South African Post Office : Improving Customer Service

Introduction

In terms of section 196(4)(f)(i) and (iv) of the Constitution, the Public Service Commission is mandated to investigate and evaluate the application of personnel and public administration practices and advise national and provincial organs of state regarding these practices in the Public Service. Several aspects of the improvement of customer service are illustrated by this case study.

The following broad criteria were applied to identify the said case study:

• The case study addresses issues that are relevant to the transformation/improvement of public service delivery.

Departments with similar functions (especially counter services) or faced with similar practical circumstances and demands will be able to benefit, if not from the case study as such, then at least from lessons learnt.

The main aim of the case study is to multiply the knowledge in respect of a tried and successful practice in the rest of the Public Service. The case study is not presented as necessarily being "best practice". The intention is rather to bring public institutions, that face similar challenges together to share ideas on their practical experiences, thus stimulating debate on issues topical to the improvement of public service delivery.

Why government institutions must change

The White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery requires all national and provincial departments to make service delivery a priority. It also provides a framework within which departments can develop service delivery improvement strategies, among which is improved performance management by means of the setting and monitoring of service standards. The White Paper requires that a service delivery improvement programme be compiled and that a Statement of Public Service Commitment be published by each department. Implementing such a programme can be illustrated as an eight-step cycle, as indicated in Figure 1.

Figure 1:Eight steps to improve service delivery: White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (Batho Pele White Paper)

Why the South African Post Office?

The SA Post Office is an example of a service organisation that has achieved remarkable improvements in its service delivery over the past three years. Core figures for the said years are contained in the following tables:

Income Statement, Productivity, Products and Volumes:

Service Performance achieved as measured by Independent Service Quality Measurement (ISOM) (Pty) (Ltd) All categories of post - National

The Commission believed that the SA Post Office could be a useful case study because, like many government departments, it provides a counter service and the nature of its service is easily understood.

The success of the Post Office can be attributed to the strategies they implemented to improve their service delivery as indicated in Figure 2.



 

Figure 2: Strategies implemented by the SA Post Office to improve its service delivery

The SA Post Office developed a comprehensive set of performance measures that covered processes as well as output, as illustrated in Figure 3. An important feature of these performance measures is that they are driven primarily from an external customer perspective. The performance measures were developed to meet the following normative requirements:

• It must be aligned with policy and strategy.

• It must cover both processes and results. (Managers must monitor whether production processes are running smoothly and the output of the process in terms of timeliness, quantity and quality.)

• It must be broken down so that the performance of organisational components/work groups and eventually each individual worker can be measured.

• The measuring system must be simple but must still be valid. Validity means that the critical aspects of the service must be measured. Simplicity means not too many aspects so as not to make the system too cumbersome to be measured.

Examples of performance measures that were set by the SA Post Office are indicated in Figure 3
 

Figure 3: Examples of performance measures that were set by the SA Post Office

Performance measures

The performance measures applied by the SA Post Office will be explained by using the following measures as examples:
Deliverv Speed
The SA Post Office has publicly committed itself to consistently deliver properly prepared letter mail as follows:

• Within three business days for mail originating in and destined for the same urban area.
• Within four business days for mail sent between urban areas in the same postal region.
• Within five business days for mail sent between urban areas in different regions.

Delivery speed is measured by the percentage of properly prepared letter mail delivered to its destination address within the above standards from the time it is posted.
Carry-over/clear floor

This is one of the major process measures that the SA Post Office monitors to ensure that it meets its delivery standards. Collection of mail, for example at street post boxes, takes place as late as possible in the afternoon, generally at about 18:00, to make sure that as much as possible of the mail posted on a particular day is collected on that day. This mail must be processed in time to connect to the outward-bound transport. The time available to process the mail is called the processing window. Mail that is not processed within this window stands over to the next shift and this obviously drastically affects the ability of the Post Office to make its delivery standards. At one time, 2.3 million of the 7.2 million letters processed by the Post Office per day, were carried over to the next shift.

Mystery shopper scores

These are scores on a questionnaire covering a number of attributes (Annexure A) of the counter service of retail post offices.

Successful customer enquiries

Telephonic enquiries about SA Post Office services are handled by the Customer Service Centre. The performance measure is the number of enquiries that could be fielded successfully.

Performance information is captured by the Counters 2000 system.
 

The management information system provides information to assist managers in forecasting, planning, scheduling and taking corrective action. In addition, the SA Post Office collects information on the processing of enquiries through its Customer Service Centre and information on the quality of its counter services via questionnaires completed by substitute customers (Mystery Shopper Programme).

Counters 200

Information about the above performance measures is collected in the Post Office's management information system called "Counters 2000". Corporate and regional teams coordinate the system to standardise information and procedures. The management information system gives management feedback on operating results so that management can make new plans with the new information they receive and measure the results of the steps taken to solve problems

The system consists of four basic elements, namely -

• Forecasting (to predict the organisation's future needs, e.g. number of staff needed to process forecast mail volumes)

• Planning (to set the goals and objectives to be achieved)

• Scheduling (to ensure that all activities are provided for in a timely fashion)

• Measurement and control (to spot changes and problems quickly so that corrective actions can be taken)

Customer Service Centre

The Customer Service Centre contributes to improving the organisation's image. This division handles customer enquiries, but makes a point of keeping in touch with some of its largest customers to get feedback on the service rendered. The Centre emanated from an identified need to communicate with customers and to get feedback on services rendered. Talks were held with stakeholders such as trade unions and customer groups as well as the largest customers. The first outcome of the process was to establish a sales division to market the services portfolio. The Centre relies on a team of telemarketers who identify potential service users, conduct product campaigns and do research. The division installed the most advanced telephone system available, which handled nearly one million calls the past year. Comprehensive statistics are compiled weekly on the number of times the line was engaged, how many calls were abandoned and how many enquiries could be handled successfully.

Mystery Shopper Programme

The idea behind mystery shopper is that a person enters a post office and anonymously completes a questionnaire on the quality of the service of the post office personnel.

Independent consultants are contracted to conduct mystery shopper surveys and submit reports.

The program is a snapshot of a post office at a specific point in time. It measures four main factors, namely -

• Staff impression
• Staff efficiency
• Facilities impression
• Facilities efficiency

The four main factors are subdivided into thirty-eight subfactors and 159 attributes.

The subfactors are the following:

Staff Impression

• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Courtesy
• Communication
• Credibility
• Understanding
• Innovation
• Professionalism

Staff Efficiency

• Accessibility of staff
• Accessibility of management
• Availability of products
• Competence

Facilities Impression

• Signage to the post office
• Customer parking
• Signage outside the post office
• Post office building from the outside
• Entrance to the post office
• Business hours
• Customer hall
• Postmaster's office
• Counters and behind counters
• Queue
• Private boxes
• Letter boxes
• Public phones

Facilities EffICiency (Covers the same topics as those under facilities efficiency).

The main questionnaire consists of 160 questions. Examples of questions are reproduced in Annexure A.

Different values and weights are allocated to the attributes and subfactors for analysing purposes. A list of offices that are rated lower than 60% and higher than 90% on each main factor score is produced. The programme concludes with a section indicating which subfactors were rated predominantly positively or negatively. Mystery shopper survey reports are compiled for all post offices within a specific area.

A so-called menu survey is used to do more detailed studies in areas where specific difficulties are experienced. The subjects covered will change from time to time, depending on the information required, but the total number of attributes will never be more than twenty. Consultants may make recommendations regarding the subjects and attributes covered.

Survey information is provided in the form of a printed report that is submitted to management by means of a formal presentation.
 

Managers are held accountable for service performance specified in their respective business/operational plans (not necessarily formally worded performance contracts) for the year. The collective business plan sets the short, medium and long-term service and budgetary objectives. These objectives are negotiated annually with the various divisional and regional management heads and are broken down to each work discipline and taken up in their respective business/operational plans for the year. This process of negotiating attainable

The organisational structure was redesigned so that specific managers were made responsible for specific performance and authority delegated so that performance was under their control levels of service performance continues to the lowest level of management and is fundamental to determining each role-player's critical performance area (CPA). The operational service targets are determined and set (contracted) during a national workshop with regional and operational (line) managers. Attainment and monitoring of these set targets form an important part of discussions during the weekly teleconferences with divisional/regional heads. A National Control Centre has been established to monitor all operational information and nationally control the corrective actions mutually agreed upon with the relevant managers.

National Control Centre

Responsibility for performance measured by the performance measures used as examples above, was allocated according to a redesigned organisational structure as indicated in figure 4:
 

Figure 4: Redesigned organisational structure of the SA Post Office

The SA Post Office entered into performance contracts, stating clearly objectives to be achieved, with its management. The performance objectives were broken down to the level of Regional General Manager and Post Master and further to the lowest organisation level in the post offices and mail sorting centres.

The principle that was adhered to in this regard was to clearly allocate responsibility for specific performance but at the same time place critical resources and processes determining that performance under the control of the responsibility manager. Thus the whole process of delivering mail, from collection at post boxes, through sorting, distribution and delivery at destination addresses, was placed under the control of one manager. Similarly, all aspects of the counter service were placed under a manager. The customer service centre, under Corporate Marketing and Communications, was established to create a one-stop customer enquiry service.

National Control Centre

The heart of the management system is the National Control Centre which was established to ensure handson management. Since postal regions and post offices are spread all over the country it is impractical to physically summon all managers to head office for meetings. Teleconferencing is therefore utilised to obtain inputs from regional and head office's top management, to give account of service delivery, to monitor the performance of the service, to identify problem areas and to find solutions. The profound influence of the National Control Centre is that it enables the managers to discuss the major issues that affect the performance of the Post Office, on a weekly basis. Top management used the National Control Centre as an instrument to regain control over the organisation.
 

The SA Post Office made drastic changes to its operational processes to achieve the service delivery standards it had set.

To achieve its delivery standards, the SA Post Office had to make drastic changes to its operational processes. Customer service standards were made to drive the operational process and not the other way around. The processing window was lengthened by delaying the time the outward bound national transport network departs from around midnight to six the following morning. This meant that post was delivered a day later but still within the published delivery standard. Lengthening of the processing window eliminated most of the carry-over problems. The Post Office further centralised all primary sorting of mail at 6 designated outward "hubs" (the distribution system is a so called "hub and spoke" system) in stead of 27 prior to the change in contrast to 80 earlier. The remaining 21 hubs were designated as inward hubs. This enabled better utilisation of the mechanised mail sorting capacity (otherwise capacity would have had to be increased at 27 hubs). It also meant that only 6 hubs had to work night shift because the process was designed in such a way that outward mail is sorted during the night and inward mail during the day. The national transport system could be simplified because only 6 national hubs meant 6 x 6 = 36 routes in stead of 27 x 27 = 729 routes.
 

Technology plays an important role in the SA Post Office's drive to improve service delivery. In addition to automated mail sorting and large computerised management systems, the Post Office has introduced teleconferencing for internal communication and an advanced telephone system that has handled nearly one million calls in a year.
 

The SA Post Office commissions an independent quarterly Performance Achievement Report on its services. The results are published independently, thereby ensuring objectivity and transparency in the performance review process.

Apart from its own measurement system which collects information according to its own internal standards and procedures, the SA Post Office also made extensive arrangements for external measurement of key performance measures.

A quarterly Performance Achievement Report on delivery speed is prepared by a company called Independent Service Quality Measurement (ISQM)(Pty)(Ltd). These measured results of service performance are published independently. It is therefore a major performance indicator to the public and management. The service performance results for properly prepared letter mail are based on a statistically valid sample of over 90 000 postal articles sent per quarter from a representative selection of entry points to receivers located at a representative selection of delivery addresses. The testing is done continuously and the results of the measurement is audited by Deloitte and Touche.

 Conclusion

The strategies discussed in this case study are logical, practical steps that can be taken by any organisation to improve service delivery. They are also supported by management theory. They focus attention on key performance areas and on the responsibility of managers for performance.

Apart from the lessons that can be drawn from the technical aspects of this case study, there are two important lessons for government departments who wish to improve their service delivery.

1. The need for the process to be driven and sponsored by the Chief Executive Officer

Three years ago the S A Post Office went through turbulent times. The mail service was poor, the company was beset by strikes and low morale, and bad customer service caused the S A Post Office to lose money.

Against this backdrop, Max Maisela, Chairperson and acting Chief Executive Officer, set three short-term goals for the SA Post Office, namely improvement of the mail service, attainment of financial break even and improvement of customer service. The financial, productivity, products and volumes and measured service performance achievement figures for 1997, 1998 and 1999 as reported in this case study give an indication of the progress that the S A Post Office has achieved to attain these goals. This required the coordinated effort of the entire organisation and would not have been possible if clear direction and focus had not been set from the top.

2. The importance of seeking the views of service users and keeping them informed of the organisation's performance

The success of the S A Post Office in improving its customer service can be attributed to the strategies that were implemented to seek the views of its service users and keep them informed of its performance. It brought about a paradigm shift in the organisation of the S A Post Office. Its organisation was transformed to focus on the needs of service users and the improvement of its service delivery to meet their needs. The various strategies discussed in this case study have all contributed to the said transformation.

 Acknowledgements

This case study was compiled by the Public Service Commission from information made available by officials of the SA Post Office. The Commission wishes to thank the officials for their kind cooperation and the time spent with the Office of the Public Service Commission. It is obviously impossible to provide detail on all aspects of the processes described. The Office would gladly share more information with institutions wishing to follow the processes or some of the elements of the processes described. Interested parties may contact the following officials of the Office for more information:

• John Rossouw: Telephone number - (012) 352-1092
• Daan Calitz: Telephone number - (012) 352-1180

ANNEXURE A

MYSTERY SHOPPER PROGRAMME

EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS

Accessibility/Availability of counter staff

Did you reach the counter within 5 minutes of joining the queue?
Was the teller ready to serve you when you reached the counter?
Did the teller have enough time to serve you when you reached the counter?
Was your business with the teller interrupted by other staff or customers?
Were there any other staff standing around idle?

Accessibility/Availability of management

Was the postmaster/supervisor available when needed?

Availability of products

Were the services/products that you required available?

Competence

Could the teller perform transactions on his/her own? Could the teller provide basic product information?

Responsiveness

Was the teller eager to provide service?

Courtesy

Was the teller friendly/polite?

Communication

Was it perceivable that the teller understood your specific requirements?

Credibility

Could you trust the information/service provided?

Understanding

Did the teller take time to make sure what your requirements were?

Innovation

Did the teller offer alternative solutions/new products?

Professionalism

Was the teller and other staff professionally dressed (in uniform, neat, etc.)? Did all staff refrain form eating/drinking/smoking publicly in the post office?

Signage to the post office

Are all indicators to the post office in the right places (e.g. on the main or major route/s)? Are all indicators to the post office legible (are they big enough and clearly understandable)?

Customer parking

Is customer parking readily available (consider abnormal peaks) ? Are the parking facilities safe? (E.g. are the possibilities for car theft or robbery higher than normal)?

Signage outside the post office

Is the signage outside the post office legible (e.g. is it big enough)?

Post office building from the outside

Is the post office building in the right place (ideally situated where economic activity is high)?

Entrance to the post office (lobby and foyer)

Are all entrances to the post office accessible to everybody (old and handicapped people)?

Business hours

Are the business hours displayed in the most effective places (e.g. at all entrance doors)? Are the business hours suitable for the environment (e.g. do those hours fit in with the business hours of the major businesses in the vicinity/same complex)

Customer hall

Are the pens in the customer hall in a working condition? Are all the relevant forms available in the customer hall?

Post master's office

Is the post master's office accessible (e.g. no "closed" signs, etc.)?

Counters and behind the counters

Is a one-stop service offered? (Separate enquiry and speed queues are permissible.) Is counter equipment (fax machines, scales, forms, cash registers, etc.) effectively arranged (e.g. no or short walking distances.)

Queue

Is it indicated where to queue for service?