Situation at the Cook County Treasurer's Office Before Salesforce Service Cloud

The Office of the Cook County Treasurer manages more than 16,000 applications for refunds caused by tax overpayments and missing property tax exemptions every year.  The County struggled with costly and time-intensive manual processes, disparate and antiquated systems, and ineffective communication with taxpayers.  The Office of the Treasurer needed a modern solution to integrate with its back-office system to streamline the process of applying for and managing refunds.​

The Office had the following objectives for the modernization of its systems and processes:

  • Reduction of costly paper refund forms and manual processing
  • User-friendly interface, robust reporting analytics, and dashboards​ for County staff
  • Ability to upload attachments to cases
  • Effective and timely communication with taxpayers
  • Integration of critical applications and access from anywhere​ with a cloud solution
  • Reduced maintenance time and cost

Filing for refunds just became easier, and for good reason. Because of the pandemic, the new normal may be that people can't visit government offices to submit documents or get answers to questions about their tax bill in person. So, we'll let them 'visit' from home.

Maria Pappas Treasurer, Cook County, IL
Let’s Create Progress Together!

Filing for refunds just became easier, and for good reason. Because of the pandemic, the new normal may be that people can't visit government offices to submit documents or get answers to questions about their tax bill in person. So, we'll let them 'visit' from home.

Maria Pappas Treasurer, Cook County, IL

Solution & Benefits of Salesforce Service Cloud at Cook County's Office of the Treasurer

AST implemented Salesforce Service Cloud, integrated critical systems, and enabled process automation, resulting in significant time and cost savings, and providing County employees with essential access to standardized data.  The solution has replaced manual processes with streamlined automation, and integration with the County’s Property Lookup system has reduced the need for employees to use multiple applications.

The Office has achieved the following objectives as a results of its partnership with AST and the implementation of this robust Salesforce solution:

  • 50% reduction in case processing time with streamlined communication
  • 24/7 access for applicants to upload documents and connect with staff
  • Advanced search capabilities implemented to simplify data lookup
  • Dynamic reports and dashboards designed to provide management and staff with detailed analytics and instant feedback on cases
Industry: State & Local Government

Solution Components:

  • Salesforce Service Cloud ​
  • Salesforce Lightning Community Pages​
  • Salesforce APIs
  • Salesforce Custom Lightning Component
  • Salesforce Data Loader
  • Salesforce Flow and Process Builder
  • Salesforce Email-to-Case
why ast poster why ast poster

Why AST?


AST’s expertise with the Salesforce platform has provided the County and its citizens a modern solution for managing tax overpayments, saving the County time and cost, and allowing citizens to manage their end of the process entirely from home.