rev 12

1

Six Sigma Project Charter Name of project: Decreasing percent of transferred out calls by 50% Green belt: Submitted by: Joy May e-mail: joy@purdue.edu Date submitted: May 21, 2012

I. Project Selection Process

Item Yes No Comments

Key business issue x

Linked to a define process x

Customers identified x

Defects clearly defined x

My project was selected based upon the percentage of transferred out calls that are being done from our office. Tools used: Phone reports, Value Stream Map, p-chart, Fishbone Diagram, C&E Matrix, Potential X Matrix, Impact/Effort Matrix

II. Project Description

Project Title Decreasing percent of transferred calls

Date Charted Target Completion Date Actual Completion Date

5/21/2012 10/17/2012

Project Leader Team Facilitator Team Champion

Joy May Joy May Joy May

Estimated Cost Savings Actual Cost Savings Costs of implementing project

Time $0

Team members Joy May, Janet Reed, Susan Albertson, Kathy Budreau, Misty Tarrh, Sandi Reese, Robin King, Jennifer Swingle

Problem Statement There are numerous phone calls that we receive in the Bursar’s Office that are not able to be answered by our staff. Therefore, they need to be transferred to the correct office. Some callers are transferred numerous times.

Project Goal and Metrics For those with questions to call the correct office initially or to determine how else the caller’s questions can be answered to decrease the amount of calls needing to be transferred out.

rev 12

2

Describe the challenges and support required Determining how callers are initially being connected to our office. Determining who in what office is transferring the callers to our office. Determining what training needs to take place for transfers not to occur. Making sure the report is as accurate as possible.

Project Schedule

D1. Select the output characteristic. Date:5/21/12

% of transferred out calls Criteria: Is there a measurable output? yes Is there a performance standard for the output? no Does variation currently exist? yes Is there a process associated with the problem? no Is the solution unknown? yes

D2. Define the output performance standard. Date:5/21/12

Currently, the transfer out % is anywhere from 20-36%. The goal of this project is to decrease the amount of transferred out calls by 50%.

D3. Describe the process. Date:5/21/12 Required tools: Detailed process map/Value Stream Map

See attached.

M1. Validate the measuring system. Date: Required tools: Attribute Agreement Analysis

When trying to do an Attribute Agreement Analysis, I find it is not possible. There are too many aspects that affect the reason why a call needs transferred, there is no possible way to narrow it down to a few people and a few reasons. Many situations are unique.

M2. Establish current process capability for the output. Date: Required tools: Control chart

See attached p chart. I retrieved a year’s worth of phone reports, which reports the phone calls that are transferred from all lines within the office. At this point, that is the numbers I am using as ACD direct lines were not in use by all phone answerers. I have programmed all ACD phones with the correct ACD transfer line to get more accurate reports directly related to ACD lines in the future.

M3. Determine project objectives. Date:5/21/12

Decrease the amount of transferred out calls by 50%.

rev 12

3

A1. Identify and list all potential causes (inputs). Date:6/19/12 Required tools: Brainstorming, Fishbone diagram

During our Brainstorming, we put together the fishbone diagram. The group determined everything that we could think that would affect each area of the diagram in relation to problems when answering phones.

A2. Screen potential causes. Date:9/6/12 Required tools: Cause and effect matrix

I sent the list of things that affect answering phones out to those that answer phones and had them put the items in order of importance. From there, I determined my top causes of transferring calls to other offices.

A3. Determine the f(x) – key input variable(s) Date:9/15/12 Required tools: Potential “X” matrix I took the top 10 from each phone persons list and took the 3 that were on all lists of the top ten.

Called wrong number

Caller unsure what to ask

Anger level of caller

I-1. Establish operating tolerances for key inputs and output. Date:7/23/12

Timing was a factor for trying to fix the ‘called wrong number’ issue, which was the most found top reason as to why we transfer calls out of the office. There is a main Purdue website revamp currently underway. I am working with other departments and Marketing and Media to see if we can direct callers to the correct place by the main Purdue website. I am also going to look into the Operator department and see how they are deciding who they transfer callers to if the caller calls the operator for direction to the correct department. I met with the group of those who answer phones to do an Impact/Effort Matrix to determine some different ideas to implement to meet the goal of decreasing transfer out calls by 50%. I have implemented the High Impact/Low Effort and am working on the Low Impact/Low Effort suggestions.

I-2. Re-evaluate the measuring system. Date:9/15/12 Required tools: Gage R&R/Attribute Agreement Analysis I started out my project looking at all transferred calls both in and out of our office. After doing research and talking with others, it was determined that the only thing we can really affect is the amount of transferred out calls, the transferred in calls, we have no control over. Therefore, I changed my project from all transferred calls to focus just on transferred out calls. The measuring system will still be the phone reports.

rev 12

4

I-3. Establish final capability for key input(s) and the output. Date:9/21/12 Required tools: Process capability, Control chart There are a few new processes I am working on getting implemented. Some quick wins that I have already implemented that may or may not have any affect. Other solutions are based on timing, and others are longer term. See proposal.

C1. Implement process controls for the key inputs. Date:9/28/12 Required tool: Four levels of control, error proofing

Our level of control is a Level 2 – since we are able to receive weekly reports of phone transfers, we can do weekly process checks and regular auditing to see where problems may still be lingering. Once our Line of Business code reports start to generate, that will continue to help make improvements to different areas.

Follow-up to ensure effectiveness. Date:1/1/12, 4/1/12, 10/1/12 I cannot complete this section until I have established my changes and can gather enough data to see if the changes I have made have met my goal. I will look at my phone reports again in 3 months to see if the changes I have personally implemented have made a difference. Once the Purdue main website has been revamped, I will check in 3 more months. I should be able to see if the improvements made have had an effect in about 12 months. Black Belts must utilize the following additional tools: FMEA, hypothesis testing, regression, design of experiments, and one lean tool of their choice.

September 28, 2012

Purdue University

Bursar’s Office

610 Purdue Mall

West Lafayette, IN 47907

(PH) 765-494-5123

Six Sigma Project: Reducing the percentage of transferred out calls

Prepared for: John Higgins

Prepared by: Joy May

Description of Project:

The Bursar’s Office receives numerous phone calls that are not able to be answered by our staff.

Therefore, the call has to be transferred to the correct office that is in charge of answering the

type of question the caller has. This project is to determine ways to decrease the amount of

transferred out calls specifically, as we have no control over the calls that are transferred to the

Bursar’s Office.

The objective:

To determine changes that can be made to help decrease the amount of calls the Bursar’s Office

is forced to transfer to another department because the question cannot be answered by our

office.

The Solution:

I have implemented a few changes along the way in this project; things I hope are high

impact/low effort. First, I made sure that all ACD phones have the same transfer out number so

we are all being consistent with the phone number we are transferring to. Second, I added DFA,

Registrar, and Admissions phone number to our main Bursar website. Third, I stressed to the

staff that answers phones the importance of asking the caller enough questions to make sure the

caller really does need another office, and that we cannot help them.

The biggest change is the www.purdue.edu main website. The site is being revamped in the near

future, and the 4 core departments in Enrollment Management (Bursar, Registrar, DFA, and

Admissions) met with the people in Marketing and Media that are overseeing the project. We

have given them significant input to make sure these different areas are represented well on the

main Purdue website. It was also suggested that in the Purdue directory, a person could type

‘Bursar’ and our information would come up. That is something Marketing and Media hopes to

make possible. They will also work with the different departments to improve the functionality

of the Google search bar at the top of the Purdue main website.

Things for future advancement:

I am going to look into implementing Google Analytics with our websites. Even though we have

Urchin available to us, it is not user friendly and rather difficult to interpret. Admissions has

been using Google Analytics and went over some of the features. It seems to be a very user

friendly, free service that is forever getting updated. It will be helpful in the future to determine

where users are coming and going to find possible website improvements to make to decrease

calls altogether.

I have had Line of Business keys put on all the ACD phones. In the near future, those who

answer phones will be trained in how to use this key. Basically, this key will track where we are

transferring the majority of our calls to. This will help in determining if there is a better way to

get these callers to the right place the first time.

I have been working closely with Financial Aid to learn more about the Banner screens they use

in their office to look up student’s loan information. I hope to determine what screens will be

easy for the Bursar’s Office staff to decipher and give student’s more information before needing

to transfer them.

Bursar’s Office –Reducing the amount of transferred out calls

2

Percent of transferred calls

36%

34%

36%

30%30%

27%

31%

22%

27%

25%

20%

23%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

3

Transferred out calls vs. Total calls

121110987654321

0.38

0.36

0.34

0.32

0.30

0.28

0.26

0.24

0.22

0.20

Sample

Prop

orti

on _P=0.2910

UCL=0.3229

LCL=0.2590

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

P Chart of C1

Tests performed with unequal sample sizes

4

Value Stream Map

5

Fishbone Diagram

6

Cause and Effect MatrixJanet Sandi Kathy Misty Jennifer

Access to banner screens 4 4 6Anger level of caller 5 6 5 4 10Attitude of caller 6 5 3Attitude of receiver 7 4 7Bad connection (cellphone) 9Banner down 1Called wrong number 2 10 1 1 1Caller unsure what to ask 3 1 3 5 4Cross training 6 2Direct mail information 8DistractionsEmail informationExperience of receiver 2 8InterruptionsLack of training 9Language barriers 8Messaging system (interative mssg) 9No accountability to give answer 5

7

Potential X Matrix

Janet Sandi Kathy Misty JenniferAccess to banner screens 4 4 6Anger level of caller 5 6 5 4 10Attitude of caller 6 5 3Attitude of receiver 7 4 7Bad connection (cellphone) 9Banner down 1Called wrong number 2 10 1 1 1Caller unsure what to ask 3 1 3 5 4

8

Impact vs. Effort Matrix

IMPACT/EFFORT MATRIX

High

IMPACT

QUICK WINS

All ACD lines transfer to same phone number

Add other office phone numbers to our main Bursar website

Stress to phone answerers to ask more questions

MAJOR PROJECTS

Changes to www.purdue.edu

Starting up Google Analytics

Cross training

How is the operator determining where to transfer

Changes to MyPurdue to better explain reason for hold

All offices in same building

Fix installment plan calculations

FILL INS

Specific contacts in other offices

Advisors get list of who answers what

THANKLESS TASKS

Low EFFORT High

Answer Phone

P/T = 10s

D/T = 0

% C/A = 98%

3 staff

PT - 10s

L/T - 10s

% C/A - 98%

30-60s

Listen to caller's request

P/T = 1-5m

D/T = 0

% C/A = 80%

3 staff

1 - 5m

1 - 5m

80%

Look up information

P/T = 2-5m

D/T = 2-5m

% C/A = 95%

3 staff

2 - 5m

2 - 5m

95%

Ask for additional

information

P/T = 2-5m

D/T = 2-5m

% C/A = 80%

3-5 staff

2 - 5m

2 - 5m

80%

Look up more

information

P/T = 2-5m

D/T = 2-5m

% C/A = 95%

3-5 staff

2 - 5m

2 - 5m

95%

Answer question

P/T = 2-5m

D/T = 0

% C/A = 90%

3 staff

2 - 5m

0

90%

End call

P/T = 5s

D/T = 0

% C/A = 100%

3 staff

5s

0

100%

caller

Transfer

call

Ask other staff/

office/IM for help

Transfer

call

30-60s

30-60s

20s

20s

60s

60s

- Non-ACD line

- Access to Banner screens (dupl)

- Banner down (dupl)

- Voicemail

- Messaging system (interative mssg)

- Attitude of receiver

- Attitude of caller

- No central call center

- Bad connection (dupl)

- Language barriers

- Anger level of caller

- Banner down

- Time of year

- Interruptions

- Distractions

- Office hours

- Lack of training

- Experience of receiver

- Number of receivers answering

- No accountability to give answer

- Language barriers (dupl)

- Anger level (dupl)

- Cross training (dupl)

- Attitude of caller (dupl)

- Attitude of receiver (dupl)

- Workload (dupl)

- Workload

- Person answering phone not asking

for accurate info

- Caller unsure what to ask

- Cross training

- Access to banner screens

- Website referral

- Called wrong number (dupl)

- Office hours (dupl)

- Time to respond (dupl)

- Number of times transferred

- Called wrong number

- Time to respond

- Volume of calls

- Top 10 caller ?s

- Office hours (dupl)

Transfer

call

MATERIAL

MACHINE METHODS ENVIRONMENT

PERSONNEL MEASUREMENT

- Bad connection (cellphone)

- Reference material

- Website information

- Direct mail information

- Email information