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MUSC Excellence at the University F&A measures organization's progress by John Runyon Operations—Business Services The Medical University’s Finance and Administration Division (F&A) journey to MUSC Excellence is well underway. Our commitment to making MUSC a great place to work, learn, and receive services has never been stronger. One of the key components of the journey has been the formation of the six service teams—Communications, Customer Service and Service Recovery, Measurement, Rewards & Recognition, and Standards and Leader Evaluation.   To achieve the F&A pillar goals of excellence, our organization must be able to objectively assess our current status and then track progress to the goals that have been set. It is the mission of the Measurement Team to assist in defining specific targets, measure progress against those targets, and align the necessary resources to achieve them. Each of the pillar goals addressing the areas of Service, Quality, People, Finance, and Growth will be analyzed and assessed by the Measurement Team for the purpose of motivating the organization to develop desired behaviors.    When putting the Measurement Team together, we sought out highly motivated individuals who are experienced and trained in developing performance measures, designing management reports and interpreting data. Members include Phil Mauney, Paul LoCicero, John Eilerman (Engineering & Facilities); John True, Heather Dismuke (Finance); and Jim Rutan, Chloe Backman, and John Runyon (Operations). The team sponsor is Patrick Wamsley, MUSC chief financial officer.    The purpose of measurement is to recognize and reinforce desired behaviors, but almost as important is to create an individual sense of accountability for results. Leaders need to understand what works and what doesn’t on the road to MUSC Excellence, and to not hesitate to take action to improve the delivery of quality services to the campus community. The first area to be assessed, and without doubt the most important one, is customer satisfaction.   Measuring and understanding  customer satisfaction has the potential to affect organizational behavior in a positive way. Everyone in the customer service business wants to think they are consistently delivering service that solves customer issues and provides a quality product. By measuring customer satisfaction and the customer’s view of quality, we can find out what makes the difference between simply good service and consistently outstanding service. We won’t think we are doing well, we will know it.    To date, significant progress toward developing and deploying a customer satisfaction mea-surement tool has been made. In close cooperation with the Customer Service and Service Recovery Team, we have determined the specific satisfaction and quality metrics to be assessed.   We’ve also worked with the Standards and Leadership Evaluation Team to ensure that these metrics will positively reinforce behavior. Other items we have been working on include finding and assessing Web-based surveying tools, developing a comprehensive inventory of services to be assessed, and coordinating with the Medical University Hospital Authority’s Measurement Team regarding crossover areas to be assessed. We expect to  complete the first round of customer service surveying and begin to analyze feedback results early this summer.     Friday, April 27, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.