ARCHIVED - Compendium of Service Standards

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INTRODUCTION

Consulting and Audit Canada (CAC) was requested to prepare a Compendium of Service Standards that are published by government departments and agencies in their Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs) and Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPPs). CAC reviewed the 1999-2000 DPRs and the 2001-02 RPPs of close to 50 departments and agencies, as well as their websites. To the extent that it was possible, the Service Standards were identified by Business Line (or in some cases by Sector or Branch) and by delivery channel.

In addition to the Service Standards, CAC identified all departments and agencies that referenced their plans for the Service Improvement Initiative and/or more generally for improving client satisfaction, and included them in the Compendium. For the sake of completeness, CAC also included those departments and agencies that neither published Service Standards nor referenced the Service Improvement Initiative or improving client satisfaction

The Compendium of Service Standards is presented in the attached table, which contains all the departments and agencies that were considered. The following departments and agencies have published Service Standards:

• Canada Customs and Revenue Agency
• Canada Economic Development Québec
• Canada Post Corporation
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
• Citizenship and Immigration Canada
• Fisheries and Oceans
• Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
• Health Canada
• Human Resources Development Canada
• Industry Canada
• National Library of Canada
• Natural Resources Canada
• Passport Office
• Statistics Canada
• Veteran Affairs Canada

In addition, CAC was requested to develop a draft typology for categorizing Service Standards. Based on a review of the literature and discussion with CAC colleagues, there appears to be several ways to categorize or classify Service Standards. CAC proposed that the typology be structured around whether a Service Standard addresses:

• how the service is to be delivered
• when the service is to be delivered
• what service is to be delivered

HOW

The HOW category of Service Standards tends to cover Service Standards dealing with the client's experience with the service delivery and how the server (i.e., service provider or service deliverer) actually provides the service. Typical Service Standards in this category deal with fairness, courteousness, repect and knowledgeable servers and with the professionalism and cultural sensitivity of the servers. In a sense, this category deals with the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of servers. In turn, in many cases, the achievement of the Service Standard really depends on the client's perception of the experience with the service deliverer.

This category really deals with 'how the client is made to feel' with the service experience. Research indicates that client dissatisfaction has more to do with how the product or service is delivered to the client rather than the quality of the product or service itself. The client's perception emphasizes the 'emotional elements' or 'emotional reactions' of service delivery. The client's perceptions on or emotions about service delivery can be measured or assessed by some form of consultation with the client, such as surveys using the Common Measurements Tool or focus groups or comment cards or some other mechanism.

This category is obviously linked to client satisfaction. And client's perception and satisfaction can be based on or applied to Service Standards addressing waiting time (including both waiting to access the service provider, e.g., the number of phone rings before the phone is answered and waiting for service in a walk-in or counter or in person service), fair treatment, the knowledge or competence of the server, the server's attitude and behaviour, and outcome.

Two other dimensions of how service is delivered can also be considered within the context of Service Standards, namely, the language of service Service Standard (i.e., the client shall be offered the service in the Official Language of the client's choice) and service security and confidentiality (i.e., the client 's information shall be treated in strict confidentiality or security).

Thus, the following three types of Service Standards can be considered from the HOW category, namely:

• Client Perception [CP]
• Official Language [OL]
• Security and Confidentiality [SC]

WHEN

The WHEN category of Service Standards tends to deal with timeliness, responsiveness and how long it takes or should take for the service or an element of the service to take place. In turn, there appears to be two dimensions of the timeliness Service Standards. First, there is the time required to contact or reach or access the server. For example, how many rings before the telephone is answered, how long one may have to wait on hold or at a counter to speak to someone or make an inquiry, or how many people a client is passed to until a server can address or act on the client's request. This is very much the accessibility issue and is particularly relevant to inquiries in person at the counter or over the phone, especially call centres.

In a sense, this is the front end wait or access time, i.e., the time a client has to wait to reach or access a server. All other accessibility related topics, at least for the time being (e.g., hours of operation, having things ready for clients when they come to look for them, maintaining updated databases, being ready for a request/inquiry, providing services for free or offering financial assistance, offering different delivery channels), have been lumped together.

The second timeliness dimension deals with Service Standards related to how much time is required or "allowed" by the server to deal with and resolve an inquiry or claim or proposal received from a client.. This type of Service Standard first requires some form of intervention from a client, who then is concerned with the time required or "allowed" to respond to a request or process a claim or make a decision, or to 'deliver on time'. That is, the reponse time that a client should expect before receiving an acknowledgement or official interim or final response from the server. In effect, this type of Service Standard is the 'speed of service'. This timeliness dimension or waiting time, of course, only comes into play after the client has established the initial contact with the server.

In a sense, this is the back end wait time, i.e., the time a server is allowed before having to respond to a client.

Thus, the following two types of Service Standards can be considered from the WHEN category.

• Front end waiting times or accessibility [TF]
• Back end waiting times or 'speed of service' [TB]

WHAT

The WHAT category of Service Standards tends to deal with the accuracy, correctness, comprehensiveness, justifiability and defencibility of the outcome or decision on a request or claim. This category of Service Standard also deals with the server's commitment for a well-reasoned decision or outcome, whether the client agrees or not. Clients are entitled to and should expect well-reasoned decisions or outcomes, but not necessarily ones with which they agree. Ultimately, the department and clients may need an objective third-party to properly assess the quality of the outcome.

The WHAT category really offers only one type of Service Standard, namely, outcome [OC].

Using this typology, there are six types of Service Standards, namely:

• Client Perception [CP]
• Official Language [OL]
• Security and Confidentiality [SC]
• Front end waiting times or accessibility [TF]
• Back end waiting times [TB]
• Outcome [OC]

The above typology, in its draft form, using the above abbreviations, is applied to the Compendium on Service Standards. Some of the Service Standards included in the Compendium are somewhat ambiguous and appear, by definition, out of context and do not easily lend themselves, as they are written, to being categorized withina typology. It may be that some of the Service Standards appearing in the DPR or RPP or on a departmental website should be revised.

Some of the Service Standards included in the Compendium incorporate some fairly specific target information, but targets were not explicitly used in the development of this Service Standard typology.

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