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Program Managers' Corner
This is the sixteenth in a series of short articles from
your CALEA Program Managers.

Team Leaders and Technology:
 Strategies to Control Costs

Over the past several years CALEA has mailed flash drives to Team Leaders prior to on-site assessments. These devices have been used as a medium for saving electronic documents associated with assessment activities.  The process has served the Commission well and has been much more cost effective than mailing reams of paper to the CALEA Offices for archiving.  In fact, CALEA has built on this opportunity and has now reduced office and administrative costs by transitioning to a paperless archive system. This makes for more seamless redistribution of documents and controls photocopying and mailing costs. Furthermore, electronic versions of assessment reports are being used by many Commissioners during their review of agencies for accreditation/recognition. This has also been an operational savings that continues to result in overall lower costs for client agencies. 

Since the introduction of flash drive technology, the cost of these devices has fallen significantly. In fact, when conducting an online search for pricing you can quickly find 2 GB USB flash drives for less than $9, and devices with less memory are even less expensive.  As a result, effective October 1, 2010, CALEA is authorizing Team Leaders to purchase a flash drive for each assessment they conduct. A receipt for this purchase should be attached to the Assessor Expense Report and captured in the miscellaneous section for reimbursement purposes. Team Leaders should not purchase flash drives with more than 4 GB of memory and should attempt to purchase devices with less memory when available. CALEA has historically distributed devices with 256K of memory, which has been sufficient for saving documents related to assessment activities. Ideally, these purchases should not exceed $10 - $12 as a guideline and Team Leaders should practice good stewardship when making these selections.  Team Leaders should discuss questions concerning this administrative change with Program Managers when they are assigned to conduct assessments.   

To further capitalize on this strategy, CALEA will redistribute collected flash drives to Team Leaders during conferences and other meetings. The reissuance of these devices will also work as a cost control strategy and prevent any resources from being wasted. To that end, the entire concept will contribute to more environmentally friendly office operations. 

CALEA staff will continue to strive to control costs for client agencies and review our administrative processes to ensure we are working smartly.  We are also open to new ideas, so please feel free to contact your program manager or other members of CALEA Staff if you have suggestions regarding process improvement opportunities.

ATTENTION CALEA ASSESSOR

If you have not completed and sent to CALEA your Conflict of Interest Form, please do so at your earliest convenience. The CALEA Assessor Conflict of Interest Policy was developed by CALEA for all assessors and team leaders. It should be noted a similar policy was developed last year for selected staff and all Commissioners. This new policy provides general guidance on conflict of interest issues and establishes a reporting requirement for active CALEA assessors. 

Message to CALEA Client Personnel