Guideline 1. The service quality framework

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The institution adopts a formal methodological approach to service quality starting with a clear statement on the importance of service quality and how it intends to deliver and measure it.

Guideline code

SQ_00200

Mechanism

The board and management should make service quality a top priority by formally initiating the service quality programme with executive-level sponsorship and resourcing it appropriately to deliver outputs of high strategic importance.
A formally appointed project manager should be responsible for establishing the service quality framework, reporting directly to a senior executive and/or steering group. The project manager should be an experienced senior official empowered to drive service quality principles and messaging throughout the organization.
The board and/or management should be prepared to invest in service quality. There will be cost demands across the full spectrum of the organization’s operations (e.g. staffing, training, ICT, property, publishing, marketing, public relations) which must be justified in terms of the expected business returns and improved social outcomes.
The management should publish a service charter which states what the institution will commit to delivering. It must be realistic, achievable and measurable within the institution’s capacity and capability (and should be updated as capacity and capability grows).
The management should regularly review progress on the development and implementation of the framework (e.g. through a dedicated committee).
When the framework needs updating, the chief executive should raise a new project with executive-level sponsorship and a dedicated project manager. Updating will be necessary as a result of:

Any significant change to the institution’s business model (e.g. a major ICT change leading to increased automation, a machinery-of-government change such as merging with or splitting off some of the institution’s functions to another agency);
The introduction of new programmes, schemes or benefits, or extensive increase in coverage of existing schemes or benefits (e.g. extension of health insurance to the rural population nationwide);
Three years having elapsed since the last major revision.

The board should actively challenge laws and policies that appear to inhibit service quality improvements and propose workable improvements to the legislative framework and policy environment.
The project manager should ensure that the framework describes how the institution will manage the activities of participant organizations which impact upon service quality.
The board and management should recognize that establishing a service quality framework is a significant undertaking that will take time to deliver, and commit to the project taking three to six months (depending on the level of resources committed).

Parent

A. Service Quality Framework

Structure

The most senior person within the institution should have overall responsibility for service quality. This could be a minister of state, or the institution’s chief executive, director-general or chair of the board. Because the institution is answerable to external players (e.g. the government, Parliament, a minister, the public, members), ultimate responsibility for service quality cannot be delegated below the most senior person.
The board and management should make it clear that service quality informs every activity of the institution and that every member of staff is responsible for ensuring quality is delivered and maintained in the service elements they control.
The most senior person should delegate responsibility for quality components across various staff. The management may choose to appoint a senior officer to carry a range of responsibilities related to service quality.

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