NEW: First High Impact Service Provider (HISP) Action Plans Released

In 2018, OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 guidance required the identified High Impact Service Providers (HISPs) to create an annual customer experience (CX) Action Plan. The CX CAP Goal team spent much of FY19 working with HISPs, providing direction and training to enable successful completion of the Plans. The HISPs were asked to fill out an Action Plan template which:

• Addressed their Self-Assessment for each of the five CX maturity dimensions covered in A-11, Section 280 (Measurement, Governance, Organization & Culture, Customer Research, and Service Design);
• Identified their top two focus areas for the upcoming year; and,
• Described their two planned actions and their relationship to actual example HISP customer profiles (personas).

Today, we released the Action Plans on Performance.gov’s new HISP Profile Pages, sharing each HISP’s progress and future plans with the public and increasing transparency and accountability for the Federal government’s most impactful service providers.

Several common themes were apparent among the submitted HISP Action Plans. HISPs predominantly decided to focus on the areas of Measurement (31%) and Customer Research (25%). Organization and Culture was chosen by 19%, with Governance and Service Design trailing at 12% each. Many HISPs cited a lack of resources including funding and staffing as potential barriers to growing their CX maturity. Hiring of human centered design (HCD) talent was another challenge and many are focusing on HCD training for current staff in the upcoming year. There are a significant number of HISPs planning to expand and refine their survey mechanisms, voice of the customer programs, and analytic activities. In this space, many cited support navigating the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) as a critical component of increasing maturity in the Measurement area.

HISPs will be working on a number of planned actions in the coming fiscal year. Some examples include:

• Consolidation of call centers, re-routing of phones, and streamlining processes (multiple)
• Implementation of customer experience surveys (multiple)
• Developing and/or updating journey maps and personas (multiple)
• Including CX in strategic planning activities and governance structure (multiple)
  • Establishing a Beneficiary Service Council (Interior/Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians)
• CX training for employees (multiple)
• Improving digital capabilities (multiple)
  • Improving website digital experience (Commerce/US Patent and Trademark Office)
  • IT investments using HCD (Health & Human Services/Health Insurance Marketplace)
  • Developing a claimant access portal to view case files (Labor/Office of Worker Compensation Programs)
  • Deploying online filing for forms (Homeland Security/US Citizenship and Immigration Services)
  • Improving the camping reservation process (Recreation.gov)
  • Consolidating websites into a single digital platform (Education/Federal Student Aid)
  • Modernizing online payment systems to give customers more options (Treasury/Internal Revenue Service)
• Developing CX and UX position descriptions (Health & Human Services/Medicare)
• Developing a CX operational dashboard and expanding the agency talent portal (Office of Personnel Management/Federal Employment Services)
• Streamlining the hearing process after benefits have been denied, eliminating backlogs (Social Security Administration)

Overall, the CX CAP Goal Team was impressed with the effort the HISPs exhibited during the Action Planning process and the thoughtfulness and quality of the results. The team will continue to work with the HISPs in the coming months to identify any barriers to implementation of the Plans. Progress will be tracked with the next HISP Action Plan update expected to be published in Spring 2020.