Agencies do not need to transform every service at once. They need a useful first project, the right people at the table, and a way to learn before expanding.
Start with a problem worth solving
Ask employees where work slows down and residents where service becomes confusing. Look for a specific, recurring problem, such as staff spending too much time locating approved information or sorting routine requests.
Define the outcome before considering a tool. For example: “Help agents find the correct, current procedure more quickly while maintaining accurate answers.” That goal is easier to evaluate than “use AI in the contact center.”
Understand the process and the information behind it
Map how the work happens today. Who receives the request? Which systems contain the answer? Where does an employee need judgment or approval? What happens when the information is incomplete?
Then review the material an AI tool would use. Outdated procedures, conflicting documents, and unclear ownership can produce unreliable answers even when the technology works as designed. Improving the source information may be the most valuable first step.
Select a manageable first use case
A good pilot has a defined group of users, a limited task, a clear source of approved information, and results that can be checked. One possibility is an internal assistant that helps employees locate procedures, with links back to the source documents.
Use greater care when an AI system could affect eligibility, benefits, enforcement, safety, or another consequential decision. These uses call for more extensive review, testing, oversight, and public accountability.
Set rules for data, review, and accountability
Before a pilot begins, decide what information may be entered into the tool, who may use it, and who reviews its output. Establish a way to report errors and correct the underlying information.
Employees should know when an answer requires independent verification or escalation. Residents should have a clear path to a person when an automated service cannot resolve their need. Procurement, privacy, security, records, accessibility, and applicable agency policies should be reviewed for the specific use case.
Test with real work
Evaluate the pilot using representative questions and situations, including difficult or incomplete requests. Check whether answers are accurate, understandable, and grounded in approved information. Ask frontline employees to identify where the tool saves time and where it creates extra work.
Measure the outcome identified at the start. Depending on the use case, that might include time spent finding information, answer accuracy, repeat contacts, employee adoption, or customer feedback. Record failures as carefully as successes.
Improve before expanding
A pilot is a learning period. Update source material, adjust workflows, provide training, and retest. Expand only when the agency understands the tool’s performance, the effort needed to maintain it, and the responsibilities of the people who oversee it.
Turnkey Solutions uses its AAPII framework — Assess, Analyze, Prioritize, Implement, and Improve — to connect technology decisions to the service and operational changes around them. AI works best when agencies treat it as part of a better process, with employees equipped to use it and leaders accountable for the results.
Planning an AI initiative?
Contact Turnkey Solutions to discuss a practical starting point for your agency.