CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSESSMENT

PURCHASING SERVICES

The customer service survey for Purchasing Services was conducted over a 3 month period from October 2006 – December 2006.   The survey results indicate that the majority feel Purchasing Services is performing well with an 85% combined good to excellent rating in the overall experience with the department. 

The response of this survey more than doubled from the survey issued two years ago with a total of 140 visits and 66 actual responses.   Of these responses, 12 were faculty, 49 were staff and the remaining were suppliers or other.

Regarding staff knowledge, timeliness, courtesy, helpfulness, and accessibility, the results were favorable with an 83 - 92% good to excellent rating among the categories.  Staff confidentiality also rated favorable with a 75% good to excellent rating.   *In this particular category however, results were skewed by 20% of the respondents selecting not applicable.  

Staff Knowledge	87%
Staff Timeliness (Responsiveness)	83%
Staff Courtesy	92%
Staff Helpfulness	88%
Staff Accessibility	86%
Staff Confidentiality	75%*

When asked how well Purchasing Services communicates changes to policy and procedure, 75% rated the service excellent to good.    

Regarding the question of the respondents own knowledge and understanding of the services provided by UWG Purchasing Services, 73% answered excellent to good.   Only 16% responded that they wanted additional training related to policies and procedures of this department.    Some of the actual comments related to request for training are listed below:

1. Procedure or policy changes
2. IT budgeting process
3. The purchasing process for the state of Georgia
4. Budget forms

Some of the comments related to reasons additional training is not warranted are as follows:

1. I would just rather be given help.  I don’t have time to attend training.
2. Continuous – we don’t always utilize Purchasing Services, so being available for questions is more important than training sessions.
3. The problem is communicating policy rather than training people in them.
4. As a faculty member, I don’t have time for training.

87% of respondents had visited Purchasing Services web site within the past 3 months of the survey date.   75% of these respondents rated the ease of navigating from the UWG website to Purchasing Services web page as good to excellent.

When asked specifically if purchases were processed in a timely and efficient manner, 81% of respondents answered “Yes” and 19% answered “No”.    Some of the positive responses indicated that service is faster and better than in the past and that Purchasing Services does an outstanding job.   Of the negative responses, several comments were travel related which falls under the Accounts Payable department and we believe the recent travel regulations may have skewed results due to slower processes.  The travel related comments were forwarded to Accounts Payable manager for review and assessment.   Below is a summary of the comments that were specifically Purchasing related.

1. Policy changes should be explained beforehand.
2. Due to the fact that a purchase request goes through several areas of approval, there should be a better tracking system of where the purchase is in the process and the reason for the delay.
3. The length of time between submission of paperwork and final communication to the vendor is too long.
4. Rules and procedures are constantly changing and it is difficult to communicate effectively.

Additionally, we requested feedback regarding ways to improve in the “quality of service” area and below are a few of the comments received.

1. Better explanation of procedures and changes.
2. Implement a better tracking system to the department level.
3. Greater flexibility using the P-card.
4. Cross-training employees so important work continues even if a staff member is absent.
5. More flexibility on purchasing items.
6. Process purchase orders quicker.
7. Website for vendor profiles.
8. Simplification of purchasing rules.
9. Submitting po’s via the web.
10. More help lines and out of office notifications.

All of the comments above are appreciated and will be taken seriously.  Although we received an overall favorable rating on the questions posed in the survey, there is a continuous goal to improve processes and service in all areas of the department.

Some of the areas that have been immediately addressed are as follows:

1. When out of the office, voice mail will be adjusted to reflect a time/date of return and a backup available if immediate assistance is required.
2. An education of the campus community regarding the separate duties and contact information for the travel department.   A travel link has been setup on the Purchasing Web Site along with contact information related to travel related items.
3. Purchase request forms have been consolidated to streamline and simplify processes.
4. Vendor lookup is available for the Purchase and Payment request form and on the sidebar of the Purchasing page under “Other” category.
5. Purchasing understands that the rules administered by DOAS and the Georgia Procurement manual are constantly changing and communication should be issued on these changes.    A link has been setup to the Georgia Procurement Manual on the Purchasing Services web site and an effort will be made to distribute emails to all-staff and all-faculty accordingly as changes arise.
6. Cross training of policies and procedures for each staff member is in progress.
7. Purchasing’s goal is to process paperwork within 24 hours of receipt.   More education will be issued to the campus community specifically regarding date received & processed by our office.

Additionally, Peoplesoft Version 8 will be implemented in the 1^st quarter of 2008 and we believe that this implementation will improve processes related to tracking of the requests.   Also, there is a module available for eProcurement that we understand will allow requests to be issued electronically, reducing the bottleneck that paperwork sometimes causes.