ARCHIVED - Brief Case Studies of Exemplary Practices

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

Ontario Ministry Of Transportation - Service Improvement Office

The Ministry of Transportation's Private Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Network is responsible for road user safety policy, as such their sphere includes issuing drivers licences, truck safety, plate renewals, vehicle registration and the graduated licensing system. The Performance Management Program (PMP) defines requirements and performance standards of Private Issuing Offices. The Service Improvement Office carries out this mandate.

There are currently 280 Private Issuing offices and 57 Driver Exam offices in Ontario that fall under the auspices of the Service Improvement Office. The 280 Issuing Offices are privately owned and managed through contracts with the Ministry of Transportation. Privatization of Issuing offices began before the service improvement initiative and so service standards where not part of the contracts with the Ministry of Transportation. The Ministry used the initiative to build stronger ties with the private issuing offices. The PMP was introduced as a voluntary program, at least for those offices already in place. Since its inception 175 of the 280 (60%) of the offices have integrated the Performance Management Program into their day to day operations. The program is mandatory for any new offices.

The Private Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Network has established a number delivery channels. They include in person, by phone, through Kiosks, and over the Internet.

Service Standards in Use

Business plans presented by the provincial Minister of Transportation assert the Ministries commitment to customer satisfaction. This assertion coincides with the provincial government's commitment to customer satisfaction as per the Ontario Public Service's (OPS's) Common Service Standards program (CSS). The CSS program was initiated in June of 1998 with the Secretary of Cabinet's release "Framework for Action 1998: Quality Service Organization". The goals of the Initiative where: to increase public satisfaction of the OPS, to benchmark the OPS against public and private sector, and to set common benchmarks in departments providing similar services within the OPS.

The CSS began in 1998 as a volunteer pilot program with five ministries: Consumer and Commercial Relations, Education and Training, Finance, Labour, and Natural Resources. Each of these ministries was evaluated by independent, outside consulting agencies (Carr-Gordon Limited and Erin Research Inc.) with respect to telephone and correspondence standards. These initial evaluations were used as benchmarks for a subsequent evaluation in 1999. The second evaluation was quite positive, all five ministries had significantly increased their levels of compliance to the common service standards with respect to the benchmarking evaluation. The next phase was to integrate the CSS program into the rest of the OPS.

The CSS program differs somewhat from the Federal Service Improvement Initiative (SII). Whereas the SII program depends on each federal ministry to determine the specifics of service standards for their individual circumstances, the CSS details the service standards to be used by each provincial ministry. Some of the service standards and targets of the CSS are: 80% client satisfaction rates, phones to be answered within three rings, calls will not be redirected more than once, and correspondence to be answered within 15 days of receipt.

The Ministry of Transportation adopted the OPS service target of 80% client satisfaction with respect to licensing, testing, and registration activities. In 2001 the Minister introduced the "Improving Customer Satisfaction for Road Users Act" to the provincial legislation. The act introduces the initiatives to be adopted by the each of its business lines including the Private Driver and Vehicle Licence Issuing Network. This commitment is reflected in the Performance Management Program of the Service Improvement Office.

The PMP is the framework through which the Service Improvement Office has initiated service standards for the Issuer Offices throughout Ontario. The following are some of their areas of focus:

• Displaying expected wait times
• Serve clients in order
• Complaint resolution within 2 days of acknowledgement
• Indicating the best time to come in
• Respond to all complaints within 15 days
• To attain client satisfaction of 80%

These standards are a reflection of the Ministers commitment to quality, efficiency, and client satisfaction. The Service Improvement Office currently measures client satisfaction levels through mail-in surveys and client comment cards. Trends from these responses help to dictate where improvement may be needed.

Exemplary Practices Exhibited by the SIO

The PMP has four main areas where exemplary practices are put in place.

• The first is the Management Plan. The management plan involves creating an agreement between the Ministry and the issuer defining the step needed to meet or exceed performance standards over a specified period of time. This first step insures a partnership approach to customer satisfaction.
• The second feature is the Measurement Process. The measurement process includes both "Back Office" and "On-site" audits by the Ministry. The Ministry will also review the management/action plan with the issuer. The audits examine client satisfaction levels, financial management, and database integrity. Each of these components is recorded on the issuer's scorecard. This feature integrates a standard measurement process to benchmark and compare progress of the initiative.
• The third feature is the Balanced Scorecard. The four main areas, Safety and Database Integrity, Client Service Satisfaction, Financial and Stock Management, and Continuous Improvement are weighted at 30, 25, 30, and 15% respectively. This step introduces a standard reporting methodology allowing for easy benchmarking and comparison within and between service providers.
• The final feature of the PMP is the Independent Business Consultant. In this phase an independent Business Performance Consultants examines all of the data collect along with any supporting documentation. As appropriate the consultant reviews the information with the Ministry and/or the issuer. Should the issuer require further assistance, the consultant is at their disposal at no additional cost to them. This step insures an unbiased measuring and remedial system to ensure customer satisfaction which takes into consideration the needs of the customer, the Ministry and the Issuing Office.

Lessons Learned

Need to integrate technology

1. Integrating electronic time saving measures improves customer satisfaction. It has become part of the ministerial commitment to combine automated service providers in order to increase efficiency of service. The introduction of kiosks into the vehicle registration system has allowed the ministry to increase the number of contact points and to speed up service for vehicle registration. Clients are now able to access vehicle registration through the larger offices as well as in smaller outlets (e.g. electronic kiosks at Canadian Tire stores). The overall target for client satisfaction for the Ministry is 80%, in the case of the kiosks customer satisfaction reaches levels above 95%.
2. Client feedback integrated into the service process. The Service Improvement Office found that most people do not take the time to give feedback on provided services. In response to this obstacle the Office integrated a client feedback form in vehicle registration kiosk which must be completed before the client's transaction is completed. Even with this extra step added to the process, the client satisfaction ratings are still above 95%.

Contact

For more information on the services provided by the MTO PWP, please contact:

Tara McCord
Performance Management Program
Private Driver & Vehicle Licence Issuing Network
Ontario Ministry of Transportation
416 235-5320

 

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page