USGS customer service goal is: To gratify our customers by delivering science and technology that satisfies their requirements and adds value to their work products.

This will be achieved in FY 1997 by:

A. Consulting with our customers to clearly determine and understand their requirements.

B. Measuring our customers' level of satisfaction with our products and services in meeting their requirements. (Measurement will focus on helpfulness and courtesy of our employees; and timeliness, relevance, ease of use, and overall effectiveness of our products.)

C. Monitoring customer feedback to define how our products and services may be corrected or improved. (Monitoring will focus on means of delivery, reliability and accuracy of our products, and our effectiveness in helping our customers use these products.)

D. Making the needed changes to correct weaknesses and improve quality at all levels.

During FY 1997, USGS collected qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate its progress in meeting these goals. Highlights for the year follow:

• The Biological Resources Division (formerly National Biological Service) of the USGS asked 759 of its customers (wildlife managers, state agencies, non-government organizations) how satisfied they were with biological products and services of the USGS. Of the 281 respondents to the survey, more than 90% indicated they were satisfied or very satisfied with these products and services. Many indicated that they used USGS information to make important management decisions. The USGS is using these comments to make improvements to its products and customer relations.

• Customer service from the USGS Information Services Branch in Denver, which fills orders for USGS publications and maps, continues to improve. Response cards are mailed with every order shipped (about 300 per day), and about 5% of these cards are returned with customer comments. Based on these comments, the Information Services Branch identified several areas needing improvement for 1997. The group has changed some of its business practices as a result. For example, telephone calls are answered within 25 seconds. Customers can now order maps over the Internet using a credit card -- a new service from 1996. An inventory management project has helped assure that USGS maps do not go out-of-stock so customers do not need to wait for reprints. Quality control of customer orders has also improved. Before June 1997, the Information Services Branch had a fairly high error rate in orders. By implementing a product retrieval contract with 100% quality/accuracy requirements, the remainder of 1997 has seen a significant reduction in the number of re-sent orders.

• The USGS Minerals Information Team reaches out to its customers by offering mineral commodity production, consumption, and trends data through a Web page that gets over 12,000 hits per month. It also makes this information available to customers through a FaxBack system that averages 1000 requests per month, and a mailing list with over 20,000 subscribers. In addition, the Minerals Information Team receives about 2000 telephone calls per month, giving team members an ideal opportunity to talk to customers directly to identify problems or customer needs. Some customer ideas have led changes in the way we conduct our business. For example, in response to feedback from one of its customers, the Portland Cement Association, the USGS revised both a monthly and annual minerals statistics survey form. These revisions significantly improved the quality of minerals production data collected by USGS, and enable USGS to provide customers with the type of information they need.

• The Water Resources program of the USGS provides its customers with hydrologic informa- tion through its Web pages in a variety of forms, including real-time flood data. These Web pages have links to customer feedback mechanisms so that USGS hydrologists can stay in touch with their customers and ensure customer needs are being met. USGS responds to customer feedback within two business days. Analysis of feedback shows that USGS Water Resources Web information is used for education and to make personal, business, emergency and policy decisions. Feedback is used to make modifications to improve service.

  The following is some feedback we received from one customer about our Water Resources Web information: "Just a note of great appreciation for your site. Your site has been the best source of river information we have ever been able to obtain to make rescue and evacuation decisions. We are currently using the...river data to plan the search for two (missing persons)...Your work and site is much appreciated and invaluable to us. Thanks from the citizens of our county."

• A 1997 Survey of over 1600 topographic map users and buyers have helped USGS understand how maps are being used and levels of customer satisfaction. Respondent data are being considered as a basis for improving our maps and for identifying new types of products, such as digital maps. Some interesting findings of the surveys included:

  USGS is the eighth most known publisher of maps, atlases, and travel guides (out of a list of 47 publishers.)

  Recreation is the most frequent use of topographic maps -- Topographic maps buyers and users have a high interest in using a computer to view a map.

  Customers are concerned that digital products are not yet "user friendly" enough to meet the needs of non-specialists.