Transitioning to a remote-first agency with Google Workspace

The Department started its own deployment process by distributing 2,000 Google Chromebooks and Android phones to staff, getting its full team working remotely in a matter of days. These devices, equipped with Google Workspace solutions, allow officers to boot up from anywhere in 7 seconds and securely access all of their resources while protected by Google 2-Step Verification.

To streamline costs, all agency business was condensed into a paperless format—providing the Department easy access to management, human resources, and employee files in a web browser-based, cloud-native environment. The Department implemented and adopted Google Workspace tools quickly and easily and served as a model to other agencies. When the pandemic surfaced in 2020, the Georgia governor’s office asked if DCS could assist other agencies in successfully transitioning to a remote work environment. The DCS team distributed 1,200 Google Chromebooks and Android phones to other agencies so they could work remotely, and were able to get it up and running within 48 hours.

Saving money on office space and saving time in the day

Embracing remote work has allowed DCS to virtualize its central office, decreasing its infrastructure footprint from 100K sq ft to 7K sq ft. It’s also given chiefs and assistant chiefs the ability to conduct their management duties during rides with officers. Now, they can finish administrative tasks while they’re away from their desks, complete more work in fewer hours, and improve their work-life balance.

Meanwhile, community supervision officers have decreased commutes and increased their average time working with their supervisees. By transitioning to Google Meet video conferencing, average session times have increased from 6.5 minutes to 23 minutes, allowing for more dedicated time and richer conversations with supervisees.

Vision for the future.

The Department of Community Supervision believes that community supervision is best done inside the community—in the parks, on the doorstep, at a place of business—wherever supervisees are living and working. To meet them in these places rather than bringing them into an office, the Department is looking for new ways to integrate Google Cloud into their workflows.

This includes capturing and analyzing video interview transcripts to better understand the quality of time spent in interviews and improve interview questions. By providing feedback to agents in the field, DCS can continue to build an even more efficient, community-focused, and data-driven agency. With improved training and a fully-remote administrative system enabled by Google Workspace, the agency has cut costs and better equipped officers to support and serve their communities at the same time.