FEB. 6, 2003 -- The station business performance office has implemented and will monitor a new program that will measure the customer satisfaction levels of various station services.
The BPO will implement the Interactive Customer Evaluation, a user-friendly system on the Internet developed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Quality Management Office, to initiate enhanced communication between service providers and consumers of military and Department of Defense services.
The customers who will be affected in Yuma will be individuals and groups, anyone from a military family member to a visiting squadron using station facilities, according to Stefnie Kenny, station BPO manager.
"The customer's voice is always important and we can't continue to move forward without listening to that voice," Kenny said. "We need to continually know if we're going in the right direction, and this is a tool that will help us do that."
The comprehensive analysis tool will be easy for customers to access, and will provide a more efficient means of evaluating how well each section and department is providing service to patrons, according to Kenny.
"The nice thing about this system is that it allows us to take a whole systematic approach to the concept of receiving customer evaluations," said Kenny.
One customer group that station leaders recognize as an important source of feedback is the visiting squadrons who take advantage of the 2.8 million acres of bombing ranges in the Yuma area each year. Kenny said there was previously a customer service survey for the squadrons deployed to Yuma from Marine Corps bases and other services' installations, but that often only the commanding officer, executive officer or even just "the last guy leaving, sometimes," were asked to respond to the survey.
"Now, if there are 60 Marines from a visiting squadron, they will each have access to the ICE survey, as opposed to only the leadership of the squadron," said Kenny, who will be the ICE site manager.
While the feedback from deployed squadrons is very important to the air station, the visitors comprise just one group that station service providers are interested in hearing from. Active duty military, family members, retirees, civilian Marines and civilian contractors are all considered customers, and their perspectives are sought, as well. The ICE survey will be one comprehensive place for consumers of station services to go on-line to share their thoughts about the station.
"Marine Corps Community Services, for instance, may have been doing customer surveys and other departments as well but all that information will be collected and put together for all the services," Kenny said, estimating that within six months they will have enough data to have an idea of customer satisfaction for the station's services overall.
"The neat thing about this is that any 'no' comment on the ICE generates an e-mail which is automatically sent to the service provider, notifying them when they have a comment," said Rudy Zarate, ICE site administrator. "Improving service and efficiency, that's our main goal."
In order for the system to work, service providers will have to be diligent about responding to customer feedback, and according to Kenny, there should be no problem getting that to happen.
"The department managers have said 'we're interested and we want to participate.' They're pretty eager to hear what their customers have to say about their service," said Kenny. "This can't be done without their cooperation."
Station service providers and department managers went through training on the administration and application of the ICE system Jan. 29 and 30 at the Ditto Hall instruction classroom in Building 506, as the station commanding officer, Col. James Cooney, had told his department leaders that he wants full support for the program.
If for some reason a customer relays that he or she hasn't received a satisfactory response to their concerns, the BPO will step in to ensure that service providers are mindful of customer service.
"If we get a few people who repeatedly say 'you're not listening to me,' then that's when we become the watchdog for the command to be able to go back to the department manager and help them get back to the customer," Kenny said. "We're going to demand that reponsiveness."
Customers can access the ICE site at www.ice.disa.mil, or they can access the link that will be at www.yuma.usmc.mil. From the ICE home page, station customers should click on the Marine Corps link and then the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma link, and a list of all the services available to be evaluated will appear.