improving customer orientation through service charters
DESCRIPTION
Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters. Seminar on “Quality Manager in the Public Sector” Romania, 10-20 March 2008. What is a service charter?. A service charter is a public document that sets out the standards - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
Improving Customer Orientation through Service Charters
Seminar on“Quality Manager in the Public Sector”
Romania, 10-20 March 2008
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
© OECD
A jo
int
init
iati
ve o
f th
e O
EC
D a
nd th
e E
urop
ean
Uni
on, p
rinc
ipal
ly f
inan
ced
by th
e E
U
10
What is a service charter?
A service charter is a public document that sets out the standards of service that clients can expect from an organisation, as well as avenues for taking complaints.
It typically includes:
Standards: Committments on the level and quality of service to which users are entitled.
Information: Clarity about who is eligible, when and where the service is available, any pre-requisites (e.g. papers to bring with you)
Redress: How to complain and what redress to expect in the case the service deliverer falls short of the standards it promises
11
Why introduce a service charter?
Provide a framework for consultations with service users Encourage public agencies to measure and assess
performance Make public agencies more transparent by telling the
public about the standards they can expect - and how agencies have performed against those standards
Push public agencies to improve performance where promised standards have not been achieved
Increase satisfaction of service users
12
Conditions for improving service charters
General conditions that have to be in place Commitment of the director of the service covered by the charter -
he or she has to support the initiative and be willing to implement service improvement plans
Ownership by front-line and back-office staff, who are responsible for delivering the standards set out in the charters
Team-working by staff members responsible for the service covered by the charter
Specific conditions applying to service charters Your agency should already have had some experience with
consultation of service users by running user surveys, user panels, focus groups or using other consultation methods.
Your agency should have some basic performance information available in the service area concerned by the charter.
13
Success factors for service improvements
the process of developing the charter is as important as the contents of the document itself
those who will ‘implement’ the standards of the charter have to be involved in shaping the contents of the document …
… but also customers must be consulted in order to ensure that the service standards are relevant and ambitious
The charter needs to be monitored and revised on a regular basis
However, a service charter is only a tool for quality improvement. If the objectives of the organisation change, the quality tool may need to change as well.
14
You want to know more about service charters?
The Handbook published by the Czech Ministry of
Interior, SIGMA and Governance International provides
you with a ‘How To Do It’ guide, with lots of examples
and illustrations of service charters.
The Handbook is available as free-of-charge hard-print,
CD-Rom and download at www.govint.org both in English language.