CCO - RIDs Document~1.docx

MASSACHUSETTS BAY

TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY

CONTACT CENTER OPERATIONS:

THE MBTA CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL CENTER

RFR. No: 16-18

MASSACHUSETTS BAY RFR. [No.] TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY Section C-III: Scope of Work

Reference Information Documents (RIDS)

Scope of Work Table of Contents

RID 1 – PROCESS MAP

RID 2 – INFORMATION REGARDING MBTA AND CURRENT PROVIDER CONTACT CENTER

TECHNOLOGY AND EQUIPMENT CURRENTLY UTILIZED BY MBTA CUSTOMER CALL CENTER

MBTA and GCS currently utilize an Avaya voice over IP (VOIP) system. The Avaya system also includes the Automated Call Directory (ACD). The ACD is used to manage the phone tree which allows the Customer Call Center to automatically triage calls. An interactive voice response (IVR) for real-time service alerts was installed as a part of Winter Resiliency work in November 2015 to automate service alerts for commuter rail, subway, ferry, and bus lines. Also, as of late 2015, the Call Center has remote capacity for at-home work so that a full staff can assist customers during severe weather and emergency events.

Currently, the Customer Call Center ACD is able to route calls to an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) for Service Alerts, the Charlie Card store, the Keolis (Commuter Rail) Call Center, and MBTA’s paratransit service ‘The RIDE’. Continuing to properly route calls for quick resolution is important to MBTA. See current call tree.

MBTA currently uses a text-to-speech IVR system for service alerts. Installed in November 2015 as a part of Winter Resiliency work, it is intended to be able to automatically provide alerts to MBTA customers. This is particularly important during times of service disruption due to high call volume, during closed hours of the MBTA Call Center, and during periods when the Call Center is unable to be fully staffed.

current call tree Call in numbers: 1-800-392-6100 OR 617-222-3200

The MBTA has developed, but not yet installed a revised call tree:

HEAT SOFTWARE SYSTEM upgrade All calls, emails, web forms, and other contacts to the MBTA Call Center are logged or imported into the MBTA’s HEAT software system. This system is used to generate entries for each incident, whether or not they require follow-up. The Call Center ensures that the information is correctly logged for each incident. Each incident is given a unique identification number. Incidents requiring follow-up are assigned to the department that is capable of resolving the issue. The Customer Communications Department monitors that the complaint is resolved by the department using the HEAT software system. Once resolved, the Call Center communicates resolution to the customer.

The HEAT software system records individual customers’ information, which allows the Call Center to track who is calling into the system on an ongoing basis. Using a customer’s profile, HEAT is able to locate all of the incident identification numbers associated with that customer and find previous contacts that the customer has made. With this capability, the Call Center can communicate the status of existing complaints to customers who enquire.

The HEAT software system is also used to communicate to representatives in the Call Center to tell them about service updates they are likely to be asked about by MBTA customers. Contractor shall communicate clearly and timely ongoing service updates to customer service representatives. The HEAT software system is also used to produce reports based on this information. The Customer Communications Department uses these reports to monitor customer service and react to any upticks in comments or complaints about certain parts of the system. HEAT’s reporting capabilities are core to the department and important for the MBTA to improve overall service.

HEAT Software Helpdesk software, called Incident Reporting Information System (IRIS) at the MBTA, has been in use since 2008. Two different departments in the MBTA depend on IRIS. Customer Communications (CC) uses IRIS at the MBTA Call Center to track calls from the riding public. Calls are triaged, assigned to other departments to resolve, and followed up, all via IRIS. Additionally, comments and complaints entered on the MBTA web site are automatically uploaded into IRIS for CC to answer. CC was using IRIS seven days a week with extended business hours on weekdays; hours recently reduced to five days per week. The Operations Control Center (OCC) uses IRIS to track internal calls from MBTA transportation personnel. In addition to failures in service and delays, many items tracked are safety-related data points such as keeping tabs on personnel on the subway right-of-way. The OCC depends on IRIS 24/7.

The HEAT system was most recently upgraded in 2017 to HEAT Service Management, v2016.1. Benefits of the new version include (1) changes requested by CC or OCC can be added easily; (2) utilizing the upgrade window to improve current practices; (3) the new version is browser based, eliminating the need to put an icon on every pc; (4) compliance with server and software end-of-support issues.

The following are screen shots of HEAT:

DATA ENTRY

In order for MBTA to provide high quality service to customers, MBTA relies on high quality data to effectively measure performance, respond to service issues, and resolve customer complaints. The MBTA targets that 100% of incidents coming into the contact center in which any information is exchanged between caller and customer service representative be recorded and classified into an information system. Proper recording of data will be a key Service Level Agreement and will incur penalties for improper data input. MBTA seeks to reduce follow-up on any individual complaint with Respondent’s contact center representatives, and instead have digital communications suffice. MBTA is currently using HEAT for these data-input purposes

VOLUME EXPECTATIONS

MBTA expects that the contact center will respond to all call and emails and resolve as many of these as quickly as possible. Each incident should be entered into an information system and properly classified. For complaints which require the involvement of MBTA, contact center will work with internal MBTA Complaint Resolution Department to ensure that systems properly route all complaints to appropriate departments. Following are call and email volume for calendar years 2016-2017 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2017):

FY2016

FY2017

FY2018

142,619

5,350

4%

1:57

0:12

30,951

In addition to the contact center, the RIDE receives annually, an approximate 14,000 calls.

Major service disruptions could cause a serious hardship on Respondent to adequately respond to MBTA customers’ information requests. There will be occasions where an instant backup contact center group will be needed to support increased volume.

Performance management review The MBTA has contracted am independent third party vendor to administer this program on behalf of MBTA. Quality Reviewers will conduct multiple tests of various forms of communication the call center provides.

For each phone call, Quality Reviewers will rate the performance of the Customer Service Representative based on a predetermined set of criteria developed by MBTA. The rating criteria will be consolidated into a call scoring report. The call scoring report template will be provided to the contact center vendor upon awarding of contract. Completed Quality Reviewers scoring reports will be provided to the contact center vendor on a monthly basis.

Quality Reviewers will also use calls to measure whether or not Customer Service Representatives are properly inputting data into the information system used by the Respondent. This will be included in the call scoring report.

Quality Reviewers scores will be among the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) by which contact center performance will be rated as discussed in Appendix E. Minimum Secret Shopper performance levels will be established by MBTA prior to awarding of contract.

Contact center services in languages other than english In 2016, the MBTA Customer Call Center received 8,500 non-English calls, over 8,200 of which were in Spanish (out of a total 336,000 calls). See Appendix D for a list of languages and the population of those languages with limited English proficiency.

Current provider currently uses Language Line for its call center, as well as MBTA’s Police Dispatch and The RIDE dispatching services. This or equivalent services (if Respondent does not have language capabilities in-house), would be considered sufficient to fulfill our Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requirements other than English and Spanish.

The MBTA is committed to providing meaningful access to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons via oral and electronic (website) channels. The MBTA will focus on enhanced language access for speakers of Spanish, who are the majority of LEP persons with whom the MBTA comes into contact. The MBTA will also continue its efforts to enhance its language services to the speakers of Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Haitian French Creole, and Vietnamese, who account for significant concentrations of LEP persons in the MBTA service area. The MBTA will provide language assistance upon request for all languages.

Data from the 2007–2011 five-year American Community Survey (ACS) were used to analyze the number of LEP (Limited English Proficiency) persons living in the MBTA service area. The total LEP population in the MBTA service area is 440,534 people, which is the sum of the LEP populations of all census tracts in the MBTA service area, including all languages, or approximately 9.67 percent of the total population above the age of five. The largest single group of LEP persons is composed of Spanish speakers, which represent 38.3 percent of the LEP population of the service area; approximately 168,834 people in the service area are limited-English Spanish speakers. The LEP populations in the service area that meet the USDOT’s “safe harbor” threshold definition of either 5 percent of the total population of the service area or 1,000 individuals, whichever is less, include speakers of the following 24 languages:

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