Numerous requests have come to me to see what sort of information could be in a
one to two day campus service mini-inventory I or one of my group might do. So here is a
sample of an actual executive summary that went with a full inventory
i.e. audit. It has been anonymized (is that a real word?) and some
parts have been excised to assure that. The pictures have been left out
too for the same reason. As a result, it could be your college or there
may be some aspects that will sound familiar to you. That's okay. Just
look at the recommendations and solutions. If they work for you - great.
Customer Service Mini-Audit Report of
The College
Audit Conducted on date
By Dr. Neal Raisman
The
mini-audit I performed on the three campuses of The College indicated
that strides had been made in the five years since my previous customer
service review. Of the 28 people I interacted with, 22 provided a quality of
customer service which ranged between very good and excellent as I said
at the presentation. Two
of the other six either tried to provide good care but were defeated by
the system and the others need more help. It was my pleasure to be able
to point out not just the way the 28 handled the issues but some of the
individuals by name who worked with me. These I used as exemplars of
how it can be done. Leadership and the people in student services are to
be commended for the change.
There
do remain some issues and situations that could be addressed to
increase customer service as well as enrollment, retention and morale.
These concerns range from an old one mentioned five years ago – lack of
or not fully helpful signs on campuses – to more difficult issues that
effect both students and employees that may go to procedure and even
policy. One of these could be having a negative effect on central
aspects of customer service that affect performance and morale as well.
I recognize that in bringing some of this forward, I may be stepping into some policy or even political aspects at the College. I
do however believe it is my responsibility as a consultant asked to
bring forward issues that may affect enrollment, retention and/or
morale.
1. As I mentioned in the presentation and in the one five years ago, the signage on the campuses is not helpful to students. The
signage that is on the campuses does not help students find where they
would have to go to complete enrollment or find their way from function
to function. For
example, the exterior signs that are on campuses may list locations by
the names of buildings but there is not listing by functions such as
admissions, registration, records, business office, or major area of
study such as nursing, business, criminal justice, etc.
The
example below shows both the anonymous building names and the value of
function naming as in Physical Plant – Shipping and Receiving. If
functional helps vendors, it should help potential students and the
community as well.
Students
do not know where they need to go to do things by the name of a
building. Moreover, none of the main entrances was clearly marked to
assist or facilitate. The
closest to either naming by function or the main entrance was on the M
campus where I did locate a sign inside a parking lot that listed
functions within a building.
Unfortunately,
if I did not happen to park in that lot, I may not have found other
helpful signs on the campus. Moreover, this information was not repeated
in front of the specific buildings with the functional areas within. Redundancy
can be helpful in signage. M campus was also the only campus with a
sign over a door saying Welcome with some additional helpful
information. Without
at least a welcome sign, there is not indication of a building’s front
door. I had to wander about trying to figure out where the front door
was of each campus.
Moreover, the placement of signs is important if they are to be used and helpful.
PHOTO REMOVED FOR ANONYMITY
Inside building signage was described by a faculty member at M campus who stated “This place is like a labyrinth. If
you don’t already know where you’re going, you may not get there.”
Variations of the statement were repeated to varying degrees at the B
campus as one person told me that admissions was in the L campus
Building. Though M campus again made some attempt to help out with a
general sign inside the main building, it was still difficult to locate
offices since some signs were overhead and small while others had
different locations and some did not have. This is apropos for all the
buildings at M campus and B campus.
The
L campus does provide interior signage that coincides with color coding
that can help people new to campus find their way around. Though some
of the individual function areas could still be marked better with signs
to help people find their way around, especially to admissions,
financial aid, business office, etc.
L campus also has very good interior signs that are quite helpful.
I
suggest a College signage master plan be created that will create signs
that provide information by the functions that take place in buildings
along with the building name. The committee should also study interior
signage and address the needs for signs that will help potential and new
students as well as any coming onto campus with the directions they
need to find where they need to go in the buildings.
If
one looks at the signs used on all three campuses, (examples above)
they are all different in style, color, etc. Signs are visual statements
of identity as well as indicators to help people find their way to a
location. It thus is suggested the signs should all have a consistent
look, style, color and font to generate a coherent image and statement
of The College no matter what campus an individual is on.
2. There
is duplication and some inconsistency in forms used and provided. For
example, when I was considering taking courses at two different campuses
of the College, I had to complete two separate admission request forms.
I was also told I would need separate and thus duplicate forms for
other processes too. This
duplication of forms and efforts by the student should be eliminated
and I hope that the new Datatel system will allow for singular input of
materials to limit student and staff effort and work.
On different campuses I was given different material. For
instance, there were two different FAFSA brochures provided; some
different College generated information on programs; the payment plans
and courses of study by major area. In this case, some people had out
the older brochures (blue color) of major areas while another campus had
some new ones (reddish) mixed in with the older ones. I am not sure if
the information is different or the new ones have changes but
information and brochures should be the same at all campuses unless
there is a specific reason such as a specific program only at that
campus.
I
suggest that a committee review all materials handed out to students.
They should determine a common packet that will be used by all campuses
to assure all forms, information and brochures be consistent throughout
all three campuses of the College. Without
consistency of materials the College may be providing students at one
campus lesser or better information than at another. Moreover,
it is possible that without a standardized information packet, students
may be given incorrect information or direction. This would be very
unhelpful but could lead to significant problems for the College not
just for enrollment and retention but for inconsistency of materials
provided to students to make decisions.
3. .While
on the campuses, I would act as if I were lost or confused to see the
reaction of employees as they passed me in the halls. The hoped for
results would be that employees would stop and ask if they might help
me. The
outcomes were not as positive as one might wish. Granted there were not
as many people in the halls as might have been during more populated
terms at B campus and L campus. M campus was in full session.
At B campus, I entered six of the buildings and encountered at least one employee in every one. All but one woman in the Adams building either ignored me or looked at me and kept walking by. Only the woman in Adams asked if I were in need of help.
At
M campus, I was passed by five employees. One faculty member whose name
I recall as George stopped as I was looking around as if lost and asked
if he could help me. After he directed me to the admissions office and I
was walking about the halls again, he saw me and asked if he could be
of additional assistance.
At L campus, I was passed by six employees and finally assisted by a young man from the bookstore.
There
were then 17 employees who did not provide me any service and three who
did; one twice. This became a subject of the presentation which I
introduced with the story of Dean Schaar. I
then went on to show how to make sure that we all say hello to students
and ask how they are as we pass them. There may be a need for more
specific small group training for employees in extending themselves and
greeting students. The structure of the large group presentation limited
the specific person-to-person training though we did review the
processes and manner to be employed.
4. There
is a serious service concern that has to do with what educational
services are made available to students as well as specifically to adult
students at one campus. Customer service looks not only at the processes through which one works with or assists the client. It
looks at the products that are created since it is the “products” of
education, training and a degree/job that are finally a major
determinant of student satisfaction. How we deliver a service can be
quite secondary to what service we deliver.
The
College currently has a structure and program distribution that
seriously affects its delivery of the most important service of all –
the ability to gain the education and thus career a student seeks. The
distribution also limits the College’s ability to expand enrollment and
thus revenues by limiting the offering of programs to specific campuses
separated by distances without public transportation. Moreover,
the scheduling of the classes with intermittent starts to twice a year
or even to once every 18 months creates serious limitations on
enrollment, retention and revenue.
When
I attempted to enroll in a graphic design course at B campus for
example, the admission’s officer was very helpful and polite but told me
that though I lived in B campus I would have to travel to either M
campus or L campus to get one or another graphics program. They were very different programs. The one in M campus, Graphic Design, was a program
which would require more artistic focus and ability while the one in L
campus, Visual Publication, was more computer-based. The two did not overlap and were distinct but not available at B campus. This
was more than disappointing because the College website simply states
that The College offers the programs and not a specific campus. The
indication on the web and the College’s marketing was that it was
available at the College and not just one, and only one campus.
By limiting a specific program to one and only one campus denies a broader band of the community access to the program. If
I lived in L campus or in B campus, I would be denied access unless I
had the mobility, time and money to drive the distances to the campuses
that own the program. From B campus to M campus, for example was over 60
miles and took an hour and twenty minutes. This
is a de facto limitation on enrollment and access. Not only does it
deprive potential students from the community to gain education and
training in what is one of the hottest areas of study nationally, it
deprives the College of revenue ands the ability to fulfill on its motto
of No Limits on Learning.
I
was frankly surprised that a community college would limit its service
to the community in this manner by making distance a restraint on
access. But
I was even more surprised that after I made the drive from B campus to M
campus to try and complete enrolling in Graphic Design that it would
next to impossible to enroll and, if I were an actual student, achieve
my career goal.
As
an adult with a job and family, I was informed that the program called
for me to attend five days a week from 8 in the morning until 4 in the
afternoon. As an adult with a job and family, I would not be able to do so without great hardship. I
inquired about attending part-time and was told that I could speak with
the program chair but it was unlikely I would be allowed to do so. There were only 18 slots available and the odds of opening one to a part-timer were slim. These 18 would start together and complete the program before another 18 could start. I could not start by taking some evening classes since there were no evening classes at the campus.
When
I mentioned to various people that the campus was not very adult
friendly and even seemed to discriminate against working adults, there
were no disagreements. In fact, there were statements of agreement as
well as sympathy and frustration. The
people I would talk with as I persisted in my attempt to gain all the
information and material needed to enroll were quite sympathetic to my
plight as an adult wishing to advance myself and family though education
in a chosen field but their facial expressions showed they were
powerless to help.
Furthermore, even if I were admitted, I could not start in October as I had desired. I would have to wait until the summer of 2008 before another class started. A one year wait with no guarantee of being admitted! There are very few students who could maintain their enthusiasm that long. They
would either give up their goals and dreams or find another school that
would to start the program. It is quite probable that the for-profit
schools are benefiting from the inability of The College to serve the
needs and desires of students placed in the situation I was.
It
is also not probable but assured that The College is losing revenue as a
result of this situation of individual campuses owning programs,
limiting the number of students as well as the number of cohorts to be
offered. Not even considering State support, and supposing that there is
some sustainable pedagogical rationale for limiting cohorts to 18, an
additional cohort of 18 FTE would generate in excess of $21,000 which is
more than enough to hire adjuncts to teach the courses. Appropriate
scheduling, such as a full time day and part-time evening courses at
the campuses would provide enough tuition revenue to hire at least one,
and perhaps two additional full-time instructors.
The situation is not unique to graphics-focused instruction either. There appear to be a number of the “campus, not College”
owned degree programs that significantly limit the customer service to
students and the community. The current program distribution also limits
the College’s ability to maximize its facilities, fixed costs and
revenues. Moreover, the defacto
denial of access to the adult, voting population could cause a sense of
disenfranchisement and increase the difficulty of community support for
initiatives.
The
program distribution and ownership situation also caused employees to
not be able to fulfill their objectives of assisting students and
providing fuller service to potential enrollees. On all three campuses, I
sensed a strong sense of frustration from employees at being forced to
inform me that I would have difficulty obtaining the education promoted
and advertised by the College since their campus did not offer the
program. Though each was as helpful as they could be, they did indicate
that they were sorry I could not achieve my goals without either
disruption to my family and life or driving long distances to get to the
campus which had the course of study and training I was seeking.
I
strongly suggest the campus-specific program approach be reconsidered
to increase the actual range of service the College provides. Currently,
there are very many potential customers who are not receiving any, or
very limited service at all in specific study areas. Programs should be
available at all campuses that can draw the enrollment to support the
course of study. Courses
should be offered day and night, in a full-time and a part-time mode so
as to not to discriminate against adults, and others whose schedules,
families and lives do not readily permit a commitment to a full-time day
only schedule even if it were not five days a week. If programs are
determined to need to be limited due to a specific campus, there should
be consideration given to having them at the L campus campus since that
is the area population center as well as a more or less central location
between B campus and M campus.
If
it is necessary to continue campus-specific programs, the advertising,
the web site and all materials should so indicate the specific campus at
the very least. The 2007-8 Catalog does indicate the program location.
5.
Staff indicated that they did not have some of the information they
felt they needed to be able to better serve me as a potential student
trying to make some decisions. I was told by a couple of employees that
“I would like to be able to help and I should be able to but I am just
not given that information.” The issues ranged from what sections might
be offered, to whether or not students were being accepted into a
specific program prior to January 2008. These are bits of information a student would need to have to decide on attendance or not. In
one case, an individual in a registrar office had to say she did not
know the schedule for the next term even though it was completed, had
been sent to the printer, and was somewhere on line in the College’s
computer system. She did not have access to the on-line information to
be able to answer my question. She was clearly both frustrated and embarrassed.
The
feeling of being left out of the information loop became starkly clear
during the break after the first part of the presentation. Attendees
would sidle up to me in the hall, tell me the agree with all I had said
but that they were not included in the information loop or as active
participants in any decisions that affected their ability to perform
their jobs. They
had worked hard to help install Datatel but had not belief they would
be permitted access to the date within so they could do their jobs
better. The individuals who surreptitiously spoke with me also said
there was little communication with them from the College. They
also said they felt they could not comment or engage in discussion with
me even when I asked a question in the presentation for fear of getting
reprimanded. This at least helped explain why there was so little
reaction or interaction from the attendees when I tried to engage them
in discussion...
It
would seem important the College seek ways to communicate and provide
internal customer service more effectively with some employees. It
may well be that there is communication taking place but for one reason
or other, there is a significant group that is somehow either missing
the information or is indeed being left out of the loop. The result is
the creation of a feeling of disenfranchisement leading to a diminution
of morale that affects the providing of customer service to students...
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