the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for its "Virtual Interpretation Project," which used creative efforts to provide educational and interpretive programming during the midst of the pandemic, when in-person programs were unavailable.
Department Director Carol Comer told listeners the department wanted to continue to reach residents during the COVID-19 pandemic - "connecting with visitors. Teaching them about the state's natural and cultural resources."
Those efforts, and providing the opportunity for visitors to enjoy the outdoors, are core tasks of the state park system, she said.
Staff began compiling video content to present on social media platforms, according to the awards program.
Videos covered storybook reading, kayaking, archery basics and other recreational demonstrations. They also explored natural history, Missouri history and events like monarch caterpillars entering their chrysalis state.
The videos allowed park users to continue to explore Missouri parks virtually and hopefully will inspire future in-person visits.
The 49 videos generated more than 200,000 views and earned the department more than 17,000 new followers.
The videos also earned the team responsible for them the Customer Service Award.
The Department of Transportation earned the Efficiency and Process Improvement Award.
Its challenge was to develop an automated system to improve processes and capture greater efficiency among about 3,000 maintenance staff members in Missouri.
Director Patrick McKenna said his team looked beyond the reasons it couldn't get the task done, instead focusing on why it must.
The department has 191 maintenance facilities spread across the state, he said.
Maintenance staffs used eight different software programs, he said.
Information was stored on sticky notes, notepads and various other products before being collected.
"It was complicated and inefficient and led to a lot of missed opportunities to get federal reimbursements," McKenna said. "Everybody knows, here in our state, we are very good at resourcing and asking for those federal funds."
He said it is a crying shame when Missouri misses out on those funds.
The goal of the project was to create a program for maintenance to assign work and equipment, and to document work, locations and materials used, the event program said.
The system also provides results and performance data, which helps leadership make informed decisions about uses of resources.
The Missouri Department of Revenue received the Innovation Award for its Chatbot Project - Department of Resources Answers (DORA).
DOR receives more than 1.55 million call center contacts annually. However, not all contacts are answered because of call volumes or customers disconnecting the calls, the event program said.
The chatbot provides customers with 24-hour service, seven days a week. DORA responds to frequently asked questions received concerning taxation, driver licenses and motor vehicles.
It reduces the common calls by providing electronic options that allow call center staff to concentrate on more challenging questions that require employee assistance.
Staff adapted DORA to respond to 2,000 questions about COVID-19 following the virus outbreak. It has also since been adapted to respond to Department of Labor and Industrial Relations questions about unemployment benefits.