Supporting Statement

NIST Office of Reference Materials (ORM)

Standard Reference Materials

Customer Satisfaction Report Card

Contact: Dr. Robert L. Watters Jr. NIST, Material Measurement Laboratory,
Office of Reference Materials, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 2300,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-2300
Tel: 301-975-4122 E-mail: robert.watters@nist.gov

1. Explain who will be surveyed and why the group is appropriate to survey.

As part of the NIST Balanced Scorecard effort, the Office of Reference Materials (ORM), working with the NIST Laboratories, will survey customers of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs). By surveying the customers of NIST SRMs, ORM and the NIST Laboratories obtain feedback on how to improve the product and its delivery, customer service, and how to better meet the customer’s needs with regard to SRM products and services in the future.

2. Explain how the survey was developed including consultation with interested parties, pretesting and responses to suggestions for improvement.

Survey questions were developed by the NIST Office of Reference Materials management based upon previous customer satisfaction surveys and a survey design template. Use of a template has improved the quality, completeness, validity, and consistency of customer survey data collected throughout NIST, and ensures that NIST satisfaction surveys include standard questions that can be used to monitor performance at the group, division, and NIST levels and generate actionable data and insights. The survey uses a “report card” instrument that was developed by NIST on the basis of similar instruments used by a two-time Baldrige National Quality Award winner, and includes scale questions, Yes/No questions and feedback questions. All feedback is forwarded to the pertinent Group Leader, Quality Manager (NIST and Division Level), and Technical Contacts. This survey is an integral part of the NIST Quality System and is used in numerous Division Quarterly Quality Reports. Questions on SRMs have been harmonized so it is easier to see a cross-cutting of data and improvement needs. The SRM survey also has a registration component for customer contact information so that SRM Quality representatives can get back to them to discuss their issues or problems and seek resolution.

3. Explain how the survey will be conducted, how customers will be sampled if fewer than all customers will be surveyed, expected response rate, and actions your agency plans to take to improve the response rate.

The survey will be set up to target questions to a specific process for customer feedback. After a specific process is completed, ORM administrative staff will follow up with the customer to increase customer awareness and encourage participation. This will give the customer the opportunity to complete a survey while the customer service experience is fresh in their minds and allow ORM to obtain immediate feedback on a specific service recently completed. Targeting a specific process with a survey will reduce the number of questions and promote an increase in the response rate. Asking often, receiving often, and acting often promotes continuous improvements within NIST. We are working to get our response rates to at least 80%. The surveys questions will be available online. The survey questions are extremely simple and easy to complete, thus encouraging the customer participation.

Note: Please note that fifty questions have been submitted for response; however, no more than 20 questions will be included in a survey targeting a specific process. A survey should take about seven minutes to complete, even with written comments.

The NIST SRM Customer Survey will be made available through different means.

• NIST ORM staff will follow up with the customer to increase customer awareness and encourage participation. An invite to complete a survey will be extended by email to the customer after a specific process is completed (i.e., Order Placement, SRM Inquiries, etc.) and the link will be provided.

Example of the correspondence emailed to customers that agree to complete a survey:

Dear NIST Standard Reference Material Customer:

Thank you for your interest in NIST Standard Reference Materials. We invite you to answer questions regarding the NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) product and/or service you received. Please go to http://www.nist.gov/srm_survey to access the Standard Reference Material (SRM) Customer Survey System.

Sincerely,

(to be filled in with the name of the ORM Staff Member)

• The NIST SRM website will provide a link to the survey for customers to access.

• A paper survey card will be also be sent with each SRM shipment the will include questions that target the fulfillment process and the SRM. The paper survey cards will be self-mailers and will require no postage.

4. Describe how the results of the survey will be analyzed and used to generalize the results to the entire customer population.

• The ORM Quality group will collect, tabulate and analyze the received surveys.

• Received surveys will be forwarded to Division Technical contacts and Quality managers. All data is included in Division Quarterly Quality Reports. This system is integral in all Quarterly Quality Reports throughout NIST.

• Summaries appropriate to completing the NIST Balanced Score Card will be prepared as needed by NIST OUs and the NIST Quality Manager.