Having defined the ideal set of standards, management is then faced with the challenge of working out how to measure performance against the standard.
The standard is of no use if performance against it cannot be measured. Technology often has a role to play in monitoring performance against timeliness standards – particularly in–coming telephone calls.
Correspondence management systems also help monitor the timely answering of written communications. Use of technology as part of the process may allow performance results to be based on 100% of all transactions, rather than on a sample.
Feedback forms or follow-up calls/questionnaires can be used to check customer feedback. It is important to get expert advice on sampling.
At this stage, all ambiguity must be eliminated from the wording of standards so that the whole organisation understands the measure.
Suppose that ‘95% of calls to be answered in three rings’ is a draft standard. It leads to the following questions:
what happens to the other 5% of calls?
do we care how long the customer has to wait?
do we mean answered by a computerised voice or by a real human being?
does the standard apply 24 hours/day, 7 days/week?
Development of the final wording and the associated data gathering process is likely to require a couple of iterations. Some compromises may be required as the cost of data collection is balanced against the ideal service definition.
Accuracy and responsiveness standards are more challenging to monitor. Listening to calls, speaking to customers and independent assessment of written/ email communications against the original enquiry on a sample basis usually provide reliable results.
Statisticians should be asked to give advice on sample sizes and data gathering techniques.