REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

Customers, Stakeholders and Community Releations

Strategic Planning Framework contribution: Goal 1 - People and Communities, Goal 5 - Governance

• Customer Focus
• Surveying our Customers
• Re-structure to Improve Services
• Customer Service Council
• Quality Assurance and the Customer Feedback Process
• Customer Feedback
• Customer Forums, Exhibitions
• Conferences/Seminars
• Meeting the Needs of All Our Customers
• Community Focus
• Disability Service Plan
• Languages Services Policy
• DLI's Outcome/Output Framework

Quality Assurance and the Customer Feedback Process

DLI's Quality Management System ensures that DLI constantly reviews the way the department undertakes its business, ensuring we deliver the best possible standard of products and services that has been agreed to with our customers.

Our Quality Management System ensures that our employees are innovative and proactive in developing techniques to exceed our customers' expectations.

Currently, Information Access and Information Services Divisions have implemented and maintain a Quality Management System across some of their Branches which conform to the AS/NZS ISO9001:2000 standards. These are:

• Registration Services Branch - for the provision of land registration services. This includes the geodetic network, audit of freehold, strata sub divisional plans, the creation of new certificates of title from those plans, the registration of interests in freehold, provision of advice and maintaining and upgrading databases and facilities that supports those provisions.
• Geographic Services Branch - for the provision of geographic land information including Aerial Photography, Geographic Names, Property Street Addresses, Topographic Data and Native Title Information.
• Sales and Marketing Branch - for the provision of online information support, hard copy tenure, and mapping products and services in accordance with relevant legislation. This includes current and historical Land Tenure, Survey Information, Aerial Photography, Topographic and Thematic Mapping.

These branches are re-certified on a three year basis following external audits conducted by Benchmark Pty Ltd.

Currently DLI has 49 certified and trained quality assurance internal auditors who conduct independent appraisals of work instructions throughout the year within their respective accredited branches.

Management review meetings for each branch are held annually to discuss and resolve any issues raised during internal and external Quality Audit processes that are conducted throughout the year.

The conscientious application by staff of the quality processes and procedures of our Quality Management System, and the ongoing improvement and maintenance of our Quality Management System ensures that we meet our clients' expectations and our own highest possible standards of performance.

The Quality Assurance team are reviewing the DLI's current Quality Management System for a replacement system that is integrated with current applications within DLI.

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Customer Feedback

DLI's Customer Feedback System is documented under the Quality Management System and 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 accessible to all DLI staff. The Manager, Sales Support, Sales and Marketing Branch has ownership of the procedure and is responsible for feedback monitoring and analysis. The aim is to create effective improvements to DLI's Quality Management System in order to achieve increased customer satisfaction

The procedure also contains the following reference documents:

• complaints handling policy;
• complaints management in DLI - guidelines for staff; and
• protocol for telephone calls from customers that need to be referred to other staff.

The feedback procedure was externally audited in December 2004 by Benchmark Pty Ltd and was found to be compliant. Several suggestions were made during the audit including expanding feedback mechanisms and survey cycles, and strategies to manage this are currently being put in place.

Customer Feedback is received in a number of different ways:

• telephone, including the DLI 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;
• feedback buttons on DLI's corporate, Landgate and Landonline web sites in line with as 4269 - 1995 complaints handling protocols;
• one-on-one meetings; and
• an internal e-mail feedback form designed to easily capture internal and external feedback.

The graph below shows the levels of feedback received via each method:

Selected staff are trained as Customer Liaison Officers (CLOs) to handle the co-ordination and data capture of customer feedback. 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.

This year DLI has investigated several options to improve its current Customer Feedback System. From these investigations recommendations to enhance DLI's current system have been made and are scheduled for release in December 2005.

Enhancements will include:

• improved reporting to gain a better understanding of our strengths and weaknesses; and
• increasing the effectiveness of actions taken to resolve customer issues and suggestions.

In 2004/2005, 425 entries were captured compared to 524 entries for the previous corresponding period. The decrease in responses entered into the system is due to several reasons. Limited solicited feedback was sought from our fax or email customer groups due to the running of the Customer Service Study research and changes to the DLI email system resulted in access limitations to CLOs. Overall, the responses received and recorded in the Customer Feedback Database indicates a 55% customer satisfaction.

Although there was a decrease in the amount of feedback received, it was pleasing to note that DLI received a high level of praise in regards to the provision of quality service. This suggests that customers are generally well serviced, with 221 praises received in this area. The majority of complaints regarded quality of product, with 50 complaints received concerning this.

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