PUBLICATIONS--Increasing the Return Rate of Completed Questionnaires Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 09:17:53 -0400 To: "A - Division Chief and Staff", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices", "FO - State, District, Subdistrict and other Field Offices", "PO - Project Offices", " WRD Publications Personnel, " From: Tina Honesty Subject: PUBLICATIONS--Increasing the Return Rate of Completed Questionnaires Cc: "Kristina L Honesty, Secretary (Typing), Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: August 5, 1998 Mail Stop 439 MEMORANDUM To: See Distribution From: Lewis V. Wade /SIGNED/ Acting Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Information Subject: PUBLICATIONS--Increasing the Return Rate of Completed Questionnaires for Assessing External Customer Satisfaction with Water Resources Division Reports On July 3, 1997, a memorandum introducing the Customer Assessment of Report Quality Questionnaire was distributed electronically to all Water Resources Division (WRD) Office Chiefs and all District, Subdistrict, Project, and Field Offices, as well as to all WRD Publications Personnel (please see the attached memorandum). The questionnaire is designed to provide critical information to fulfill U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) customer service goals, which include identifying and seeking feedback about our products, assessing customer needs, ensuring that our customers are satisfied with our products and services, and delivering our products to our customers in a timely manner. This information has been used in the bureau's report to the Vice President's National Performance Review at the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the USGS Annual Financial Report to the DOI, as evidence of its usefulness. Since July 1997, however, the rate of return of completed questionnaires to Headquarters is only about 15 percent (52 reports). There are a variety of reasons why so few of the completed questionnaires have been received; chief among them is the non-return of the questionnaires from the customers (cooperators). We need to increase this percentage to help meet the above-stated customer service goals of the USGS. Thus, we seek your further assistance by asking you to continue to enclose the questionnaire with every report that is sent to your paying cooperators. If after a reasonable length of time the completed questionnaire is not returned by the cooperator, please follow up with a gentle reminder (by letter or telephone) to the cooperator that the return of their completed questionnaire provides critical feedback to the USGS in its efforts to improve the quality, timeliness, and usability of its reports. Please send a copy of the completed questionnaires to Celso Puente, USGS, Office of Information, 439 National Center, Reston, Virginia 20192, as soon as you receive them from your cooperators. If you have any questions, Celso can be reached at (703) 648-5601 or e-mail address: cpuente@usgs.gov. The questionnaire form may be retrieved at ftp 130.11.50.245. The questionnaire form is filed in /var/ftp/pub/CustomerAssessment.form. Thank you for your cooperation in this endeavor. Attachment Distribution: A, B, FO, PO, Reports Personnel ======================================================================= Attachment In Reply Refer To: July 3, 1997 Mail Stop 439 MEMORANDUM To: See Distribution From: Lewis V. Wade /SIGNED/ Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Water Information, Water Resources Division, Reston, Virginia Subject: PUBLICATIONS--Availability of Questionnaire "Customer Assessment of Report Quality" One of the functions of the Reports Stewardship Committee (RSC) is to assess the Water Resources Division's (WRD) performance with regard to reports and to provide an annual report to the WRD Senior Staff through the Office of the Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Water Information. One measure of our performance on reports is how well those reports meet the needs and expectations of those who read them; apply the data, interpretations, and conclusions they contain; and in many cases, provide part or all of the funding needed to conduct the investigations that led to the report. To that end--the measurement of customers' satisfaction with our reports--and to provide input for the above mentioned annual report to the Senior Staff, the RSC has developed a questionnaire, "Customer Assessment of Report Quality," that we ask be distributed along with each new report delivered to a customer that contributed funding to the investigation. As indicated in the introductory paragraph to the questionnaire, the answers will help the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) determine if the report meets the customer's expectations in terms of timeliness, suitability, and usability, as well as asking the customers about the extent of and benefit of their involvement (if any) in any aspect of the planning and preparation of the report. To access the questionnaire, ftp to 130.11.50.245. It is filed in the /var/ftp/pub directory. The file name is CustomerAssessment. We ask that you send copies of completed questionnaires to this office (Attn: Celso Puente) as soon as you receive them from your customers. The responses to the questionnaire will be compiled by the RSC, and a summary of those responses will be sent to all District offices as well as included in the annual report to the Senior Staff. The summary of the responses will be analyzed by the RSC and will form the basis for any recommended changes in report policies and practices that would make our reports more useful to our customers. Any such recommendations would be presented to the WRD Senior Staff for their consideration, concurrence, and implementation. Thank you for your participation and cooperation in this effort to measure and improve the quality of USGS reports. Distribution: A, B, FO, PO, Reports Personnel