MSP’s badging office has taken a number of steps in recent months to improve efficiency and capacity, allowing the office to process a higher volume of badging applications and shorten lead times for appointments.
The office began implementing process improvements last spring, during a period of exceptionally high demand for employee badges. At that time, badging appointments were booked nearly a month out. Now they’re down to a week – sometimes even less.
“We were at three days for a while, but a recent influx of appointments has us at about a week,” said Jake Hoehn, airport security manager.
To increase the office’s efficiency, finger printing equipment was added to each work station, allowing applicants to be fingerprinted immediately after filing their paperwork instead of waiting for a separate fingerprinting station to become available. Additionally, an area previously dedicated to fingerprinting was converted into two new work stations, and staff was added to accommodate the office’s new improved capacity.
SIDA classes are now offered five days a week and will soon be completed through the Learning Management System instead of an instructor or video led class. This allows applicants to come in for computer-based training any time during badging office hours, instead of having to come in at a set class time for instructor-led training. Additionally, the badging office has periodically extended its hours to accommodate more applicants and eliminated cash transactions to keep its queues moving.
To ensure you’re not turned away at your appointment, Hoehn recommends that company badge application signers cross reference applications with the badging application user guide on myMSPconnect. He also suggests that applicants double check that they have the required two forms of accepted ID with them when they go to the badging office.
“Some companies are scheduling their employees in back-to-back appointments and sending a signer with them to the badging office,” said Hoehn. “That way, if something’s missed on an application, the signer can correct it onsite.”
Along with making operational changes and reconfiguring office space to maximize efficiency, badging has also transitioned to a new background check vendor. This vendor is able to process background checks more quickly, allowing most employees to pick up their badges within a few days of filing their applications.
The badging office will continually evaluate its processes and look for additional opportunities to further increase efficiencies in the future.
