Conference 7.286::digital

    I've worked with central materials, etc. I know folks in order
    administration, etc. I now work in Central Engineering.
    
    Manufacturing has some pretty impressive goals and direction sets,
    and has made significant progress without sacrificing decentralized
    style. Look at our recent inventory management figures (BILLIONs
    of dollars put to better use).
    
    The strategies are there.
    
    /Larry

    Check out our Q3 results, particularly the inventory figures and
    profit margins, to get a feel for this.  It used to be MUCH worse;
    we are getting better.  If this trend keeps up, we'll be better
    known for the quality of our financial management than for the quality
    of our hardware (and software).  And that's saying something positive;
    it's not a slam at product quality.

    I can't speak for other Groups, but I work in CSM (Computer Systems
    Mfg.) Group Materials. The CSM plants have all achieved Class A
    MRPII ratings, and we have significantly improved our inventory
    position, along with metrics like inventory turns, asset turns,
    etc. that have saved the company megabucks. We clearly have taken
    a quantum leap towards Manufacturing Excellence. That's not to say
    that we don't have a LOOOONG way to go, but we sure are lots better
    than we used to be, and lots smarter than we used to be......
    

    re: .0
    
    This has been a frequent discussion in the older brother of this
    conference, MARKETING.
    
    My own feeling is that from the customers perspective things aren't
    getting much better.  Computers like the MicroVAX 2000 and the MicroVAX
    II ought to be deliverable in a week and it takes 9 to 12 times
    as long.
    
    Phones are not getting answered on one or two rings, etc.
    
    Frankly, we've been blaming "rapid growth" since 1965 for poor customer
    service, and when we're looking at reducing costs in every corner of
    the corporation no gadfly is going to suggest that we ought to spend
    money in a way that will not be directly measureable.  Customers
    have been and will continue to accept that as "the cost of doing
    business with Digital".
    
    This is not to take one bit of gratitude away from the efforts that
    have made/saved millions of dollars for the shareholders, it's only to
    mention that customers have yet to see a more responsive Digital
    which I suppose is the point of the "business practices" question
    mentioned in .0. 

    
    RE: 301.4
    
> Phones are not getting answered on one or two rings, etc.
    
> Frankly, we've been blaming "rapid growth" since 1965 for poor customer
> service, and when we're looking at reducing costs in every corner of
> the corporation no gadfly is going to suggest that we ought to spend
> money in a way that will not be directly measureable.  Customers
> have been and will continue to accept that as "the cost of doing
> business with Digital".
    
    From DTW April 20, 1987 in article on DEC's Q3 earnings:
    
    "... and our reputation for customer satisfaction is among
     the highest of all computer manufacturers."  KO
    
    Pat, do you think the President and CEO of this company was
    wrong when he stated the above?  Or is this an issue on which
    reasonable men can disagree?  
    
    When I was still in the field, dealing with customers daily, 
    customer satisfaction and responsiveness was not only suggested 
    by some gadfly, it was the number 1 priority irregardless of the 
    fact that at times it was spending money in a way that was not 
    directly measureable.
    
    Are we not still doing whatever it takes to improve customer 
    satisfaction and thus improve the perception of the 'cost of 
    doing business with Digital'?   

    jt    

>    When I was still in the field, dealing with customers daily, 
>    customer satisfaction and responsiveness was not only suggested 
>    by some gadfly, it was the number 1 priority irregardless of the 
>    fact that at times it was spending money in a way that was not 
>    directly measureable.
    

  Sadly, this is no longer true in the field (I was still here when it 
was). Now, we (SWS at least) care about "certs" ( = orders = $) if 
you're a Sales Support specialist, or revenue and margin if you deliver 
PSS.

  We leave all of that unsophisticated "Satisfaction" stuff to F/S now.

  * sigh *

    RE: -.1
    
    I think you're making a gross generalization by saying that, in
    SWS, it's no longer true that customer satisfaction is a #1 priority.
    Sure, a unit gets judged on margin, etc., but also on Customer
    Satisfaction (note capital letters, as in Cust. Sat. Survey).
    And at least in some units that message gets passed down to us
    Specialists -- and if I see a time when I don't think the right
    choice is being made between customer satisfaction and a few bucks,
    I speak up (this IS Digital after all), and sometime even someone
    listens.
    

  re: .-1

>    I think you're making a gross generalization by saying that, in
>    SWS, it's no longer true that customer satisfaction is a #1 priority.

  You're probably right. The point that I'm trying to make is that, in 
the past, customer satisfaction was the GOAL. Numbers (like $'s and 
survey results) were the METRICS used to measure progress towards that
goal .It seems that somewhere, somebody lost the point and now "numbers"
are both the goal and the metric. 


>    Sure, a unit gets judged on margin, etc., but also on Customer
>    Satisfaction (note capital letters, as in Cust. Sat. Survey).

  I go by reality. In my district, last FY, we blew our $-numbers away, 
but we had the WORST survey results in the U.S. BUT, we got more 
Excellence Awards slots than other districts who got good survey results 
and less than "blown-away" $-numbers.

  There is no mixed message here. Customer satisfaction, as measured by 
the survey is "nice". Godd $$$'s get TANGIBLE results (like 
all-expense-paid trips to the Carribean). 

>    And at least in some units that message gets passed down to us
>    Specialists -- and if I see a time when I don't think the right
>    choice is being made between customer satisfaction and a few bucks,
>    I speak up (this IS Digital after all), and sometime even someone
>    listens.

  I hear that, and I think that most SWSpecialist do the same. I'm just 
a little spooked by the messages that I'm hearing lately. You know, and 
I know that we are the ones that can make a difference, and we want to. 
But if the rewards go to those who will make a dollar at ANY cost,
they'll squeeze us all out someday ... 
    
  - Larry.

The Customer Satisfaction stuff only applies to customers.  That is,
they have already bought something.  Therefore THEIR phone call has
already been answered.

Those people whose calls go unreturned aren't in the system, so don't get
counted in the survey.

All we have to do is have the secretaries who answer the phone and take 
down the name of the caller feed this info into a database.  When someone
from sales returns the call, that fact is also recorded.  It is then simple 
to get a list of all those calls that were not returned.  The Manager can 
then ask his people, "why didn't you return this call?"

  re: .-1

  In the 5 or so years that I've been in the field, this issue (phone 
calls) has come up again and again and again. All kinds of
"administrative" responses have been tried. Paper tracking, voice mail
systems, ALL-IN-1 based systems, prizes for the good, punishment for the
bad, and so on, and so on.

  In many cases they have had exactly the opposite of the desired 
result. Human nature often dictates that if somebody tries to MAKE you
do something, people get PO'ed and do anything to "get even", especially 
including not doing what they're told. 

  The only thing, to my mind, that really makes a difference is (here we 
go again) a culture which makes returning phone calls "natural". 
Nobody's above doing it, and everybody backs everybody else up, and 
nobody "dodges" the responsibility.

  I think that each individual contributor (that's you and me) has 
to educate every new-hire (whether it's your peer, your secretary, or 
your supervisor) in the Digital culture. Don't forget to teach them this
one. And do it by example. 

  If you know what's RIGHT, you GOTTA do it. Otherwise, you start to 
rot, your team starts to rot, Digital starts to rot, and we'll all end 
up working for a 2nd-rate company. All the worse if that company is 
Digital.

  (Uh-oh, they're humming the Battle Hymn of the Republic in the 
background ... I think it's time to chill out ... (-:)

  - Larry

RE: .7,8

	Last FY is history.  This FY, according to my DSWM, who is also my 
boss, Customer Satisfaction results is the #1 metric for her performance 
evaluation.

	I have also seen the document from US Country on Excellence Awards 
metrics, and from what I can decipher, out of 100 points possible to a 
District, either Customer (PSS) or Sales (Sales Support) satisfaction results
account for 45 of those points, while margin (PSS) and Certs (Sales Support)
account for 40. 

	For this year, anyway, those surveys are VITAL to a manager's career 
growth potential, and to taking a bunch of their reports to Excellence Awards!

    
    RE: .11
    
    It is good to hear that customer satisfaction is the #1 metric.
    It should be.  Of course we still have the problem of how that 
    satisfaction is measured. (discussed in detail in note 257.*) 
    
    jt
    

    To get back to the phone stuff, I'm sure some of you will not want
    to hear this.
    
    I have done residencies for the last several months. At my last
    unit, one of my co-workers had commented to me, "If you don't call
    the office and say "XXX, do I have any phone messages?", she doesn't
    say "You have phone messages"." I thought, surely you jest.
    
    So last October, I was in the office for a 1-day class and decided
    to check my phone messages. Lo and behold there were about 15-20
    slips in my phone slot, dated JULY AND AUGUST???!!! I went into
    shock. Four of them were from a cusomter who I'd never heard of
    who probably got my name via the grapevine. One note said in big
    letters, NOTICE - THIS IS THE 3RD TIME SHE HAS CALLED. I gave the
    slips to my UM and suggested he return the calls. I left that unit.
    
    Supposedly, some of the biggies at DEC call around the company at
    random to see how long it takes for someone to answer. I think they
    should add the practice of leaving a message and see how long it
    takes to get a reponse.
    
    A week or two ago, I got a message to call another DECcie at his office.
    I called and said, "What's up?" And he said , "?????" It seems
    that my message was a week old and we had already talked.
    
    If you get a chance to look at your in-box visually, it's one thing.
    If you have to rely on your "support staff", sometimes things are
    quite different.
    
    Jim
    

All my messages are sent to me by VAXmail.

It works well because there's usually a terminal available wherever I go.

Why don't you carry a small portable terminal with you and pick up your
messages off the system.  Or put up a DECtalk/VAXmail interface.

/john

re: -1

Ha!  Obviously one who has never worked in the field :-)

set mode/implied_flame

Where I come from, it is just about impossible to get a terminal to use
if you work in the office, never mind if you are a resident.  Forget about
equipment to take off-site.  And if there is a problem with a secretary
calling you with messages (where I work this is not a problem), I doubt
he/she is going to take the trouble to write them down AND send them via MAIL.

Residents subvert their identity to go work for extended periods at a customer
site.  They bring in big bucks for the corporation.  In return, administration
people think of ways that they can get residents to do their jobs (the admin.
folks, that is).  It is not too much to ask to expect phone messages to be
forwarded to residents who are off-site on a quasi-permanent basis.

And that's that....

    Re: .14, phone messages via VAXmail
    
    That worked great in our office until the secretaries felt that
    it was too much hassle. They complained to their boss (one boss
    for two secretaries... what a waste!) and the practice was stopped.
    
    Lee  :^(
    

    Tend to look pretty foolish and become parents and/or diseased quickly.
    
    Re: .15
    
    Re: (ASSUMING that Mr. Covert hasn't worked in the field)
    
    WRONG.  The author of .14 was in the field before the billion
    dollar ripoff.  Probably even before the author of .15 knew what
    Digital Equipment Corporation did for business, but then that's
    an assumption on MY part, isn't it?
    
    Back in those days, SWS was a service organization.
    
    Re: (Not having terminals)
    
    Certainly sounds like the normal short sighted management that YOU
    should be educating.  The RIGHT thing to do is to steal the right
    equipment from where ever you can find it.  The equipment problem
    still exists but has improved in MOST places in the field from I've
    seen.
    
    Re: (residencies)
    
    Ah yes, relaxation.  Back when I was in the field I used residencies
    as nice relaxing breaks between the excitement of office work.  In
    fact, on one of my last residencies I actually was the system manager
    of the office VAX system.  I'm sure that if you're creative you
    can find that the customer has lot's of hardware which can be used
    to gain access to the office and the E-net so that you can participate
    as a full fledged Digital employee.
    
    If you sit back and expect this delivered to you after just a few
    complaints then you'll not get it.  It's up to YOU to TAKE it. 
    Sitting and complaining about it makes it YOUR problem.
    
    Re: (The topic at hand - Digital being professional)
    
    Digital has always been a very professional engineering/technical
    company.  Our success has always been and continues to be that we
    honestly care for our customers.  However, sometimes we forget to
    REALLY put ourselves in the customer's shoes.  I have talked to
    a lot of customers who complain that they cannot get the information
    and support from our administrative people.
    
    The administrative support component seems to be an area of Digital
    that still needs to be made more professional.  We need to remain
    as caring, just a bit smarter.
    
    Don

    re: .5 "... and our reputation for customer satisfaction is among the
    highest of all computer manufacturers."  KO 

    > Pat, do you think the President and CEO of this company was
    > wrong when he stated the above?  Or is this an issue on which
    > reasonable men can disagree?  
    
    I've somehow managed to cool down after that was written.  Yes,
    I've stopped beating my wife, and yes, I've stopped disagreeing
    with Kenneth H. Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation.
    By the way, only ignorant people call him "CEO", that is a title
    that the corporation has not assigned to anyone and a title that
    he himeself does not use.
    
    The disagreement is best exemplified by my pounding a fist at a
    meeting saying that phones are not being answered and customers
    are getting angry and having the discussion of that topic deferred
    in order to get "everyone aware of the customer satisfaction survey"
    and "this fiscal year's approach to managing the answers".  You
    guessed it: it's the adult version of what a kid does two to three
    weeks before birthdays and Christmas...
    
    People who are engaged in constructive criticism of that bureaucratic
    approach are few and far between and take great risks with their
    career to call the process that will get their district managers
    and unit managers promoted garbage as in "GIGO".
    
    People who are obsessed with putting the customer first (OWPTCP) are
    often the outcasts from where the real decisions are taking place, but
    everyone once and a while we'll get a plaque to soothe our psyche. 
    
    If you're a member of the OWPTCF club then bring your well-worn copy of
    IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE to your next meeting and speak up! 

RE: .17

Sarcasm is difficult to express in this medium.  My body was racked with glee
as I composed my reply!  Sorry you misinterpreted...

Anyway, my basic contention still stands - forwarding phone messages is the
very least a resident should expect from his/her secretary.  Period.

    Re: John Covert et al.:
    
    The idea is of phone messages via MAIL would be great. Implementation
    would be quite hard to achieve (at least around here).
    
    Re: 2 sect'ys for one Manager:
    
    Not such an absurd idea. It depends on the size and diversity of
    the unit. (We have around 30 folks in our unit)
    
    Re .18:
    
    I quite agree about risks in challenging the system. I nearly left
    Digital about 2 months ago. My frustration level has been very high
    about a number of things. Since then I've concluded that there is
    hope for Digital, but a number of things HAVE to change (i.e. The
    care and feed of local internal systems, having management not
    follow up on things, etc.) I have been fairly vocal about these
    issues and it has made me a real poplular guy. I'll take the heat,
    since I think that eventualy I'll out-live the problems.
    
    Jim
    
    BTW - What is the OWPTCF club? I'm lost on that one.
    

    Its been a long time since I was a customer.  My last experience
    attempting to buy from DEC was pathetic.  I had a contract to automate
    a small factory.  It started out a a garage shop operation re-building
    machine tools.  The claimed they could rebuild broken machine parts
    for half the cost in less than half the time need to order new.
    
    They did very well.  Customer satisfaction was a big thing with
    them.  They needed to know where everything was in the cycle so
    they could answer those silly "Where is my .. when will .." questions.
    
    They wanted to first to their accounting system, then move to shop
    floor updates, then to ...  My proto system was to be a small 11.
    DEC wouldn't answer the call, wouldn't return the call, I finally
    got them and they said it was too small, call a distributor.  I
    never got the time to explain anything more.  
    
    At about the same time the local DEC SW/Sales office offered to
    do a needs analysis for them for $100.  Disconnect.
    
    The overall project was to be done to automate his 9 factories accross
    the country.  He wanted to add order load balancing for light
    production gaps, some component automation, etc. etc.  My experience,
    and that of my people was with DEC equipment, that was our proposal
    etc.  DEC's overwealming interest in the order and the inconsistent
    interest in the company did very little for my credibility.  Not
    to mention the $$$ I lost, and DEC lost.
    
    I called the local IBM rep, got a deal, assistence arranging to
    subcontract the work to an IBM SW shop, and lunch out of it in only
    2 days.  Guess where my recomendation went.  Less $$$, but very
    little pain.

    I have friends still doing such things.  They laugh about the
    professional attitude they encounter when they try to call DEC.
    One was quite presistent and managed to spend $750,000 but it wasn't
    easy.  Now he's a happy DEC customer.

    Satisfied customers?  Not yet, but we're trying real hard to become
    one. 

    We get phone messages in VAXmail here--and I really like it.  Sometimes
    I log in at home in the evening, and see one I wouldn't have seen
    until the morning, and can occasionally do something on the terminal
    right then.  It's the best system I've seen.
    
    In other groups I have been in, though, 3 secretaries answer
    phones for as many as 30 people.  If they call in and ask for
    messages, the secretary can get up and look, but how could a secretary
    ever keep track in her head of who had messages?  Especially if
    several people cover a number of very busy phones?  I don't think they
    should be expected to do that unless someone in the group makes
    a specific agreement to have that done.
    
    Now if a secretary is supporting 1 or 2 people, that's very different.
    It would seem reasonable to expect to be told of messages when calling
    in.
    

    All our messages come in VAXmail with CALL in the subject line...
    
    hardcopy is dead.
    
    grins,
    Marge
    

    
>    hardcopy is dead.

    Not quite I'm afraid....

    I wish it was. Don't think it will be totally dead 'til every CC
    in the field has a Vax and everyone in the CC has an account on
    it, which is still a pretty radical idea for some field offices.
    
    Until then, a lotta paper is still bein' pushed.

    lee

    Having EVERYONE in Digital reading video mail
    will probably continue to be a pretty radical idea as long as
    there are field offices with just a few staff...just doesn't make
    sense to install a local Vax.
    
    Also, I've seen loads of DEC folks who refuse to have anything to
    do with reading video mail or video anything.  They have their
    secretaries print it.  The only system that I can remember as being
    truly paperless was the...ummm....uh....
    
    

    In the short time I have been with DEC, I have noticed that there
    are really two organizations:
    
    Everyone else				Field (SWS,FS,etc)
    =============				==================
    Modern equipment				Will it work? Cost?
    Full use of avail tools			Cost?              
    Innovative thinking				Cost?              
    Will it make us better			Cost?              
    Planning, Development, Implementation	PANIC!
                                                
    Now this may appear to be very negative, thus I must be getting
    my message across!  
    Set Flame/ON                            
    The DIGITAL that I worked with as a customer
    for 10 years, is very different from reality!  Since I have been
    here I have had use a 780 with performance that I would *NEVER*
    have put up with as a customer.  I am expected to know software
    that I have never seen much less ran.  I have recieved messages 2 days
    after they were recieved.  I have not been able to get a something
    photocopied, even when I delivered it 2 weeks early!  In other words,
    the small little things that make a company a professional place
    to work are sadly lacking.  A perfect example is the case were after
    working late on an exec. summary for a bank pres. I needed to print
    a drawing.  I convinced a local owner of a GPX to let me use his
    demo copy of SIGHT to produce a credible drawing.  Than in an effort
    to make it look professional, I prepared to print it out on the
    LN01.  But of course!, it was broken!  I then proceeded to go looking
    for an alternative, ah I says, the DM's (thats plural) have 2 LN03's
    which I haven't seen used in the 5 months that I had been here!
    Maybe I could borrow one for 20 minutes and get my summary out.
    Much to my surprise, I was told 'NO' there assigned to us!  This
    was backed up with that famous smile with intimates "I've got the
    ear of power!"  So we proceeded to spend 2 panic stricken hours
    looking for an alternative.             
                                            
    The point, until the tools, and support people necessary to provide
    a professional environment are put in places of need rather than
    expediency, we will not have a "PROFESSIONAL" environment, just
    a large conglomeration of mom & pop shops each trying to make their
    numbers.
    
    Chuck B^)
    
                                            
                                            

    re: .25
    
    How many is too few to justify a MicroVAX 2000? It supports small
    numbers of people (like 4-8) in a very economical fashion. Tie
    in VT220s, an LN03, and disks, and management/secretary level groups
    should be able to have the minimum system necessary to function.
    Being attached to the company "network" ought to make anyone worth
    their salt demand at least this basic level of service available
    everywhere.
    
    jack

    
>    How many is too few to justify a MicroVAX 2000? [...]
>    Being attached to the company "network" ought to make anyone worth
>    their salt demand at least this basic level of service available
>    everywhere.
    
  Demanding is one thing, Jack (I've been demanding for 5 years, ask 
anybody), *JUSTIFYING* is another. If you can't go to the District 
Manager (in the case of us field SWS-weenies) and PROVE to him that your
going to generate more *MARGIN* than the expense this generates (usually
within one quarter, certainly within the same fiscal year), sorry,
you're SOL. 

  Intangibles like "employee satisfaction" and "productivity" just don't 
cut it out here. Period.

  - Larry.

    Just to put the MicroVAX 2000 proposal in perspective, such a system
    would have an MLP of about $20K including the terminals and printer.
    IEG now sells internally at 20%, so the investment would be about
    $4K. This is over the limit of $1K for expense, so it would be
    capitalized. We depreciate capital equipment at 10% per quarter
    for the first year. Thus, the quarterly cost to your cost center
    for such a system would be $400.
    
    It should be possible to get almost any manager to pop for this
    small an expense! Most have a historical perspective that computers
    are expensive and require great justification. Educate them on the
    same thing we are educating our customers--technology has made these
    things incredibly inexpensive.

    RE .28
    
    I sympathize Larry....I was in charge of an 11 running RSTS and
    using RP03's.  Awhile after the RA81 came out, I wrote up a
    justification to replace the 2 RP03's with an RA81. Besides multiplying
    our available storage by 5 (if I remember right), installing one
    drive would also cut the heat down to 1/4 or so of what two RP03's
    put out AND reduce the footprint by 2/3rds...AND, the field service
    maintenance savings ALONE would COMPLETELY PAY for the RA81 in 18
    months!
    
    Software Management and finance yawned and my justification disappeared
    into a black hole.

    Seems like back in the puzzle palace there's mile after mile of
    equipment boneyards....and in some places in the field, you find
    the bleached bones of users still waiting for new hardware...
    
    

    Well, here in PKO, we are starting to move some of our equipment
    bones out there to groups that can use them. The mechanism is quite
    simple from our side... We enter the equipment on DIAL. As a recent
    example, we moved a pile of VR201 monitors to an extremely appreciative
    person, in Colorado, I believe.
    
    I suggest that you get a DIAL account and look for useful equipment.
    A lot of it is depreciated or close to and available for the taking.

    re .31
    
    Peter, how do you get a DIAL account?  This sounds like an interesting
    way to bring the Field offices up to at least only a generation
    or two behind.
    
    Jim Reder
    

    I highly recommend DIAL.  When I needed a couple of Microvaxen a
    few months ago, IEG was quoting around 4-6 weeks for delivery. Going
    thru the DIAL system, I obtained both of them in less than a week.
    
    DIAL is (yet another) acronym for Digital Idle Assets Listing, and
    contains a list of equipment that is sitting & gathering dust in
    some facility's warehouse, waiting to be transferred to someplace
    that can make use of it.  Vaxen, terminals, A/B switches, and even
    furniture (bookcases) are contained in there.  It certainly makes
    more sense to use DIAL to make use of the equipment we already have
    than to place more orders thru IEG, especially when what you need
    is already available somewhere.
    
    There is a price tag associated with each item, which represents
    the internal transfer cost.  Depending on the price of the item,
    you may still have to capitalize it, but being used equipment (for
    the most part), it's generally cheaper than getting brand new stuff.
    
    For things like Microvaxen, take care, because you'll probably have
    to order everything separately; ie, 630QB, RDQX3, disks, memory,
    etc, there are very few "package deals" that include everything
    already.  When I contact a DIAL person who has listed some idle
    assets, it has all been very straightforward; ie, what cost center
    do I charge it to, where should I ship it.
    
    According to the latest DIAL literature I have, contact Kathy Kennedy
    at DTN 261-3410 to obtain a DIAL account.
    
    Happy hunting!
    Jon

    
    
    	Using DIAL I got 5 VAXstation I's for free. I've since upgraded
    	a bunch of them with a �VAX II upgrade kit and I now have 4
    	running as VAXstation 1.5's in our LAVc.
    
    							mike

    Hey Larry, let's order 3 tents and a clerk, and then we can become
    a district!
    

    Chuck_who_appreciates_the_info_but_can't_even_get_a_shelf_(used)_for_his-
       _cube!!!

    I should have guessed the node name! The following is from my
    secretary. 
    
    ____________
    
    To get a dial account, send a request to DIAL::KENNEDY (Cathy Kennedy).
    She'll need to know name, badge number, cost center, location, dtn, and
    your preferred password.  Request a DIAL manual as well. 

Susan