To Peer Audit or Not to Peer Audit? There is no question! 

I recently taught a virtual HDI Support Center Manager (HDI-SCM) course with students literally from all over the world, including the United States, Canada, India, Austria, Germany, and China. It was truly a diverse, global group. The exchange of best practices, ideas, and strategies was an amazing learning experience for all. We found that, even with diverse industries, support channels, languages, and user/customer bases, we shared many similarities in our goals and objectives.

One of the most important concepts we examined throughout our course was continual service improvement. During our three days together, we discussed what practices are positively effecting each student’s organization. One of our students shared with us her practice of ticket quality auditing at the support center analyst level. Every, yes every, ticket in her support center is reviewed on a daily basis! Guess what? It is not a lead, supervisor, or even a manager who reviews each ticket. The quality audit is conducted by the support center analysts as part of a peer review process. Each analyst reviews tickets daily.

During the peer review process, each ticket is reviewed and audited using a template of standard criteria developed to determine a quality ticket. Each item in the template requires a simple yes or no answer, and a field at the bottom offers space for comments on any criteria that need feedback. This approach allows for quick completion of the form and a simplified feedback process. The analysts are able to audit efficiently and effectively.

Some of the criteria that are typically reviewed during the quality auditing process include:

• Are the required fields complete?
• Is the category completed and correctly identified?
• Do the case comments follow the standard operating procedure? Do they make sense?
• Was the appropriate workaround used and documented?
• Was a knowledge base article attached? Was it the correct article?
• Was a proper resolution description included?
• What overall feedback would you like to give?

This just gives an example of a few of the key factors that we can use to perform a quality audit. The benefits of implementing this type of program are increased awareness of ticket quality, consistent review and monitoring of all tickets, increased training, and coaching opportunities for the entire team. The ability to peer review, monitor, and mentor is ultimately a rewarding gift to the analyst and to the overall support center. So, to peer audit or not to peer audit? That is not the question, but the answer!

Fancy Mills has more than eighteen years of experience in training, recruiting, and workforce management in the technical support and call center industries. As a certified workforce manager, she has helped companies develop best practice staffing and workforce management processes. In addition, she has developed and facilitated customized training for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of presentation, communication, and time management skills. As an HDI Faculty Member since 2006, Fancy has certified thousands of support professionals, managers, directors, and corporate trainers around the world in virtual and classroom environments.