Archived - Guideline on Service Standards

This Guideline is intended to be used by service employees and managers responsible for efficient and effective service delivery. It outlines common concepts and best practices for successfully developing and managing service standards for both internal and external services to citizens and business. This Guideline defines service standards and describes a set of generic steps that lead to their development, implementation, and performance monitoring at the organizational level.

Service standards are an important element of service management excellence; they help clarify expectations for clients and employees, enable performance management, and support client satisfaction. Over time, this Guideline will contribute to enhancing coherence across the Government of Canada in the area of service standards. It also supports the work of the Red Tape Reduction Commission that indicated a desire among stakeholders for clear service standards from government.

Finally, this Guideline supports multiple TBS policies and regulations that require the use of services standards. It will be particularly helpful to organisations that deliver services for fees that are subject to the provisions of the User Fees Act and the Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation requiring services standards, and the Policy on Service Standards for External Fees. When developing service standards for services related to transfer payment programs regulations or user fees, it is recommended that the Guideline be used along with other guidance for these specific types of services and the following policy requirements:

• Policy on Transfer Payments (section 6.5.9);
• User Fees Act (section 4f);
• Policy on Service Standards for External Fees (sections 5i, ii and iii);
• Cabinet Directive on Streamlining Regulation (sections 4.5 and 4.6).

What Is a Service Standard

A service standard is a public commitment to a measurable level of performance that clients can expect under normal circumstances.

Why Are Service Standards Important?

Service standards are integral to good client service and to effectively managing performance. They help clarify expectations for clients and employees, drive service improvement, and contribute to results-based management. Service standards reinforce government accountability by making performance transparent, and increase the confidence of Canadians in government by demonstrating the government's commitment to service excellence.

Service standards serve two key purposes:

• To provide staff with performance targets ("Phone must be answered within three rings"); and
• To inform clients what to expect ("Waiting time is less than 10 minutes").

Many organizations have implemented service standards that serve these purposes. Examples are included in Appendix A.

A service standard should be linked to an operational performance target or the frequency to which the organization expects to meet the service standard. The target takes into account the risks associated with process delays and uncertainties arising from factors such as workload fluctuations, staff movements, and seasonal variations.

The purpose of the target is to help manage operations and track progress against overall delivery objectives. The target is typically designed for management use but can also be made available to the public. Table 1 below provides examples that distinguish between a service standard and an operational performance target.

What Is a Service Pledge?

Service standards are distinct from service pledges. Specifically, a service pledge is a public commitment to a basic code of conduct and generally consists of a qualitative statement expressed within values and principles. A pledge can provide the overarching service direction for an organization and provide context to the service standard development process. A comparison of service pledges and service standards can be found in Appendix B.

The following are examples of service pledges from the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec: "We undertake to provide our clientele with quality service." "We serve our clients courteously and professionally." "We serve our clients in the official language of their choice." (Website of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec. Accessed on October 25, 2011).

Types of Service Standards

There are three types of service standards: access, timeliness, and accuracy. In deciding what kinds of service standards to establish, organizations are encouraged to focus their efforts on areas of greatest importance to the clients they serve and program

Do Clients Have Obligations?

Many services provided by the Government of Canada require clients to fulfill certain obligations. Service standards can be conditional upon clients satisfying their obligations, in which case they should be incorporated into the service standard.

A service standards portfolio represents all the service standards the organization has in place. Examining service standards as an integrated portfolio increases transparency, which in turn encourages consistency across the organization. It also facilitates the development of coherent approaches to service standards across sectors and branches. Finally, examining service standards as a portfolio helps ensure that all major services and client groups have been addressed.

How Do Service Standards Contribute to Overall Organizational Management?

When integrated with corporate planning and reporting activities, service standards are a useful tool to support overall organizational management:

• The Treasury Board Policy on Management, Resources and Results Structures requires departments to establish a Program Alignment Architecture (PAA) identifying and grouping related activities and linking them logically to the Strategic Outcomes they support and providing "the framework to link expected results and performance measures to each program at all levels of the PAA and for which actual results are reported." Service standards comprise one source of information used to develop a performance measurement framework related to services.
• Part III of the Estimates process requires that departments prepare departmental expenditure plans consisting of a Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) and a Departmental Performance Report (DPR). Service standards help express and formulate performance objectives and should be incorporated into the business planning process. Reporting on performance against service standards helps demonstrate progress toward expected results.
• The Management Accountability Framework (MAF) sets out the Treasury Board's expectations for effective performance. One of the 10 elements that make up the MAF is "citizen-focused service." Service standards are an essential component in achieving service excellence and directly contribute to advancing results-oriented management activities.

The following five phases of service standard management support the creation, implementation and assessment of service standards from an organizational perspective:

1. Establish priorities;
2. Plan and develop service standards;
3. Implement service standards;
4. Measure performance against service standards; and
5. Act on the results.

Figure 1 lays out the overall process (inside circle) and presents the specific steps included under each phase (outside circle). While 5 phases and 15 steps are presented in a sequential order, some can be undertaken concurrently. The remainder of this Guideline outlines this methodology and provides helpful tools and guidance to successfully implement service standards throughout the life cycle. Some organizations have experienced some common challenges and opportunities – these are highlighted in Appendix C.

Figure 1. Phases and Steps in Life-Cycle Management of Service Standards

Step 1: Take Stock

The first step to developing service standards is to review the services your organization delivers. Consider the following:

• Has government set priorities for service that should be taken into account?
• What service standards already exist across the organization? Are there gaps that should be addressed first?
• Do other organizations offer similar services for which service standards already exist or are being developed?
• Is the organization compliant with existing policies and legislation with regard to service standards?
• Are other parts of the organization in the process of reviewing or establishing service standards right now?

This review will help you understand the context, including government priorities related to service. It will also raise awareness of similar services offered by other federal departments and agencies. Where possible, comparable service standards should be considered for similar services, and best practices shared across the organization.

Adopting an integrated management approach for service standard development, review and oversight can further encourage the development of a balanced service portfolio. A service inventory, or catalogue of the services that are delivered by an organisation, can assist in this area and a separate guideline is devoted to this topic.

Step 2: Connect Service Standards to Organizational Priorities

Once you have taken stock, the next step is to identify which services should be priorities for service standard development. To help decide where to focus efforts first, it is useful to ask the following questions:

• Which services have the broadest reach, largest impact on clients, or are rights and benefits related?
• Are there services that involve substantial risk for clients and government if expectations and performance associated with service delivery are not clear?
• How many services already have service standards in place? Are they up-to-date and published?
• Are there major services with their own distinct client groups that do not currently have service standards? If so, do other organizations already have service standards in place for similar services that could serve as a model?
• Are there Treasury Board policies or applicable legislation requiring service standards?

Answering these questions will position the organization to decide where to focus efforts first. The selection of priorities may involve balancing several considerations, including clients' needs, resources, alignment with government or organizational priorities, and the existence of comparable service standards in other organizations that could serve as a model (in order to save time and effort, and promote alignment across organizations). Beginning with a manageable number of priorities can help provide focus and create the opportunity for early successes.

Validate Priorities with Senior Management

Visible support and engagement from senior management in the development of service standards are essential.

In establishing service standards, senior management and service-related program managers should create a plan that outlines the work involved, timelines for implementation, capacity (human resources and monitoring mechanisms) for delivery and monitoring, and the roles and responsibilities of each party. The careful consideration of priorities, roles and resources is critical in establishing strong service standards. Designating a champion to spearhead their implementation may also assist in driving change as needed.

Phase II consists of: developing service standards, assessing monitoring capacity, validating proposed service standards, and determining the performance methodology and measurement framework.

Step 3: Develop Service Standards

Review the Service Context for each Service

This involves examining how the service standards will contribute to the organization's mandate and business activities.

Take into consideration the following:

• Legislation, policies, and guidelines associated with the service.
• Service specifics including main characteristics, delivery channels, and seasonal fluctuations.
• Whether other organizations deliver similar services for which service standards may already exist.
• The suite of services that your organization is delivering. A service inventory (see Step 1) can assist in this process.
• Baseline information on current levels of service performance.

Consult

In addition to reviewing the service context, consultation can provide other valuable information to develop and manage service standards. Input can shed light on aspects of the service that are viewed as most important, such as current client satisfaction levels, changes in client needs and expectations, and the roles and responsibilities of each party. Consultation can include focus groups, telephone or online surveys, feedback forms, and one-on-one meetings.

Throughout the consultation process, consider:

• Consulting with front-line staff and considering innovative ideas for improving service.
• Consulting with service delivery partners such as other organizations and private sector partners to fully understand roles, responsibilities, and operational constraints.
• Determining the aspects of service delivery that are most important to recipients of the service.
• Identifying areas where clients propose changes or problem areas that require improvement.
• Identifying client priorities relative to the targeted level of service.

Linking service standards to client satisfaction measurement allows an organization to target the most relevant areas of improvement, ensuring that the standards are meaningful and easily understood by the client and that progress is being made.

Identify the Service Standard Type

Reviewing the service context and consulting key stakeholders will assist in providing an understanding of both what is valued from a client perspective and feasible from an organizational perspective. It will also help identify which types of standards are the most appropriate for the service.

As indicated earlier in Table 2, there are three types of standards: access, timeliness, and accuracy. For example, what might be most important to clients applying to a grants and contributions program is the time required to receive approval for their application. In this case, a timeliness service standard best responds to client needs. Specific guidance on developing service standards for grants and contributions is included in Appendix D.

Draft Service Standards

Service standards should be based on clients' needs and be expressed in a way that is easy to understand, and consider available human and financial resources. Strike a balance between client expectations, internal capacity and priorities. Adopting a risk management approach is an important step in crafting strong services standards.

When drafting service standards, consider:

• Developing clear statements that describe the public commitment to service, taking into account the information collected through consultations, dialogue with legal and communications service groups, your organization's communications strategy and overall performance monitoring approach. For services that require a great deal of time to deliver outputs, such as decisions on appeals, intermediate service standards could be set for timeliness at different stages in the process to facilitate client expectations.
• Developing realistic internal targets for each standard.
• Crafting a monitoring strategy.

Establish Feedback and Redress Mechanisms

Establishing a process to collect constructive information and resolve issues raised by various stakeholders is fundamental. Elements to consider include:

• Establishing internal processes to handle comments, concerns or complaints, including possibly a point-of-service resolution mechanism.
• Developing a tracking system that monitors client feedback and complaints. This could be an essential component of your service standard monitoring strategy. The information contained within the system can be a valuable resource to determine client satisfaction. One example is a record that includes the nature, source and description of each complaint.
• Ensuring the redress mechanism is publicly available and easy to locate.
• After reviewing comments, concerns and complaints, inform clients of any changes made.

Step 4: Assess Monitoring Capacity

Performance against the service standard will be regularly monitored. An organization needs to ensure it has sufficient capacity to monitor and evaluate performance, and report against the service standards. This capacity will require the necessary resources and infrastructure to support performance evaluation.

Consider the following when addressing performance measurement capacity:

• Is sufficient monitoring occurring, including an analysis of performance data?
• Are we currently collecting information that could be used to monitor the proposed service standard? If so, which methods are we using?
• Are there reliable and accurate data sets available to assist in evaluating performance? If not, possible data sources will need to be identified.

An evaluation branch or other similar unit that specialize in undertaking statistical analysis or conducting internal audits can help identify successful and practical approaches to performance measurement.

Step 5: Validate Proposed Service Standards

Proposed service standards should be validated by testing before launching full-scale implementation. This provides an opportunity to assess the standard and minimize potential interruptions on service operations.

Ensure that the proposed standards are realistic, attainable, and measurable. Carrying out a pilot project or test can help secure manager and staff support and verify that the standards are meaningful to clients.

As part of the validation process, consider:

• Verifying the service standards with senior management, service-related program managers, front-line staff, and your organization's legal services group;
• Consulting stakeholders, clients and service delivery partners to validate proposed priorities and standards; and
• Seeking feedback from independent third parties such as professional associations, advisory groups, other government jurisdictions or PAAs, as they can provide objective assessments.

Step 6: Determine the Performance Methodology and Measurement Framework

Consider the examples in Table 3 to assist in framing evaluation criteria:

When developing performance methodology and timing for a suite of services, consider the following:

• How will the information on performance be collected?
• At which frequency will the information on performance be reviewed – annually, quarterly, monthly?
• What performance criteria need to be in place?

Once performance indicators have been identified for the service standards, they will need to integrate these into a performance framework. The framework should cover each of your service standards and clearly indicate how the organization is assessing their progress. The aim should be to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the organization's achievements and should be linked to the overall organizational performance framework.

Remember that performance activities should be relevant, timely, systematic, affordable, based on evaluation parameters, and aligned with the other applicable planning, monitoring, and accountability activities (see Appendix E for more details).

Step 7: Establish an Implementation Plan

With the service standard priorities already established, an implementation plan indicates when, where, and how service standards will be applied to departmental services.

To create an implementation plan, consider the following elements:

• Set time frames associated with key deliverables and milestones for each service partner in the process.
• Identify potential risks that might affect the implementation of service standards, and establish mitigation strategies.
• Examine constraints and opportunities for efficiency linked to standard implementation, and develop strategies to address them.
• Develop a strategy to monitor progress.

Step 8: Determine if New Processes Are Required

Implementing service standards may require restructuring existing processes or introducing new systems. Decisions to modify or introduce new processes or systems should be carefully thought out. Consider:

• Which tools and resources are required? To maximize efficient service standard implementation, determine which tools, such as a tracking database, and which resources, such as who will be responsible for collecting the information, are required to successfully move forward.
• Does the change make sense? The decision should be based on a risk analysis exercise, taking into account implications, including financial, to the organization. Consider if this could be combined with another tool or system to reduce effort and cost.
• When and how quickly should change be implemented? When assessing appropriate timing to modify or introduce new processes, strike a balance between the drivers for change and your organization's human and financial capacity.
• What information and training are needed and for whom? To foster smooth implementation, clearly communicate the expected benefits and the rationale for the change and identify any training needs.

Step 9: Train Staff and Service Delivery Partners

Training activities help ensure that employees and service delivery partners have the resources to meet the service standards and understand what is expected of them. Training provides the opportunity to clarify roles and responsibilities and answer questions that relate to the standards and their implementation.

Consider the following when developing training activities:

• Assess the degree of formality required. Minor service changes call for informal training sessions; more complex service changes require sophisticated training activities.
• Determine the most appropriate structure, such as instructor-led courses, workshops, self-service training modules, information sessions, Q&A workshops, and staff retreats.
• Focus on essential knowledge and skills such as service process, complaint mechanisms, and communication and analytical abilities needed to successfully meet the service standards.

Step 10: Communicate Service Standards

The final step to implementation is putting in place a communication strategy that ensures standards are visible and well understood. This strategy should state how the organization plans to inform its clients, service delivery partners, and employees about the service standards and when they are scheduled to come into force. Your departmental communications branch can provide invaluable assistance in developing and implementing your communication strategy.

A meaningful communication strategy should target the following:

1. Plan what needs to be communicated, including service descriptions, the service standards, and complaint mechanisms.
2. Identify the target audience and position the communication messages accordingly.
3. Evaluate which are the most appropriate communication channels, such as websites, social media, speaking engagements, and news releases.
4. Communicate overall direction and timelines to staff and service delivery partners using communications such as emails, social media, newsletters, and memos to clarify the objectives of the initiative. A Question & Answer format is one way of effectively communicating this information to employees.
5. Ensure senior management supports your communications strategy.

Keep the following points in mind:

Always use plain language when communicating your service standards to clients. Ensure that they are clear, easily understandable, and readily available to clients.

The measurement of service standard performance enables the analysis of trends and identification of potential areas for improvement. A well-designed measurement process helps determine:

• Whether the service is consistent within and across delivery channels such as in person, telephone, mail, and the Web.
• How well the service is being performed compared with similar services provided by other organizations (benchmarking); and
• Whether the service performance level is improving over time and by how much.

Step 11: Measure Performance

Performance should be measured regularly to establish progress against baseline data, and performance measures related to service standards should be incorporated into the overall performance measurement strategy. Your work should align with the performance measurement framework that was created in Step 6. For more information, see Appendix E: Characteristics of Measurement Activities.

When measuring performance, take into account the following principles:

Objectivity:

Collect data through impartial sources such as Web hits.

Timeliness:

Review data periodically to ensure that the service is performing at the desired level and to identify any needed adjustments.

Accuracy:

Verify data and confirm accuracy.

Consistency over time:

Measure performance in the same way for each assessment to facilitate results comparison throughout the standard life cycle.

Clarity:

Data should present a clear picture of performance and make it easy to identify future trends.

Step 12: Evaluate Findings and Report to Senior Management

Evaluating service standard performance data determines organizational strengths and weaknesses, identifies progress, and sets priorities for future action. When evaluating performance activities, consider the following elements:

• Examine overall performance against each individual standard such as access, timeliness, and accuracy as appropriate.
• Analyze the results of monitoring activities and identify trends, issues, and progress.
• Compare standards and results with similar services both within the department and in other organizations (benchmarking). The ICCS can provide assistance with regard to benchmarking activities (http://www.iccs-isac.org/).
• Consider other evaluation activities, such as client satisfaction measurement, consultations, and operational reviews. Identify any gaps or successes.

The results of this evaluation should then be reported to senior management to provide intelligence on how their organization is meeting its service goals and should highlight areas of success and where additional attention may be required.

Step 13: Publish Results for Clients

Communicating performance results can help manage client expectations about the level and consistency of service. It can also provide staff with objective feedback on how well they are meeting the standards.

When communicating results:

• Ensure that information is meaningful and relevant to clients and staff.
• Identify the key standards to report on publicly.
• Determine appropriate venues to share results and ensure that information is easily accessible. Consider sharing performance results using Departmental Performance Reports (DPRs), service delivery points of access, and websites.
• Present information using clear and understandable language so clients and staff can easily interpret performance results.
• Remember that communication materials should respect the requirements of official languages and the Federal Identity Program.

The final phase is examining the performance-monitoring findings and acting on those results to enhance performance.

Step 14: Determine Course of Action

Once evaluation of performance results has been completed, determine the future course of action, including what measures should be taken to maintain or enhance service quality. Table 4 outlines three scenarios and possible courses of action.

How to Handle Unmet Service Standards

In cases of reports or complaints regarding unmet service standards, determine what happened. A first step is re-examining the reliability of the performance measurement system and its data. In some cases, interviewing selected staff and clients can be helpful in diagnosing the issue. When a genuine occurrence of unmet service standards is established, determine whether it was due to a systemic issue that will cause performance to fall short on an ongoing basis or whether it was due to unusual or exceptional one-time circumstances such as sudden increases in intake or workload, sudden changes to legislation or practice, or a high level of absenteeism due to illness.

Step 15: Implement Changes

It can be challenging to successfully implement and integrate changes to an established service. To increase the likelihood that changes will achieve anticipated results:

• Engage employees and service delivery partners to offer suggestions for improvement and identify potential solutions.
• Monitor implementation of change to quickly identify any problem areas.
• Show flexibility and allow for modifications to occur throughout the overall process.

When used effectively, service standards can be an important tool for organizations to manage their portfolio of services for the public. This Guideline has outlined a clear process for service standard development, measurement and improvement at an organizational level. When developing service standards related to transfer payment programs, user fees, or regulation, consult these policy centres for specific advice.

Service standards demonstrate an organization's commitment both to transparency and providing service excellence. They also provide a source of relevant information to senior management on the quality of service and potential difficulties the organization may be facing. Finally, this commitment reflects positively on the organization, both with employees and the public at large, by illustrating an open approach to working with the public to improve service delivery.