Scheduling Solutions to Make the DMV Experience User-Friendly

an empty waiting room

If you work at the DMV, you already know its reputation. Certain tasks that take place at the Department of Motor Vehicles are hard to schedule with any regularity, but there are still scheduling solutions that will improve the workflow in your office. You may not be able to pinpoint how long it will take someone to complete the written exam or the driving test to receive a learner’s permit or a driver’s license, but there are plenty of actions that you can plan more efficiently. You may just need a bit of assistance courtesy of the QLess system. Introducing a queue management system to the office is the most effective way to organize your job. In fact, the software can even help departments that are understaffed or suffering from a lack of resources.

People now expect to wait at the DMV, and not just for 15 minutes or so, either. That’s reasonable. Rather, citizens set aside hours when they know they have to change their address or renew their license. Going in with such low expectations, it’s not shocking that no one’s happy to be there. One of the primary reasons for long waits at the DMV is because there aren’t enough employees to assist the citizens who come into the office. Those who are available too often expend their energy trying to settle ruffled feathers, answering common questions, and advising people about required documentation. None of those tasks are necessary–or, at least, they shouldn’t be.

With the help of a system such as QLess, citizens can handily research the answers to their questions themselves. Assistance is available via the app, the DMV website (once QLess is installed, of course), or the kiosks located on the property. From those same kiosks, visitors can print out any forms that they’ll need to fill out before their official visit. That saves them the trouble of waiting in line for a piece of paper, while DMV employees won’t have to spend valuable time sorting through paperwork before sending away their visitors without really helping them at all. Continue reading to learn more about how QLess can lead to a user-friendly experience at the DMV through efficient scheduling solutions.

Let the System Do the Work

You only need one scheduling solution to make the experience at your DMV office more user-friendly and efficient: the QLess solution. That is, you need to let the cloud-based queue management system do all the work. That’s essentially what it does. The software won’t render any of your employees redundant, so don’t get that idea. However, it does absolve them from serving citizens on a first come, first served basis, which almost always devolves into playing catch-up as they attempt to deal with a never-ending stream of incoming visitors.

Because community members can now book an appointment through several avenues–via the kiosks, the DMV website, or the QLess app–the system always knows who’s coming in and when. It can shuffle visitors to the appropriate windows and steer them toward the representatives who can help them. The employees themselves don’t have to do anything except remain available and prepared. In instances where folks just walk into the office, the system will give them the first open slot, but it won’t disturb people who booked their spots. In all cases, citizens don’t have to arrive at the DMV until the time of their appointment.

Update Citizens Regularly

The most successful scheduling solutions encourage transparency. That’s true for the queue management system, as well. At DMV offices where QLess is in place, citizens don’t have to worry about walking into a crowd of people waiting for assistance. For one thing, physical lines aren’t necessary since people only need to be there at their appointed time slots. For another thing, the system sends updates to alert anyone with a reservation that the office is running a bit late. That won’t often happen due to the organizational skills of the system, but sometimes unintended circumstances occur.

A gesture as simple as telling someone that their appointment has been pushed back by 15 or 30 minutes is meaningful. It proves that your department respects the members of its community. You value their time, and you aren’t deliberately trying to waste it. Your citizens won’t mind that the schedule is backed up as long as they know about it. What they want to avoid is a scenario where they show up for a scheduled reservation and discover that they won’t be seen for a while. With QLess, they can continue going about their business for a bit longer.

Stay in Touch

a young woman on the phone

Scheduling solutions work both ways. Just as you need to be able to get in touch with the community, your citizens should be able to reach you easily, as well. Normally, people who call the DMV have to wait nearly as long as the folks in the lobby or waiting room. They’re stuck listening to hold music, but all they need to do is ask a question.

QLess allows citizens to send messages to DMV employees through the cloud system. Calling is still an option, just as the DMV can reach out via voice calls. However, you now have the option of emailing or texting, too. In turn, community members can text or email to inform the office that they’re running a bit late themselves. They can also ask about rescheduling an appointment and booking on another day.

Delegate to QLess

As you can see, you can delegate numerous tasks to the queue management system. It takes care of scheduling solutions quite skillfully, but it can also handle customer questions and the tedious job of paperwork. When you adopt the QLess system, you have the option of getting kiosks installed at your location. The kiosks work exactly like the app, in that citizens can use them to book appointments. They can also visit the kiosks to find out what they need for their meeting with respect to personal documentation and any forms they need to fill out before they arrive. Perhaps even more impressively, the kiosks can print out the documents that your citizens need. That saves them from waiting in line to ask an employee, and it keeps the employee from handing out paperwork all day.

Study What Works

Our software provides you with the tools you need to tweak your scheduling solutions proactively. For instance, you can study the analytics gathered by the system to pinpoint the times of day with the highest traffic. It might benefit you to bring on a few extra employees during those times. Having all lines open can ensure that citizens still get in and out quickly. Are people still walking out before their appointments? Are they missing them? Using data from the software can help you to discover why this happens and what to do to resolve the issue, even if it means asking for constructive criticism and suggestions from the citizens you serve.

Competent Staff, Happy Citizens

The main takeaway here is that a queue management scheduling solution will improve the attitude, morale, and productivity of your staff in addition to boosting the satisfaction of your citizens. It will do both things independently, but then it creates a happy bit of synergy that ensures a cycle of busy, engaging employees and fulfilled community members. The staff will feed off the good moods of their citizens, and the citizens will walk away pleased with the level of service they received and the swiftness of their appointments. All of your staff’s energy can remain focused on assisting people to the best of their abilities rather than apologizing on behalf of the DMV.

It isn’t necessary to spend a fortune on time management consultants, nor do you need to increase staff or cut hours. QLess offers scheduling solutions with a value that exceeds the cost. We’re more than willing to work with your motor vehicle office, and you have different payment options from which to choose. The truth is that you can’t afford not to make technological improvements. Our cloud-based scheduling software will ease the burden for your employees, who can come into work each day knowing that they’ll be focused on their day-to-day responsibilities instead of calming citizens who are angry about waiting or being sent away because of paperwork. A seamlessly organized schedule and transparent communication are all you need to boost your office’s reputation and standing in your community. The people in the neighborhood won’t dread coming to the DMV once they realize they can be in and out in a flash. Simply knowing that they can make an appointment and it will stick is enough to please the majority of citizens. Are you ready to be proactive and implement a solution for your scheduling problems? Learn more when you read our whitepaper, The Digital Citizen.