GROUP INFORMATION

CLIENT SERVICES GROUP

Group Manager: Val Barrett

Client Liaison
Director Heather Chapman

Hansard
Director (Chambers) Trevor Fowler
Acting Director (Committees) Heather Willis

Broadcasting
Director Neil Pickering

Staffing
Director Russell Lutton

Business Management
Acting Director Gary Lilley

Overview

The Client Services Group (CSG) incorporates: first line support for computing, broadcast and transcription services; radio and television broadcasting; and Hansard reports and transcripts. It is the main point of contact for clients wishing to access the department's services.

Objectives

The Client Services Group supports the department in achieving its outcome by meeting the following objectives:

• acting as the first point of contact for all services offered by DPRS,
• providing information technology support,
• providing high-quality, timely and cost-effective radio and television broadcasting and transcription of parliamentary proceedings, and
• providing a consistent, DPRS-wide approach to dealing with clients.

The group comprises three subgroups:

Client Liaison
Hansard
Broadcasting

A business management unit supports the group.

Significant activities

The group continued to introduce and manage a number of initiatives throughout the year aimed at improving its overall performance while consolidating those changes already in place. These initiatives, and the related outcomes, are summarised below.

Single point of contact for client requests

The single service point (extension 2020) has been working well. The Client Satisfaction Survey undertaken in the second quarter of the year showed that 97 per cent of those surveyed responded positively to the introduction of the single point of contact.

As the year progressed there was further refinement of procedures for handling calls with emphasis on the interaction between first and second line support groups. To assist in improving services the group now has access to on-line information on the types of support requested and the problems encountered by clients.

Hansard Production System

The Hansard Production System became operational in January 2000 and has achieved a substantial degree of stability, to the extent that a significant improvement has been possible through 2000 and 2001 in the delivery of Senate and House pinks and greens, daily Proof Hansards and weekly Official Hansards.

Increased functionality in the system has led to a return to service standards being met in a high percentage of instances and to more useable management information.

PRESS

The Production, Resource and Events Scheduling System (PRESS) was introduced in Broadcasting, leading to efficiencies in job scheduling, rostering and reporting activities.

Staffing Plans

Significant progress was made during the year on the implementation of new staffing arrangements and hours of work in the three Client Services Group (CSG) subgroups - Broadcasting, Client Liaison and Hansard.

The necessity to introduce new arrangements and to review hours of work arose from long-term increases in parliamentary workload. The establishment of a single Client Services Group, which incorporated the direct client services previously provided by three different areas of the department, also provided the opportunity to introduce consistent working arrangements in the three CSG areas.

The implementation of the plans was undertaken during the year as a collaborative project with CSG staff and staff associations. They have played a major role in contributing to the project's success and in shaping new working arrangements.

At the end of the reporting year, the major project tasks and deliverables were on track with the implementation schedule, although some aspects of the project such as staff recruitment, training and multi-skilling, which require long lead times, will run over into calendar year 2002.

External audio and transcript providers

The department has been using external audio and transcript providers as part of Hansard's workload management and cost-effectiveness strategies since May 1997. As part of the department's audit plan for 2000-2001, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, internal auditors, undertook a comprehensive review of the second round of external provider contracts.

The report found that due process was followed in the awarding of the external provider contracts, that the process was transparent and would stand the test of public scrutiny. It made recommendations on how the evaluation of tenders could be improved and designed a key performance indicator framework for measuring the performance of external providers.

Training and Support

The Client Liaison section provided training and support for major departmental projects during the year including:

• developing the documentation and training courses for the POWER 3.5 platform for Senators' and Members' Parliament House and electorate offices, including training in each office after systems were upgraded and running special workshops for clients in functionality offered by the new platform
• carrying out one-to-one training and support for users of Outlook Web Access, Remote and Mobile Computing and PC to Fax and
• assisting with the production of user guides and involvement in the support and training for the new telephone system changeover.