20. customer service process report

OFFICE OF BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

Procurement Services

20. Customer Service Process Report September 2017

Copyright

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of Illinois – OBFS.

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20. Customer Service

Procurement Services OBFS iii

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 1

Process Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 2

Chapter 1: SIPOC Diagram ........................................................................................................................ 4

Chapter 2: Suppliers .................................................................................................................................. 5

University System & University Department Units ................................................................................... 5

Vendor ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Purchasing ................................................................................................................................................ 5

AITS .......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Procurement Services .............................................................................................................................. 5

External Customers .................................................................................................................................. 5

Business Rules ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 3: Inputs ........................................................................................................................................ 7

Request..................................................................................................................................................... 7

Service Desk Ticket .................................................................................................................................. 7

System ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

Supporting Documentation ....................................................................................................................... 8

Business Rules ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Chapter 4: Process .................................................................................................................................... 9

Initiate Customer Request ........................................................................................................................ 9

Assign Request ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Research Request .................................................................................................................................. 10

Provide Response .................................................................................................................................. 10

Close Request ........................................................................................................................................ 11

Evaluate Service ..................................................................................................................................... 11

Business Rules ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Chapter 5: Outputs ................................................................................................................................... 12

Response ................................................................................................................................................ 12

Help desk ticket number ......................................................................................................................... 12

Educated Customer ................................................................................................................................ 12

Business Rules ....................................................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 6: Customers .............................................................................................................................. 13

University System & University Department Unit ................................................................................... 13

Vendor .................................................................................................................................................... 13

Purchasing .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Procurement Services ............................................................................................................................ 13

AITS ........................................................................................................................................................ 13

External Customers ................................................................................................................................ 13

Business Rules ....................................................................................................................................... 13

Chapter 7: Customer - Oversight Roles ................................................................................................. 14

Procurement & Purchasing Management ............................................................................................... 14


Procurement Services OBFS iv

Board of Trustees (BOT), President, CFO, ............................................................................................ 14

Chancellors, Provost ............................................................................................................................... 14

Dean, Departmental Directors, and Business Office .............................................................................. 14

Business Rules ....................................................................................................................................... 14

Chapter 8: Questionnaire for Current State Analysis .......................................................................... 15

Chapter 9: Questionnaire for Potential Process Improvement Candidates ....................................... 19

Chapter 10: Current State Metrics .......................................................................................................... 20

Chapter 11: Feedback from Customer Focus Groups – Current State .............................................. 21

Chapter 12: Opportunities for Improvements ....................................................................................... 23

Chapter 13: Suggested Improvements .................................................................................................. 30

Chapter 14: Feedback from Customer Focus Groups – Future State ................................................. 32

Chapter 15: Recommendations for Improvements .............................................................................. 34

Chapter 16: Solutions Prioritization Matrix ........................................................................................... 37

Chapter 17: SIPOC Diagram .................................................................................................................... 38

Chapter 18: Future State Requirements ................................................................................................ 39

Chapter 19: Subject Matter Expert Team ............................................................................................... 40

Chapter 20: University Focus Group Participants ................................................................................ 41

Appendix A: Business Glossary ............................................................................................................ 42


Procurement Services OBFS 1

Overview

Procurement Services and Purchasing at the University of Illinois provides a service to the University

faculty, staff, students, and external customers of the University to answer questions or resolve issues

regarding the procurement services supported on behalf of the University.

Illinois Mandate Symbol -

Illinois Procurement Code

University Policy Symbol - 🎓

University Policies

Administrative Rules

Professional Mandate Symbol -



Process Executive Summary

Business Process

This process provides the University faculty, staff, students, and external customers of the University with

answers to questions and resolve issue regarding the procurement services supported on behalf of the

University. Requests are submitted to Procurement Services, Purchasing, or iBuy Production Support.

The request may be submitted either via email, in-person, instant messaging, mail, phone, or Service

Desk Form The request is received into either Purchasing, Payables (including Card Services (P-Card,

T-Card), TEM, and Vendor maintenance), Strategic Procurement, Procurement Diversity, or iBuy

Production Support and is routed for work. The person receiving the request will research for a resolution

of correct information or a properly executed transaction. The University Legal Counsel and/or the

University Risk Management are consulted as needed. When the work is being researched, sometimes

the requestor is contacted for additional information or supporting documentation. When the research on

the work concludes, a response is provided to the requestor either via email, mail, phone, or ticket. A

response is either correct information to the requestor or a properly executed transaction.

Current Process Activities

Approach

The current state process activities were mapped by the Subject Matter Expert (SME) and project process

team. A SIPOC diagram was created to capture the tasks executed by the University System

departments. The SME project team identified opportunities for improvement and brainstormed potential

solutions. The current state was presented, issues were identified, and recommendations were

discussed at customer focus group meetings in the University System. The process report was presented

to the Source2Pay Director Council where they ranked the proposed recommendations for

implementation.

Key Findings

Delays in receiving a response to a voice mail message left at the general number

Delays in receiving a response to an email message sent to the general email address

Inconsistent responses in an urgent situations, some departments receive an immediate

response in an emergency situation when a person is directly called, others receive delays

resulting in the need to pursue other avenues to reach a person to discuss the issue with.

Improvement Recommendations

The process team identified 6 suggested improvements. From the 43 suggested improvements, the team

selected 6 improvements to recommend for implementation. The Director Council reviewed the 6

recommendations and ranked the proposed recommendations for implementation.

Customer initiates request

Request Assigned

Research RequestResponse Provided

Request Closed

Evaluate Service



Listed are the top four recommendations for implementation:

1. Create a Standards of Service when responding to questions and inquiries regarding

procurement at the University of Illinois which involves Purchasing at each University and


2. Review the functionality of the Service Desk Manager application and incorporate the Standard of

Service

3. Hire additional staff within Purchasing of each University and within Procurement Services

4. Create a Procurement Certification Program



Chapter 1: SIPOC Diagram

Process Name Date

20. Customer Service – Current State July 2017

SUPPLIERS INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUTS CUSTOMERS Who provides input to the process

What goes into the process

How the inputs are transformed to outputs

What comes out of the process

Who received the outputs of the process

University System

University department unit

Vendor

Purchasing


AITS

External customers

Request (email, phone, in-person, mail)

Service Desk ticket

Website

Systems

Supporting documentation

1. Initiate Customer Request

2. Assign Request 3. Research Request 4. Provide Response 5. Close Request 6. Evaluate Service

Response

Help desk ticket number

Educated customer

University System


Vendor

Purchasing


AITS

External customers



Chapter 2: Suppliers

Suppliers provide input to the process:

University System & University Department Units

What they care about: Good service, getting their question or issue resolved accurately, quickly, and

having access to the right person or systems to submit the request. University System includes the

following departments, Tax Compliance and Analysis, Risk Management, and University Legal.

When they care: When they have a question or an issue

Vendor

What they care about: Getting their question or issue resolved accurately and timely

When they care: When they have a question or an issue

Purchasing

What they care about: Receiving enough information in the initial request to answer the question or

research the issue; timeliness of the request; and the department has completed their due diligence

before submitting the request

When they care: As soon as the request is received

AITS

What they care about: Make sure systems are up and running to pass along requests

When they care: 365 days 24/7


(Payables, Office of Procurement Diversity, Strategic Procurement)

What they care about: Receiving enough information in the initial request to answer the question or

research an issue; timeliness of the request, and the information received is understood

When they care: As soon as the request is received

External Customers

What they care about: Receiving the correct answers as soon as possible

When they care: As soon as they submit a request



Business Rules

None



Chapter 3: Inputs

Inputs are information or verification which goes into the process

Request

A request can be presented via email, mail, phone, instant messaging, in-person, or fax

Service Desk Ticket

Submission to the email address [email protected] or using the service desk request form will

initiate the process to create a Service Desk Ticket in the Service Desk Manager application

System

The following systems could be used when researching a request:

Banner

BDM

Campus Ship (UPS)

Eddie/EDW

FABWeb

Fax

iBuy

iCS

Internal department system

Internet

Office suite

Outlook

P-Card Web Solutions

Phone

Procurement bulletin

Service Desk Manager

Skype for business

TEM

mailto:[email protected]



Supporting Documentation

Documentation could include one or more of the following:

Campus ship new user account forms

Contracts

Documentation in the formats (Such as: doc, excel, PDF, jpg, gif)

Email content

Financial Disclosures

Invoice

Job aid

OBFS Website forms, including, but not limited to:

o Contract Approval Routing form (CARF)

o Small Purchase Waiver form

o Sole Source Justification form (SSJF)

o Solicitation Information form (SIF)

o Vendor Information form (VIF)

o Various P-Card and T-Card specific forms, such as P-Card exception request

Purchase Order

Quotes

Requisition

RFP

Screen shares

Special Payment Request form

State Certification

System screen shots

URLs

Business Rules

None



Chapter 4: Process

A process is defined as the method for transforming inputs into outputs:

Initiate Customer Request

University department units (faculty, staff, and students), or University System departments, or vendors,

or external customers submit requests to Procurement Services, Purchasing, or iBuy Production Support

regarding the need to have a question or an issues resolved that is supported by Procurement Services

or the Purchasing departments at the University of Illinois.

The request may be submitted either via email, in-person, instant messaging, mail, phone, or Service

Desk Form

Email addresses used to submit requests include:

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

- [email protected]

In some instances a request is received into another OBFS unit from a University department unit or an

external customer. The OBFS unit will contact either Procurement Services, Purchasing at each

University, or iBuy production support with the request and return the response to the inquiring party.

Assign Request

The request is received into either Purchasing, Payables (including Card Services (P-Card, T-Card),

TEM, and Vendor maintenance), Strategic Procurement, Procurement Diversity, or iBuy Production

Support and is routed for work.

Areas of Procurement Services and Purchasing have a general email address and a general phone

number to receive customer questions/inquiries. Once the initial request is received, it is reviewed for

content and routed to the appropriate area to be worked.

Initiate Customer Request

Assign Request

Research Request

Provide Response

Close Request

Evaluate Service















Research Request

The person receiving the request will research for a resolution of correct information or a properly

executed transaction. The University Legal Counsel and/or the University Risk Management are

consulted as needed. When the work is being researched, sometimes the requestor is contacted for

additional information or supporting documentation.

Research areas include but not limited to:

Card Services (P-Card and T-Card)

Clarification on a policy or a procedure

Contracts

Financial disclosure form

Invoices

Payments

Purchase Orders

Requisitions

Sole Source Justification Form

Solicitation Information form

TEM Activity

User security

Vendor Information

Systems being used to research a question or issue include but not limited to:

Banner (including vendor maintenance)

BDM

iBuy

iCS

IPHEC Bulletin

OBFS website

Outlook

P-Card Web solutions

Shared drive

TEM

Provide Response

When the research on the work concludes, a response is provided to the requestor either via email, mail,

phone, or ticket. A response is either correct information to the requestor or a properly executed

transaction.



Close Request

A request is closed via a ticket or documentation included within the content of an email.

Evaluate Service

The evaluation of the service provided includes questions to the requestor to determine if the

issue or question was resolved and the answer was understood.

Reports may be run and reviewed against the ticketing application to review the response time.

An evaluation survey may be sent on a ticket to the originating requestor.

Business Rules

None



Chapter 5: Outputs

Outputs are the resulting information or entities that are produced as part of the process:

Response

A response is either correct information to the requestor or a properly executed transaction.

Help desk ticket number

A ticket number is generated by the Service Desk Manager application

Educated Customer

Business Rules

None



Chapter 6: Customers

Customers receive the output of the process.

University System & University Department Unit

What they want: Resolution with an accurate answer, consistent with State laws and University Policies

and Procedures, and prompt response time all provided in a professionally, respectfully, and courteous

manner.

Vendor

What they want: Resolution with an accurate answer, consistent with State laws and University Policies

and Procedures, and prompt response time, all provided in a professionally, respectfully, and courteous

manner.

What they want: Accurate and timely responses

Purchasing




AITS

What they want: Feedback on the process, resolution in a timely manner

External Customers

What they want: Accurate and timely responses with a courteous attitude

Business Rules

None



Chapter 7: Customer - Oversight Roles

Customers who provide oversight and what oversight is needed: (Example Funders, OBFS, Auditors,

Board of Trustees (BOT), Legislature, Public)

Procurement & Purchasing Management

What they want: Make sure the process is being followed, the customer is being served with correct

information and timely responses in a courteous and respectful manner.

Board of Trustees (BOT), President, CFO,

What they want: Make sure customers are receiving the best services, and decision they make impact the

customer service responses and rules that are followed.

Chancellors, Provost

What they want: Make sure customers are receiving the best services

Dean, Departmental Directors, and Business Office

What they want: Make sure customers are receiving accurate and timely responses in a courteous and

respectful manner.

Business Rules

None



Chapter 8: Questionnaire for Current State Analysis

1. Why does the process exist?

This process exist to provide the University faculty, staff, students, and external customers of the

University with answers to questions and resolve issues regarding the procurement services

supported on behalf of the University.

2. What is the purpose of the process?

To ensure customers’ concerns and needs are addressed, in a reasonable amount of time.

Customers should feel as though they have a touchpoint into the Procurement Services offices and

that their questions will be answered promptly, professionally, and politely.

3. What are the process boundaries (i.e., when does it start and end?)

Start: University or vendor contacts procurement services with a customer service question

End: The question presented is answered or resolved, and the customer understands the answer with

no additional questions.

4. What are the major activities/steps in the process?

See Chapter 4: Process (Ctrl-click to follow link)

5. What is the expected outcome or output of the process?

See Chapter 5: Outputs (Ctrl-click to follow link)

6. Who uses the output of the process, and why?

See Chapter 6: Customers (Ctrl-click to follow link)

7. Who benefits from the process, and how?

University department units and external customers receive answers to questions and resolutions to

issues.

8. What information is necessary for the process?

See Chapter 3: Inputs (Ctrl-click to follow link)

9. Where does that information come from?

See Chapter 2: Suppliers (Ctrl-click to follow link)

10. What effect does that information have on the process and output?

Provides a clear direction to the issue/question

11. Who is primarily responsible for the process?

Everyone, department unit, Purchasing, and Procurement Services

12. What other units/organizations participate in or support the process?

Banks

Cashiering

External IT support

Partnering Consortia, such as Vizient (A group purchase organization used for health care

services, we have leveraged their contracts)

Risk Management

State Procurement Office

University Legal Counsel



University System – AITS, OBFS Units

13. What Information Technology system(s) support the process?

Banner

BDM

Campus Ship (UPS)

Eddie/EDW

FABWeb

Fax

iBuy

iCS

Internal department systems

Internet

Office suite

Outlook

P-Card Solutions

Phone

Procurement bulletin

Service Desk Manager

Skype for business

T-Card Solutions

TEM

14. What policies guide or constrain the process?

Administrative Rules

Federal Laws (IRS)

Illinois Procurement Code

OBFS policies and procedures

State Laws

15. How often does the process get executed?

This process is executed many times a day within the following area:

iBuy Production support

Payables

Strategic Procurement

UIC Purchasing

UIS Purchasing

UIUC purchasing

The only tracking of issues that is currently collected is when a service desk ticket is created.



16. What are potential defects with respect to the process?

Lack of staffing to provide support

Too many points of entry

Lack of department communication

Turnover of staff

Too many systems that don’t communicate

Not using all tools available – not using repository

Website update delays

Lack of standard policies and procedures

Lack of service level agreements

Browsers function differently with each UI System

a. How often do the potential defects occur? daily

17. What types of challenges have employees who participate in the process raised?

Users will apply one answered question for different situations which the answer may have been

unique to a single situation

Lack of common terminology use by department and procurement services

Lack of complete information with the request

Large amount of different types of transactions to support

Leaving a blank voicemail message

More than one person working on a question/issue due to ‘Answer Shopping’ by the customer

18. What types of challenges or concerns have customers raised?

Change to a process is not communicated prior to the change being put in effect

Customers are unsure to whom their questions should be asked

Customers get transferred multiple times without getting to speak with someone

Different answers from different people in same office

Different interpretation of a policy/procedure

Lack of being polite and courteous when working with the customer

Lack of responses to vendor

Lack of timely responses

Lack of trust in the process

Navigating the resources on the OBFS website is cumbersome

Not able to self-resolve an issue with existing documentation on OBFS website

Not knowing how to get in touch with who to ask

Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

Too many acronyms



19. Will the process be changed by another initiative in the near future?

University System re-alignment



Chapter 9: Questionnaire for Potential Process Improvement Candidates

1. How would the process operate differently in the “Perfect Situation?”

Have the ability to provide a customer with a knowledge base system that can be easily

searched using keywords to location information.

Have the ability to submit a question/issue that is logged into a system using a workflow to

track the status of an entry and provide the user with the ability to view the question/issue as

it progresses through the process to be resolved.

Have trained, knowledgeable staff provide accurate and timely response to a question or

issue.

Provide a process to escalate when an urgent/emergency issue arises and needs to be

resolved.

The ability to capture customer service metrics

2. What does the team hope to achieve through this improvement?

More timely responses

Consistent responses across Universities

Improved trust with the University departments

Receive a more favorable impression from the departments

Improve and create efficiencies within customer service

Provide clear expectations for the customer so they know where to go to get information

Customers providing the most accurate information upfront to establish an understanding of

what the question or issue is to allow for the ability to provide a complete response

3. Who would benefit from the desired improvement to the process?

Everyone, including Universities, OBFS, Vendors

a. How would we know?

Customer’s feedback

4. What data can be provided with respect to the process performance (e.g. service rating, cycle

time, customer survey responses, etc.)?

Customer survey responses

Response metrics

5. Who should be included in any improvement discussions for the process?

Payables

Purchasing

Strategic Procurement

Support staff within Purchasing and Payables

University System

University units



Chapter 10: Current State Metrics

Metrics in three areas is being collected on each process. These metrics will be used to measure

success in the future state.

How long does the process take from start to finish?

o Easy question may only take 30 seconds to resolve

o Large intense question may take several months to resolve

How many touchpoints are there per process?

At least two touch points, but depending on the question/issue could involve as many as twenty

or more touch points

Variance as to the number of touch points also depends on the following:

o The entry point of the question/issue

o How many people touch the question/issue before it gets to the correct person to

research and resolve

o The involvement into the research of the question/issue

How many steps are involved in each process?

This process has many entry points, and base on the entry and if the information requested is

understood, the number of steps could be at least 20 steps with as many as 40 steps.



Chapter 11: Feedback from Customer Focus Groups – Current State

The Current State process was presented to each University’s Customer Focus Group on July 25, 2017 –

July 27, 2017. A total of 20 people attended with 7 people in attendance from UIC, 2 people from UIS,

and 11 people from UIUC.

Campus Focus Group Summary

Each Customer Focus Group received an overview of the current Customer Service Process. After the

overview the attendees were asked the questions, “What do they do to submit a Customer Service

Request?” and “What issues do they have with the current process to submit a Customer Service

Request?”

The majority of participates stated they submit Customer Service Request in one of the following ways:

Email the general email address for either Payables or Purchasing

Submission of a Service Desk ticket

Phone the general number for either Payables or Purchasing

Key Findings

Delays in receiving a response to a voice mail message left at the general number

Delays in receiving a response to an email message sent to the general email address

Inconsistent responses in an urgent situation, some departments receive an immediate response

in an emergency situation when a person is directly called, others receive delays resulting in the

need to pursue other avenues to reach a person to discuss the issue with.

Campus Focus Group Report

Current Process:

Submit a question or issue using the general email address or general phone number for either

Payables or the appropriate University Purchasing department

Some departments submit a Service Desk Ticket form, or sends an email to

[email protected]

Departments try to gather enough information prior to calling for assistance or within the content

of an email.

Some department will leave a voice mail message, and follow up with an email. They note within

the email they left a voicemail message.

One department commented, they like using the Service Desk Ticket form. They feel it works,

they receive the response they need, and it is timely.

Issues:

The wasting of resources in the department unit, Payables, and Purchasing when a request has

been submitted several times with no response, then has to be forward to a supervisor, who then

forwards to a supervisor in Payables or Purchasing to get a response.

The participants noted when they are contacted by an employee in either the area of Payables or

Purchasing that resolved a prior question or issue, the employee would begin to contact the

person in Payables or Purchasing directly regarding a new question or new issue in order to

receive a timely response.

The participants noted they didn’t have issues contacting Strategic Procurement, once they

learned how they should submit their question or issue. Also the Office of Procurement Diversity

isn’t contacted with Customer Service Request from the participants present at the Customer

Service Customer Focus Group meeting at each University




Some departments will be contacted by a vendor with a question or an issue that the vendor has

tried to contact either Payables or Purchasing and wasn’t able to make a contact. This causes

the department to become the middle person in getting a question answered or an issue

resolved.

Topics of questions or issues that are delayed in a response include:

o Confirmation for shipping

o Change orders

o Reimbursements, if an item(s) was allowable before a person travels, and the travel has

been booked.

When a TEM is rejected, there isn’t a way to contact the TEM processor who rejected the report

to inquire about the rejection.

Written responses from Payables need to elaborate more with details.

Delays in receiving a response has resulted in a purchase to be non-conforming, and missing

deadlines within a department

Response time can range from a direct call being 1 minutes to submitting a question via email

where the response can take 1 or 2 weeks.

When a question/issue is presented that is an exception, the responses takes months to be

received.

Departments try to exhaust all other avenues before contacting Payables and Purchasing.

The OBFS website is really unhelpful and unable to locate the needed information which is why

the department will place a call to either Payables or Purchasing.

Service Desk tickets are closed before the issue is resolved, resulting in opening a new ticket,

then the issue is assigned to a new person to work.

Service Desk tickets are not confirmed with the customer if the ticket should be closed.

Only receiving an answer to one question, when submitted more than one in an email to the

general email address, resulting in the need to submit again delaying the resolution.

“Make it more user friendly and nicer when things are rejected, otherwise it make me feel

unknowledgeable and nervous, sometime my boss thinks I’m making things up when there is a

delay in process.”

Tend to send email to the general email first, if a response isn’t received within 48 hours will place

a call.

Lack of ability to know the status if the question/issue is received, assigned to work. Would like

the ability to know the status of the request

Common terminology is an obstacle, what they call something in a FAQ, may not be understood.

Other

In TEM included more instruction and examples on what is expected to be included

P-Card and T-Card support is really good with questions

Having issues with student payments, don’t know who to reach out to, and should have one

system.

Director council Feedback Suppliers



Chapter 12: Opportunities for Improvements

The following opportunities for improvement were identified through team discussions, provided feedback

from customer focus groups and Director Council. Issues were categorized into 6 categories, covering

Communications, Documentation, Policy and Procedures, Resources, Technology, and Training. Issues

shown in Bold are connected to a Recommendation for Improvement in Chapter 15: Recommendations

for Improvements

Communications – Issues related to providing information

C1 Lack of department communication

C2 Leaving a blank voicemail message

C3

More than one person working on a question/issue due to ‘Answer Shopping’ by the customer

C4 Change to a process is not communicated prior to the change being put in effect

C5

When a TEM is rejected, there isn’t a way to contact the TEM processor who rejected the report to inquire about the rejection.

C6

Only receiving an answer to one question, when submitted more than one in an email to the general email address, resulting in the need to submit again delaying the resolution.

C7

Tend to send email to the general email first, if a response isn’t received within 48 hours will place a call.

C8

OBFS Departments not communicating to each other to resolve issue and department becomes the middle man

C9

The OBFS website is really unhelpful and unable to locate the needed information which is why the department will place a call to either Payables or Purchasing.

C10 Lack of documentation of responses within department

C11 Unique to a single situation

C12

Topics of questions or issues that are delayed in a response include: Confirmation for shipping Change orders Reimbursements, if an item(s) was allowable before a person travels, and the travel has been booked.

C13 Multiply ways to manage the work in process

C14 Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

C15 Lack of complete information with the request

C16 Written responses from Payables need to elaborate more with details.

C17




Communications – Issues related to providing information

C18

Delays in receiving a response has resulted in a purchase to be non-conforming, and missing deadlines within a department

C19 Lack of consistent system and process across all Universities

C20

The participants noted when they are contacted by an employee in either the area of Payables or Purchasing that resolved a prior question or issue, the employee would begin to contact the person in Payables or Purchasing directly regarding a new question or new issue in order to receive a timely response

C21 Website update delays

C22 Not able to self-resolve an issue with existing documentation on OBFS website

C23 Lack of service level agreements

C24 Lacks the ability to monitor all issues submitted via email, phone, and service desk form

C25

Knowing that process change and bring willing to change (e.g. I've always done it like that, or I did it like that last time)

C26

The wasting of resources in the department unit, Payables, and Purchasing when a request has been submitted several times with no response, then has to be forward to a supervisor, who then forwards to a supervisor in Payables or Purchasing to get a response.

C27

Some departments will be contacted by a vendor with a question or an issue that the vendor has tried to contact either Payables or Purchasing and wasn’t able to make a contact. This causes the department to become the middle person in getting a question answered or an issue resolved.

C28 Lack of trust in the process

C29 Issues lack ownership

C30 Navigating the resources on the OBFS website is cumbersome

C31 Lack of success with the current knowledge base and self service

C32 Too many points of entry

C33 Lack of common terminology use by department and procurement services

C34 Lack of being polite and courteous when working with the customer

C35 Lack of responses to vendor

C36

Service Desk tickets are closed before the issue is resolved, resulting in opening a new ticket, then the issue is assigned to a new person to work.

C37 Service Desk tickets are not confirmed with the customer if the ticket should be closed.

C38 Too much unnecessary information



Documentation – Issues related to lack of documentation

D1

The OBFS website is really unhelpful and unable to locate the needed information which is why the department will place a call to either Payables or Purchasing.

D2 Lack of documentation of responses within department

D3 Unique to a single situation

D4


D5 Multiply ways to manage the work in process

D6 Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

D7 Lack of complete information with the request

D8 Written responses from Payables need to elaborate more with details.

D9


Policy/Procedures – Issues related to Procurement Policies and Procedures

P1 Website update delays

P2 Lack of standard policies and procedures

P3 Lack of service level agreements

P4 Unique to a single situation

P5 Lack of complete information with the request

P6 Different interpretation of a policy/procedure

P7 Not able to self-resolve an issue with existing documentation on OBFS website

P8 Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

P9


P10


P11

Delays in receiving a response has resulted in a purchase to be non-conforming, and missing deadlines within a department



Policy/Procedures – Issues related to Procurement Policies and Procedures

P12

When a question/issue is presented that is an exception, the responses takes months to be received.

P13 Lacks the ability to monitor all issues submitted via email, phone, and service desk form

P14 Lack of definition of the metrics to track

P15 Lack of consistent system and process across all Universities

P16 Lack of defined service level agreements for customer service

P17 Multiply ways to manage the work in process

P18

Lack of ability to know how many issues need to be worked, and how the issue arrived - email, phone, SD ticket/form

P19 Lack of a process when an issue crosses departmental boundaries

P20


Resources (Financial, Human) – Issues related to lack of sufficient staff or funding

R1 Turnover of staff

R2 Unique to a single situation

R3 Large amount of different types of transactions to support

R4 Customers get transferred multiple times without getting to speak with someone

R5 Lack of trust in the process

R6 Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

R7

The wasting of resources in the department unit, Payables, and Purchasing when a request has been submitted several times with no response, then has to be forward to a supervisor, who then forwards to a supervisor in Payables or Purchasing to get a response.

R8


R9

Some departments will be contacted by a vendor with a question or an issue that the vendor has tried to contact either Payables or Purchasing and wasn’t able to make a contact. This causes the department to become the middle person in getting a question answered or an issue resolved.

R10




Resources (Financial, Human) – Issues related to lack of sufficient staff or funding

R11

Response time can range from a direct call being 1 minutes to submitting a question via email where the response can take 1 or 2 weeks.

R12


R13 Lack of consistent system and process across all Universities

R14 Issues lack ownership

R15 Multiply ways to manage the work in process

R16 Lack of a process when an issue crosses departmental boundaries

R17 Lack of knowledge transfer

Technology – Issues related to system’s lack of functionality to support the process

T1 Too many systems that don’t communicate

T2 Not using all tools available – not using repository

T3 Website update delays

T4 Browsers function differently with each UI System

T5 Unique to a single situation

T6 Large amount of different types of transactions to support

T7 Lack of timely responses

T8 Navigating the resources on the OBFS website is cumbersome

T9 Not able to self-resolve an issue with existing documentation on OBFS website

T10


T11

“Make it more user friendly and nicer when things are rejected, otherwise it make me feel unknowledgeable and nervous, sometime my boss thinks I’m making things up when there is a delay in process.”

T12

Lack of ability to know the status if the question/issue is received, assigned to work. Would like the ability to know the status of the request

T13 Lack of definition of the metrics to track

T14 Lack of success with the current knowledge base and self service

T15 Lack of consistent system and process across all Universities

T16 Multiply ways to manage the work in process



Technology – Issues related to system’s lack of functionality to support the process

T17


Training – Issues related to lack of understanding the process

TR1 Too many points of entry

TR2 Not using all tools available – not using repository

TR3 Lack of standard policies and procedures

TR4 Lack of service level agreements

TR5 Unique to a single situation

TR6 Lack of common terminology use by department and procurement services

TR7 Lack of complete information with the request

TR8 Customers are unsure to whom their questions should be asked

TR9 Different answers from different people in same office

TR10 Different interpretation of a policy/procedure

TR11 Lack of being polite and courteous when working with the customer

TR12 Lack of responses to vendor

TR13 Lack of timely responses

TR14 Lack of trust in the process

TR15 Not knowing how to get in touch with who to ask

TR16 Overlapping processes over multiple departments (interdependencies)

TR17 Too many acronyms

TR18


TR19


TR20 Written responses from Payables need to elaborate more with details.

TR21




Training – Issues related to lack of understanding the process

TR22

Service Desk tickets are closed before the issue is resolved, resulting in opening a new ticket, then the issue is assigned to a new person to work.

TR23 Service Desk tickets are not confirmed with the customer if the ticket should be closed.

TR24


TR25 Lacks the ability to monitor all issues submitted via email, phone, and service desk form

TR26 Lack of success with the current knowledge base and self service

TR27 Issues lack ownership

TR28 Multiply ways to manage the work in process

TR29


TR30


TR31 Lack of knowledge transfer

TR32 Too much unnecessary information



Chapter 13: Suggested Improvements

The following recommendations came from discussions with the process team members, and/or the

director council, and/or University System focus groups. Not all improvements were selected by the

process team. The selected improvements were present to the University focus groups for feedback, and

are recommended from review by the Director Council. A Suggested Improvement displayed in bold is

associated with a Recommendation for Improvement, and is further discussed in Chapter 15:

Recommendations for Improvements

Number Category Suggested Improvement

1 Communications Workflow queue to see where the requests are in process and communicate and know who is processing request

2 Communications Timeline for potential response 48/72 hours, have a timeline for limited responses, e.g. we will respond to your request in XX days and actually follow up

3 Communications Better communications of change in policy and procedures, email more people

4 Communications Issue a response that issue has been resolved

5 Communications Live Chat

6 Communications When a TEM entry is rejected be specific so staff member understands reason for rejections

7 Documentation OBFS website needs a complete overhaul include job aids, process flows, training videos

8 Documentation Have standardize training, procedures documentation for each unit, New hires have their units as well as other units they work directly with

9 Documentation Creation of “Standards of Service”

10 Documentation Single documentation system

11 Documentation Add pertinent information to be included in a request, example

12 Documentation Update OBFS website quarterly, department units

13 Documentation Document all communications with vendor or customer

14 Policy & Procedures When Policy & Procedures change, people need to be notified, email forum

15 Policy & Procedures Funnel incoming correspondence to one point of entry, this would let clients and user know status

16 Policy & Procedures

Policy Procedure guidelines (training similar to General Ledger 101, Banner Intro, CFOAL 101)

17 Policy & Procedures Annual Customer Service evaluations of service

18 Policy & Procedures

Dropdown on OBFS site “Topics” similar to APPS easy to find

19 Resources Hire one person to answer all questions

20 Resources Hire more staff to support the customer service desk

21 Resources Reward system incentives for customer service done well to be given by supervisor/customer

22 Resources Remove “Not my job from vocabulary”

23 Resources Having up-to-date information on OBFS website and easy to navigate

24 Resources Customer Service Center

25 Technology Single tracking system to house all information for all procedures that work together with one browser

26 Technology Ability to see where a request is in real time

27 Technology Way to integrate internal department systems with Banner

28 Technology Have one point of entry



Number Category Suggested Improvement

29 Technology Single place for customers to go to get status of request whether it be a PO, Change request, etc.

30 Technology Interactive online FAQ

31 Technology Make OBFS website more user friendly

32 Technology Systems works on all browsers and Mac/PC

33 Technology Job Aids, Help tips within a new system and throughout system

34 Technology Funnel all issues/questions in Service Desk Manager

35 Technology Service Level Agreement is tracked in system provide alerts to respondent

36 Training Procurement Certification Program and staff training

37 Training Cross Training between departments i.e. payables/purchasing, payables/card services

38 Training Better understanding of processes and why, example job shadowing “Walk in my shoes” understand other jobs

39 Training Issue some type of response within 24 hours

40 Training Regular Full Day workshops/trainings for staff

41 Training Mandatory Procedure training, continued training (department units, Procurement Services, and Purchasing)

42 Training Give employees the ability to solve problems

43 Training Reduce points of entry to two and have an emergent way to communicate, define emergent such as need a response today

44 Training Have customers help with training ideas/curriculum

45 Training Keep ongoing training to keep campus departments aware of various change on procedures, forms, etc.

46 Training Provide training on terminology



Chapter 14: Feedback from Customer Focus Groups – Future State

The Future State process was presented to each University’s Customer Focus Group on Tuesday,

August 28, 2017 – Thursday, August 31, 2017. A total of 15 people attended with 3 people in attendance

from UIC, 1 people from UIS, and 11 people from UIUC.

Campus Focus Group Summary

Mixed response on the Standard of Service, couldn’t understand why the questions aren’t being

answered, and why does it take a Standard of Service to get a response to a question

Liked the Service Desk Manager application to be reviewed, but had concerns with: would it be

distributed correctly, any delays, how to define urgency, and would like the ability to specify the

person to speak/work with

The OBFS website redesign was very much supported, would like a user experience person to be

on the team to recommend ease of use

The Certification Program was received, but would like a certification on both the department,

purchasing, and procurement services side. Felt everyone needs to be certified.

Felt the issues of not receiving responses were more from Payables than Purchasing

Campus Focus Group Report

Create a Standards of Service

o “Why aren’t they doing their job and answering our questions?”

o “Necessary but not sufficient”

o Include a minimum to acknowledge receipt of question and letting the submitter know if

further investigation is needed

o Include a “Secret Test” to make sure customer service is being conducted according to

the Standards of Service

Review functionality of the Service Desk Manger application and incorporate the Standards of

Service

o Nice to be able to specify the person to speak/work with

o “This would be helpful, would it be distributed correctly, will there be a delay in response,

and how is urgency defined”

o Concern with the ability to search on prior submitted questions/issues

Redesign of OBFS Website

o Agreed this is a good recommendation

o Please have a user experience person be on the team to redo the website

o Like the job aids, provide the ability to customize a folder for quick reference

o Have ability to post on a board until the update is made to the job aide

o Quick job aid link index

o Have a board for users to post to with how other users use the system/process



Create a Procurement Certification Program

o Feel both department staff and Purchasing and Procurement Services staff should take

the training and a test to confirm the knowledge

o Had a lot of questions about what the certification is about and what is involved

o Doesn’t feel this will help with communication transparency

o Can be certified, but still need to make sure the information is up-to-date

Hire additional staff for Purchasing and Procurement Services

o Agreed with

Have a system that provides the ability to host all information for the procedures is supports

o All agreed

Review the future requirements

o All agreed

o Liked the ability to have a “Live Chat”



Chapter 15: Recommendations for Improvements

The recommendations have been identified for improvement. Six different categories were identified for the improvements, and each improvement received a level of implementation. The categories include Communication, Documentation, Policy & Procedures, Resources, Training, and technology. There are two levels of implementation: “short-term” indicates improvements suggested for the current system and process prior to the development of an RFP, and “long-term” indicates improvement to the process with an RFP for a new system. The recommendations are in order to make the process better, help the users understand the process, and make sure the process works.

Number Describe Potential Solutions Category Implementation Level

Related Issue(s)

1 Create a Standards of Service when responding to questions and inquiries regarding procurement at the University of Illinois which involves Purchasing at each University and Procurement Services.

We are recommending creating a working group

with representatives from the Purchasing

departments from each University, Procurement

Services (Payables, Strategic Procurement, and the

Office of Diversity), and a representative from each

University. This working group will be charged with

creating a Standards of Service to follow when

responding to questions and inquiries regarding

procurement at the University of Illinois. The group

will determine the following:

Process to triage of incoming question/issue

Acceptable timeline of service

o Levels of response

Escalation procedures

Ways to communication

As a result of the Standards of Service, the

customer would receive consistent, accurate, and

timely responses relevant to the question/issue.

Communication/ Documentation/ Policy & Procedure/ Training

Short term C1, C3, C4, C6, C7, C10, C15, C16, C17, C18, C19, C20, C23, C26, C27, C28, C29, C34, C35, C36, C37, D6, D8, D9, P2, P3, P6, P8, P11, P15, P16, P19, R4, R5, R7, R8, R9, R16, T15, TR3, TR4, TR6, TR9, TR10, TR11, TR12, TR13, TR14, TR15, TR18, TR20, TR22, TR23, TR24,




Related Issue(s)

2 Review the functionality of the Service Desk Manager applications and incorporate the Standard of Service.

Establish a group to reconvene and review the functionality of the Service Desk Manager and incorporate the Standard of Service within the process

The working group would consist of Purchasing from each University, Procurement Services, and AITS

Service Desk Manager will provide for a workflow for each request submitted, routed for work, and the person working the ticket can enter their information. By using Service Desk Manager, the submitter will receive a ticket number for follow up, and may also have the ability to enter responses directly into the ticket.

Communication/ Technology

Short term C3, C6, C7, C8, C19, C20, C24, C26, C27, C28, C36, C37, P9, P13, P15, R5, R7, R8, R9, T7, T12, T15, T17, TR25, TR29,


Related Issue(s)

3 Redesign the OBFS Website to make it easy to be used by each University, customers, and vendors of the University of Illinois.

OBFS units need to review the website for complete and accurate information.

Have up-to-date information that is easy to navigate, and reduce the redundant information.

Provide a user friendly navigation for the customer, such as the ability to be able to select your topic, then select the next subject within the topic.

Review job aids, process flows, and training videos to confirm they are current, if out of date, bring current. This effort will improve the process of website content approval and possibly provide alerts when content changes.

Documentation/ Policy & Procedures/ Resources/ Training

Short Term C9, C21, C22, C30, D1, P1, P7, T3, T8, T9,




Related Issue(s)

4 Create a Procurement Certification Program

By creating a Procurement Certification Program will provide another level of knowledge within the department units and reduce the number of questions/issues currently being submitted into each Purchasing department at the Universities and into Procurement Services.

The Certification Program will provide standardized training, and procedure documentation to each unit.

This recommendation is currently being worked on, and was very much supported by the SME team.

Documentation/ Training

Short Term C4, C5, C8, C15, C17, C19, C26, C28, C33, D9, P5, P7, P9, P11, P12, R5, R7, R8, R9, TR3, TR6, TR8, TR9, TR10, TR12, TR13, TR14, TR15, TR18, TR21, TR24,


Related Issue(s)

5 Hire additional staff within Purchasing of each University and within Procurement Services

Recommend the hiring of additional staff within Purchasing of each University and within Procurement Service to support the amount of work, and questions/inquires that are presented, resulting in timely and consistent responses.

Resources Short Term C7, C26, C27, C35, R1, R4, R5, R7, R8, R9, R17,


Related Issue(s)

6 Have a system that provides the ability to host all information for the procedures it supports.

This will provide the information to the procedures to the users of the system that support the process.

Technology Long Term C9, C22, C30, C33, D1, R3, T2, T6, T14,



Chapter 16: Solutions Prioritization Matrix

The recommendation for improvements were reviewed and the potential solutions were prioritized by the Director Council. The below matrix contains the potential solutions for short term implementation and each ranked score.



Chapter 17: SIPOC Diagram

Process Name Date

20. Customer Service – Future State Aug 2017

SUPPLIERS INPUTS PROCESS OUTPUTS CUSTOMERS Who provides input to the process

What goes into the process

How the inputs are transformed to outputs

What comes out of the process

Who received the outputs of the process

University System (University Administration)


Vendor

Purchasing


AITS

External customers

Request (email, phone, in-person, mail)

Service Desk ticket

Website

Systems

Supporting documentation

1) Initiate Customer Request

2) Assign Request 3) Research Request 4) Provide Response 5) Close Request 6) Evaluate Service

Response

Help desk ticket number (optional – new system may not have a number)

Educated customer

University System


Vendor

Purchasing


AITS

External customers



Chapter 18: Future State Requirements

This is a comprehensive list of functional requirements and technical requirements for the future state of

the Customer Service process. Excluded from this list are any requirements for functionality outside of

the scope of this specific process, such as security, accessibility, etc., which will be handled in a different

process.

1. Ability to have a workflow for submitted questions/issues to Purchasing and Procurement Services

2. Ability for a Customer to see where their submitted request is real time

a. Status

b. Assigned to

c. Notes

3. Ability to communicate within system, eliminate the need for separate email

4. Ability to identify who is working on a specific transaction and be able to contact the person directly

5. Ability to route a question to the relevant processing office within the system

6. Ability to set reminders to make sure the submitted question/issue is moving forward and system will

automatically email/alert the customer

7. Ability to provide pop up ‘Help Boxes” on forms/screens

8. Ability to leave notes in request/transaction, both by the customer and on Procurement

Services/Payables/Purchasing

9. Ability to have a wizard to guide a user through the steps to provide information to allow for routing

the request to the correct department/person and provide enough information to resolve the issue

with reduced back-and-forth contact, and the ability to turn on/off this function for those that use it on

a regular basis.

10. Ability to setup a tracking of requests and provide metrics

11. Ability to search the ticketing system to allow for responders to look up how questions were answered

and to perform analysis of questions for future website updates

12. Ability to conduct a Live Chat with a support staff member

13. Ability to have a Customer Service Center dashboard

a. Search capabilities

b. Dropdown with filters

c. Ability to define display option to view

14. Ability for a customer to enter a “deadline date” when entering a question/issue



Chapter 19: Subject Matter Expert Team

The following individuals participated on the Subject Matter Expert Team of the BPI Customer Service

project:

Name University/Department Title

Ballmes, Stacey UIUC/OBFS, AVP Business &

Finance – Contract Services

Office

Sr. Coord Univ Contrct

Benner, Penny UIUC/Division of Animal

Recourses

Business Operations

Coordinator

Bullok, Erin UIUC/Purchasing Contract Coordinator

Calkins, Arianna UIC/College of Medicine,

Administration and General

Expense – Rockford

Account Technician II

(Accounting)

Caparoon, Deborah UIUC/Facilities and Services Business/Admin V Associate

Cler, Elaine UIUC/Purchasing Office Support Assoc

Etchison, Beth UIUC/Beckman Institute Business/Admin V Associate

Gochanour, Wendy UIS/Purchasing Business/Administrative

Associate

Hammons, Vernell UIC/Procurement Diversity Supplier Diversity Coordinator

Martin, Lara UIS/Facilities and Services Business/Admin Associate

Mueller, Karen UIUC/OBFS, Strategic

Procurement

Business/Admin V Associate

Pregent, Stephanie UIUC/Neuroscience Program Academic Hourly

Research/Administrative

Record, Susan UIUC/Illini Union Asst Director

Reese, Jeannine UIUC/AITS/BIS Assoc App Anlys Spec

Riddle, Lynette UIS/Facilities and Services Account Tech II

Robl, Tammy UIUC/OBFS, Payables Technician III, Account

Rumsey, Amy UIUC/The Career Center Office Administrator

Shorter, Arlene UIC/Purchasing Assistant Director

Strater, Darren UIUC/OBFS, Payables Assoc Dir Support Services

Thompson, Maria UIUC/Facilities and Services BAA Procurement Manager



Chapter 20: University Focus Group Participants

The following list of individuals participated in a University Focus Group meeting either during the current

state and/or the future state of the BPI Customer Service project.

Name University

Allison Bundy UIUC

Andrea Lile UIUC

Angie Helmuth UIUC

Carla Pierre Gini UIC

Carla Ross UIC

Cheryl Churchill UIS

Darce Dillavou UIUC

Diana Marchan UIC

Emily Volk UIUC

James McGraw UIUC

Jason McArthur UIUC

Jason Mierek UIUC

Jennie Black UIUC

Leisha Beasley UIUC

Myra Sully UIUC



Appendix A: Business Glossary

Business Glossary Term and definition

Vendor Information Form

20. customer service process report

Documents