Summary of Responses to the 2004 Customer Satisfaction Survey of Information Technology Services (IT)

170 students, faculty and staff participated in the survey of IT Services. The highest satisfaction ratings were found in the following areas:

• Over 60% of faculty and staff were satisfied with IT services overall and with the performance of major campus technology systems (telephone, e-mail, www, Blackboard, Datatel, and network operations.)
• More than 80% of faculty and staff rated telephone and e-mail services highly.
• More than 60% of faculty and staff were satisfied with courtesy, accessibility, reliability, competence and responsiveness of the IT Help Desk.
• More than 35% of students, faculty and staff felt that courtesy, responsiveness, reliability, and promptness of IT service improved during the year leading up to the survey (2003-04).
• The survey identified a number of areas in IT that received lower customer satisfaction ratings:
• More than 20%, and as high as 50%, of students reported dissatisfaction with www, e-mail, network, telephone, and Datatel.
• Between 20% and 40% of students expressed dissatisfaction with the IT Help Desk, particularly in the areas of promptness, hours of operation, and reliability of service.
• More than 20% of faculty and staff also expressed dissatisfaction with promptness, communication, understanding customer needs, accessibility, hours of operation, and responsiveness of IT Help Desk support.

Actions Taken

• New network hardware in the resident halls has increased bandwidth by 10-fold.
• Web access e-mail for students is now available as an added option to USP’s e-mail.
• Local telephone service provided at no cost to students in the residence halls.
• A new cable TV system offers more channels, including premium stations.
• On-line access to grades, registration, drop/add and department budgets now available through Datatel’s WebAdvisor.
• Approval was granted for two additional IT technicians added to the IT Help Desk staff.
• The Help Desk manager received specific training.
• Available bandwidth over the entire USP network has doubled.
• Purchased additional Datatel user-licenses to allow more dependable access.
• Hardware and software updates to Blackboard enhanced stability and capability.

Actions Planned

• Establish a Student Help Desk with separate phone number and a visible location (Library) (scheduled for the summer of 2005.)
• Extend the hours of operation of both help desks to cover evenings and weekends (scheduled to coincide with opening of Student Help Desk.)
• Upgrade Blackboard to the next level - expected to enhance capability and stability (scheduled for the summer of 2005.)
• New virus protection for the residence halls expected to greatly reduce downtime on the overall campus network (scheduled for the fall of 2005.)

Recommended Improvement Strategy

Survey results suggest that IT is currently providing much better service to faculty/staff than to students. Student satisfaction is substantially lower and dissatisfaction substantially higher with respect to the operation and support of basic systems that students depend upon for their communication, learning, and academic work. The quality of Help Desk support falls short of expectations. Significant attention needs to be given to improving service from the Help Desk and to closing the gap in the level of IT support given to faculty/staff and students.

IT Management Response

Overall IT agrees with the findings and recommendations of the survey. Data obtained from this survey helped secure the additional funding and management focus needed to close the gap in the level of support provided to faculty/staff and student. Recently collected anecdotal data reveals that the actions taken have narrowed the gap. Actions planned for this summer and next fall should close it.