LTC 296-2005 Building Department Benchmarking & Customer Service Analysis
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MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
NO. LTC #296-2005
LETTER TO COMMISSlbN~-
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FROM:
Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager \,.' (;.~' 7".'c.--'
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November 30, 2005 ~)
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SUBJECT: BUILDING DEPARTMENT BENCHMARKING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
ANAL YSIS
The purpose of this l TC is to provide information regarding the recent benchmarking and
customer service analysis conducted for the City's Building Department. Attached is the
completed analysis by JRD & Associates, the consultant used for this project. The analysis
was comprised of a benchmarking study consisting of gathering and analyzing information
from local, state, and national buitding departments and a customer survey analysis, in
which a customer survey questionnaire was developed and deployed to solicit feedback
from the City's Building Department customers.
Summary of Flndlnas
Based on the benchmartdng figures, as well as the nature and complexity of construction in
the City, and the codes used to regulate the construdion, it appears that the City's Building
Department is consistent in its performance with the benchmarked municipalities. A
performance measure that is in need of immediate attention is customer satisfaction. JRD &
Associates believes that an overall satisfaction rate of 85%, well above the current 62%
(according to JRD's customer survey), is attainable.
The following are the benchmarked performance measures and the current baselines and
recc:>>mmendations for the Miami Beach Building Department from the study:
90-98% 95% 95%
7-22 da 17da 15 da s
15-30 da s 30 da s 28 da s
r 8.25-20 20 17
7-21 N/A* 12
58-97% 62% 85%
* Based on further analysis by the Building Department, it is estimated that the existing plans examiner is
reviewing approximately 31 plans per day. Follow up analysis is underway with JRD to understand why the City
of Miami Beach is so signlflcanUy above the recommended target. If the recommended target is substantiated,
additional plan review staff may be required.
· The consultant recommended that the Building Department should track, for
monitoring purposes, but not as a perfonnance target, inspection and rejection rates.
A target should not be placed on rejection rates because the quality of the
construction (resulting in inspections) and plans (resulting in plans review) depend
on the customer and not on the Department.
· The consultant also recommended that a performance measure be developed for
the time it takes the City (all departments involved in the permitting process, not just
Building) to issue a permit.
· One of the most prevalent feedback/concerns received from the customer survey
was the inability to contact City personnel via the telephone
In addition, the consultant recommended that the City should consider:
· Implementing a simplified fee schedule;
· Assessing the staffing levels at the front counter;
· Staggering lunch hours of front counter personnel to allow the front counter to
remain open longer hours;
· Providing an information counter that allows access the computer system to
check and track the status of permits, plans, and inspections, and can be
assigned to filter customer service calls;
· Enhancing its education efforts on the permitting process to the public; and
· Determining the validity and addressing some general concerns with the process.
The Department recognizes that customer accessibility to Building Department personnel is
a valid concern; however, the nature of the business makes it difficult for all staff to be fully
responsive to telephone calls as a main medium of communication. Staff time is typically
devoted to serving customers in the field, in-person at the departments permit counter, or at
the plans review stations. In order to partially address this concern.. the department has
added a clerical position to provide dedicated staff to answer the department's general
phone line. Once the poSition is filled the person will respond to general information
requests, but calls with specific and technical questions are still required to be routed to the
specific disciplines' voice mail boxes. Building Department personnel are provided email
addresses and customers are encouraged to contact them via email. The City will further
initiate an advisory campaign to guide customers as to the hours for availability of staff to be
reached via phone and more effective ways of communication with the staff.
Additional ActIvities COMDIeted
In addition to the Building Department benchmarking and customer analysis, other
activities/projects have been conducted to address performance and customer service
issues. These activities include:
· A Building Department workloadlworkforce analysis was conducted, by the Office of
Budget and Performance Improvement (OBPI), to evaluate staffing levels to improve
performance and customer service. As a result of the analysis by OSPI, adjustments
were made to staffing levels mid-year FY 2004/05 induding the addition of 8
positions.
· An analysis was conducted of the City's infonnation technology systems related to
the permitting, inspection, and licensing functions of the City. The objective of the
analysis was to identify the issues and opportunities for improvement in regards to
technology. This has been incorporated into a large industry review that also looks
at related software requirements for Code Compliance, Planning, and Fire
Inspections.
A~itional ActIvities Underway
With assistance from the Office of Budget and Perfonnance Improvement (OBPI), the
Building Department is currently planning a departmental leadership retreat. The objective of
the retreat Is to continue to transform the culture of the department in accordance with the
City's Strategic Plan: making the city more business friendly; improving processes through
information technology; expanding hours and service through e-govemment; and overall,
increasing community satisfaction with City services. The retreat was originally scheduled
for mid-November, but was postponed until January 2006 due to the recovery efforts
resulting from Hurricane Wilma.
tn addition to tracking rejection rates which by themselves can sometimes be misleading, the
Department and OaPI are working to create a method of tracking the number of new items
identified in inspections that were not found in plan reviews as well as the number of new
items identified in second or subsequent inspections, but not in the first inspection.
However, tracking this data will require computer enhancements.
Conclusion
While the Department has made much progress and is at the high end of some
benchmarks, additional improvement is still needed in the area of customer service, rejection
rates, and plans reviewed per inspector. The Department is working on these items but
some will require time to address.
If you have any questions or need any additional infonnation, please feel free to contact me.
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F:\obpi\$ORG oev & PERF IMP\Performance Improvement\Building Study ~ 2005\1.. TC\Building Anatysis LTC 112805 jrng.doc