Our Objectives
Improve Timeliness and Reduce Duplication in Statutory Reports
Under Rhode Island General Laws, the Office of Revenue Analysis (ORA) is responsible for analyzing and forecasting various revenue items, economic development proposals, and presenting the results of such analysis through the production of reports, and public testimony. The collection of data requires the active participation of outside agencies, and ORA’s ability to produce these reports is largely dependent on the access to high quality data from third party entities. Clear process guidelines and data collection protocols are needed to enable the swift transfer of data to the Office for enhanced forecasting, estimation, and analysis. To maintain timely and efficient fulfillment of its mandated duties, ORA is pursuing several initiatives to improve its data sources and data sharing procedures.
ORA will provide staff the opportunity on reports on special topics consistent with the Office’s mission as a means of furthering staff professional development.
Develop an Improved Publication Task Schedule
High-quality data is the foundation of ORA’s work, so it is important that the Office receives all information needed from those agencies maintaining relevant data in a timely fashion. ORA will review its existing procedures, statutory deadlines and agreements with external stakeholders to develop and mandate deadlines for the provision of data and the response to questions about the data and the publication of the reports by ORA.
This will enable the unit to establish set timelines agreeable to all parties that enable the unit to better meet its statutory obligations for the issuance of the preliminary Comparative Statement of Revenue, responses to questions, the release of the PIT-Sales-Corp reports and the transfer of realty transfer tax receipts to the Housing Resources Commission.
Explore Legislation to Streamline Reporting
Currently the tax incentives covered under the Unified Economic Development Report (UEDR) are also required to be reported on under the Rhode Island Economic Development Tax Incentive Evaluation Act (RIEDTIEA) with the utilization of RIte Care/RIte Share benefits by employees of tax incentive recipients required only under UEDR. Legislation could be introduced to move elements currently captured in the Unified Economic Development Report (UEDR) to the RIEDTIEA report (the RIte Care/RIte Share benefits by tax incentive recipients) in order to streamline reporting currently produced by the Office of Revenue Analysis. Movement of this information to the RIEDTIEA would enable the office to merge the two reports into one comprehensive reference document, making it easier for the public and key stakeholders to find pertinent information on economic development.
Promote Staff Professional Development
ORA prioritizes supporting employees’ intellectual curiosity by providing them with opportunities to conduct meaningful research relevant to the Office’s mission. Upon completion of diverse and challenging analyses and projects, employees expand both their skill sets and their understanding of ORA operations by partaking in a diverse and challenging array of analyses.
Provide Staff the Opportunity to Work on Special Reports
By initiating a system to organize assigned research projects, ORA allows employees to pursue individual research projects while managing progress on their daily work and responsibilities. Project portfolio systems facilitate collaboration by encouraging employees to share useful materials and related experience amongst one another, improving their efficiency in completing research projects while promoting a learning environment within the Office. ORA will require employees to develop work plans for the upcoming fiscal year that outline the tasks they will undertake, balancing existing mandates on ORA against new projects identified to support other divisions or the mission of ORA.
The work plans will allow each employee to manage their time and effort while maintaining a desirable work-life balance. These work plans will be reviewed with employees to provide feedback on their identified tasks and establish a timeline for the successful completion of projects and continuously maintain a performance development program.
This allows staff to examine topics they are interested in without having to meet statutory deadlines and gives staff an intellectual break from completing the routine reporting.
Solicit Ideas from Staff
ORA will initiate regular meetings with staff to discuss the feasibility of proposed projects, assemble teams to complete the projects and disseminate findings of special reports to incorporate staff feedback into the above- mentioned process.
Transition Staff Back to the Office
In some cases, work from home has made it difficult for collaboration and communication across ORA team members. Transitioning staff back to the office would enable better access to state data resources located on secure servers and would allow for assignment of tasks more efficiently and quickly than is currently possible under remote working agreements.
Introduce a Staggered Return Schedule
Once declared safe by appropriate federal and state health authorities, the Office plans to have one-half of staff return to office on Mondays and Wednesdays while the other half returns on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This will ensure maximum physical distance between individuals that are in the office on any given day as a means of promoting safety, and a more efficient working environment for ORA staff members.