State Board of Certified Public Accountants of Louisiana
The State Board of CPAs of Louisiana Uses Iron Data's CAVU Solution to Bring Annual License Renewals Online and Save 2,000 Staff Hours a Year

Executive Summary
To increase efficiencies and streamline the renewal process for licensees, the State Board of CPAs of Louisiana implemented Iron Data's CAVU solution. By automating manual tasks, CAVU allows the State Board to spend less time managing paper and devote more resources to public protection.

Agency Overview
The State Board of CPAs of Louisiana is a state licensing and regulatory agency located in New Orleans. Among its many duties, the State Board issues licenses to individual Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) and CPA firms; administers CPA exams; establishes and regulates rules of conduct; investigates complaints and issues disciplinary actions when necessary. Seven governor-appointed officials sit on the agency's board and meet at least quarterly, and up to nine full-time employees manage the State Board's day-to-day operations.

Business Challenge
For the small State Board staff, manually managing annual license renewals for its 10,000+ licensees was a repetitive, tedious and voluminous process. Paper renewal forms were mailed to licensees, who had to complete the forms and mail them back with payment. When the forms were returned, the data had to be entered into the agency's licensing management software, and the checks had to be processed for deposit and reconciled by hand. "To increase the efficiency of our staff and make it easier for our CPAs, firms and inactive registrants to renew their licenses, we needed to provide an Internet-based online renewal system," states Executive Director and CPA, Michael Henderson.

The State Board's DOS-based legacy software, which had been in place since the early 1990s, couldn't handle online renewals. The agency's options were to upgrade to the Windows version of its current system or put a completely new product in place. "The software we were using was actually designed for associations rather than licensing agencies," Henderson explains. "Upgrading that system required significant reconfiguration to fit our model, so it wasn't the best choice for us."

The state of Louisiana's IT department had previously evaluated licensing and regulation software and determined that the CAVU system was the preferred solution for the state's licensing agencies. Although Louisiana had a master contract in place for CAVU, before making a final decision, the State Board evaluated one other system before concluding that CAVU truly was the better option. "In addition to having the online capabilities we needed," Henderson states, "CAVU had a more robust enforcement package, with built-in workflow for tasks like complaint management and investigations."

Iron Data Solution
The State Board purchased the CAVU solution in June of 2008. To have the online capabilities operational in time to handle the 2009 renewal rush, the software needed to be live by early December of that same year. This required an accelerated implementation schedule that left little room for delays. "We had months to complete an implementation process that many agencies spread out over an entire year," Henderson recalls. "As a result, we relied heavily on the CAVU team to configure the software based on our business rules, many of which were manual processes that had to be translated into software-based tasks."

Data conversion was a potential obstacle to the State Board's go-live goal. Adding extra dollars to the implementation budget for data conversation assistance was an up-front investment that paid off. "In addition to working with the CAVU data conversion manager, we hired an IT consultant with extensive SQL database experience who worked with me to convert our legacy system and paper-based data into a format that was compatible with our new SQL tables," Henderson explains.

On December 1, 2008, less than six months after purchasing the Iron Data software, the State Board's CAVU regulatory and online renewal system went live. One day later, approximately 1,200 license renewals – and payments – had been automatically processed. This initial success could not have been possible without the combined efforts of the dedicated Iron Data and State Board staff.

Results for the State Board of CPAs of Louisiana
Remarkably, nearly 90 percent of the State Board's licensees renewed their 2009 licenses online via CAVU. By not mailing paper renewal forms, the agency saved time while encouraging swift adoption of its new system.

Although the State Board's post-Hurricane Katrina employee count is currently down to seven from a state-authorized maximum of nine, Henderson doesn't feel the need to increase his staff count. "We used to have one full-time person dedicated to processing paper renewals and manually performing clerical duties," he states, "but CAVU has eliminated that need by saving us about 2,000 staff hours a year."

The efficiencies gained from CAVU extend well beyond renewal processing. Self-service capabilities via the CAVU online interface means that State Board staff are no longer burdened with manually updating licensees' demographic information, such as address changes. And convenient online license look-up allows consumers to verify a CPA's license status without calling the State Board. "Automating these previously time-consuming tasks allows us to devote more of our resources to public protection, which is our fundamental reason for existing," Henderson says.

Managing new license applications has been streamlined, too, because CAVU provides a workflow structure for tracking applicants and documenting things like CPA exam results. If an applicant calls to check the status of their application, instead of taking time to pull a paper file and review the contents, State Board staff simply refer to the corresponding record in CAVU.

Looking Forward
In Louisiana, CPAs are required to complete continuing professional education (CPE) every three years and submit documentation of completion to the State Board. Currently, this process is being managed by mail. While there are hundreds of possible CPE providers nationwide, the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants (LCPA) is a major provider. "Iron Data offers a CPE module for the CAVU solution and we are exploring the possibility of interfacing our database with the LCPA's database to automate part of our CPE data collection," Henderson says.

If the State Board decides to move forward with this functionality, Henderson is confident that the Iron Data team can get the job done. "The quality of Iron Data's personnel is remarkable," he states, "which helps us achieve greater value from our CAVU system."