No more queuing at Student Central
Students used to queue in front of stressed advisors, and complain about the student centre being understaffed. Today it’s a different story. Edith Cowan University has introduced a CFM system that enables students to wait outside or inside while watching TV. Management can get vital statistics that help them with resources and staff planning. And, perhaps most important, CFM is helping retain students to ensure future funding.
BACKGROUND
With 23,000 students Edith Cowan University is one of the largest institutions of higher education in Western Australia. Approximately 4,000 of the students are international scholars from over 90 countries. The university offers more than 400 courses through 4 faculties, runs a busy research facility and educates students at both undergraduate and post graduate levels.
The student service centre, Student Central, sees up to 400 students per day who come in to pay their fees, talk about career options, find out about their classes or how to change to another course. It is the main place for students to find information on the campus and to get assistance with their enrolment queries.
“We facilitate the students’ journey throughout their life here with us,” said Carmel Langdon, Student Central Manager. “We measure their feedback and we can see that the Qmatic system has shortened their perceived waiting times and improved the service we give them. Before the introduction of Qmatic, the feedback we got from students was always that we’re too busy and we need more staff. This year we haven’t heard that comment once.”
Why CFM?
With on average five members of staff dealing with all requests it was necessary to find a way to manage the queues and the flow of students in Student Central. With a move to a new building in 2008 the time was right to invest in Customer Flow Management (CFM).
“When researching CFM systems we identified that a large number of Australian institutions were already using the Qmatic CFM system, such as Medibank, ANZ Bank and Bankwest. As these institutions are well established and are dealing with large numbers of customers each day, we used this as a base to include Qmatic as one of the systems to be assessed,” Carmel said.
“Consequently we conducted web research of companies to evaluate the product and services on offer. The online information provided by Qmatic Australia was very informative which resulted in an initial meeting. At this meeting Qmatic provided a comprehensive and professional overview of the system. Sufficient technical information was provided to the IT department to alleviate any concerns staff may have had with the installation of a system not previously used at the university.”
HOW IT WORKS
A Qmatic customer service point is set up at the entrance to Student Central, with four service categories: enrolment; payments; recruitment and careers; and future students.
When students walk in they select the service they need, take a ticket and sit down in the waiting area where they can watch TV, use the computers or browse literature. They can also wait outside where there is a display showing waiting information to keep them informed of their place in the virtual queue. The outside loudspeaker informs students of the next ticket being called.
Typical benefits
“It’s a lot calmer for staff without a long queue in front of them,” said Carmel Langdon. “There’s less pressure on the advisors, as they can finish up the paperwork from one student before they call the next one.”
The supervisor can see how long the virtual queues are at any one time. Statistics provide information on the number of customers serviced, average waiting times, duration of transaction and number of staff available. Reports showing number of customers and daily workflows are produced weekly. The data is analysed to ensure adequate staff have been rostered to cover peak periods throughout the day.
“The CFM system helps us plan. Our busiest times are at the beginning of a semester, typically February and August. Other busy times are December and May when students can appeal after results. With the Qmatic system we now know what to expect and we can move staff around during busy times,” Carmel said.
“The statistical reports are used when applying for more resources. We can show that we need more staff, and when we show the waiting times we can prove that our customer service has improved.”
An alert function on Carmel’s screen beeps and shows a red light when the waiting time exceeds 10 minutes. As a result, she can immediately move staff to the busiest service counters to keep waiting times down.
Funding and student retention
Michelle Shuck, Senior Student Advisor (pictured below) said: “Customer service is important because our funding is based on number of students. We want to retain our students and Qmatic helps us achieve that. We have had students transferring to us because the service they get here is better than where they were before. In some cases they didn’t understand what they were supposed to do, they had to struggle to get through the enrolment and this would distract them from their studies.”
THE FUTURE
In order to further improve their service, Carmel and Michelle want to use more of the functions in Qmatic’s CFM system.
“We know that there is much more the system can do and we are looking at improving what Qmatic does for us,” said Carmel. “One thing we’d like to do is use student cards as swipe cards so we can identify them before we serve them. That way we will be able to give even better service. We would also like to refine our reports a bit more, to drill down to the statistics even more.”
Edith Cowan University use Qmatic’s Q-WIN system at their two largest campuses, Joondalup and Mount Lawley. In Joondalup there’s 1 Vision customer service point at the entrance, with 4 service categories. There’s a voice call forward function as well as 2 LED displays showing waiting information and tickets being called. 8 service stations are connected to the system and each has a call forward function and ability to see waiting times and open counters at all times. Other functions include the outdoor waiting area system and an alert function for the manager, preset to 10 minutes waiting time. Reports include average numbers of customers visiting, average waiting times, and service times.