Before building two new one stop shops, managers at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council decided to call in Q-Matic’s consultancy division.
When planning the one stop shops at Blackburn and Darwen the human factor was one of the most important issues. "I was surprised at the level of reluctance actually, and I must say that Q-Matic handled it very well," said Miranda Carruthers-Watt, Assistant Director, Rights, Advice, & Entitlements (pictured).
"Some departments were challenging. We thought we had gone over all the changes and we had – at the senior level," she said. "Q-Matic helped us communicate this to the front line staff and it really helped having independent consultants to do this," she added.
Existing plans
When Q-Matic’s consultants looked at the site at Darwen Town Hall, they found that it needed less building work than the council had first thought. "It was useful to get empirical evidence that it worked. The best part was that the waiting space was good and we needed to do very little to improve that," Miranda said.
Customer volumes
Q-Matic also looked at the volumes of customers and found the optimum positions for booths, interview rooms and counters. They also helped with practical issues such as developing checklists and questionnaires for all stakeholders involved in the work including the environmental health team and planning team.
Benchmarking
"Q-Matic also helped us with very useful benchmarking information from other areas that we could measure against," Miranda said.
"We now have a very clear indication of how services – for example corporate complaints and electoral registration matters – can be dealt with and resolved on the spot," she said. "We can now focus our services on the customer rather than the customer having to go round and chase services," Miranda said. "We are meeting their needs and it is a much nicer environment. We are also seeing more customers with a better throughput," she said.
This is Planning
- The Planning phase of Q-Matic’s consultancy consists of identifying the processes and work packages which will turn strategy into a detailed plan.
- Knowledge management, staff training, process reengineering, technology updating, customer management and performance management are all important pieces of the puzzle.
- In addition, the layout of the facilities is considered and factors such as where to put the reception for best impact, safety, security and waiting areas are included