The SQBOK Framework

Collapse All | Expand All

Key Service Quality Concepts

• Customer and market focus
  • Stakeholder identification
    • Client/customer/end user/internal customer

      In service, "customer" can have several meanings. Identifying all stakeholders is essential so that the needs of all can be met. No customer is more important than any other. For effective service quality, all stakeholders are important.

  • Requirements and wants analysis
    • Challenges

      Customers rarely provide specific requirements to a service provider. Service suppliers often must reach out to understand what customers want.

    • Market research

      Traditional market research is focused on learning customer expectations and desires and on assessment of current product value. This can be an important input to service design.

    • Behavioral science

      Behavioral science helps to identify interactional "wants," an important factor in the delivery of many services.

    • Competitive market assessments

      Critically comparing one's own service with what is provided by others is another way to identify opportunities to better meet customer needs.

  • Relationship management
    • Customer relationship management (process, entity)

      As services are often based on personal relationships, tracking who customers are and what interactions have occurred is important.

    • Outreach and education

      Reaching out to customers supports service awareness, and the education of service users is an important part of service delivery.

    • Building and maintaining trust

      For continued success, focusing beyond an individual transaction and toward customer retention is important. Retention is often built on relationships and trust.

    • Feedback

      To effectively maintain a customer relationship, feedback helps confirm that the customer is satisfied with the service and the relationship.

• Employee focus
  • Staffing for service
    • Service traits (soft skills, empathy, etc.)

      Due to the interactive nature of many employed in service, factors such as communication skills share importance with experience.

    • Service trait identification

      When creating job descriptions, identifying the traits that improve success in service delivery is valuable.

    • Succession planning

      Though not unique to service, having succession plans aids in service continuity. As service can be built around relationships, this is an influential factor in retention.

  • Equip employees
    • Service-conducive environment

      A service-conducive environment makes it easy for employees to help their customers.

    • Job definition (authority, role, responsibilities)

      Job descriptions are important anywhere. In many service industries, they provide important boundaries for customer interaction. Focusing on roles versus responsibilities can improve service.

    • Skill development (conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, soft skills, etc.)

      Skill development in service often includes technical skills, service/product understanding, and interaction skills.

    • References (people, tools, focus on immediate availability)

      Speed is a key service attribute. Employees need tools and references to react promptly to any situation. These can be tools such as a knowledge management system, work instructions, or people references.

    • Code of conduct/ethics/social responsibility

      Service employees, especially those who interact directly with customers, should know what is expected.

    • Diversity (relating to different cultures, values, ideas)

      Employees who interact with customers should understand and appreciate diversity and be ready to serve without bias those who may think, act, or look differently.

  • Employee/team performance management
    • Knowledge, experience, skills, aptitude, attitude (KESAA)

      This model focuses on job skills match, company fit, and task fit.

    • Four stages of competence

      This model focuses on taking people from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

    • Competency evaluation

      Service employees need regular feedback focusing on their ability to deliver the service and achieve customer satisfaction.

    • Customer feedback

      Customer feedback reflects team success and can often be related to individual performance. Understanding of skew to extremes is required, as is a holistic approach as much as reaction to one piece of feedback.

    • Performance monitoring

      Observation is often required to monitor performance. In some cases this may require shadowing, whereas in some industries monitoring the process while remaining invisible to the customer is possible.

    • Goals/objectives

      Perhaps the biggest factor in driving employee performance is setting meaningful, attainable, and measurable goals and then tracking progress. To promote service quality, the goals should be linked to customer benefits. Incentives should relate to achievement of goals.

  • Employee engagement and retention
    • Cost of replacement (rehiring, retraining, etc.)

      Management should be aware of the cost to replace employees, as it generally exceeds the cost of helping an existing employee to be successful.

    • Motivational theory (MacGregor, Herzberg, etc.)

      There are many motivational theories that can be applied successfully in service.

    • Motivation techniques

      Service requires employees to give constantly. Rewards, recognition, incentives, and other motivational tools allow employees to get back.

    • Teamwork

      Services are often delivered by teams. In such cases, focusing on the team over the individual can improve service quality and improve a sense of belonging for employees.

    • Empowerment

      In service, empowerment often has direct bearing on both the customer experience and employee morale; without it, employees can fail to serve.

    • Professional development

      Professional development can make employees feel valued and prepare them to take on greater responsibilities.

    • Employee satisfaction assessment

      Assessments can measure two key factors: satisfaction and engagement. Regular assessments allow more effective management of service employees.

    • Employee feedback

      Whereas satisfaction assessments occur at intervals, employee feedback mechanisms allow employees to have their voices heard at all times. An evaluation and response process is important. The key significance in service is the front-line nature of many service employees.

• Communication
  • Significance in service

    Services often rely on communication for delivery, making this perhaps the most important service factor. Service quality practitioners should have a deep understanding of communication models and stakeholder communication needs.

  • Communication theory
    • Communication theory framework

      A basic communication model consists of sender, receiver, media, message, and filters/noise.

    • Non-verbal communication

      For services requiring direct customer interaction, non-verbal communication (eye contact, appearance, posture) is often as important as verbal.

    • Cultural considerations (unintended, cues, appearance, wording)

      Communication is not universal, meaning that the same words or gestures may have different meanings for different receivers. Service employees should be aware of these differences.

  • Communication planning
    • Organizational communication

      Communication has both an individual and an organizational component. Organizational communication is generally managed and monitored.

    • Internal (sharing wins, importance of work, motivation, etc.) and external (branding, etc.)

      Internal and external communication both require planning, understanding that the messages may differ and the media may be more formal for external communication than for internal communication.

    • Audience and frequency

      A key part of communication planning is to identify audiences and their communication needs, and then match the frequency to those needs. Regular communication supports visibility and transparency.

    • Social media

      An emerging area of communication is the impact of social media tools. Communication plans should review these tools to determine how to best leverage their ability to reach many people with minimal effort.

    • Media protocols and etiquette

      Media protocols and etiquette are important not only for formal organizational communication, but also for all employees who communicate directly with customers.

• Service delivery
  • Transactional service
    • Core delivery process (connection, understanding, decision, delivery, confirmation)

      Transactional services tend to follow a basic process of engaging the customer, gaining understanding of the customer's needs, determining how best to meet those needs, delivering the appropriate service, and confirming that the customer's needs have been met.

    • Moments of truth

      The point of delivery is often referred to as a moment of truth, where the customer compares perception to expectations to judge service quality. Focusing on the impression left at a moment of truth can be an effective model to promote quality.

    • Escalations

      A potential process in service delivery is escalation, where the customer is transferred to another service employee with greater authority. Like all other service processes, this should be managed.

    • Complaint handling

      Another potential process is the handling of complaints. A managed process for capturing and responding to complaints can reduce or reverse a negative perception.

    • Service recovery

      Often related to complaints, service recovery is the process of responding to substandard service delivery. This process can reduce or reverse a negative perception.

    • Sourcing

      A process consideration is whether to perform the service or outsource it. When outsourcing services, the customer impact can be much higher than in manufacturing.

    • Process visibility (delivery confirmation)

      Since processes may be delivered without the exchange of anything tangible, customers may not be able to verify that a service has actually been delivered. Providing visible confirmation of service delivery is an important factor in creating a favorable customer perception.

  • Non-transactional service
    • Service visibility

      Services that are not transactional in nature often remain invisible to the customer except when they are not present (consider utilities, for example). Providing visibility and transparency into service provision on a regular basis can prevent exception-based perceptions.

    • Service reliability

      A key attribute of continual, non-transactional services is reliability. The service should be present and available when expected.

    • Service renewal and improvement

      Stagnant services slowly decrease in quality as expectations rise over time. Therefore, service renewal and improvement is important to maintain quality. This must be balanced against availability for continuous services.

  • Internal service
    • Benefits of internal service focus

      Many to most of the actions performed by employees amount to internal services — actions taken to benefit other employees. Treating coworkers as customers can bring gains in motivation, teamwork, productivity, and quality, and breeding a culture of service.

    • Recognition/types of internal services

      To manage internal services, one must first identify what they are: what the service is, who is responsible, and who is the customer. Internal services may be indirect support functions like payroll, or even direct support such as material handling.

    • Assessment and improvement

      The management of internal services is aided by qualitative and quantitative assessments of effectiveness and related improvement actions.

Service Quality Management

• Leadership
  • Service vision and mission

    Service can be incorporated into an organization's overall mission and vision. Otherwise, creating a separate vision and mission for service is recommended.

  • Culture definition and development
    • Core values

      Ideally, service is incorporated into an organization's core values — reflecting what is important to an organization. Core values should be reinforced with positive examples.

    • Social responsibility

      The external community and society as a whole are also service stakeholders. The organization should uphold its social responsibility.

    • Ethical and legal behavior

      Organizations are bound by legal and ethical considerations. Services must be included.

    • Customer experience standards

      By effectively communicating expectations of service delivery as customer outcomes, a leader places focus on customer satisfaction. These standards should be reinforced.

  • Leadership commitment
    • Conscious, demonstrated commitment among leaders and managers

      Service quality cannot be led by a quality department. Organizational leaders should visibly show their support to service quality to reinforce its importance.

    • Demonstrating commitment — supervisory and non-supervisory roles

      Immediate supervisors have the biggest impact on employee perception of commitment to service quality, as they are the most visible.

    • Modeling behavior

      People emulate their leaders, so modeling of desired behaviors is effective in creating a service culture. This may require conscious effort, as behaviors must be witnessed in order to be effective.

• Strategic development and deployment
  • Customer identification
    • Ideal customer

      The ideal customer is effectively the primary audience for a service offering. Focusing on the ideal customer promotes effective targeting of outreach and awareness efforts.

    • Competitive analysis

      The relative likelihood of gaining a customer can be determined by comparing one's service to the competition.

    • Wallet share (or share of wallet)

      Organizations may focus on improving the amount of revenue from existing customers by offering complimentary services.

    • Non-paying customers

      Many services are provided free of charge, especially by not-for-profit groups, by the government, or internally. Customer identification in these cases generally focuses on the primary beneficiary of the service.

    • Clients and customers

      Services are often purchased by one entity for the benefit of another. In these cases, planning requires focusing on benefits to both the client (purchaser) and the customers (end users).

  • Customer segmentation/portfolio management

    Different customers demand different services. Customer segmentation deals with the grouping of customers so that service offerings can be optimized for one grouping or segment. Portfolio management is about managing all service offerings — developing new and improved services to better meet needs, refreshing services, or retiring services that are no longer effective.

  • Service value proposition
    • Service differentiation

      A service value proposition is the expected value a customer will receive from purchase or use of a service. Differentiation is the process of focusing on the creation of real or perceived differences between one's services and those of the competition in hopes of gaining greater market share.

  • Service strategies
    • Accepted service strategies, or define service strategy

      Service can be a strategy in itself, or it can be incorporated into other strategies.

    • Net Promoter strategy

      The Net Promoter method of creating more promoters and fewer detractors can lead to its own strategy.

    • Strategic alignment of service (to overall/business case)

      When service is not the primary product, relating service to the overall business strategy is important.

    • Customized service modeling (including service flow)

      Service modeling and tailoring can be incorporated in service strategy to appeal to customers with specific needs.

    • Capability modeling

      Capability modeling reaches beyond business process modeling to link all resources (people, tools, processes) to outcomes. This method can be effective in defining specific service strategies.

    • Partnering/strategic alliances

      The decision whether to partner or go alone is an important strategy consideration. Partners often offer qualification, reputation, or cost savings while adding management burden and communication complexity.

    • Service contracts

      Service contracts are regularly used for continual and ongoing services to scope the duration of service and the expected performance level. Contracts may also be used in transactional services. Types of contracts include fixed price (lump sum or fixed rate) and cost reimbursement.

    • Warranties, guaranties, service level agreements

      Warranties, guarantees, and service level agreements are strategy considerations meant to build confidence in services.

  • Loyalty/retention plan
    • Customer feedback plan

      The loyalty or retention plan can be an effective means to ensure adequate focus is placed on keeping current customers. This plan may include incentives, customer feedback mechanisms, and the means of assessment.

• Service management systems
  • Service models
    • General service/quality models (TQS, SERVQUAL, CMMI Service, Baldrige, tailored ISO)

      There are several service-specific delivery models, and common quality frameworks can be adapted to fit service.

    • Industry-specific service models (COPC, ITIL, COBIT)

      Certain service industries have developed service models that pertain specifically to them.

    • Systems thinking

      Independent of any specific service model, systems thinking is an effective way of providing a holistic focus on service design.

  • General service requirements and constraints
    • General requirements, regulations, and standards

      Service planning should include a review of laws and any other constraints that would apply to all customers.

    • Industry-specific requirements, regulations, and standards

      Many industries have specific requirements and regulations that must be considered.

  • Customer value identification
    • Requirements gathering methods

      Customer needs and wants are collectively referred to as requirements. Service requirements can be provided up front by customers seeking services, sought out by service providers, or inferred through completive analysis or purchasing trends. The gathering of requirements will vary greatly by service industry.

    • Market analysis

      Market analysis is a general term referring to efforts made to understand customer purchasing behavior. This, in turn, yields what is important to customers.

    • Service standards/service level agreements (SLAs)

      Service standards and service level agreements (SLAs) capture expected levels of performance. In some industries, customers often provide these standards.

  • Delivery system planning
    • Organization structure definition and management

      Part of service design is creating an organization responsible for the components of delivery. Aligning roles to customer needs is an important service consideration.

    • Delivery procedure planning and deployment

      The method of service delivery is planned, captured, and communicated to create a consistent process.

    • Lean principles

      Lean focuses on the elimination of waste. The application of lean principles to service can boost efficiency and speed.

    • Queuing theory

      The efficient use of service resources generally requires queuing (waiting in line). Queuing theory can be used to maximize resource efficiency while minimizing customer wait time.

    • Control versus autonomy determinations

      A consideration in service planning is the balance between process control and employee autonomy. Process control promotes greater consistency and reliability in delivery; autonomy allows greater adaptability to specific customer needs.

    • Teams (types)

      Because services are often delivered by teams, service quality practitioners should know the various types of teams, along with their advantages and disadvantages, so that delivery is effective.

  • Quality system planning
    • Corporate policy development and deployment

      Several types of customer-facing policies, such as termination of service policies and refund policies, may be applicable depending on industry.

    • Quality manual

      Just as in manufacturing, a quality manual captures the processes, organization, and tools used to ensure service quality.

    • Service standards/service level agreements (SLAs)/metric plan

      The service provider may wish to establish performance metrics and standards to communicate and confirm the expected level of service when it is not provided by the customer. This also serves as the basis for continual improvement.

    • Management procedure development and deployment

      Quality manuals are supported by procedures that capture how services are planned, monitored, controlled, and improved.

• Process management
  • Quality assurance
    • Process adherence

      One aspect of quality assurance is confirmation of process adherence. Process compliance is especially important when the process itself is a requirement.

    • Process capability

      One aspect of quality assurance is assessment of process capability. In general, processes are only as good as the results they produce. Quality assurance measures the process against results to identify process improvement opportunities.

  • Supplier management
    • Supplier qualification

      Before an outsourcing agreement is made, vendors are often required to demonstrate capability. Proven vendors are generally tracked in a list of qualified suppliers.

    • Supplier evaluation

      It is wise to assess the value (quality and price) of outsourced services regularly. These evaluations may result in corrective actions and are generally kept on file.

    • Supplier corrective actions

      Any corrective actions that result from a supplier evaluation or incident should be tracked and verified as completed.

    • Contracts management

      Contracts are not set in stone and should evolve over time to adjust to the changing needs of customers. A contract management process should be in place to keep any contract reflective of customer needs and actual services provided. Failure to manage contracts can create disconnects between expectations and actuality.

  • Risk management

    The risk management process links directly to quality, as risks regarding safety, security, and reliability, for instance, often have direct impact on service delivery. A process for risk evaluation, prioritization, and management should be maintained.

  • Process reviews/auditing
    • Internal versus external

      Internal reviews performed by the organization have the benefits of timeliness, lower costs, and ease of understanding. External reviews provide greater objectivity and may be required in some cases.

    • Organizational performance reviews

      Organizational performance reviews are a holistic approach to assessing success areas and opportunities for improvement, focusing on strategic objectives and goals.

    • Quality system reviews

      Quality system reviews are generally conducted annually or semi-annually to assess the effectiveness of the quality system in achieving performance goals and standards. Frequency may increase or decrease based on demonstrated compliance.

    • Compliance auditing

      Compliance audits or reviews are comparisons of actual activities to process standards. These may be internal reviews or external reviews.

    • Policy/procedure

      Process compliance audits can vary by depth, focusing on objectives, policies, or procedures. Audits with greater depth place more focus on process control while audits that focus primarily on objectives may be more effective in determining process capability.

  • Continual improvement
    • Corrective and preventive action

      Service processes may be continually improved through corrective and preventative actions. Defined processes are often followed to track these changes.

    • Problem solving

      A reoccurring incident is referred to as a problem. Problems are solved by reviewing the commonality between incidents, identifying root causes, taking corrective actions, and verifying the effectiveness. Other problem-solving models also exist.

    • Improvement projects

      Improvement projects, including Six Sigma projects, involve application of a structured methodology to solve problems. Projects place increased organizational focus on problems and are generally more effective and carry greater cost than other problem-solving approaches. Conducting a cost-benefit analysis and alignment check is suggested before launching a project.

    • Change management (including configuration management)

      Change management refers to the structured process of making changes to services, processes, or service process assets. This process is especially important in areas such as information technology (IT) services where complex systems are used to deliver the service. Change management generally involves the evaluation of a change, approval of a change by an authority, implementation of change, and confirmation that the change has occurred.

    • Innovation

      Innovations are breakthrough improvements to services coming from new ideas, means of delivery, or capabilities. Innovations are often fostered versus planned by creating a culture where opportunities are conceived and evaluated as a team.

• Measurement and analysis
  • Measurement methods
    • Observation

      One way to evaluate service effectiveness is through direct observation, which has the advantage of gathering the most information and being the most timely. However, in many cases the observer can influence the process. Remote monitoring is possible for some services and may simulate a level of observation without influence.

    • Artifact

      Processes yield artifacts, or process records, such as service tickets. Artifacts may be used after the service is performed to assess service performance. Artifacts provide process inferences that may not be visible through direct observation, and they can be more cost effective.

    • Automated

      Automated monitoring is not possible for most services but is very important for continual services. An important consideration to automated monitoring is the response to an exception.

    • Customer

      Customer feedback may be used to assess process effectiveness and has the advantage of most truly reflecting customer requirements. Customer feedback is generally skewed both positively and negatively, making an accurate snapshot of performance difficult; however, trends tend to accurately reflect performance changes.

    • Qualitative or exception-based

      Qualitative assessments are very common in service industries, as quantifying performance can be difficult. Examples of qualitative measures include yes/no and Likert scale. Another type of qualitative measure is exception-based, meaning that only negative events are tracked.

    • Quantitative

      Quantitative metrics are generally more effective than qualitative metrics, though their applicability in service may be more limited. When possible, quantitative metrics should be substituted for qualitative because they are less subjective.

  • Internal measurements
    • Measurement analysis

      The evaluation of measurement effectiveness is called measurement analysis. Factors like reliability and repeatability help determine the accuracy and precision of measures. In service, this is especially useful for transaction monitoring.

    • Calibration

      In manufacturing, calibration generally applies to equipment. In service, calibration most often applies to people assigned to evaluate services. A calibration process helps to maintain measurement precision.

    • Cost of quality (COQ)

      Cost of quality (COQ) is just as effective in service as in manufacturing, and it is possible to track prevention and appraisal in the same manner. As services are often delivered in a transaction, the distinction between internal and external failures may not be applicable. Failure costs may include refunds as well as service recovery efforts.

    • Sampling

      Sampling is an important consideration for most service quality practitioners, as most services cannot be monitored through automated means. Sampling risk and error should be considered when determining a sampling plan.

  • Customer measurements
    • Customer feedback sources

      Formal methods of capturing customer feedback include surveys, forums, focus groups, and complaint forms. Informally, feedback can often be gathered at the point of delivery. Feedback can include assessments as well as suggestions.

    • Criticism

      Customer criticism (complaints or compliments) offers a valuable source of service improvement opportunity information. Complaints are generally tracked along with corrective action. Over time, criticism can be used to identify problems and success areas that should be maintained. Criticism can also be used to assess individual performance in many cases.

    • Formal customer surveys

      Many organizations choose to execute formal surveys, such as those provided by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), to capture customer viewpoints, loyalty, and improvement opportunities.

    • Customer lifetime value

      Customer lifetime value is an approach that emphasizes long-term customer relationships and the potential value of retention. This can be especially relevant in service industries where retention is built around relationships.

  • Analysis
    • Root cause

      Root cause analysis is an effort to identify the source of an issue or problem. The identification of the root cause allows for the problem to be solved and prevented in the future.

    • Process versus individual

      The process can be difficult to differentiate from the individual in many service processes, and service quality practitioners run the risk of focusing on the individual versus the actions (process) of the individual. Focusing on the "what" instead of the "who" is necessary for process improvement and keeps morale high.

    • Design of experiments (DOE)

      Design of experiments (DOE) can be applied in services, although qualitative data is sometimes necessary for responses. The repeatability of an event is an important consideration before attempting any experiment.

    • Statistical process control (SPC)

      Statistical process control (SPC) may be applied to many services, though the presence of multiple sources of human variability can limit effectiveness in some cases.

• Information management
  • Information sources
    • Customer

      To manage information, identification is the first step. The customer is a common source of managed information, from requirements to feedback.

    • Internal (performance information, processes, plans)

      There are numerous potential internal sources of information. Managing information requires a level of review of what is important and to whom.

  • Customer relationship/information management
    • Accessibility, reliability

      Success of information management is measured by the accessibility/availability, as well as the accuracy/reliability, of the content.

    • Tools

      Tools are available to manage information and access to it. Some tools are designed to manage customer relations; others are designed to manage the information used to support services.

    • Personally identifiable information (PII)

      When managing customer information, careful considerations should be made to protect personally identifiable information (PII). Leaks represent major performance failures. Employees who have access to PII should be trained on the potential consequences of not protecting customer privacy.

  • Reporting
    • Visibility

      Reporting is often a stakeholder's means of gaining visibility into performance. Reporting needs can therefore be specific to individual stakeholders and their roles.

    • Types of reporting

      As reporting needs are determined, considerations should be made to how the information will be used. A variety of report types (scorecard, dashboard, exception report, etc.) will allow information to be displayed in ways that promote desired decisions and actions.

    • Balanced scorecard

      A service balanced scorecard can include traditional categories of financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth. Internal process performance in service often focuses on efficiency, which can also be a customer measure.

  • Information security
    • Key attributes

      Information security is focused on confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility. Standards exist that recommend controls to protect these attributes.

    • Encryption

      A common process to maintain information security is encrypting sensitive data within computer systems.

  • Knowledge management

    Part of being a learning organization is capturing lessons learned and using available information for continual improvement. Any knowledge management process should be ready for change.

• Environment and infrastructure
  • Facility
    • Design for productivity, safety (ergonomics)

      Productivity and safety are both cost and quality considerations in most services, as availability and speed directly impact service. Design considerations such as ergonomics help to promote both.

    • Design for collaboration

      Collaboration is an important factor for promoting teamwork. Facility design should include collaboration considerations, from meeting areas to break areas.

    • Worker-friendly environments

      Motivated employees provide better service, and a worker-friendly environment helps to increase motivation. An environment that allows a sense of community and comfort and limits any strenuous activity is generally worker-friendly.

    • Business continuity planning

      As reliability of service is a key attribute, business continuity planning is an important planning consideration. Business continuity planning refers to redundant or response measures in place to limit the impact of incidents on continuous or ongoing services. The plan should be regularly tested.

  • Tools/equipment
    • Impact of tools on productivity and motivation

      Tools that promote efficiency increase both productivity and service quality, as speed is an important service attribute. Lack of effective tools can decrease motivation from not being able to deliver quality service.

    • Standardization

      When tools are used to deliver service, consistency of the tools allows greater consistency in service delivery. This also allows greater employee flexibility of movement, an especially important consideration when services are delivered from multiple locations.

    • Tool-driven versus service-driven processes

      Some tools are designed in ways that force a change in process in order to use them. Before purchasing such tools, considerations should be made regarding whether increased effectiveness is worth any limitations of flexibility caused by their use.

Supporting Materials for Practitioners  

Recommended tools (XLS, 6MB)    

Recommended resources aligned to SQBOK categories

Levels of mastery for SQBOK topics (XLS, 315 KB) 

SQBOK Home