Service Management and reporting framework

[Grahams]

Tendering for a new management company hoping to take over from a current management company we work for.
Question I have been asked is as follows:
Please describe your proposed service management and reporting framework, including:

• Service reporting;
• Review meetings;
• Satisfaction monitoring;
• Issue tracking;
• Risk management;
• Complaints monitoring; and
• Policy adherence.

Does anyone have the paperwork in place I could have a look at?
Thanks

 

[JD450A]

Just realised I had no such paperwork in place either, so I quickly sorted some

 

[Grahams]

Just realised I had no such paperwork in place either, so I quickly sorted some

That is the sort of thing I want to send back, but going on the stuff they have sent me I don't think a sense of humour is high on their list of desirable attributes in a subcontractor.

 

[Gunners]

This sounds like they are alluding to ISO 9001 or similar. Basically, what procedures your company has in place to deal with the points raised. Its really boring middle management stuff but at the heart of it, its not too hard to achieve for a small company.
If you're not the paperwork kinda person, there are plenty of people who can advise you (for a fee) on getting accredited and/or certified with ISO standards, CHAZ, SMAS etc but if you're only tendering it seems a waste to spend money on paperwork to tick the box at this stage.
I'd raid the internet for some ideas and write a load of waffle for now - stating, "copies can be viewed once contract awarded". Someone's got to have their quality control and complaints procedure up online.

 

[Grahams]

This sounds like they are alluding to ISO 9001 or similar. Basically, what procedures your company has in place to deal with the points raised. Its really boring middle management stuff but at the heart of it, its not too hard to achieve for a small company.
If you're not the paperwork kinda person, there are plenty of people who can advise you (for a fee) on getting accredited and/or certified with ISO standards, CHAZ, SMAS etc but if you're only tendering it seems a waste to spend money on paperwork to tick the box at this stage.
I'd raid the internet for some ideas and write a load of waffle for now - stating, "copies can be viewed once contract awarded". Someone's got to have their quality control and complaints procedure up online.

It just seems such a waste of time when we get instant feedback on every job and don't get paid until the client and the management company are happy. Being only two of us these one size fits all forms are a real pain, especially as I'm not that good at paperwork.
I'm Safe Contractor Gold acredited, but it is a constant struggle to keep that up to date and people who I know with other types of companies who are ISO9001 acredited treat it as a box ticking exercise just wasting their time and money to have it on their headed paper and impress big company clients.

 

[JD450A]

I'm Safe Contractor Gold acredited, but it is a constant struggle to keep that up to date and people who I know with other types of companies who are ISO9001 acredited treat it as a box ticking exercise just wasting their time and money to have it on their headed paper and impress big company clients.

Personally I'd point that out and put simply that as a small specialist you rely on constant communication between client and contractor to get the job done to the highest of standards!

 

[Gunners]

It just seems such a waste of time when we get instant feedback on every job and don't get paid until the client and the management company are happy. Being only two of us these one size fits all forms are a real pain, especially as I'm not that good at paperwork.

You are probably doing a lot of it anyway without you even realising. For example;

• Service reporting; - do your guys fill in a diary of the days events? Or update you somehow on what has been achieved throughout the day? Signing in registers, plant daily checks etc.
• Review meetings; - You're probably too small to do these but do you ever catch up with your other team and go over performance, program and budget on an ongoing job?
• Satisfaction monitoring; - If the phones not ringing they must be happy right? Is there any evidence of communication between yourself and the client about how the job is going?
• Issue tracking; - If anything is raised, how do you keep track of it and close it out. Could be emails, pictures, phone calls noted in diary etc.
• Risk management; - You'll have approved RAMS, these are signed by the workforce to ensure understanding. Toolbox talks, regular training, health and safety policy etc.
• Complaints monitoring; - You receive a complaint, what do you do about it? Many companies have a complaints policy you can steal from online and adapt to suit.
• Policy adherence. - How do you ensure your lads follow your procedures? Training, toolbox talks, yearly employee review and when they don't your disciplinary procedure (again easily stealable from online)

It doesn't have to be complicated but it most definitely is bullshit!

 

[Grahams]

You are probably doing a lot of it anyway without you even realising. For example;

• Service reporting; - do your guys fill in a diary of the days events? Or update you somehow on what has been achieved throughout the day? Signing in registers, plant daily checks etc.
• Review meetings; - You're probably too small to do these but do you ever catch up with your other team and go over performance, program and budget on an ongoing job?
• Satisfaction monitoring; - If the phones not ringing they must be happy right? Is there any evidence of communication between yourself and the client about how the job is going?
• Issue tracking; - If anything is raised, how do you keep track of it and close it out. Could be emails, pictures, phone calls noted in diary etc.
• Risk management; - You'll have approved RAMS, these are signed by the workforce to ensure understanding. Toolbox talks, regular training, health and safety policy etc.
• Complaints monitoring; - You receive a complaint, what do you do about it? Many companies have a complaints policy you can steal from online and adapt to suit.
• Policy adherence. - How do you ensure your lads follow your procedures? Training, toolbox talks, yearly employee review and when they don't your disciplinary procedure (again easily stealable from online)

It doesn't have to be complicated but it most definitely is bullshit!

Thanks for taking the time to think about this.
We are too small for most of the reporting stuff as it is only me and my man, Mark and we always work together.
Most jobs are only one or two days and I'm on site. I do have daily targets, but they are not writen down. We do sign in and out, unless we are too early or late and the offices are shut!
Review meetings - if we are in the bar I might say to Mark what time I hope to be finished the next day.
Issue tracking - we don't leave until a job is signed off, so if there are any issues they are sorted immediately, then the job is signed off.
Risk Management - we do RAMS, toolbox talks, training, etc
Complaints- as per issues
Policy adherence - Its only me and I can see immediately if there were to be an issue

 

[Gunners]

Thanks for taking the time to think about this.
We are too small for most of the reporting stuff as it is only me and my man, Mark and we always work together.

I know that's how it works in the real world but you can tick their box's with the bullshit for little time and cost. Obviously you might be able to get an exemption from all of this but usually companies just throw your tender away if you don't put something in the box - Nobody actually reads it!

 

[Grahams]

I think I may have to go down the ISO 9001 route as I get more and more companies asking for it. It appears it will cost a couple of grand with ongoing payments and yet more paperwork.
When it first cam out it was all the rage, but for the last few years no-one seemed to care as long as I did a good job on time and on budget, but it seems to be rearing its ugly head again. I guess too many people sat in offices with nothing to do, so produce lots of paperwork to justify their jobs.

 

[V8Druid]

I think I may have to go down the ISO 9001 route as I get more and more companies asking for it. It appears it will cost a couple of grand with ongoing payments and yet more paperwork.
When it first cam out it was all the rage, but for the last few years no-one seemed to care as long as I did a good job on time and on budget, but it seems to be rearing its ugly head again. I guess too many people sat in offices with nothing to do, so produce lots of paperwork to justify their jobs.

the primary question is Gra ... how many others can do what you do for your customers?

I had something similar years ago with BWW .... wanted me to cough up to register with some management co. to do their work and produce reams of bullshit paperwork for every last item ... of which i did a LOT every day virtually ...
Kev, the local fella came to see me with this 60mm thick wedge of BS bollox to work through and sign .... wasn't going to be cheap either.
took the 60mm and dropped it in the bin beside my desk, shook Kev's hand and said "been nice doing business with you, but I will not be participating in this bollox !!"
Kev on the phone three hours later ... "Gra, can you just ........ " and that was the end of that .... everything went on as normal ... might have been different if i'd had much competition, but we did everything they threw at us from special fixtures and fittings, to craning their boats in & out/lock gates out & in/etc., etc. and they had a priority service with us.

 

[Stubota86]

It just seems such a waste of time when we get instant feedback on every job and don't get paid until the client and the management company are happy. Being only two of us these one size fits all forms are a real pain, especially as I'm not that good at paperwork.
I'm Safe Contractor Gold acredited, but it is a constant struggle to keep that up to date and people who I know with other types of companies who are ISO9001 acredited treat it as a box ticking exercise just wasting their time and money to have it on their headed paper and impress big company clients.

if you’ve got SC then you can get CHAS aswell with the same paperwork.

Did you do the SafeContractor application yourself? We got someone to do it, wasn’t overly expensive, a week later we had all sorts of documents and evidence for procedures, policies etc which in reality we’d never laid eyes on before applying for the scheme. That’s not to say we don’t take H&S seriously but I’d rather spend my time checking on jobs and making sure everyone knows what they’re doing, jobs getting done safely etc etc than filling in forms just so someone else can cover their arse if something goes wrong

also pisses me off how all the management companies I’ve worked for forget about their requirement for RAMS and compliance docs when the tenant is screaming at them and they tell you to just get it done one way or another

 

[TiltyShaun]

the primary question is Gra ... how many others can do what you do for your customers?

I had something similar years ago with BWW .... wanted me to cough up to register with some management co. to do their work and produce reams of bullshit paperwork for every last item ... of which i did a LOT every day virtually ...
Kev, the local fella came to see me with this 60mm thick wedge of BS bollox to work through and sign .... wasn't going to be cheap either.
took the 60mm and dropped it in the bin beside my desk, shook Kev's hand and said "been nice doing business with you, but I will not be participating in this bollox !!"
Kev on the phone three hours later ... "Gra, can you just ........ " and that was the end of that .... everything went on as normal ... might have been different if i'd had much competition, but we did everything they threw at us from special fixtures and fittings, to craning their boats in & out/lock gates out & in/etc., etc. and they had a priority service with us.

This sort of stuff brings me out in a rash!!

I had an enquiry in November to supply a load of Xmas trees for a shopping centre. They wanted me to pay to undergo a suppliers audit. They wanted me to pay £600 for supplying £300 of trees!!! I guess they got them from someone else!!

 

[Grahams]

the primary question is Gra ... how many others can do what you do for your customers?

I had something similar years ago with BWW .... wanted me to cough up to register with some management co. to do their work and produce reams of bullshit paperwork for every last item ... of which i did a LOT every day virtually ...
Kev, the local fella came to see me with this 60mm thick wedge of BS bollox to work through and sign .... wasn't going to be cheap either.
took the 60mm and dropped it in the bin beside my desk, shook Kev's hand and said "been nice doing business with you, but I will not be participating in this bollox !!"
Kev on the phone three hours later ... "Gra, can you just ........ " and that was the end of that .... everything went on as normal ... might have been different if i'd had much competition, but we did everything they threw at us from special fixtures and fittings, to craning their boats in & out/lock gates out & in/etc., etc. and they had a priority service with us.

Very few other people do what we do, which is why I have got away with not doing it up to now, but if I get bumped off the tender list there is always the opportunity for someone else to give it a try. The others try and do it by hand which is a almost gaurenteed not to be as good a job as we do. There is a guy who does quite a few by hand and he takes less time than we do with the digger. Most of these companies have no idea what we do so just assume anyone who talks the talk can do it. When it goes wrong we often have to sort it out, but it doesn’t help our cash flow in the meantime.

 

[Grahams]

if you’ve got SC then you can get CHAS aswell with the same paperwork.

Did you do the SafeContractor application yourself? We got someone to do it, wasn’t overly expensive, a week later we had all sorts of documents and evidence for procedures, policies etc which in reality we’d never laid eyes on before applying for the scheme. That’s not to say we don’t take H&S seriously but I’d rather spend my time checking on jobs and making sure everyone knows what they’re doing, jobs getting done safely etc etc than filling in forms just so someone else can cover their arse if something goes wrong

also pisses me off how all the management companies I’ve worked for forget about their requirement for RAMS and compliance docs when the tenant is screaming at them and they tell you to just get it done one way or another

I did Safecontractor myself, but it took a fair bit of time to make up all the bull s**t.
A bit like yourself, I would rather it was actually safe than just filling in forms to cover my ass.

 

[JD450A]

took the 60mm and dropped it in the bin beside my desk, shook Kev's hand and said "been nice doing business with you, but I will not be participating in this bollox !!"

This is my bottom line.... costs us a bit of work i'm sure... However it keeps me happy.

 

[Furniss]

Kind of thread that puts a shiver up my spine - I will look to do something else when we start getting hassled with all that box filling bollox.... like the jobs not hard enough

 

[Quattromike]

You just need to watch with box ticking exercise you don’t tick one that will come back and bite you in the arse later.

 

[Quattromike]

On safecontractor or alcumus here too and yes it’s a farce, one of our customers insists on it so that’s the only reason. they put everyone in a category and you have to make yourself fit it. We don’t excavate through walls but have to provide a copy of RAMS for this work. As we didn’t have a copy we made one up, how is this proving we are a SAFE contractor?

 

[Grahams]

On safecontractor or alcumus here too and yes it’s a farce, one of our customers insists on it so that’s the only reason. they put everyone in a category and you have to make yourself fit it. We don’t excavate through walls but have to provide a copy of RAMS for this work. As we didn’t have a copy we made one up, how is this proving we are a SAFE contractor?

Exactly the same, I'm only on it because one of my big customers insisted. I would estimate at least 90%, maybe more, is not relevent to us. It appears to be a way of sloping off any possible blame if something were to go wrong. That combined with being yet another money making exercise for the old boy network.