Voice of the Customer: Focus group sounds off about Commissary
By Angela Banks | Fort Leavenworth Customer Service Office
Published: Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:54 AM CDT
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Community FIRST - Feedback, Issues, Resolutions, Solutions, Today - is a structured process for obtaining, vetting, prioritizing and resolving installation level issues that cannot be addressed through the Interactive Customer Evaluation system. Focus groups of specific constituent groups are conducted to determine the needs of that demographic at Fort Leavenworth.
Two focus groups were conducted in the second quarter of FY09. Eight civilian employees presented nine issues through the focus group while six participants represented spouses of enlisted Soldiers. The civilians represented appropriated fund, non-appropriated fund, National Security Personnel System and contractor employees on Fort Leavenworth. Issues ranged from personal development, mandatory training, preventive medicine and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service movie theater.
The issues presented in the first quarter were investigated and vetted by the responsible owners. This is the second in a series of articles providing more details on issues presented by civilian employees and spouses of enlisted Soldiers.
The Directorate of Logistics and Public Works received several issues presented by the spouses of enlisted Soldiers focus group.
Three separate issues were brought forward by participants that concerned the Commissary, with the first being winter weather staffing. Participants indicated that the Commissary appeared to have inadequate staff when winter weather is pending. Patrons preparing for winter weather by shopping for goods found that staffing at the registers is inadequate and created a lengthy wait at check-out. In response, the Commissary will ensure that there are enough cashiers on duty or will pull employees who have been cross-trained from other departments of the store to meet the customer requirements. Staff will continue to be cross-trained to serve as backup cashiers in the future.
Participants also indicated difficulty in reaching Commissary personnel via telephone.
"All customers should call 684-4903 and use the customer service extension 3216, which is manned full time during operating hours," said Commissary representative Alice Hanson.
The customer service representative is able toforward calls. The Commissary is also working with its headquarters to upgrade to a more customer friendly phone system.
The last issue presented by the enlisted spouses for the Commissary was related to the stock of staple goods, such as baby formula, milk, eggs and chicken, continue to run out of stock. Some spouses shop elsewhere because they are not sure the Commissary will have adequate stock of all the goods they need to purchase. In response, the Commissary staff members are reviewing the ordering process and working with vendors to ensure enough stock is ordered to fill the shelves and also have highly requested items in the stockroom. Department managers are checking shelf stock throughout the day to meet customer needs.
Anytime a customer has an issue, Hanson said, they are encouraged to contact the customer service representative, Commissary Manager Glennie Morris or Assistant Grocery Manager Regina Singletary.
The Commissary and Post Exchange have a combined advisory meeting to address problems every other month. The next meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. July 16 at the Frontier Conference Center. Customers can call 684-8904 for more information about the advisory council.
Information about the issues obtained through this and other focus groups are available through the Customer Management Service Web site. Visit http://garrison.leav-enworth.army.mil and click on Garrison Management Offices to visit the CMS Web site and to enter the AKO Knowledge center that contains all issues and resolutions presented through the program.
The Customer Management Services program at Fort Leavenworth is a three-tiered feedback system established to determine the satisfaction of those who work, play and live on the installation. The input mechanisms for feedback come from multiple sources such as online submissions of comments, annual leadership and constituent assessments, and community forums. The analysis of this feedback enables the Garrison to focus on specific corrective action that may include improved customer service training, Lean Six Sigma initiatives, or redistribute resourcing. At the Installation Management Command level, the system provides an Armywide measure of organizational performance.
The difference between what service providers want to know and what customers say they want is at the center of the Customer Management Services feedback system. For more information, call 684-1750, e-mail angela.banks2@ us.army.mil or visit http://garrison .leavenworth.army.mil/sites/man-agement/cms.asp.
