Full Description

When the Santa Cruz City Water Department changed to handheld meters, it needed to develop an online billing system as well. The Customer Service Division, unable to get the billing system designed through the utility's Data Processing department, hired an outside consultant and supervised development of the billing system itself. The department first created a wish list of things workers wanted in the new system. The department also decided during the planning phase to require the consultant hired to create the billing program to actually work as a customer service rep to get a feel for what was done in the department. The utility had a hard time finding a consultant who would design a program that would contain the information and do the tasks that the customer service division required. Several consultants were "tried out," that is, they were hired and then either the contact was terminated or not renewed. Even after hiring a consultant they were initially pleased with, the utility had a rocky relationship with the consultant. The new program was constructed using parts of the old system that the customer service division liked, and was constructed in segments. The system offers 31 screens, including one that tracks water use, but customer service reps rarely need to go beyond screen 1 in answering customer calls.

Product Details

Published: 01/01/1992 ISBN(s): 0898676347 Number of Pages: 6File Size: 1 file , 290 KB