Orleans Levee District

Restructuring Organizational Infrastructure to Realize Efficiencies

Challenge
With the recent legislative reallocation of non-flood assets from The Orleans Levee District (the District) supervision to a separate management authority, the District engaged SSA to assess its existing structure and make recommendations for an organizational redesign.

Approach
SSA conducted an organizational assessment to examine the District's current infrastructure on both an organizational and departmental level in an effort to best identify allocation of resources and personnel relative to the District's mission. The SSA project team facilitated the outcomes and observations of this assessment through key staff and stakeholder interviews, organizational chart and table of organization analyses and a comprehensive review of the District's documents as they relate to the organization or its departments. SSA conducted a high-level benchmarking study to determine a baseline for the District's operations and then compared those operations to similar agencies and levee authorities. SSA also examined other state agencies’ organizational structures to correlate staffing levels in generic departments like human resources, finance and information technology. SSA’s final task involved the development of recommendations for any activities that will ultimately improve, augment or enhance the District's operations to serve as a blueprint for proposed organizational growth and staffing level adjustments over time to reach desired levels.

Impact
Overall, SSA concluded that while the District's current staffing levels proved adequate to provide its mandated services, some personnel imbalances did exist within certain departments. SSA estimated a large amount of anticipated retirements and/ or regular turnover would naturally correct these imbalances through attrition and the subsequent freezing of positions within overstaffed departments. Additionally, the SSA project team recognized many opportunities to realize efficiencies in work process and practice movements to further help in closing the gap within overstaffed departments as staffing levels balance.

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