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End of an Era |
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Challenges for the Future |
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Organisational Overview |
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Meeting the Needs of All Our Customers |
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Customer Focus | Customer Service Council | Quality Assurance & Customer Feedback | Customer Seminars | Land Registrars & Development Officers' Conference | Customer Forums | Land & Products Information Services | Tenure Information Services | Customer Interface Project
As a customer-focused organisation, the provision of quality customer service is integral to achieving DOLA’s strategic vision for the future.
The first point of contact for many customers is the Customer Services Branch of the Land Information and Administration Service Directorate.
DOLA’s Customer Service Charter and Code of Business Conduct outline guidelines for customer services and ethical behaviour.
DOLA strives to improve its products and services through staff training, innovation, technological developments and consultation with customers. Reflecting its commitment to excellence in customer service DOLA has, since 1995, convened a Customer Service Council. The Council meets quarterly and provides important input on a range of issues that affect customers and stakeholders.
The committee members for 2002-2003 and their attendance is shown below:
Customer Service Council Attendees and Attendance 2002-2003
| Name | Representing | Meetings Attended |
| Kareena Ballard | Real Estate Institute of WA | 4/4 |
| David Clark | Law Society | 3/4 |
| Henry Esbenshade | Pastoralists & Graziers Association of WA Inc | 4/4 |
| Colin Heath | Land Advisory Committee, Real Estate Institute of WA | 4/4 |
| Ian Hyde | A/Director, Business Development, DOLA | 2/4 |
| Dominic Loiacono | Australian Institute of Conveyancers (AIC) | 2/4 |
| Bill Richards | Consulting Surveyors of Western Australia | 3/4 |
| John Sheridan | Australian Property Institute | 2/2 |
| Grahame Searle | A/Chief Executive, DOLA | 4/4 |
| Juanita Brown (resigned) | WA Local Government Association | 3/3 |
| Vacant (as at June 30) | WA Local Government Association | |
| Andrew Burke | A/Director, Land Information and Administration Services, DOLA | 4/4 |
| Chris Costley | (Executive Officer), Manager Customer Relations and Quality Management, DOLA | 2/2 |
| Gary Fenner | Valuer General, Valuation Services, DOLA | 2/2 |
| Bruce Heathcote | (Executive Officer), A/Manager Customer Relations and Quality Management, DOLA | 2/2 |
| Andrew Kempton | A/Manager Customer Services Branch, DOLA | 2/2 |
| Rick Murphy | A/Chief Valuer Metropolitan, Valuation Services, DOLA | 3/4 |
| Diana Salvaris | A/Manager Customer Services Branch, DOLA | 2/2 |
| Anne Arnold | Mining & Exploration | 0/1 |
| Keith Dyer | Mining & Exploration | 0/3 |
| Vacant (as at June 30) | Aboriginal Interests/Mining Interests |
One extraordinary meeting was held on April 29 to discuss the consultation paper on the future of DOLA.
The Council undertook an evaluation (required every two years) to determine its relevance and efficiency. Members were asked to provide their ideas, opinions, suggestions on how the council should continue, the direction the council should adopt, and issues to be discussed at the meetings.
The following actions occurred as a result of survey feedback:
Distribution of the DOLA Bulletin to Customer Members
The need to re-assess membership when DOLA becomes a statutory body
Annual meetings with the Executive Board
The inclusion of representation from the spatial information industry i.e. users of information
Members requested changes to the Customer Service Council Charter, for example the allowance of proxies was requested. These changes were subsequently ratified in the March 2003 meeting.
Council was provided with regular updates on the transition process for DOLA to become a statutory authority, scheduled for July 2004.
The Council was also provided with a number of presentations. These included:
A presentation entitled ‘New ways of delivery of DOLA’s Remote Sensing Products featuring: Pastures from Space, Agimage and FireFax’;
A presentation on PropEgate, DOLA’s internal name for the land and property interests project;
A presentation on the Pricing Policy Framework adopted by DOLA detailing the activity based costing method, compliance with competitive neutrality and the National Competition Policy.
The Council provided feedback on DOLA’s products and services and through a consultative process, helped to fine tune a number of DOLA business practices including:
Reviewing the type-face/font on caveats;
Investigating the quality of faxed survey plans, especially those that extended over multiple pages; and
Investigating a Pastoral Lease issue when different information was found in the DOLA system compared to the Pastoral Board system.
Recognition is paid to the outgoing member of the Council – Juanita Brown (WALGA) - for her contribution during the past year.
DOLA’s Customer Feedback System is documented under the Quality Management System that is certified by external auditors from Benchmark Pty Ltd to AS/NZS ISO 9001:2000. The Customer Feedback procedure has been written to be compliant to AS 4269 – 1995 Complaints Handling.
This procedure is contained in an electronic database that is accessible to all DOLA staff in the Land Information and Administration Services Directorate (LIAS). Manager, Customer Relations and Quality Management has ownership of the procedure and is responsible for feedback monitoring and analysis, leading to effective improvements to DOLA’s Quality Management System to achieve increased customer satisfaction.
The procedure also contains the following reference documents:
Complaints Handling Policy;
Complaints Management in DOLA - Guidelines for Staff;
Protocol for telephone calls from customers that need to be referred to other staff.
The procedure was internally audited in November 2002 and was found to be compliant. Benchmark Pty Ltd also conducted external audits of the procedure in October 2002 and March 2003 and made suggestions, including that of the Satellite Remote Sensing Services refining their format to include feedback on all relevant areas of service performance.
Customer Feedback is received in a number of different ways:
Telephone including the DOLA Customer feedback line 1300 365 288, published in the Telstra White Pages and answered by trained staff who are able to accept feedback and enter directly into the feedback database;
Customer Feedback forms placed at counters;
Customer Surveys using the Customer Feedback forms;
Fax and mail;
E-mail;
A feedback button on DOLA’s web site;
One-on-one meetings; and
An internal e-mail feedback form designed to easily capture internal and external feedback.
Selected staff are trained as Customer Liaison Officers (CLOs) to handle the co-ordination and data capture of customer feedback. There are currently 53 Customer Liaison Officers; three of whom were added this year. The CLOs enter the feedback into an electronic database and assign responsibility for feedback to the relevant staff member via e-mail. Each CLO then monitors the feedback to ensure it is addressed within a reasonable timeframe. Feedback is allocated a priority of between three and 21 days for a response to be generated, depending upon its nature.
View Customer Service Feedback July 02 - June 03
The Director LIAS is provided with a monthly report that is discussed at the Branch Managers’ meeting where any trends and issues are highlighted and resolved.
Enhanced capture mechanisms led to an increase in the number of entries in DOLA’s Customer Feedback System. In 2002-2003, 813 entries were captured as compared to 507 entries for the previous corresponding period. This represents a 60% increase. The higher capture rate is a significant step towards ensuring feedback is received and processed. In addition, the ratio of praises to complaints improved from 2.9:1 in 2001-2002 to 3.7:1 in 2002-2003, indicating increased levels of customer satisfaction.
The majority of feedback is received through the Customer Service Branch and the graph following is categorised by the prime issue raised by customers:
View Customer Feedback - LIAS Directorate
This suggests that customers are generally well serviced with 327 praises received in this area. The main issue of complaint was the timeliness of the response with 43 complaints.
A number of actions were carried out as a result of the complaints and examples are listed below:
Ongoing problems in the speed of access and reliability of connections to the LandLinks service were resolved in June 2003 with the assistance of the software manufacturer;
Additional self-serve computers were purchased to increase access for surveyors who conduct searches in the Customer Service Hall;
Search forms were altered to improve DOLA’s accuracy in handling faxed search requests.
A number of suggestions leading to improvements were received during the year. For example, rainfall information from the Bureau of Meteorology was integrated into the FireWatch information service provided to FESA.
DOLA held several Conveyancing Industry seminars during August 2002 to inform customers about the Electronic Advice of Sale 2 project, and provide assistance and education on working with DOLA on-line systems. The seminars were held at various locations around the metropolitan area, with around 400 people attending.
Land Registrars and Development Officers from around Australia visited Perth during May to attend the DOLA hosted conference. The theme of the three-day conference was ‘Moving the Digital Register Towards Electronic Lodgement and Beyond’ and enabled the participants to gain a greater understanding of how States and Territories are handling the conversion of Land Titles Registers into digital formats.
Throughout the year, DOLA participated in several forums, exhibitions and regional agricultural field days to raise awareness of its products and services. Static display and information booths featured DOLA’s aerial photography, maps, satellite imagery and valuation services and gave many people the opportunity to discuss their requirements with DOLA’s expert staff. These events included:
Local Government Week in August 2002
Newdegate Machinery Field Day in September 2002
Local Government Managers’ Week in October 2002
Ideal Home Show in March 2002
Wagin Woolarama Field Day in March 2003
Mingenew Agricultural Day September 2002
Perth Money Show in September 2002
Spring Home Show in October 2002
Building Homestyle Show in June 2003
In line with supporting DOLA’s focus on customers, an online access support team was established in September 2002. The team provides technical, sales, transaction and general customer service support to LandOnline customers.
A new Land Titles Practice Manual (Version 7, 2002) was released in September 2002.
Farm maps were revised to provide customers with an improved product with more land related information such as grids, legends and data accuracy statements.
Land Enquiry Centre’ s Extract Ordering System – The Extract Ordering system is the primary point of entry for extracting cadastral and tenure land information. This is now Internet-based, providing for a more streamlined approach to the delivery of cadastral and tenure data. The front end ordering is located on LandOnline.
Cessation of Sales Evidence Microfiche – As part of DOLA’s move towards a more commercialised environment, distribution of Sales Evidence Microfiche will cease by 1 January 2004. There is dwindling demand for this product which is based on costly and redundant technology. Existing customers will be advised of alternative products and services.
Searches and Advice of Sale request services have been enhanced by the implementation of EAS2 on 1 May 2003. EAS2 was initially introduced to 898 customers. Customers utilising this service are rapidly growing in number. Through the year Tenure Information Services staff conducted information sessions for the Conveyancing Industry in country and metropolitan locations (Albany, Bunbury and Geraldton) on EAS2 and Customer Remote Search.
In conjunction with the Marketing and Product Development Branch, Customer Services Branch progressed the Customer Interface Project on three fronts: Customer Service Management Strategy, Voice Management Strategy and Customer Information Strategy. The key objective is to ensure that all customers are provided with consistent, transparent and timely responses to all requests for products and services.
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