Overview
Employees Receive Checks in Days, Not Months, Thanks to an Easy, Streamlined, Error-Free Workflow
Sonoma County's Staff Development and Wellness Program is a popular benefit for its roughly 3,300 employees, with 90% of its $3.4 million budget utilized every year, which means a heavy volume of reimbursement claims to process. The old system required employees to download, print, and complete a paper form by hand, copy their receipts, and route the packet through multiple reviewers before HR separated it into taxable and non-taxable categories. The process could take four months or longer, and some employees left up to $500 in entitlements unclaimed simply because it wasn't worth the effort.
Sonoma County chose SimpliGov's platform over more complex, code-intensive alternatives and "freemium" point products that lacked the robustness, flexibility, and scalability the county needed.
“The form was very busy and overwhelming, as well as difficult to complete. Tracking the submission was challenging, and there were no notifications at all during the process. Many people felt put off. Because the process was so painful, some employees concluded that it wasn’t worth the effort."
Deborah Lindley
Records and Information Manager, Sonoma County
Impact
- 87% faster reimbursement
- 1 to 2 weeks, down from 4+ months
- $500 in entitlements no longer left unclaimed
Challenge
- 90% of the program's $3.4 million budget is utilized, requiring heavy administrative processing
- Employees waited months to receive checks after filing a claim
- Staff had to identify, download, print, and complete the form manually
- Paper packets were physically routed through multiple reviewers across departments
- Incomplete submissions, bad receipt copies, and duplicates were common
- No central tracking of reimbursement requests
- The process was so cumbersome that some employees skipped filing altogether, leaving up to $500 in entitlements unused
Solution
- No-code architecture, no costly rip-and-replace implementation required
- Forms pre-populate employee background information (name, department, email, phone, manager, bargaining unit, benefit eligibility) automatically
- Smart forms reveal only the fields relevant to the selected reimbursement category
- Built-in calculators handle the math automatically
- A portal lets employees upload receipts directly
- Automated routing moves submissions through approval with alerts generated at each step
Results
- Reimbursement time cut by 87%, from four months to one to two weeks
- Manual, paper-based administrative work was automated
- Infrastructure support costs, and paper and ink supply costs, were eliminated
- A dashboard gives quick status insight and one-click access to any record
- Higher-quality, more consistent data reaches HR
“...We were able to free up resources, increase the amount of benefits utilized by employees, and receive more reliable information on a consistent basis. Thanks to the intuitive, easy-to-use form and quicker reimbursement time, employees now feel encouraged to file their submissions, and they absolutely love the new process.”
Deborah Lindley
Records and Information Manager, Sonoma County
Sonoma County - California
Population
482,650
Use Case
Employee Reimbursements
Department
HR
Municipality
County