Measuring client s satisfaction the integrated management System of the Post-Service Satisfaction Survey at Statistics Portugal

Transcription

1 Measuring client s satisfaction the integrated management System of the Post-Service Satisfaction Survey at Statistics Portugal Maria João ZILHÃO Head of the Planning, Control and Quality Unit, Statistics Portugal Magda RIBEIRO Statistician, Planning, Control and Quality Unit, Statistics Portugal Abstract Measuring client s satisfaction of Statistics Portugal statistical results is a compromise stated in its Quality Charter, as a quality policy item, and is part of Statistics Portugal annual evaluation. One of the last approaches to be settled in this respect is the post-service satisfaction survey oriented to the Clients Service, against specific requests of information, namely tailor made statistical requests made through the Website or by , that gathers around requests per year. The measurement of client s satisfaction of this service started in May 2010 and is done by means of a personal survey sent to the client by , generated automatically by the IT System, 24 hours after the request was answered. The process of managing the results of this survey implies the use of IT technology adapted to the requests administration, making possible the linkage of different aspects of the client s database and the results of the client s satisfaction survey. Several advantages of this integrated process are: The analysis of satisfaction levels by the items that characterise both the client and the request; Report the satisfaction level by employee who answer the request; It complements the Clients Service itself, allowing a better and additional interaction between Statistics Portugal and the client. 1

2 The paper will focus the benefits of this integrated management system, showing the workflow of the process, the IT characteristics of the system, the results of the survey and the involvement of the staff in quality improvement actions making use of the survey results. Key words: Quality Management; Process management; Measuring client s satisfaction. 1. Introduction The present paper describes and focuses the benefits of the integrated management System of the Post-Service Satisfaction Survey at Statistics Portugal, showing the workflow of the process, the IT characteristics of the system, the results of the survey and the involvement of the staff in quality improvement actions making use of the survey results. 2. Measuring client s satisfaction of Statistics Portugal Statistics Portugal has implemented customer satisfaction surveys since 1996 in order to assess statistical products and services satisfaction. Measuring client s satisfaction of Statistics Portugal statistical results is a compromise stated in its Quality Charter, as a quality policy item, aligned with the European Statistics Code of Practice, and is also integrated in the Public Administration approach of Statistics Portugal annual evaluation. To know if our costumers are satisfied with our products and services we have undertaken over the last years customer satisfaction surveys towards different types of customers, e.g.: Library customers; Users with specific requests; Central Administration; Media; Scientific Community Researchers; and Website users. Since 2006, Statistics Portugal has used an approach that allows comparing results of customer satisfaction surveys amongst different types of customers and from different surveys through time. In sum, we have defined five quality dimensions that are assessed by our customers and that are broken down into various attributes/variables. The five quality dimensions are defined accordingly to the following structure: Quality perception, concerning statistical information: recognized quality of the statistical information; 2

3 Quality perception, concerning products: evaluation of supports and means used to disseminate the information; Quality perception, concerning services: evaluation of the services rendered by Statistics Portugal; Value for money: level of the product/service quality versus its price; Global image: it takes into account the recognized level of quality of the information, products and services and the institution as a whole; Expectations: assessments of the quality level customers expect to receive in the scope of the dissemination policy of official statistics; Loyalty/fidelity. As an example the attributes that compose dimension Quality perception, concerning statistical information are: Data pertinence the disseminated statistical information reflects the evolution of the country reality. The collected data should be that needed to reach useful results. Credibility disseminated statistical information deserves our customers trust. Actuality the disseminated statistical information is actual; the lag between the reference period and the disseminate date is short. Data accessibility it is easy to access to statistical information. Metadata accessibility available metadata is clearly accessible (concepts, nomenclatures, methodologies, statistical sources) and facilitates the reading and understanding of statistical information. Coherence and Comparability the disseminated data are coherent and comparable, particularly in space and in time, and is supported by the same concepts and nomenclatures. Geographical disaggregation geographical disaggregation of data are in accordance with the needs of our customers. Synthetic data general indicators are pertinent and access to them is easy. Data punctuality Statistics Portugal meets the statistical dissemination calendar in accordance with the previously announced. The questionnaires for the different surveys are built in an identical way, that is, they have the same structure and are based on a matrix of questions related to the dimensions and respective attributes. 3

4 However, taking into account the different groups of customers that are to be inquired, some questions may vary. Nevertheless, comparison of results is possible amongst surveys form different groups. Scales for all questions, either questions assessing quality or agreement level, are based on a scale of 6 levels, as follows: Scale Categories (i) i=1 i=2 i=3 i=4 i=5 i=6 VeryUnsatisfied Totally disagree Very Satisfied Totally agree The analysis of the results is displayed by using the extreme balance responses (EBR). This approach aims to valorize the extreme answers in detriment of the central evaluations which tend to represent a less expressive dissatisfaction/disagreement or satisfaction/agreement. The attributed weights are as follows: EBR = F 1 * (-1) + F 2 * (-0,5) + F 3 * (-0,25) + F 4 * (0,25) + F 5 * (0,5) + F6 where FI = Relative frequency of each observed value for each one of the categories I = (1,,6). Data is referenced in a metric scale between -1 or +1, where values next to -1 mean full dissatisfaction/disagreement and values near +1 mean full satisfaction/agreement. 3. Customer support service Statistics Portugal has a customer service available oriented to provide guidance in statistics consultation and for delivering information, namely tailor made information. Most of this service is free of charge, however some requests may have to be paid, in case it involves research and/or additional treatment of the information. As a result a value-added product is obtained, whose costs are borne by the customer. Concerning the satisfaction measurement of requests made by and the website, an approach was settled in order to evaluate its quality - the post-service satisfaction survey. It is specific oriented to the Customer support service, namely tailor made statistical requests, that gathers around requests per year. User requests indicators Number of user requests Average user requests per month (number) Average response time (days) 1,15 0,79 1,15 It is important to highlight the compromises that are referred to in Statistics Portugal Quality Charter concerning this service: the maximum delivery deadlines according to the different types of 4

5 requests; and the interaction/communication with the client during the process of satisfying the request, namely doubts, difficulties and new deadlines due to the specifications of the request. 4. Assessing quality of the customer support service The measurement of client s satisfaction of this service started in May 2010 and is done by means of an individual survey sent to the client by , automatically generated by the IT System, 24 hours after the request was answered. The questionnaire is composed by seven questions aiming at measuring the client satisfaction concerning that specific request, with respect to the adequacy of the reply, staff competency, and all other items that form Statistics Portugal Commitment at the Quality Charter. The process of managing the results of this survey implies the use of IT technology (XEO Extensible Enterprise Objects) adapted to the requests management, making possible the linkage of different aspects of the client s database and the results of the client s satisfaction survey, since both use the same IT platform and have a common linkage key (Common ID Request code). Business Object (BO) is used, making possible the visualising of the results and makes easier the tabulation of results and reports, as well as the cross relation of the different variables of the data basis (requests management system and satisfaction management system). 5

6 5. Results The experience in assessing quality of this service over the last two years is summarized below and shows that it was welcomed by our clients: the response rates are around 30% which is considered a good response rate for this type of surveys. Indicators st Quarter 2012 Response rate (%) 27,4% 30,8% 31,3% Number of questionnaires Average number of questionnaires per month 98,4 215,5 226,3 Global Satisfaction level (EBR) 0,64 0,67 0,71 Surveys received in 48 hours (%) 84,6% 81,5% 73,8% The experience also shows that it has been worth whiling the effort of measuring this type of service: all items under evaluating have increased over the last two years, as well as the global satisfaction level. They assess the service rendered by the Dissemination Unit at organization level. So it pushes the quality of this service at a higher level of Excellency. The fact that it is possible to link the satisfaction results of the requests to the statistical domains makes also possible a permanent feedback with the production areas, by means of the quarterly reports published on our 6

7 Intranet. It complements the Clients Service itself, allowing a better and additional interaction between Statistics Portugal and the client. It is important to say that these results are available both internally, in the Intranet on a quarterly report, and externally in the annual report and on the Statistics Portugal newsletter. Aspects Satisfaction level (EBR) st Quarter 2012 Adequacy of Statistics Portugal reply on user s request 0,60 0,62 0,60 Staff competency 0,70 0,73 0,75 Time delivery of statistical information on user s request 0,72 0,72 0,75 Reporting of unexpected delays on time delivery 0,57 0,58 0,64 Time delivery on budget communication * 0,62 0,64 0,71 Meeting initial time delivery * 0,66 0,73 0,81 Ratio price/quality of rendered services * 0,61 0,65 0,71 Global Satisfaction level 0,64 0,67 0,71 * for payed information only Satisfaction level (EBR) Public Administration Education Enterprises Private Others ,65 0,66 0,62 0,66 0, ,66 0,7 0,69 0,66 0,57 1st Quarter ,66 0,7 0,75 0,74 0,47 Additionally is worth mentioning that, the activity of measuring satisfaction, namely the results of this survey, is included as an indicator that specifically measures the result of the organization at Public Administration level. The National Public Administration approach in assessing performance in public organizations - the Responsibility and Assessment Framework - is an integrated approach in defining and assessing the annual main objectives and the indicators that are related to them at organizational level, but also at unit and employee level. This framework has helped the organization to find a global approach for assessing its annual performance, dully aligned with the Strategic Objectives, whose results are used for measuring organization Excellency amongst other organizations, based on similar criteria of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellency Model. As such the assessment activities concerning Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Management of Suggestions/Complaints and the assessment against the Code of Practice are examples of issues that are considered in such a framework. 7

8 6. References [1] European Statistics Code of Practice (2011), adopted by the European Statistical System Committee. [2] Satisfaction Management System (2009); internal procedure, Statistics Portugal. [3] Statistics Portugal Annual Report (2010), Statistics Portugal. [4] Main results of the Post-Service Satisfaction Survey (May 2012), internal report, Statistics Portugal. [5] Quality Charter (2009), Statistics Portugal. 8