2012 cs-data-collection-guide

Data Collection guide

March 2012

2012 Customer Service Benchmarking

Updated versions of the Guidelines and recordings from the webinars are available at are website.

www.1qconsulting.com :: Community Links :: Data Entry Gateway

Introduction

Purpose of this document◼ The purpose of this Data Collection Guide is to provide guidance and direction in how

to complete the detailed questionnaire for the 2012 Customer Service benchmark study. It gives instructions regarding the types of answers expected, as well as errors to avoid. This Guide has been described as the “rules” for providing data.

◼ It provides the underlying process models around which the various sections of the questionnaire are organized, to help in understanding the purpose of some of the questions.

◼ The appropriate costs to include, and those to exclude, are highlighted, so that each member utility can provide accurate, comparable data for comparisons.

◼ A few key definitions are provided throughout the document. A comprehensive set of definitions is provided in a separate Glossary.

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Scope of the Customer Service Benchmark Study

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CS Support: CS IT, Training, Benchmarking, ExecutivesCS Support: CS IT, Training, Benchmarking, Executives

Customer Contact• Contact Center• Local Office• Self Service• Contractors• Credit Inbound calls


Back Office• Billing• Billing Field Policies• Payment Processing


Field Service• Change of Account• Billing Field Orders

(meter investigations)

• Credit Field Orders• Order Management




Meter Reading• Manual• Mobile AMR• Fixed Network AMI


Revenue Management• Credit Office and

Outbound calls• Credit Field Policies• Revenue Protection:

Office and Field



Office and Field

Customer Life-cycle: Meter Set to Cash Measures, Policies & ProcessesCustomer Life-cycle: Meter Set to Cash Measures, Policies & Processes

Employees: Safety, StaffingEmployees: Safety, Staffing

Customer: Customer Satisfaction, First Contact ResolutionCustomer: Customer Satisfaction, First Contact Resolution

Areas excluded:Energy Audit/Energy Efficiency GroupMeter Change-outAccount Executives

Initiatives vs. Practices

In many areas of the questionnaire, there are open-ended questions, in which we are looking for insights about how you operate. Answers should be:

◼ Brief and succinct – so that the reader doesn't need to read through an extensive volume of material to understand the message; because the responses will be printed verbatim, don't mention your company name or individual names in your replies

◼ Complete enough to be understood in terms of the practice you are describing

◼ Practically speaking, this translates to 2-3 sentence answers to most of the text questions

For our purposes:

◼ Practices are current activities, programs or processes that have been around for a while. For these, sufficient time has passed in which to assess their success or failure. We mostly ask about practices that have proven successful in accomplishing a specific goal.

◼ Initiatives are new activities, programs or processes that have been enacted recently with the goal of improvement. These are so recent (1 to 2 years) that insufficient time has passed in which to assess their success.

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Data Collection Guide Outline

◼ ST. Statistics◼ CL. Customer Life-Cycle◼ FL. Financial◼ SF. Staffing◼ S. Safety◼ CS. Customer Satisfaction◼ IT. Customer Service I.T.◼ FR. First Contact Resolution◼ CT1. Contact Center

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The organization of this Guide follows the questionnaire outline:

For a number of the sections of the questionnaire, there are follow-up sections in which we ask for “historical data”. Those sections are only to be filled out by companies who are new to the community. For returning companies, the data provided last year will be used to populate the “historical data” sections of the questionnaire.

CT2. Contact Volumes SS. Self-Service & Integration BL. Billing PP. Payment Processing FS. Field Service MR. Meter Reading CR. Credit & Collections RP. Revenue Protection

Statistics

February 2012

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Purpose of the Section

The purpose of this section of the questionnaireire is two-fold:

◼ To gather statistical information about the existing customer base, and then,

◼ To gather a bit of information about the organization of the Customer Service functions.

The Statistical Section gathers a variety of demographic information that describes each company's system in terms of size, customer density, etc. This information is used in doing analysis of the results, and understanding the inherent advantages and limitations of the circumstances facing each utility.

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Statistical: Customer count

◼ Questionnaire: In the questionnaire we ask for meters and accounts. We ask for counts of both to be separated by commodity. Accounts Definition: Active accounts in your system. An account is typically used for

billing purposes. ◼ Reporting: In the report we will use both accounts and meters as denominators. In

some cases we'll multiply the number of accounts by the number of commodities billed on that account. This will produce some adjusted numbers that get at the extra cost of serving an account that receives multiple commodities. Customer Count (accounts * commodity) = We add the number of accounts for

individual commodities to get the total. Roughly represents the number of meters. There are unmetered items and meters that are not counted (such as streetlights).

Customer Count (accounts) = Roughly represents the number of accounts. An account with electric and gas meters gets counted once.

Customer Count (internal) = The count you use internally to represent the number of customers you have. This is the one reported on annual reports and other documents.

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Other Customers: Many utilities, especially municipals, provide other services beside electric, gas and water. Most of these we do not want, except for waste. If you also provide other services such as Waste pick-up, contact us and we'll help you to determine how to handle this.

Non-delivery customers can also be included.

We use one customer count as the denominator for all of the various costs. So you want to provide the customer count that best reflects your activity level in all of the areas: meter reading, field service, billing,

etc.

Customer Counts

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This question allows us to track all the customers you have, by type (e.g. combination or single-commodity, etc.) These details are used as the denominators for many “cost per customer” calculations later.

If you can’t breakout C/I then enter into “Other”.

We do little analysis on the details.

Financial Section – Using the Cost Model

February 2012

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Functional Cost Model

Our approach to collecting cost, performance and staffing information follows customer transactions through each functional area.

If you have significant costs in one of the shaded categories, you can enter your cost in the shaded box.

No boxes are shaded on line.

Cost Categories Included

Costs can be broken down into basic categories◼ General:

Company Labor: direct, supervision, support Contract Labor (including temps, seasonal) Contracted Services Technology

(see page 17 for listing of technology to include and where)◼ Function-specific items:

Transaction fees Materials Postage Other

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Cost definitions: General

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Company Labor

Include Direct, Support, Supervision, Management. Cost of employees includes paid non-working time (e.g. vacation, sick, etc). Does not include labor overheads (e.g. payroll taxes, benefits) or other department's allocated charges. If a supervisor or manager spreads their time over multiple departments, then provide an allocated portion of their costs to the function. If someone works outside of CS and is applied as a corporate allocation charge, exclude them in labor costs. For support, include those people who are directly part of customer service but cannot be allocated to a specific function.

Contract Labor

Individuals contracted to perform a specific role

Contracted Services

Companies contracted to perform a specific function such as meter reading, overflow call centers, debt collection, etc.The cost of any contract or outsourcing services. Do not include any capitalized costs for IT services. Do include 3rd party back-up; disaster recovery. Include any collection agency or skip trace costs in contracted services.

Cost Definitions: General

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Direct Labor

Direct Labor costs follow Direct Labor FTEs. A person having direct interactions with a customer or with a customer account is considered direct labor. A person whose task is directly in line with the mission of the process. Everyone else is either supervision or support. Use the 50% rule (see FTE definition in the Staffing Section) if they divide their time, if not 50% to a specific function, then charge to support.As a rule of thumb, when the work will affect a customer file or when it has an effect perceptible by a customer or a group of customers, this FTE will be classified as DirectTypes of direct labor (by function):

Contact center: taking calls, responding to correspondence, email, handling walk-in traffic

Meter reading: meter readers; mobile AMR van drivers Field service: representatives in the field collecting payments, disconnecting

customers, executing change-of-account orders, and billing investigations Billing: people handling exceptions, in-depth bill investigations, summary or

consolidated bill preparation Payment processing: people processing payments, handling payment exceptions, lost

or misapplied payments Credit and Collections: people making outbound calls regarding credit issues; making

payment arrangements with customers; issuing accounts for collections, and the Analysts who determine Credit policy and perform credit analysis.

Cost Definitions: functional

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Materials Costs All cost associated with the function, including any warehouse/purchasing charges. A few items, such as postage are called out in a separate category. Includes cost of envelopes, paper, and ink. Should especially be included for Billing, Payment and Credit.

Postage Costs Cost of mailing bills and credit notices. Prepaid envelopes if used for payment processing. For postage for Credit & Collections, only include if a separate credit mailing, otherwise put in billing.

Transaction fees (fees paid by utility)

Fees for credit card transactions, bank charges, etc. Fees associated with payments (even if a call or a local office) still goes in payment. All third-party transaction costs associated with receiving and posting customer payments. This includes fees for lock box, credit card fees, payment gateways.

Cost Definitions: Functional

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Vehicle Costs Costs associated with the operations & maintenance of vehicles for use solely by Customer service; usually charged out on a per mile or some other basis. Any payments for use of personal vehicles should also be included.

Write-offs Costs; Uncollectible expense.

Write-offs are defined as the net percent of total revenue written off (e.g. less any recoveries). Goal is the actual dollar amount written off during the year. This is not necessarily the same as “uncollectibles”, which is in the FERC 904 account for the year, since that can be affected by changes in the provision for bad debt during the year (FERC 144 account). Write-offs are the annual “net” cost of bad debt. In other words any recoveries (less fees) should be subtracted from gross write-offs.

Other Costs Other miscellaneous costs not specifically broken out such as employee travel expenses; training; office supplies and any of the categories that are grayed out such as vehicles in the call center or postage in field service.

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Technology Cost Within Function

NOTE: CIS is a separate category

Technology Any technology specifically used for a function such as meter reading devices, mobile data technology, telephone switch or call routing software, call monitoring software etc.

Contact Center:◼ IVR◼ ACD◼ Scheduling Software◼ Workforce Management (WFM)◼ Multi-channel processing◼ Web, Social Media technology costs◼ VOIP◼ Web/email routers◼ Virtual hold technology costs◼ 3rd party applications (OMS interface etc.)

Field:◼ Mobile data◼ Scheduling◼ GPS◼ Telecommunications◼ Routing software◼ Dispatching software

Revenue Protection◼ Tamper plug◼ Data mining software

Meter:◼ Handhelds◼ Routing software◼ Telecommunications◼ Remote disconnect◼ MV 90◼ GPS

Bills:◼ Inserters◼ Web/email, bill presentment◼ C/I billing software (MV 90)

Payment:◼ Image processer◼ Slitter/sorter◼ Interface w/kiosks◼ Routing software for off-site payments◼ Payment Kiosks

Credit:◼ Behavioral scoring◼ Predictive dialer◼ Credit optimization software

Exclusions

We've excluded costs related to any of the following:◼ Overheads -- we asked for your standard “adder” for Pensions and Benefits, and for your

Overhead rate exclusive of the P&B◼ Facilities purchase, rent, leasing or maintenance costs. We have found these to be too

variable between companies.◼ CIS purchase or lease costs. We have found these to be extremely variable among utilities

based upon capitalization policies, life cycle costs, and chargeback policies.◼ Costs associated with providing services other than electric, gas and water/sewer. ◼ Capital spending: capital for meter reading, AMI, CIS, and all other areas. We exclude capital

costs throughout the basic cost model, and track only O&M. In the case of AMI, there is one question in the Meter Reading section of the questionnaire asking for capital spending.

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Staffing

February 2012

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Staffing

Staffing summary by◼ Direct Labor rule: a person having direct interactions with a customer or with a customer

account is considered direct labor. Everyone else is either supervision or support. Use the 50% rule if they divide their time.

◼ 50% rule: Include a person in an activity if they spend at least 50% of their time on that activity, you can indicate they are 0.5 FTEs. If a person divides their time so that they don 't spend at least 50% of their time on an activity they probably should be in the “Support” Group.

◼ Employees assigned full time to a function. Include full-time supervisors and managers, or full-time employees who spend part time in different functions. Include part time supervisors and managers. Also include employees who spend less than 40 hours per week. When calculating FTE value use 2080 as the denominator.

◼ Outsourcing: If you outsource an entire function, do not attempt to turn that into FTEs.

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Support Staff

Administrative support

Unlike technical support, administrative support refers to a task that is required in all processes. It is generic in nature and is (for the most part) interchangeable between functional areas. This category includes all secretarial FTEs as well as accounting and reporting activities that are decentralized in a specific activity, treatment of basic business information, scorecards, etc.

Technical support

Technical support includes people supporting work specific to that functional area. It refers to all tasks performed by an FTE in support of a Direct FTE. It is Mission oriented. It takes the form of a particular expertise or knowledge that can only be used for a particular activity or process. Trainers and schedulers are also part of this category. Technical support FTEs will not work directly on a particular case other than assisting direct FTEs resolve particular problems encountered. Their task may also be to analyze the process performance, produce new policies and design new business practices for direct FTEs in order to ensure the activity evolves towards greater performance.

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CS Support ARea

◼ Costs, FTEs or activities associated with either the whole CS function that cannot be allocated to another area of customer service or within a CS function that cannot be allocated to the activities described for that function.

◼ Only include people who don't spend at least 50% of their time in a specific functional area. This might include benchmarking/performance improvement; training; directors, vice president.

◼ If training is for a specific functional area, then it belongs with that area. ◼ Do not include corporate allocations, or any HR activities.

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Safety

February 2012

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safety

◼ For safety include Customer Service employees when calculating statistics. ◼ This should include direct labor, support, management and supervision for:

Call Center Meter Readers Field Service (this may only include part of your Field Service employees or parts of other

functions)• Includes: disconnect and reconnect activities, field notices and collections, high bill

investigations, energy audits, and change-of-account work• Excludes: lineman, meter shop, meter technicians, gas leak repair

Billing & Payment Processing Credit and Collections Office Revenue Protection

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Safety

We ask for raw data to calculate safety statistics. The question also calculates the statistics within the question. Do not edit the fields highlighted in yellow that show the calculations. Until some numbers are entered, some of the fields will show “DIV/0!”

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Customer Satisfaction

February 2012

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Customer Satisfaction

Questions in this section are presented in the following categories:

◼ Measuring Customer Satisfaction J.D. Power scores Frequency of surveys Types of surveys [transactional, random, all customers] Methods for administering survey [calls, mail, email, website, etc.] Survey providers

◼ Complaints (Regulated, Non-Regulated, Executive, Escalated)

◼ Organizing To Handle Customer Issues

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CIS and CS it

February 2012

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Office and Field



Office and Field





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Functional Cost Model – CS IT and CIS costs

Our approach to collecting cost, performance and staffing information follows customer transactions through each functional area.

CS IT

CIS

CIS vs. CS IT Costs

◼ CS IT (as part of “Technology” cost) is all the encompassing technology in a broad sense so it includes any non-CIS and may include some CIS, but is specific to a functional area

for example: ACD, IVR, Work Management, Mobile Data are part of CS IT and belong in their respective functional area (ACD to Contact Center etc.)

If there is a DIRECT allocation or charge to a function of CIS charges (such as usage or system utilization), then that goes into the CS IT, otherwise it is part of CIS

◼ CIS is the system used to to maintain customer information, generate bills, issue service requests, and help “manage” customer relationships by providing utility representatives data, information and insight about each customer's accounts, individual needs and preferences.

Examples of vendor's products include: Accenture's C/1 (Customer-1), Oracle Utilities Customer Care, SAP For Utilities.

CIS costs may be costs allocated to or associated with Customer Service but not to specific functions, such as usage charges, data transfer or use charges, system maintenance charges. If such charges cannot be allocated to a specific function, they would go into the CIS cost column.

Again, verything else such as the Work Management, Mobile Data, Dispatch, ACD, IVR is Customer Service IT and should be specific to a function

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These are not included in CIS Costs


Technology Any technology specifically used for a function such as meter reading devices, mobile data technology, telephone switch or call routing software, call monitoring software etc. should not be included in CS IT costs.








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Exclusions

We've excluded costs related to any of the following: Overheads -- we asked for your standard “adder” for Pensions and Benefits,

and for your Overhead rate exclusive of the P&B Facilities purchase, rent, leasing or maintenance costs. We have found

these to be too variable between companies. CIS purchase or lease costs. We have found these to be extremely variable

among utilities based upon capitalization policies, life cycle costs, and chargeback policies.

Costs associated with providing services other than electric, gas and water/sewer.

Capital spending: capital for meter reading, AMI, CIS, and all other areas. We exclude capital costs throughout the basic cost model, and track only O&M. In the case of AMI, there is one question in the Meter Reading section of the questionnaire asking for capital spending.

First Contact Resolution

February 2012

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Definition for FCR, As Presented by 1QC Based on Research and Practices Reviewed

◼ “First-Contact Resolution (FCR) is the percentage of initial contacts that do not require any further contact to address the customer reason for calling/contacting. The customer does not need to contact the company again to seek resolution, nor does anyone within the organization need to follow-up. Ideally, first-contact resolution should be defined from the customer perspective.”

(composite from multiple research sources)

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Subject Areas in the FCR Section

The FCR section is relatively brief, although asking about a very important area of Customer Service. Key questions cover the following:◼ Self-assessment◼ Improvements made recently◼ FCR definitions◼ Measurement approaches◼ Scope of FCR activities

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Contact Center

February 2012

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Office and Field



Office and Field





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Contact Center Introduction

◼ Contact Center covers the following areas of interest: Use of Call Center (internal and outsourced, including inbound

collections and small/mid-sized commercial and industrial account calls)

Use of Local Offices (there is a Local Office section for collecting costs separately from the Call Center)

Use of IVR (internal and outsourced) Use of Internet E-mail, fax, letter

◼ Enrollment and contract management for retailer (deregulated companies)

NOTE: Although payments by the above channels are included in Contact Center, do not include payment by check, at a kiosk or a payment center; these transactions are included in Payment Processing. Cashiers in Local Office who only take payments are part of Payment Processing.

2012 Approach to Local Office Costs

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This question follows from question FL5, in which the total costs for the local offices are provided. The goal is to understand how the costs are allocated across the services provided in the local offices.

As you’re preparing your data, your normal Local Office cost is likely to include costs that we want moved to Payment Processing per our guidelines. This question is a place to report your total Local Office cost but separated into the portions for Contact Ctr and Payment Processing.

This statement is incorrect. The total reported in FL5 should match the total for this question less the row for Payment Processing.

Contact Center

What's not included:◼ Contact center covers every interaction with customers except:

Meter Reading Field Service Credit Outbound Calling Payment by check, kiosk, or payment center

◼ Contacts related to regulatory, complaints, executive complaints, are not included here

◼ Contacts pertaining to large C&I customers (e.g Account Managed) are not included here

◼ As per above, though payments that are made through contact center channels are included in Contact Center, they are also counted as payments in the Payment Processing section. Do not include payment by check, at a kiosk or a payment center in contact center.

◼ Payments made to cashiers (who only take payments and perform no other functions) should be excluded from Contact Center.

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Contact Center Definitions

Contact Center Contacts (Inbound)

A completed customer call, local office transaction, IVR, or internet transaction. Do not include uncompleted transactions (e.g. abandons). Do not include general switchboard informational calls. The following is a description of some of the main types of transactions included:

• New Customer/Turn On/Off*/ Change of Account [excluding credit related turn on or off or any meter install] = A customer request for a turn-off of an existing account; a new customer requests a turn-on of an account.

• Billing issue (such as High Bill) = Any contact related to billing amount such as inquiries, adjustments, and high bill complaints.

• Make Payment (Pay Bill) via these channels = Include contacts for live call or other channel debit or credit card payments, IVR, electronic check payments, web.

• Credit [payment arrangement, credit extension, etc] = Any contact related to a past due notice, including payment arrangements and reconnect of service

• Report Gas/Water Leak or Electric Interruption/Outage = A contact about an electrical outage, gas leak, water leak or other premise-related issue of this nature.

*Note: We ask for breakout of T/On, T/Off, and Move in question CT315

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Contact Center Definitions (continued)

Contact Center Contacts (Inbound continued)

• Sign up for E-bill• Sign up for other/additional commodity services/Dereg• Provide meter read• Low Income Assistance• General Company Information• Get Account information [view bill, view usage]• Other = Miscellaneous contacts that cannot be categorized into

the categories provided

Outbound Contacts

• Service interruption (communication of ETR or restoration)• Credit/Collections (outbound)• Billing Notifications• Product or service related• Other proactive outbound• Blended Transactions

Social Networking contacts

• Twitter, other social networking• SMS/Text Message

Topics Covered in the Contact Center Section (CT1)

◼ Service Level and Measurements

◼ Demographics, Organization, and Scope of Services

◼ Measuring shrinkage

◼ Contact volume management practices

◼ Initiatives

◼ Outsourcing

◼ Workforce Management

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Technology – Contact Center










Contact Volumes

February 2012

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Counting Contacts

◼ CSR answered calls & IVR calls – completed contacts (not abandons)◼ Local office – customer visits◼ Web contact – log-ons to account or hits to a specific type of page (some

judgement required, but includes pages that provide information that avoid a phone call)

◼ E-mail/Letters/faxes – incoming and outgoing◼ Social networking – outbound

Do not count paper bill presentments or mailed in customer payments in contact center

Inbound Contact Volumes

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T = Transactional activitiesL = Look-up activities

This matrix serves to provide the detailed information on how many contacts come into the company for each type of inquiry. Subsequent questions ask more detailed information about individual rows from this matrix.

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Turn-On, Turn-Off and COA Volumes

This is the first of several follow-up questions to the main volume matrix, in which we ask more details. The total should match the total in the first row of the main matrix.

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Addressing “Transactions” versus “look-up’ Activities…What counts as a transaction

◼ In 2012 we are seeking to better capture and address completed transactions versus what we are calling “look-up” activities: Transaction= customer executes an actual transaction with the utility- an

inquiry, an order, a request for service, payment, etc. Look-up= customer accesses a self-service channel, typically IVR or Web,

to view general information about the company or view Customer Service information about their account but does not transact or conduct a transaction

◼ If you have activities that represent a “look-up”, please place them in the General Company Information category. These should go in either the Web or IVR category

◼ What should not count as a transaction by transaction category: Simple Web “hits” where the customer may hit the web site (and you capture

it) but there is no transaction or you don’t know the reason for the activity Accessing the IVR but then opting out to a CSR or Agent before completing

a transaction (the Agent live contact is a transaction, the initial IVR entry and opt out is not)

Do not count uncompleted transactions in the IVR or web, or simply accessing these channels for information as completed transactions in a specific transaction category in CT305 other than “General Company Information” (for lookups)

OUtbound Contact Volumes

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Self Service & Integration

February 2012

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Self Service Introduction

Self Service covers the following areas of interest: Use of customer self service channels: web, IVR, email, fax Services offered and functionality Measures Initiatives and marketing Governance

Enrollment and contract management for retailer (deregulated companies)

Background

◼ As part of the core questionnaire, we want to survey Self-Service Channels and innovative ways companies and customers are interacting with one-another.

◼ As companies evolve these solutions, greater levels of integration are required among and between key systems.

◼ We are interested in investigating and understanding the integration between the CIS (Customer Information System) and self-service mechanisms (including both company generated and customer generated communications) These include: IVR, Web and other self-service options or other newly expanding means such as

social networking. Areas covered could include outage notifications, service appointments,

collections, energy usage notifications, program enrollments, bill presentment etc.

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Self Service Integration with the CIS

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Self-service interaction: much of what we ask about in self-service includes IVR, Web, E-mail, Fax, Kiosk etc., and we add “social networking” and outbound/ informational communications that allow for self-service and customer information

Outbound (proactive) contacts: build upon existing outbound data and information captured currently to understand:o What companies are doing to innovatively reach

customers using outbound (calling, text, email programs, appointment scheduling/confirmation etc.)

CIS Integration: Some focus on how Line of Business applications (billing, trouble, knowledge databases etc) above are integrated with the CIS for better (effective, efficient, responsive) service delivery

Social networking:o Which sites are being used for

what activitieso Plans for expansion or addition,

integration with other key systemso Impact on other channelso Costs associated (mainly in terms

of staffing, technology)o Success storieso “Social Media in the Contact

Center”

Topic Areas for Self-Service Channels

◼ Self-Assessment

◼ Transactions processing capability

◼ Social Media usage

◼ Customer self-service integration efforts (excluding social networking)

◼ Outbound service and communications

◼ Marketing/Initiatives

◼ Mobile applications

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Billing

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February 2012


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Office and Field



Office and Field












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Technology – Billing



Subject Areas for Billing

◼ Bill presentment Channels Activities/Volumes Bill options

◼ Bill Design◼ Accuracy

Pre-audit/post-audit Exceptions Errors

◼ Estimating◼ Efficiency & Measurement◼ Outsourcing◼ Initiatives for improvement

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Billing Definitions

Transactions

◼ Bills Issued = Count one per customer, even if multiple commodities or multiple meters at a premise (e.g. a “consolidated bill”). If a summary bill is produced (e.g. usage at multiple locations is summarized), count each

individual location as a bill, as well as the summary bill. Count any e-bills sent, but do not double count any mailings. If you send both paper and

electronic, count as one bill. Include any final bills sent in this count.

Performance Measures

◼ Error Rate = Account adjustments identified after the bill is delivered to the customer. A change that affects multiple months is still considered one adjustment. Does not matter if the account is re-billed or just adjusted on a subsequent bill. The adjustment may not be the company's “fault”.

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Billing Volume

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This question provides the key information to know how many bills of each type were issued. It is used in determining % of electronic bills, as well as billing costs per bill.

Payment Processing

February 2012

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Subject Areas for Payment Processing

◼ Volumes and types Payment Options (cash/credit/electronic) Processing types

◼ Outsourcing◼ Payment agencies ◼ Accuracy/Timeliness

Efficiency Productivity Posting/timeliness

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Technology – Payment Processing










Payment Processing Definitions

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We’re changing our guidelines because we recognize that a

customer on a payment arrangement might make 6 payments for one bill. As a company the work involved

processing those payments is the same whether it’s for one bill or

many.

We’re changing our guidelines because we recognize that a

customer on a payment arrangement might make 6 payments for one bill. As a company the work involved

processing those payments is the same whether it’s for one bill or

many.

Payment Processing Definitions (Continued)

◼ Energy Assistance: payments might be processed by another agency or group. 3rd-party is paying on behalf of customer; agency accepts payment, uses other funds and processes it into the utility. Generally, put in "3rd Party"

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Payment Channels & Options

◼ We ask you to provide information on payments both by channel and option.

◼ We also capture information in both the Contact Center (CT305) and Payment (PP5) areas about payments received. Be sure that data is reported in all areas.

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In some cases, customers opt out of a transaction before it’s completed. So your call center considers it a payment call, but payment didn’t receive the payment. So numbers may not match.

Field Service

February 2012

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Office and Field



Office and Field





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Technology – Field Service










Field Service Scope and Activities…2 parts

Field Service Orders◼ Field Service focuses on activity at the meter and includes (see detailed definitions

later): Billing-related activity Change of Account Field Credit activity

◼ Field Service policies have influence on activity costs Change of account estimating rules Hard vs. Soft Disconnect Credit policies AMI usage

◼ Even if these activities are performed in some other area of your company (e.g. meter electricians or line crews), we want them included in the Field Service section so that all companies are consistent.

Field Service Order Management ◼ Benchmark the process for getting short-cycle, customer-generated AND internally-

generated work to the field and completed

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Field Service Definitions

◼ A completed field order is one where the assigned activity has been performed. CGI or “Can't Get In” does not count as a completed order. A trip to a service location that involves multiple commodities (e.g. gas and electric change of account) is considered as multiple trips. If multiple activities are performed at a location, count as only one trip.

◼ Types of orders: Billing-related activity – High bill investigation in the field, either customer or

internally initiated, check read, rereads, meter tests in conjunction with investigation, meter change out in conjunction with investigation, also includes a disconnection for meter that had been left on, has usage, but no customer.

Change of Account – new customer to service territory, customer moving within service territory; not greenfield site. Includes: Soft Connect/Disconnect (e.g. Read in or read out); Hard disconnect/reconnect (e.g. physically turn off service). Does not include a new meter set.

Field Credit activity – Credit disconnections and reconnections, notice delivery, field collections

Turn-on/turn-off for seasonal customers◼ Field Service planning, scheduling and dispatch◼ Do not include field generated or programmed

meter change-outs.

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If you have an inactive meter that shows activity and you simply send a person to shut it off or remove it – put that in Field

ServiceDo not double count

What's not included

◼ Gas odor response◼ Programmatic meter change-outs or tests◼ Revenue Assurance orders (e.g. remove meters, install locking rings,

etc.) ◼ Meter installations at a brand new service location; service upgrades;

larger meter installs and related activities.◼ Restoration Specialists (e.g. Electric Troubleshooters)◼ Linemen, Line construction or O&M◼ Energy efficiency activities (typically part of Marketing Department)

74

Field Service Order volumes

75

We ask for aggregate volumes, then some detail about each type of order, including handling approaches and Policies

Field Service Costs

Given our definitions, we can then allocate cost

76

Field Service Order Management Process

The purpose of this section is to evaluate the process for getting short-cycle, customer-generated AND internally-generated work to the field and completed. This includes the three specific field service activities (credit, billing investigations, and change of account) specified in previous pages.

Because of the widespread adoption of mobile data solutions for many field activities, we are also interested in how the scheduling process for these activities interacts with other activities. This section is organized around:◼ Self assessment◼ Organization◼ Work Process◼ Performance measures/reporting

77

Self-Assessment Questions

We use self-assessment questions as a way to quickly understand how your field service function operates:

We evaluate Automation as used for:

1.Scheduling customer orders [order scheduling]

2.Assigning [not dispatching] orders to workers [order assignment]

3.Auto-dispatch the majority of its work orders

4.View availability and status of your field workers on a real-time basis

5.Managed on a real-time basis [workload balancing, route re-optimization, adjusting dispatched work, inserting filler work etc.]

And Appropriate Organization - roles of supervisor and work planning/dispatch

1.Work order planning group optimizes the workload/routing/priorities of field workforce on at least a daily basis.

2.Field supervisors are directly accountable for managing the field workers assigned work site reporting, schedule adherence, utilization, and/or order completion performance.

3.Work order planning group to support order assignment, scheduling, distribution, dispatch, rerouting etc. for Customer Service orders

And whether or not you have an Efficient Process – changes in process

1.In the past year we've implemented new practices / technologies to better manage the field force

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Process Model:Field Service Order Management Process

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Order Scheduling

Order Assignment

Order Issuance/ Dispatch

Order Handling/

Completion

• First step in the order management process as defined by 1QC.

• Simply scheduling- when, what time etc.

• Does not include the assignment of the order or the issuance or dispatch of the order

• Orders can be scheduled for example as:

• same day,• current (with a specific

date) or• future (known to be

scheduled for future time period but with out a specific date)

• Second step in the order management process

• The assignment of a scheduled order to a worker (or work group), geographic territory and skill set

• It does not include the issuance of the order to a worker and the workers tasks for a day or shift.

• Third step in the order management process

• The issuance of a scheduled and assigned order to a specific worker or work crew in the field.

• The best example of an issued order would be an order that is in the hands of the worker (or on his/her mobile device) to be handled and completed.

• 1QC uses issued and dispatched synonymously

• Last steps in the order management process.

• The worker handles the issued order and either completes it or updates the status if unable to complete (UTC, CGI etc.).

• The completion process includes documenting all the appropriate work information required to complete the order for field purposes

Process Measures

For each of these Steps, we then ask for your process Measures…

For each of the following Order Management Steps, please provide us with the top 1-2 process measures you use in each step of the process (see Glossary for definitions). Please make sure to include all measures from the Call Center Agent, to the Scheduler, Dispatcher, and Field Worker:

1. Order Scheduling:

2. Order Assignment:

3. Order Dispatch:

4. Order Handling/Completion (in the Field):

80

Meter Reading

February 2012

81


82
















Office and Field



Office and Field





Cost Allocations: Meter Reading

Meter Reading O&M cost allocation, please break out total meter reading costs by technology.

83

84

Technology – Meter Reading










Subject Areas for Meter Reading

◼ Volumes

◼ Service Levels

◼ Manual Reading

◼ Outsourcing

◼ AMI/AMR

85

Meter Reading Introduction

Meter Reading covers regular monthly ◼ Manual reads◼ Demand (MV-90) ◼ AMR: mobile read and 1-way fixed network◼ AMI: 2-way fixed network reads used primarily for billing purposes

Does not include ◼ Check reads, re-reads, etc., which are included in Field Service.

86

Meter Reading Volume Data

87

The goal of these questions it to understand number of meter reads by meter type. If your AMI meters are read many times per month, we still only want an answer of “12” for those meters, not many hundreds or thousands.

Meter Reading Definitions

Transactions◼ Meter Read = Scheduled meter reads. If multiple meters are read at a

premise, count as multiple reads. Include AMI/AMR, but only count one read per month for billing purposes. Trips to take a reading for a change of account or as part of a billing investigation (e.g. re-read) should NOT be included, instead these are in Field Service. For demand meters, even though the reader has to read both a demand register and a usage register, treat it as a single read.

Performance Measures◼ Error Rate = Number of errors identified through the billing system before

the bill is mailed, plus errors identified by the customer.

88

Meter/Billing Errors

89

Meter ReadMeter Read

Pre-edit (in software)

Pre-edit (in software)

EvaluationEvaluation

Bill Exception

Bill Exception

Pre-Bill MR ErrorPre-Bill

MR Error

BILLINGBILLING

Meter Services

Meter Services

1

5

EvaluationEvaluation

CustomerCustomer

ErrorError7

Billing Error

Coded

Billing Error

Coded

MR ErrorMR Error Other ErrorOther Error

..

3 ..

Bill Exception

Bill Exception

6

MR ErrorMR Error

2

Meter Reading Errors =

Bill Exceptions Pre-bill =

Post-bill =

1 32+ +

+5 6

7

A meter reading error is an error that ends up in the billing system that results in a reread or estimate in order to generate a bill.

Meter reading errors can be found at points 1, 2 and 3 in the diagram below.

Credit & Collections

February 2012

90


91
















Office and Field



Office and Field





Sections in the Credit questionnaire

Overall Results – Delinquencies

Transaction Volumes

Process Management

Regulatory Environment

Process Steps◼ Account Initiation◼ Active Account Management◼ Collection Actions◼ Final Account Management

Customer Assistance

Supplier Credit

92

93

Write-offs

This question captures Revenue and Write-off information. Note the most important fields are highlighted in green. If you do not answer these, you will not appear on the Write-offs per Revenue graph.

94

Technology – Credit










95

Process Model -- Key Areas of Credit & Collections

Note: Process includes Residential and C&I segments

Account Initiation

Active Account Management

Collection Actions

Final Account Management

Customer Assistance Programs

• Credit Scoring• Deposit

Requirements• Positive ID • Customer

Information Collection

• Fraud Prevention• Past due Amounts• Service Denial• C/I initiation

• Deposit Review• Behavioral Scoring• Contact Center

Policies• Customer

Segmentation• C/I Analysis• Late payment fees • Landlord

Agreements• Special Accounts• Record maintenance• Final Bills• Vacant Properties

• Notices• Payment

Arrangements• Outbound calling• Field collections• Field termination

(cut-out)• Restoration of

service (cut-in)• Sheriffs

Warrants/Legal• Bankruptcy/

Judgments• C/I Collections• Supplier Collections

• Final Billing• Write-off• Skip-Tracing• Collection Agency

Operations• Reporting to Credit

Bureaus/ National Information Exchanges

• Low Income Assistance Programs

• Li-HEAP Programs• DSS/ State• Other Grants• Notification to DSS

of Pending Termination

• $ Minimums• Community

Outreach

Involved/Affected Organizations – Credit, Call Center, Accounts Processing, Field/Meter Services

Process Management – Performance measurement & reporting, organization structure, staffing & resources, effectiveness measurement of individual actions, write-off forecasting, optimization modeling

Regulatory Environment – RULES

Credit & Collections Distribution Through cS

For analysis, we'll put the credit process cost back together from 3 different sources.

We have three primary sources for volumes:◼ Contact Center

New account setup calls Number of inbound credit calls

◼ Field Service Number of field credit orders worked

◼ Credit Office Number of outbound credit calls Past-due accounts Accounts written off

We expect to continue to ask these questions in multiple places in the questionnaire, to better fit with the organization structure and channels for executing the work

96

Guidelines - Credit Office Activity

◼ Notices issued, determination of disconnections and reconnections, payment arrangements when handled in the credit area (separate from contact center), outbound calls, policy development and execution

◼ Include any collection agency or skip trace costs in contracted services

◼ Only include credit postage if a separate credit mailing, otherwise put in billing.

◼ Include outbound credit calls, which are calls made by the company (or contractors) to remind customers to pay their overdue bills, make payment arrangements, etc.

◼ Include credit scoring transaction fees

◼ Bankruptcy

◼ Customer Assistance

97

What's included:

Guidelines - Credit Office Activity

What's excluded:

◼ Field activities (connect/disconnect for non-pay, notices, collections) should be included in Field Service

◼ Inbound credit calls belong in contact center

98

A Couple of Key Credit Definitions

Performance Measure

◼ Write-offs Percent = Net percent of total revenue written off (e.g. less any recoveries). Goal is the actual dollar amount written off during the year. This is not necessarily the same as “uncollectibles”, which is in the FERC 904 account for the year, since that can be affected by changes in the provision for bad debt during the year (FERC 144 account). Write-offs are the annual “net” cost of bad debt. In other words any recoveries (less fees) should be subtracted from gross write-offs.

◼ Percent Past Due 60 Days = Percent of bills unpaid at 60 days. Note for most utilities this is balance due at second bill.

99

Volumes – Deposits Collected

One area of interest is the number of deposits collected as a ratio to new applications . . .

100

New Customer Applications

Qualify for deposit requirement

Actually bill the deposit

Deposits collected

Customer Assistance scope

Added as part of the core questionnaire in 2011, we've included:

◼ Customers eligible( %) for assistance programs

◼ Customer receiving (%) assistance

◼ $ value available and provided

◼ $ in State assistance available

◼ Costs

◼ Practices and processes, approaches, policies, promotion of programs

101

Revenue Protection

February 2012

102

Revenue Protection: Scope of Activities

Revenue Protection activities vary greatly among utilities, depending on a number of factors, including commodities offered. Some utilities have dedicated Revenue Protection departments, which are the focus of this section. Other utilities leave the various activities in different areas of customer service and operations. For our purposes we only want you to include your dedicated Revenue Protection departments.The broadest definition (sometimes referred to as Revenue Assurance) includes both office and field activities surrounding these types of revenue loss:

◼ Energy theft (aka diversion, unauthorized usage): 1) Meter tampering; 2) Meter bypass; 3) unauthorized attachment.

◼ Fraud (aka identity theft): Field investigation related to fraudulent names, and passing accounts among roommates to avoid bills.

◼ Billing Problems: Field investigation and back billing for 1) usage on unmetered accounts, 2) usage on inactive accounts; 3) Meter errors (stopped or broken); 4) Not in system; unknown user

◼ Other activities/technologies: 1) Data mining to identify suspicious usage patterns; 2) AMI tamper flags

For purposes of this survey:

◼ Do not include meter-related field work performed by Field Service or Meter Shops

◼ Do not include special contact center programs to prevent identify theft or fraud at account initiation

◼ Do not include routine billing investigations

103

If you send a revenue protection person out to investigate to

determine if there is theft involved or revenue loss involved – put it in

Revenue Protection.Do not double count

Revenue Protection: THE PROCESS Model

The process model is built on a series of individual steps through which each case must progress

◼ Reported: A reported issue (e.g. from Meter Reading, a hot line or data mining) is acknowledged and put in a backlog (perhaps identified as a “case”)

◼ Investigated: A revenue protection person reviews either in the office or in the field and identifies a course of action (probably identified as a “case”)

◼ Confirmed: The outcome of the investigation concludes there is usage that should have been paid for

◼ Billed: A bill is presented to the customer (almost always a “case”)◼ Collected: Customer pays (and the “case” is closed)

104

CASEInvestigated

CASEInvestigated

CASEBilledCASEBilled

CASECollected

CASECollected

CASEReported

CASEReported

CASEConfirmed

CASEConfirmed

Revenue Protection – the Iceberg Model

105

The amount of revenue collected only reflects the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to energy theft and fraud.

Total Cases (unknown)

Cases Investigated

Cases Billed

CasesCollected

Cases Reported

Cases Confirmed

Relationship to Questionnaire

In order to separate cases between RP25 and 30 and RP35 and 40, you’ll probably have had to reach the confirmed stage. You’ve investigated the case and determined whether or not it was intentional theft (RP25/35) or an error by the company (RP30/40).

Cases worked (asked in RP15) are any cases that are investigated, confirmed, billed, and collected. In order to answer RP15, you’ll have to have determined what type of case it in in the investigation stage.

106

CASEInvestigated

CASEInvestigated

CASEBilledCASEBilled

CASECollected

CASECollected

CASEReported

CASEReported

CASEConfirmed

CASEConfirmed

New Slide

107

Technology – Revenue Protection










We Thank you for your Input and Participation!

108

California

400 Continental Blvd. Suite 600El Segundo, CA 90245(310) 426-2790

Maryland

3 Bethesda Metro Center Suite 700Bethesda, MD 20814(301) 961-1505

Contact Information

Ken [email protected]

Gene [email protected]

Debi McLain [email protected]

Tim [email protected]

Corporate offices

Updated versions of the Guidelines and recordings from the webinars are available at are website.

www.1qconsulting.com--Community Links----Data Entry Gateway

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