Collision Data Exception Report Processing Backlog
Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL)
Recently, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and the Washington State Department
of Licensing (DOL) worked together to develop an electronic system to allow DOL staff to access collision
images and process electronic collision data. The intent of this project was to eliminate the need for
paper copies of collision reports to be delivered to DOL on a weekly basis. It also sought to reduce some
of the redundant processing occurring at both agencies. However, implementation of this electronic process
introduced new, unanticipated workload associated with the exception registers. Certain design requirements
were not included in the project causing exception lists to be much larger than originally anticipated. DOL
and WSDOT are attempting to address the original design requirements that were not included in initial
implementation. This, however, does not address the current exception report backlog at DOL.
Although less than two percent of the data sent is an exception, that still amounts to almost 2,000 exceptions
per week, over 100,000 per year. Exceptions are calculated by individual driver and not by the number of
collisions. This volume of exceptions has created a significant burden on DOL Driver System staff. The current
exception report backlog consists of approximately 120,000 records that must be researched and resolved. Sixty
percent of those exceptions take an average of three minutes to resolve. The following is an estimate of the necessary
resources to eliminate the current backlog:
120,000 X 60% @ 3 min. divided by 88,290 FTE minutes = approx. 2.5 FTEs
This project will provide two temporary staff at the Department of Licensing to begin immediate work to eliminate
the current exception report backlog. DOL estimates that this backlog could be nearly eliminated with two additional
FTEs for one calendar year.
Additional information regarding this project is available upon request.
Project Lead: Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL)
Office: Driver Services Division
Phone Number: (360) 902-3850
Implementation Schedule: 10/2008 – 9/2009