The Board's Strategic Plan contemplates the development of a "case management" approach to handling workers' claims whereby accountability for each complex case is assigned to one Case Manager. The Board's Administration has conducted a pilot project in Prince George and North Vancouver and received approval for further implementation of case management in two additional sites. Effective February 27, 1998, the Board reached an agreement with the Compensation Employees' Union to reclassify all Claims Adjudicator positions at the Board to Case Manager positions. The Panel has authorized Case Managers to perform the functions and make the decisions assigned by the Rehabilitation Services and Claims Manual to Claims Adjudicators and has ratified that authority from the date of the agreement.