When to Survey? When INC "Resolved" or "Closed"?

[michaellshively]

Problem:

I need a little help here from the seasoned ITSM folks. One of my Execs is asking to change Surveys so they are sent out when the INC is RESOLVED instead of the current process which sends only when the INC is CLOSED.

I know the correct way to do this is at the time of being "closed" but I cannot think of many reasons why. Would anyone have some insight as to why you would not survey at "Resolved"

This is all I have!

1.a.) Because at "Resolved" the ticket workflow has not been completed yet. You should not survey someone for work which has technically not yet been completed.

1.b.) Would you survey the user again when the ticket is switched from Resolved to New and back to Resolved again? (this could happen any number of times)

1.c.) Would another survey be sent when the work has been completed (INC marked CLOSED)?

2.) Surveys are intended to assist in continuous improvement. Collecting the survey results before the work is completed would add dirty data to the "actual satisfaction" the end user experienced while using your INC Management processes.

3.) ?? I know there are better reasons !!!

Backstory:

The reason they are trying to force me to make this change is because prior to ServiceNow (we are new to the platform) we would "Close" an INC record without a step for "resolve and wait 3 days for auto-closure" (terrible process!). This meant the survey went out immediately. Immediately surveying a user means the issue is fresh in their mind and they care about the issue right now.... but in 3 days the user has moved on and does not care about the INC any longer so the likelihood if them filling out a survey drops. I believe this old method means that more users would complete a survey and provide "good" feedback. The new method eliminates much of the good feedback since unsatisfied customers would be more likely to fill out the survey. I believe their survey results were being used as a "cudos! Look how good your team is!" type of thing when the real focus should have been on "why are the customers unhappy?".

[Ivano B]

Hi Michael

In my humble opinion the reasons listed in your list are more than enough to stop any discussion.

End of the day you can't ask a survey for something that is not completed or properly executed (e.g. an incident is reopened).

You will collect a lot of partial or wrong info from the end users.

On the other hand I understand about the 3 days auto closure issue.

I don't think is a proper issue, in theory the attitude a user has of answering/not answering a survey is a matter of governance and employee 'education'.

If a company strive for excellence must invite users/customers to react properly, probably push them a little bit to provide their point of view when requested.

I understand that this is not easy..the human factor in these situations can be almost impossible to handle.

Now instead of sending out the survey when solved you can

• decide to send a reminder - if i'm not Servicenow follows this approach
• decide to decrease the day to wait before the auto closure (probably can't be done in case of specific contractual obligation)
• decide to introduce prices for people when they answer the survey (monthly raffle)

I hope this help

Cheers

[angeliccharm]

Hi Michael,

From a marketing standpoint, I think it would be best to test the new process desired and measure it against the process you have (or had before) that you feel works better. If both you and management can agree to test the new process versus making it permanent from the get-go, I think you will all feel more comfortable and can reassess in a few months to make a final decision.