Original Date: 02/24/1997
Revision Date: 04/14/2003

The Army Industrial Operations Command (IOC) has been undergoing significant changes over the past several years due to downsizing and Base Realignment and Closure actions. The Army is building a new command that is lean, customer-focused, and cost-conscious. Wanting to make changes that are responsive to customers’ needs, the IOC is aggressively soliciting feedback from customers. Part of this new culture is a formalized process for collecting customer satisfaction.

In the past, customer satisfaction feedback was informally obtained through discussions with customers who contacted functional personnel. No systematic measurement was performed on data collected from customers. The measurement data was therefore not available for constructive use toward implementing improvements and taking action to correct problems.

The new process utilizes a customer satisfaction questionnaire for major customer groups of the IOC. A two-page questionnaire captures frequency and type of products and services used from the IOC; the installation the customer deals with most frequently; a rating of the quality, cost, value, and timeliness of the products and services delivered; and a rating of the IOC staff regarding their knowledge, responsiveness, follow-up, efficiency, and courtesy. An automated program has been developed which processes and displays the data for analytical purposes. The results can be presented to senior leadership for implementation in planning for improvement and corrective action.

Formalized customer surveys are a relatively new initiative employed by the IOC, and survey data is being compiled and analyzed. Continuous use of the customer satisfaction questionnaire will lead to consistent and reliable metrics that can provide the basis for improving customer satisfaction through improvements of the IOC’s business processes.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.