I would like to nominate Augusta State University as the Customer Service Institution of the Year for FY 2010. Augusta State has taken a multi faceted approach to improving customer service, as detailed below. ASU uses training programs to make employees knowledgeable about the importance of excellent customer service and follows the training with constant communications to change the campus culture to one of excellence in service. At ASU we look for opportunities to improve customer service and are responsive with individual projects from which improvements are implemented.
Training as a way to improve knowledge:
Augusta State offers the following training programs in Customer Service:
Creating a Culture of Service Excellence
Jaguar Blue Belt Lean Six Sigma Training
The Art of Exceptional Customer Service for USG
Communications as a way to change culture (Process Agent):
Augusta State sends the Team Georgia customer service postcard to all faculty and staff every two weeks.
Augusta State conducted a “You Can Count On Me” campaign in August. We featured different departments on campus and how we all can count on them for great service. Sample below:
How many people lock their keys in their car at Disney World each year? – 19,000
How many lock their keys in their car at Augusta State each year? – about 500
But the good news is you can count on Public Safety to come to the rescue – saving time and money for our students, employees and guests.
They provide excellent customer service – and you can always count on them.
Augusta State started a “Thanks for being so responsive” card program. We printed ASU specific thank you cards which are sent to employees when they provide great customer service.
Augusta State made two “We’re on it” videos, Our Study Abroad program and our Library. Both were used by the Team Georgia program on their postcards. Additionally, we had a write up by Team Georgia for outstanding customer service in our library.
Our Customer Service Champion received the Governor’s Commendation for Excellence in Customer Service which we promoted widely on campus.
Augusta State also continued the Customer Service Ambassador program, a group of managers from across campus that reviews our customer service activities and promotes customer service.
Seeing a need and responding (responsive):
During FY 10 we identified several needs for customer service improvement. Below is a list of the projects we started, the need that was addressed, the technology used and if the solution was implemented.
Faculty evaluation improvement project: It took too long (10 weeks) to process the evaluations of faculty completed by students. By using our help desk change management system to track the progress of the evaluations we were able to reduce the process time to six weeks in fall 2009 and four weeks in spring 2009.
On line orientation registration: When new students called to register for orientation they frequently had questionsabout such things as test scores, financial aid, and holds the orientation coordinator could not answer. This resulted in the students having to make numerous calls around campus for information and this frustrated them. ASU’s IT department developed an on line system that presents all the vital student information to the coordinator on one screen. Additionally, the system contains controls to limit the number of attending students in a major so as to match the student numbers to the advising capacity. This project was successfully implemented in spring 2010.
Study Abroad Made Easy: The rapid growth of the ASU Study Abroad program (32 % increase in students 2009-10) combined with increased risk management controls revealed the need for a user friendly guide for our faculty who are customers of our Study Abroad Office. The Study Abroad Made Easy Team developed a step by step guide which included forms and templates for creating Study Abroad programs while meeting all management control requirements. The guide was made available electronically in December 2009. It was so good that 24 of the USG Institutions have a copy for their programs.
Comply By July: ASU had to be compliant with new credit card rules going into effect July 1, 2010 and had only three months to do it. Using lean six sigma techniques the team identified the problems and instituted Touchnet Solutions Technology and received a Certificate of Compliance June 15, 2010. The documentation developed became the “Comply by July” manual which has been distributed to other USG institutions via e-mail listserv’s.
ADP Implementation Team: The change from People Soft to ADP would require significant changes in how time accounting and benefits enrollment was done. The challenge was to make this transition as easy as possible for our customers – all the employees of Augusta State. The team used e-mail communication, development of simple instructions, group meetings, one on one help sessions in the computer labs, and the IT Help Desk to assist the campus through the process. The success of this approach can best be recognized by the faculty giving the team a standing ovation of appreciation at their March 2010 meeting.
Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) Improvement: Employees applying for TAP were consistently frustrated as their applications were denied because they did not follow the procedures. Our TAP coordinator recognized the customer dissatisfaction and implemented several improvements including four communications per semester instead of one, posting the procedures visibly on the HR web page, taking a team each semester to meet the employees at Medical College of Georgia where the majority of our TAP students work, and providing final registration instructions once the application was approved.
Parking decal project: Our students must stand in a long line in cramped quarters to purchase a parking decal. This project, which is not complete, will provide an electronic method of purchasing parking decals.
PIT Crew (Process Improvement Team): This team has just been formed to address student issues involving financial aid and processing payments.
In summary, Augusta State University has a well rounded customer service program that reflects all five of the customer service attributes: Knowledgeable, Process Agent, Responsive, Technology Enhancer, and Implementor.