Date Published October 31, 2017 - Last Updated December 6, 2017
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was a finalist for the
HDI 2017 Service Improvement Award.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was founded in 1855. It was the first hospital in the US to focus exclusively on healthcare for children and has fostered numerous breakthroughs for pediatric medicine.
The CHOP Information Services Support Center Service Desk supports more than 18,000 employees plus patients and families on their own devices. The organization supports more than 96,000 devices and 800 applications. Eighteen service desk analysts provide support 24x7. In the past 12 months, the service desk has made 293,452 contacts.
What was the situation before the launch of the service improvement initiative?
The CHOP IS Support Center Service Desk improved internal operations using Six Sigma Lean processes and a continuous improvement framework. Before the Six Sigma Lean process introduction, there was no knowledge management outside of a document repository. First call response time was 53.88%. The average password call took 3–4 minutes, sometimes more than 12 minutes. One in three calls was for status update on an incident or request.
The service desk improved internal operations using Six Sigma Lean processes.
What was the improvement strategy?
The service desk wanted to improve operations to better meet client needs in a fast-paced children's healthcare environment. We aimed to better utilize the skills and abilities of service desk analysts, add and push adoption of self-service password management, and raise first call resolution to improve customer satisfaction and free up level 2 and 3 analysts for more critical and specialized work. Some of the activities to support the strategy include the following:
- Modified the self-service page for dual factor authentication to allow for password resets
- Expanded service portal to allow client visibility into work requested or needed by IS
- Formalized continuous improvement framework to support service desk team, including measures and timelines for projects
- Increased use of document repository
How was the success of this initiative defined? How has that success affected business objectives?
We achieved a modified goal to make the users more self-sufficient with a 30% reduction in password reset calls. We reduced time spent on status calls by 20%. We improved first call resolution by 10% over 12 months and improved utilization of the service desk team during downtime events.
Reducing the time spent on password calls is opening up more time to handle more complex issues and requests. The service desk has increased responsibilities to help improve the customer experience, enabled by the reduction in status call time and password resets.
HDI is the first professional association created for the service and support industry. Since its founding in 1989, HDI has remained the source for professional development by offering resources to promote organization-wide success through exceptional customer service. We do this by facilitating collaboration and networking, hosting acclaimed conferences and events, producing renowned publications and research, and certifying and training thousands of professionals each year. At 150,000 people strong, HDI is a community built by industry peers and leaders that gives its members the resources, knowledge, and drive to be great at what they do.