U.S. Department of Labor E-Government Strategic Plan

• Posting service standards on the DOL Web site and measuring results against these standards, such as the Department’s annual performance plans and report
• Benchmarking customer service performance against the best in business
• Surveying front-line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best in business
• Providing customers with choices in both sources of service and means of delivery
• Making information, services, and complaint systems easily accessible
• Providing means of addressing customer complaints.

As the Federal E-Government strategy unfolds, the Department will work with other agencies to link stakeholders to the lines of businesses and subfunctions in the Federal government’s BRM. This will enable DOL to support the broader goals of improving customer service beyond the Department’s organizational boundaries.

To a significant degree, measurement of customer support service performance will continue to be based on voluntary customer provision of satisfaction metrics information. Through this process, the Department will continue to evaluate customer satisfaction and expectations, customer perceptions of the quality of services and the value they receive, and information related to customer retention, in order to measure and improve DOL’s customer service.

IDENTIFYING AND IMPLEMENTING KEY CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES

The following paragraphs highlight key CRM-related activities undertaken by the Department. These initiatives support different customer groups, including citizens, businesses, and other governments, and are representative of DOL’s ongoing CRM efforts. In addition, they demonstrate how the Department is implementing the initiatives of the PMA.

Burden Reduction

DOL has established the goal of making it easier for the public to do business with the Department. To accomplish this, DOL is developing a multifaceted approach for information collection management. This approach will—

• Minimize the burden on respondents and the cost of data collection for Departmental agencies by assessing the need, use, and value of new regulations and existing regulations
• Help customers comply with necessary regulations by presenting DOL rules in plain English, with step-by-step procedures for compliance
• Change the culture of regulatory enforcement by using methodologies, technologies, and capabilities that help the Department identify customers, determine what customers want, and determine how to meet and continually improve customer service
• Provide an enterprise-wide framework for collecting, accessing, and manipulating data in a shared environment across diverse functions, owners, and scales.

As a first step, the Department has conducted an analysis of reengineering the current manual process of managing information collection and the information collection budget. The Department is using its GPEA compliance activities to inform this process. Subsequent steps will involve identifying business process improvement opportunities; developing a blueprint of new business models; and designing, developing, and implementing the new streamlined operations.

Government Paperwork Elimination Act Implementation

The Department continues to implement a GPEA compliance strategy to improve customer service delivery, support the Department’s E-Government strategy, meet near-term reporting requirements, and ensure integration into major management processes. For the vast majority of its transactions, the Department is on track to meet the GPEA compliance deadline of October 2003. The Department is using categorization of GPEA transactions by customer group to prioritize its CRM efforts. In addition, as part of its GPEA implementation effort, DOL is now assessing the degree to which technology can be leveraged, in current and new customer interactions, to reduce burden on the public.