Oregon Seed Certification Service Customer Satisfaction Survey

Transcription

1 Oregon Seed Certification Service Oregon State University, 31 Crop Science Bldg., Corvallis, Oregon T F Oregon Seed Certification Service Customer Satisfaction Survey In the spring of 2013 there was a request by individuals in the seed industry for OSCS to complete a customer satisfaction survey and publish the results. OSU recently made available an online survey- creating program called Qualtrics, to facilitate individuals and departments at OSU in developing surveys. We used this program, and developed the survey with the help of Mary Halbleib in the Crop and Soil Science department who has had experience with this. Initially over 900 post- cards were mailed out informing seed certification customers seed growers, seed contractors and warehouses about the survey with information on the web address to access the survey. We also had a prominent button on our home page linked to the survey and invited people to participate. In addition, there were announcements at several industry and commission meetings about the survey and how to access it. The survey was activated on May 30 th 2013, and ran until September 1 st During that time 96 people began the survey and 75 completed it. Attached is a complete unedited copy of the survey and the responses, including additional summary comments in some sections. We found this to be a valuable tool in reviewing our programs and will continue to use this from time to time in the future to help fine- tune the various services that our program offers. Agriculture, Family and Community Development, 4-H Youth, Forestry, Energy and Extension Sea Grant Programs, Oregon State University, United States Department of Agriculture and Oregon Counties cooperating. The Extension Service offers its programs and materials equally to all people.

2 Seed Certif ication Survey Summary % % Do you, or someone in your organizat ion do f ield or crop sign- ups? % How of t en do you have cert if ied f ields in t he cert if icat ion program? 1 I have f ields in the program every year % I have f ields in the program once every % 2-3 years. I have f ields in the program about once 3 every 4-5 years. It's 5 years or more between having 4 f ields in the program % How do you signup your f ields f or seedling and crop inspect ions? I or someone in my organization does 1 all f ield and crop inspection sign-ups % online. 2 I go to my county extension of f ice f or help with sign- ups % 3 I call the Seed Certif ication of f ice to get help with my sign-ups each year % % Are you sat isf ied wit h t he f ield signup process? 1 Very Satisf ied % 2 Satisf ied % 3 Somewhat Satisf ied % % 5 Somewhat Dissatisf ied % 6 Dissatisf ied % 7 Very Dissatisf ied

3 Are your seedling inspect ions complet ed in a t imely manner? % % Do you receive your seedling report s in a t imely manner? % % Are your crop inspect ions complet ed in a t imely manner? % % Did you receive your crop report s in a t imely manner? % % Text Ent ry It is more f un to work with a person than just the computer. Not all progress is good. I like signing up online, but I also would like to pay online with a credit card whoever set this up only did half a job. also with the convenience of google earth to get maps you should start using latitude & longitude instead of township and range It would be great to have a meeting(s) to help to try ways to f urther streamline the process f or Cert and growers both. They should be done more in line with when they are maturing, not all species at one time. I also f eel if a seed company is involved the production guy should be involved somehow. Very good process, that has improved over the years. Inspectors and staf f very helpf ul. I like that we receive s on f ly over time f rame. This helps us in getting f ields f lagged so that we do not do it too soon (f lags f all or get tipped by sprayer). The crop inspections and seedling reports get mailed to the wrong company division a lot of the time. i dont think your inspectors know what they are looking at 50 % of the time glad you asked, last year I had a f ield kicked out. This f ield was a Merit seed f ield the year bef ore it had winter wheat in it and I used a lot of Beacon to control the wheat. It was unlevel at inspection time but level at harvest your person in charge ref used to look at it then. I have raised Merit f or almost 30 years and grass f or f orty years. This cost me 20,000 dollars. May not continue to grow grass if this f oolishness is repeated. the risk of one man decision is too great. When I f irst started growing grass seed we went through this same deal, until inspectosr realized that grass can very in height due to weather and chemical damage. I hope this is not happening again, the cost are to high and the grass price is too low. Af ter 40 years of growing grass I know the dif f erence between of f type and the crop that is planted. This year the grass crop has been very uneven due to the dry spring here. Your web site f or registering f ield/crops f or inspection is a bit cumbersome. I struggle over the online signup, because I don't do it of ten enough...i have no good suggestions, but somebody who really understands the internet and seed certif ication ought to take a look at it. View More

4 % % Do you or someone in your company use t he online services? % % % Do you use t he online services f or t hings ot her t han f ield or crop sign- ups? % What addit ional ecert if icat ion services do you use? Check all t hat apply. Field Inf ormation (other than % f ield and crop sign-ups) 2 Seed Sample Inf ormation % 3 Seed Test Inf ormation % 4 Seed Lot Inf ormation % % From t he list below, please indicat e what ot her online services you use Query and Download Crop Field % Inf ormation 2 Create Online Seed Sample Certif icate % Track Your Sample Through Purity % Analysis Process Obtain Test Number f or Received % Samples 5 Access OSU Seed Lab Test Reports % 6 Request Approval f or Processed lots % 7 Order Certif ication T ags % 8 Print Oregon Certif ication T ags % Request Approval f or Movement of % Untagged Seed 10 Other-- Please enter the title % % How would you charact erize t he ease of use of t he online services 1 Very easy % 2 Easy % 3 Somewhat Easy % % 5 Somewhat Dif f icult % 6 Dif f icult % 7 Very Dif f icult %

5 Text Ent ry hard to get the needed inf o at times. Hard to know what tests have been ordered sometimes. Thumbnail images of f ield shapes or screen shots need to be made available to contractors! the web site is a bit cumbersome. There is a glitch in the program that makes you log over and over and over again until you click on something else. seems like extra step to enter the name of a warehouse f or example and and then wait f or the system to locate a list of possible names - why not have a pull down to select f rom upon f irst click f or most things - like grower name and variety and on and on? Online entries require exact names, etc - can be dif f icult accessing inf ormation. We do not have a computer near (5 miles away) f rom the warehouse, so logistics prevent us f rom doing that. Not interested in your "e- services". Your expectation f or Warehouses to complete seed sample requirement on line will be problematic. Most grower processors cannot devote the time required to properly matter the ecertif ication process. We did not realize it was even available. View More

6 % % Do you or someone at your locat ion order seed samples % On average, how of t en are samples picked up at your locat ion? 1 Once a Week % Times a Week % 3 Daily % 4 Other % % % % Does t he f requency of sample pickup meet your needs? % Do you or someone in your organizat ion order t ags? % % % On average, how of t en t o you order cerf icat ion t ags? 1 Every week % times per month % 3 Once per month % 4 Less than once per month % 5 Other % % What met hod do you use t o order cert if icait on t ags? Check all t hat apply. 1 Online services/ecertif ication % 2 Fax-in the order f orm % 3 Call in the order % % Do you print your own cert if icait on t ags? % % %

7 If you have t ags print ed by OSCS, are t hey delivered in a reasonable amount of t ime? 1 Very Satisf ied % 2 Satisf ied % 3 Somewhat Satisf ied % % 5 Somewhat Dissatisf ied 6 Dissatisf ied 7 Very Dissatisf ied % If your t ag order ever t ook t oo long, what was t he cause? 1 Tag order and sample pickup was too slow. 2 Tag printing and delivery took too long % 3 Waiting f or completion of a seed test % 4 Other % % Please writ e any ot her comment s about t ag order and delivery. love the online tag order process - very easy and quick They Only Come to my f acility on Monday Wednesday and Friday if called that morning bef ore 9:00 A.M. My sampler can only hang OECD tags when she gets time and sometimes she gets busy. A lot of time is spent waiting f or samplers to pick up and deliver tags. 1 Grower % 2 Contractor % 3 Warehouse % 4 Seed Lab Customer % Please indicat e your client st at us- - check all t hat apply % How sat isf ied are you wit h t he service when you call t he of f ice? 1 Very Satisf ied % 2 Satisf ied % 3 Somewhat Satisf ied % % 5 Somewhat Dissatisf ied % 6 Dissatisf ied 7 Very Dissatisf ied %

8 Have you ever been a member of an advisory commit t ee or t he Cert if icat ion Board? % % % How would you rat e t he services overall of Seed Cert if icait on 1 Very Satisf ied % 2 Satisf ied % 3 Somewhat Satisf ied % % 5 Somewhat Dissatisf ied % 6 Dissatisf ied % 7 Very Dissatisf ied % % Please provide any comment s you'd like wit h regard t o your previous response. Staf f is most helpf ul, and always are most eager to get me an answer when I need one. I think the seed lab is very expensive vs private labs The certif ication rules need to have provisions to bin and clean f ields of the same variety to allow access to the 10% rule. In my particular case, I submit that the genetic integrity of the seed would not have been harmed in any way, in f act much better because of dilution of the neighboring f oreign pollen had I been allowed to combine f ields. I was told that the rules don't allow f or such a thing and that no exceptions could be made because then everybody would want to do the same. I submit that everybody with a similar situation SHOULD be allowed to do the same. This notion doesn't put Oregon's Blue Tag in peril, it would be an improvement to it's integrity.. So, if it's against the rules, the rules need to be changed. There is always room f or improvments. Mostly I am satif ied with all serivices. Some on-line serives still need to get simpler and perhaps easier to read. Contacting Seed Cert. Personnel needs to be put back on line. I am not satisf ied with the pickup schedule during the peak season. If they pickup a sample on Friday it usually is not received until Tuesday morning at the seed lab. And only having the option to send samples in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday does not work that well. For my warehouse this only applies f rom July 10th until about the end September. samples and ship seed only. Grower handles registrations online and uses bulk certif icates only In retrospect It is critical that OSU Seed Certif ication be in parity with other OSCAgencys in other states/countries. When the OSU system requires more ef f ort and cost to hang a tag then we are at distinct disadvantage to our competitive certif ying agencies in other states and countries. It is great to say you are the best in the world only to f ind that we no longer are the true leader but wondering why we lost all our business to other tagging agencies that f acilitate success to their grower conditioner constituents. If it wasn't f or Nancy I would be lost!!! She does a great job and I have learned a lot f rom her. I did have trouble this year in that I expected to receive a bill af ter registering on line f or clover certif ication. That seemed a little conf using, but I was able to f igure it out. The whole signing in with passwords and all that is a real pain, f rankly.

9 Please include any ot her comment s you'd like t o make. Seed Cert is always good to work with. When I have trouble with anything whoever answers my call is always polite, f riendly, helpf ul. In terms of bettering the service, I htink it would be helpf ul to us all to schedule meeting(s) in a round table f ormat to solicit ideas to improve communication, to allow more ef f iciency f or both cert, growers, warehouse, etc. This survey is a good start. Have a nice day. With the seed lab, when they get a f irst count on Tall Fescue above the needed 85% to qualif y f or tagging and wait f or a higher germination it can really mess up shipping plans. OSU should open up to other labs the ability to do certif ied testing, like out sourcing, but sooner. Eliminate the rush and super rush f ees, by doing so. Make the certif ied specif ications f or turf and f orage be dif f erant. Make turf grass specs UGS f ree, and of f er a substandard certif ied tag f o those lots that are not UGS f ree, but still qualif y under current standards so they can still be exported or sold as Oregon certif ied substandard grade. Make the Oregon blue tag be what it once was the bench mark of quality, not what we see today a tool to be used to misrepresent quality. Feel f ree to call to discuss my comments. Seed cert is basicly f ine need to work on f ew things, the isssue is with the lab. Any research the lab is doing should be at the request of the industry not what they think should be done. The dollars are not being spent correctly when it is not a benif it to the industry. Bef ore any research on new testing ways are started it needs to come to the industry and get some money f or it or to see if the industry thinks it would be an improvement to the process. It would be benef icial if there were a question as to name of variety or lot number if a simple call or text could be made to clarif y the question, and not result in a f ee charged. Sometimes just a misspelling or leaving of f a simple word results in rejection. Any ef f orts to resolve questions up f ront would be great. Understand that many of us do not "man" of f ice personal in the summer, we are in the f ields and cannot reply to f ax or land lines quickly. The f olks at seed lab have been great, and understanding, and f ield calls with great courtesy and prof essionalism. Thank You When not sure exactly how to proceed on the web sight. the people in the of f ice were very helpf ul i like the idea of being able to get sample certif icates online. However, I f eel that the interf ace could be streamlined some by having less of the f ields reset af ter going back to change lot numbers. Also, making it simple to use a smart phone to create the certif icates would be nice. I should be able to print directly f rom my phone to a printer in my warehouse without needing to go into my of f ice to get that done.