Customer Satisfaction Measurement in European Public Administrations  IPSG Meeting Helsinki 6th/7th July 2006 Eva Nikolov-Bruckner

Aim of the Austrian Initiative Give a brief summary of what is the state of affairs due to CSM in the EU To come up with optional methodological approaches to a customer satisfaction index that could also be appropriate for measuring public service performance, i.e. the EPSI (European Performance Satisfaction Index), the Eurobarometer etc. To give a clear picture from a methodological point of view, why a model-based approach should be favoured How different existing market-research projects and quality improvement initiatives could be integrated in a joint project

Results of the survey Some EU-MS already have customer satisfaction barometers that cover several public sector activities as a national index There are diverse methodological approaches to service quality evaluation and measurement as many case-studies, questionnaire designs and reports from pilot-studies in several member-countries show. We can find benchmarking and bench-learning-activities as well as quality improvement initiatives on different levels of intensity

Results of the survey many different approaches, projects and questionnaire designs in use almost no agreed way to share efforts to the joint development of integrated measurement design the instruments in use (Eurobarometer and EPSI) either don’t cover the public service sector or are not in use in all EU-Countries on a regular basis.

Main Results Service areas: For which of the following public services exist data/information about customer satisfaction?

Main Results European initiative - What topics have to be clarified/discussed to make such a collective European project successful? main topic to discuss: the object of an EU-wide model The positions of the countries seem not to be the same, or there are different national goals (benchmarking, development of quality, index). main obstacle: the socioeconomic and cultural diversity of the EU-citizens and their expectations. And second the resistance to change by the government departments.

Basic approaches for the development of guidelines

Design and Phases of a Customer Satisfaction Survey (5D’s) Objectives of top-management Motives Requirements concerning results 1 Define the Problem – Survey Objectives Discuss approaches in the ‘pyramid’ model based approaches or others Structure of the Public Sector services Customer segmentation, target groups 2 Design and Methodology Questionnaire design Sampling Timing Cost - Budget 3 Data Collection Techniques, Pilot Briefing a marketing research agency field work 4 Data Analysis Statistical analysis and modeling Reporting and internal/external communication of results improvement activities 5 Documentation, Reporting and use of results

DG-Resolutions Vienna 2006 “Working towards European User Satisfaction Indices is one of the four priority lines with regards to the common Strategy for Growth and Jobs, as established in the Mid-Term Programme 2006-2007. Following the initiative during the UK Presidency, Austria responded to the mandate to take the customer satisfaction work forward by conducting a survey to get an overview of the experiences of the countries represented in IPSG, the European Commission and EFQM in the field of customer satisfaction measurement. The main focus of further work should be the collection of best practices and the preparation of guidelines for CS-measurement questionnaires.”

Expert Meeting: Workshop Results Focus on Good-practice („good examples“) approach as a basis for the development of guidelines. 5D‘s are the framework for analyzing good examples as well as preparing the guidelines. The next Customer Satisfaction meeting will take place on 10th October (to be confirmed) in Helsinki.

Priorities of Further Work 1 Definition of the problem 2 Analysis of good practices 3a Common Knowledge basis 3b Design of common tools Responses of the definition of the problem received by now from Poland, Germany, Portugal and Finland

Thank you for your attention!  Thank you for your attention! Customer Satisfaction Measurement in European Public Administrations All the best to our Finnish Colleagues!