Agency Information Collection Activities: Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation), 57877-57880 [2020-20404]
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57877
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 180 / Wednesday, September 16, 2020 / Notices
State and county
Location and
case No.
Chief executive
officer of community
Wyoming: Teton ...
Unincorporated
areas of Teton
County (19–08–
1023P).
The Honorable Natalia
Macker, Chair, Teton
County Board of Commissioners, P.O. Box
3594, Jackson, WY
83001.
[FR Doc. 2020–20347 Filed 9–15–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–12–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
[Docket No. CISA–2020–0012]
Notice of President’s National Security
Telecommunications Advisory
Committee Meeting
Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency,
Department of Homeland Security.
ACTION: Notice of Federal Advisory
Committee Act (FACA) meeting; request
for comments.
AGENCY:
The Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is
publishing this notice to announce the
following President’s National Security
Telecommunications Advisory
Committee (NSTAC) meeting. This
meeting is open to the public.
DATES: Meeting Registration:
Registration to attend the meeting is
required and must be received no later
than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on
September 29, 2020.
Speaker Registration: Registration to
speak during the meeting’s public
comment period must be received no
later than 5:00 p.m. ET on September
29, 2020.
Meeting Date: The NSTAC will meet
on October 6, 2020 from 1:30 p.m. to
2:00 p.m. ET. The meeting may close
early if the committee has completed its
business.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held
via conference call. For access to the
conference call bridge, information on
services for individuals with
disabilities, or to request special
assistance to participate, please email
NSTAC@cisa.dhs.gov by 5:00 p.m. ET
on September 29, 2020.
Comments: Members of the public are
invited to provide comment on the
issues that will be considered by the
committee as listed in the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section
below. Associated materials that
participants may discuss during the
meeting will be available at
www.dhs.gov/cisa/national-securitytelecommunications-advisory-
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SUMMARY:
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Community map repository
Online location of
letter of map revision
Date of
modification
Community
No.
Teton County Public Works
Department, 320 South
King Street, Jackson,
WY 83001.
https://msc.fema.gov/portal/
advanceSearch.
Dec. 3, 2020
560094
committee for review as of September
21, 2020. Comments may be submitted
by 5:00 p.m. ET on September 29, 2020
and must be identified by Docket
Number CISA–2020–0012. Comments
may be submitted by one of the
following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Please follow the
instructions for submitting written
comments.
• Email: NSTAC@cisa.dhs.gov.
Include the Docket Number CISA–2020–
0012 in the subject line of the email.
Instructions: All submissions received
must include the words ‘‘Department of
Homeland Security’’ and the Docket
Number for this action. Comments
received will be posted without
alteration at www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information
provided.
Docket: For access to the docket and
comments received by the NSTAC,
please go to www.regulations.gov and
enter docket number CISA–2020–0012.
A public comment period may be
held during the meeting from 1:45 p.m.
to 1:55 p.m. ET. Speakers who wish to
participate in the public comment
period must register by emailing
NSTAC@cisa.dhs.gov. Speakers are
requested to limit their comments to
three minutes and will speak in order of
registration. Please note that the public
comment period may end before the
time indicated, following the last
request for comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sandy Benevides, 703–705–6232,
sandra.benevides@cisa.dhs.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
NSTAC was established by Executive
Order (E.O.) 12382, 47 FR 40531
(September 13, 1982), as amended and
continued under the authority of E.O.
13889, dated September 27, 2019.
Notice of this meeting is given under
FACA, 5 U.S.C. Appendix (Pub. L. 92–
463). The NSTAC advises the President
on matters related to national security
and emergency preparedness (NS/EP)
telecommunications and cybersecurity
policy.
Agenda: The NSTAC will hold a
conference call on Tuesday, October 6,
2020, to discuss committee activities
and the Administration’s NS/EP
priorities with CISA leadership and
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other senior Government officials. The
meeting will also include a deliberation
and vote on the NSTAC Letter to the
President on Communications
Resiliency.
Sandra J. Benevides,
Designated Federal Officer, National Security
Telecommunications Advisory Committee,
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security
Agency, Department of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2020–20372 Filed 9–15–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–9P–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND
SECURITY
[Docket Number DHS–2020–0019]
Agency Information Collection
Activities: Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience (OMB
Circular A–11, Section 280
Implementation)
Department of Homeland
Security (DHS).
ACTION: 30-Day Notice and request for
comments; New Collection, 1601–NEW.
AGENCY:
The Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, is announcing an
opportunity for public comment on a
new proposed collection of information
by the Agency. DHS previously
published this information collection
request (ICR) in the Federal Register on
Monday, May 18, 2020 for a 60-day
public comment period. One (1)
comment was received by DHS. The
purpose of this notice is to allow an
additional 30-days for public comments.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and
will be accepted until October 16, 2020.
This process is conducted in accordance
with 5 CFR 1320.1.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/
PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting
‘‘Currently under 30-day Review—Open
for Public Comments’’ or by using the
search function.
SUMMARY:
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 180 / Wednesday, September 16, 2020 / Notices
On
September 11, 1993, President Clinton
issued Executive Order 12862, ‘‘Setting
Customer Service Standards’’ which
clearly define his vision that the Federal
agencies will put the people first.
Executive Order 12862 directs Federal
agencies to provide service to the public
that matches or exceeds the best service
available in the private sector. Section
1(b) of Executive Order 12862 requires
government agencies to ‘‘survey
customers to determine the kind and
quality of services they want and their
level of satisfaction with existing
services’’ and Section 1(e) requires
agencies ‘‘survey front-line employees
on barriers to, and ideas for, matching
the best in business.’’
On March 30, 2016, President Obama
established the Core Federal Services
Council, which again emphasized the
need to deliver world-class customer
service to the American people. The
Council, composed of the major highvolume, high-impact Federal programs
that provide transactional services
directly to the public, were encouraged
‘‘to improve the customer experience by
using public and private sector
management best practices, such as
conducting self-assessments and
journey mapping, collecting
transactional feedback data, and sharing
such data with frontline and other
staff.’’
In March 2018, the Administration of
President Trump launched the
President’s Management Agenda (PMA)
and established new Cross-Agency
Priority (CAP) Goals. Excellent service
was established as a core component of
the mission, service, stewardship model
that frames the entire PMA, embedding
a customer-focused approach in all of
the PMA’s initiatives. This model was
also included in the 2018 update of the
Federal Performance Framework in
Circular A–11, ensuring ‘excellent
service’ as a focus in future agency
strategic planning efforts. The PMA
included a CAP Goal on Improving
Customer Experience with Federal
Services, with a primary strategy to
drive improvements within 25 of the
nation’s highest impact programs. This
effort is supported by an interagency
team and guidance in Circular A–11
requiring the collection of customer
feedback data and increasing the use of
industry best practices to conduct
customer research.
These Presidential actions and
requirements establish an ongoing
process of collecting customer insights
and using them to improve services.
This new request will enable the
Department of Homeland Security
(hereafter ‘‘the Agency’’) to act in
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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accordance with OMB Circular A–11
Section 280 to ultimately transform the
experience of its customers to improve
both efficiency and mission delivery,
and increase accountability by
communicating about these efforts with
the public.
The Agency will collect, analyze, and
interpret information gathered through
this generic clearance to identify
services’ accessibility, navigation, and
use by customers, and make
improvements in service delivery based
on customer insights gathered through
developing an understanding of the user
experience interacting with
Government.
For the purposes of this request,
‘‘customers’’ are individuals,
businesses, and organizations that
interact with a Federal Government
agency or program, either directly or via
a Federal contractor.
‘‘Service delivery’’ or ‘‘services’’ refers
to the multitude of diverse interactions
between a customer and Federal agency
such as applying for a benefit or loan,
receiving a service such as healthcare or
small business counseling, requesting a
document such as a passport or social
security card, complying with a rule or
regulation such as filing taxes or
declaring goods, utilizing resources
such as a park or historical site, or
seeking information such as public
health or consumer protection notices.
Under this request, three types of
activities will be conducted to generate
customer insights:
Customer Research (e.g., User Persona
and Journey Map Development): A
critical first component of
understanding customer experience is to
develop customer personas and journey
maps. This process enables the Agency
to more deeply understand the customer
segments they serve and to organize the
processes customers interact with
throughout their engagement with the
Federal entity to accomplish a task or
meet a need. In order to adequately
capture the perspective of the customer
and the barriers or supports that exist as
they navigate these journeys, it is
necessary to directly interact with
customers rather than relying solely
upon the Agency’s stated policy of how
a process should work or employees’
interpretation of how services are
delivered. This can occur through a
variety of information collection
mechanisms that include focus groups,
individual intercept interviews at a
service site, shadowing a user as they
navigate a Federal service and
documenting their reactions and
frustrations, customer free-response
comment cards, or informal small
discussion groups.
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Regardless of the format, the Agency
will apply Human Centered Design
(HCD) Discovery methods to generate
personas and journey maps, ultimately
identifying customer insights. An
approach to recruiting participants,
resources for preparing and structuring
interviews, and a consent form for
interviewees can be found at https://
www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/HCD-DiscoveryGuide-Interagency-v12-1.pdf. This
document is also included in the
package.
Insights documented, summarized
and presented in customer personas and
journey maps can then be shared across
the program, the Agency, other Federal,
State, and Local government
stakeholders and even with the public
to validate and discuss common themes
identified. These products can be used
as ‘‘indicator lights’’ for where more
rigorous qualitative and quantitative
research can be conducted to improve
Federal service delivery.
Publicly shared personas and journey
maps will include language that
qualifies their use (see question #16),
and high-level, non-identifying
descriptive statistics of the
population(s) interviewed to develop it
(ex. ‘‘25 Service members that
transitioned to civilian employment
within the last decade, 14 female, 11
male, 21 enlisted and 4 officers) to
ensure that the perspective represented
is understood. Quotes or insights will
never be associated with an actual
individual unless they have signed a
release form (see link above for
template) and this was included in the
specific collection request.
Customer Feedback (Satisfaction
Survey): Surveys to be considered under
this generic clearance will only include
those surveys modeled on the OMB
Circular A–11 CX Feedback survey to
improve customer service by collecting
feedback at a specific point during a
customer journey. This could include
upon submitting a form online on a
Federal website, speaking with a call
center representative, paying off a loan,
or visiting a Federal service center.
In an effort to develop comparable,
government-wide scores that will enable
cross-agency or industry benchmarking
(when relevant) and a general indication
of an agency’s overall customer
satisfaction, OMB Circular A–11 Section
280 requires high impact services to
measure their touchpoint/transactional
performance in as a real-time manner as
possible, with respect to satisfaction and
confidence/trust using the following
questions, without modification.
Responses will typically be assessed on
a 5-point Likert scale (1 (strongly
disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)). These
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questions align to drivers of experience
developed in consultation with leading
organizations in customer experience
both in the private sector and industry
groups that study the most critical
drivers of customer experience.
• 5 point Likert scale: I am satisfied
with the service I received from
[Program/Service name].
• 5 point Likert scale: This
interaction increased my confidence in
[Program/Service name]. OR I trust
[Agency/Program/Service name] to
fulfill our country’s commitment to
[relevant population].
• Free response: Any additional
feedback on your scores above?
• 5 point Likert scale: My need was
addressed OR My issue was resolved.
OR I found what I was looking for.
• 5 point Likert scale: It was easy to
complete what I needed to do.
• 5 point Likert scale: It took a
reasonable amount of time to do what
I needed to do.
• 5 point Likert scale: I was treated
fairly.
• 5 point Likert scale: Employees I
interacted with were helpful.
• Free response: Any additional
feedback for [Program/Service name]?
The surveys shall include no more
than 15 questions in total. The Agency
may add a few additional questions to
those listed above to clarify type of
service received, inquiry type, service
center location, or other programspecific questions that can help program
managers to filter and make use of the
feedback data.
As part of the Customer Experience
CAP goal’s strategy to increase
transparency to drive accountability, the
feedback data collected through the A–
11 Standard Feedback survey is meant
to be shared with the public. This
collection is part of the governmentwide effort to embed standardized
customer metrics within high-impact
programs to create government-wide
performance dashboards. Data collected
from the questions listed above will be
submitted by the Agency to OMB at a
minimum quarterly for updating of
customer experience dashboards on
performance.gov. This dashboard will
also include the total volume of
customers that passed through the
transaction point at which the survey
was offered, the number of customers
the survey was presented to, the number
of responses, and the mode of
presentation and response (online
survey, in-person, post-call touchtone,
mobile, email). This will help to qualify
the data’s representation by showing
both the response rate and total number
of actual responses.
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User Testing of Services and Digital
Products: Agencies should continually
review, update and refine their service
delivery, including communication
materials, processes, supporting
reference materials, and digital products
associated with a Federal program. This
often requires ‘‘field testing’’ program
informational materials, process
updates, forms, or digital products (such
as websites or mobile applications) by
interacting with past, existing, or future
customers and soliciting feedback.
These activities can include cognitive
laboratory studies, such as those used to
refine questions on a program form to
ensure clarity, demo kiosks at a service
center where customers can provide
informal feedback while waiting for a
service, or more formally scheduled inperson observation testing (e.g., website
or software usability tests). These
information collection activities are
more specific than broad customer
research and related to a particular
artifact/product of a Federal program.
As such, there will be a more structured
interview/set of questions than more
open-ended customer research. Findings
from these activities are meant to
support the design and implementation
of Federal program services and digital
products, and may only be shared in an
anonymized/in aggregate if a particular
insight is useful to include as part of a
customer persona, journey map, or
common lesson learned for improving
service delivery.
The Agency will only submit under
this generic clearance if it meets the
following conditions:
• The collections are voluntary;
• The collections are low-burden for
respondents (based on considerations of
total burden hours or burden-hours per
respondent) and are low-cost for both
the respondents and the Federal
Government;
• The collections are noncontroversial and do not raise issues of
concern to other Federal agencies;
• Any collection is targeted to the
solicitation of opinions from
respondents who have experience with
the program or may have experience
with the program in the near future;
• Personally identifiable information
(PII) is collected only to the extent
necessary and is not retained;
• Information gathered is intended to
be used for general service improvement
and program management purposes
• Upon agreement between OMB and
the agency all or a subset of information
may be released as part of A–11, Section
280 requirements only on
performance.gov. Additionally,
summaries of customer research and
user testing activities may be included
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57879
in public-facing customer journey maps
and summaries.
• Additional release of data must be
done coordinated with OMB.
This clearance will help the Agency
to establish a process where customer
experience is regularly monitored and
measured. The results will assist the
Agency in the planning and decisionmaking processes to improve the quality
of the Agency’s products and services.
Results from feedback activities and
surveys will be used to measure against
established baseline standards and for
measuring the Agency’s progress toward
defined goals.
There are neither legal nor technical
obstacles to the use of technology in
these information collection activities.
The determination to use technology,
and which technology to use, will be
based on the type of information
collected and the utility and the
availability of specific technology to
each respondent in a proposed customer
research activity or feedback survey.
The Agency will work to ensure the
streamlining of all customer research
and feedback surveys under this
clearance. The Agency will also work to
reduce existing customer feedback
surveys and questions into alignment
with the A–11 Standard CX Feedback
survey as part of a coordinated Agencywide customer program. The
information to be supplied on these
surveys will not be duplicated on any
other information collection.
The information collected in these
surveys will represent the minimum
burden necessary to evaluate customer
experience with the Agency’s programs
and processes. The Agency will
minimize the burden on respondents by
sampling as appropriate, asking for
readily available information, and using
short, easy-to-complete information
collection instruments.
Without regular mechanisms for
collecting and generating customer
insights, the Agency is not able to
provide the public with the highest
level of service. These activities will be
coordinated to ensure that most
individual respondents will not be
asked to respond to more than one
survey instrument per transaction or to
participate in more than one qualitative
feedback or testing activity.
These surveys will be consistent with
all the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5,
especially those provisions in
subsection (g) which require that a
statistical survey be designed to produce
results that can be generalized to the
universe of study. There are no special
circumstances that would cause this
information collection to be conducted
in an unusual or intrusive manner. All
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participation will be voluntary. Should
the Agency need to deviate from the
requirements outlined in 5 CFR 1320,
individual justification will be provided
to OMB on a case-by-case basis.
No attempt will be made to generalize
the findings from these three groups of
activities to be nationally representative
or statistically valid. They are meant to
compliment and help to contextualize
performance and evaluation data as part
of a three-pronged approach to
understanding Federal program
implementation and opportunities for
improvement (Performance, Evaluation,
and ‘‘Feedback’’ data 1).
Customer Research: Insights gleaned
from qualitative customer research may
be presented publicly in the format of a
conceptual user persona or customer
journey map. Customer research can
take anywhere from 6 weeks for a short
sprint to a full fiscal year, depending on
the specific project. The Agency expects
most journey mapping efforts to last
approximately 6 months, with a user
persona and journey maps ready for
feedback (both from internal and
external to government stakeholders)
within one month of completing
customer research.
Publicly available Journey maps will
include specific language to
contextualize their use and will be
included in specific requests. This
language can include something like:
What should I know about journey
maps?
Journey maps are living documents—
continually refined and revisited. There
is never a ‘‘final’’ version, and these
maps are meant to serve as a summary
of the voices of actual customers of U.S.
Government services. A map may not
precisely document the way a
Government program is meant to be
navigated, accessed, or used. It might
not capture every government program
or resource available to a customer
segment.
However, it is the product of a
qualitative research approach to gather
insights from customers’ actual
experiences. These findings can help us
to identify areas for high-impact
improvements across delivery channels
and organizational silos.
Customer Feedback: Once touchpoint
surveys are implemented at transaction
points along the customer journey
interacting with Federal services, data
from the A–11 Standard CX Feedback
survey will be submitted to OMB
quarterly for review and publication in
a summary dashboard on
performance.gov.
This data will include:
• Specific transaction point at which
the survey was administered
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• Total volume of customers that
interacted at this transaction point
during the given quarter
• Total volume of customers that were
presented the survey
• Total number of customers who
completed the survey
• Mode(s) of collection (ex. online, over
mobile, over the phone, paper form)
• Specific survey instrument that shows
the Agency’s wording of standard A–
11 CX Feedback survey
• Distribution of the responses across
the 5 point Likert scale for each of the
standard questions
The purpose of collecting volume and
response numbers is to share customer
feedback measures in context of the
response rate and total volume of
responses to qualify interpretation of the
CX feedback data.
Testing of Services and Digital
Products: Similar to Customer Research,
this can range from a short two-day
rapid feedback from users within an
Agile product development sprint or
longer effort to gather more extensive
feedback from multiple physical
locations.
DHS is particularly interested in
comments which:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the proper performance of the
functions of the agency, including
whether the information will have
practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who
are to respond, including through the
use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology,
e.g., permitting electronic submissions
of responses.
Analysis
Agency: Department of Homeland
Security DHS.
Title: Generic Clearance for Improving
Customer Experience (OMB Circular A–
11, Section 280 Implementation).
OMB Number: 1601–NEW.
Frequency: On Occasion.
Affected Public: Individuals.
Number of Respondents: 2,001,550.
Estimated Time Per Respondent: 3
mins or up to 2 hours.
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Total Burden Hours: 101,125.
Robert Dorr,
Acting Executive Director, Business
Management Directorate.
[FR Doc. 2020–20404 Filed 9–15–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9112–FL–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[20X LLUTY02000 L17110000.PN0000
LXSSJ0650000]
Notice of Public Meeting, Bears Ears
National Monument Advisory
Committee, Utah
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
AGENCY:
In accordance with the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act, as amended, the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, and the Federal Lands
Recreation Enhancement Act, the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of
Land Management’s (BLM) Bears Ears
National Monument Advisory
Committee (BENM MAC) will meet as
indicated below.
DATES: The BENM MAC will hold a
virtual meeting on Oct. 16, 2020, from
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting is open to
the public.
ADDRESSES: The agenda and meeting
access information (including how to
log in and participate) will be
announced on the BENM MAC web
page 30 days before the meeting at
https://www.blm.gov/get-involved/racnear-you/utah/benm-mac.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jake
Palma, Bears Ears National Monument
Manager, P.O. Box 7, Monticello, Utah
84535, via email with the subject line
‘‘BENM MAC’’ to blm_ut_mt_mail@
blm.gov, or by calling the Monticello
Field Office at (435) 587–1500. Persons
who use a telecommunications device
for the deaf may call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS) at 1–800–877–8339 to
leave a message or question for the
above individual. The FRS is available
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Replies are provided during normal
business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Proclamation 9558 established the
BENM MAC to provide advice and
information to the Secretary of the
Interior through the Director of the
BLM, and to the Secretary of
Agriculture, through the Chief of the
U.S. Forest Service, to consider for
managing the Bears Ears National
SUMMARY:
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57877-57880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20404]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[Docket Number DHS-2020-0019]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280
Implementation)
AGENCY: Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
ACTION: 30-Day Notice and request for comments; New Collection, 1601-
NEW.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, is
announcing an opportunity for public comment on a new proposed
collection of information by the Agency. DHS previously published this
information collection request (ICR) in the Federal Register on Monday,
May 18, 2020 for a 60-day public comment period. One (1) comment was
received by DHS. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional
30-days for public comments.
DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted until October 16,
2020. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.1.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
[[Page 57878]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 11, 1993, President Clinton
issued Executive Order 12862, ``Setting Customer Service Standards''
which clearly define his vision that the Federal agencies will put the
people first. Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide
service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service
available in the private sector. Section 1(b) of Executive Order 12862
requires government agencies to ``survey customers to determine the
kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction
with existing services'' and Section 1(e) requires agencies ``survey
front-line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best
in business.''
On March 30, 2016, President Obama established the Core Federal
Services Council, which again emphasized the need to deliver world-
class customer service to the American people. The Council, composed of
the major high-volume, high-impact Federal programs that provide
transactional services directly to the public, were encouraged ``to
improve the customer experience by using public and private sector
management best practices, such as conducting self-assessments and
journey mapping, collecting transactional feedback data, and sharing
such data with frontline and other staff.''
In March 2018, the Administration of President Trump launched the
President's Management Agenda (PMA) and established new Cross-Agency
Priority (CAP) Goals. Excellent service was established as a core
component of the mission, service, stewardship model that frames the
entire PMA, embedding a customer-focused approach in all of the PMA's
initiatives. This model was also included in the 2018 update of the
Federal Performance Framework in Circular A-11, ensuring `excellent
service' as a focus in future agency strategic planning efforts. The
PMA included a CAP Goal on Improving Customer Experience with Federal
Services, with a primary strategy to drive improvements within 25 of
the nation's highest impact programs. This effort is supported by an
interagency team and guidance in Circular A-11 requiring the collection
of customer feedback data and increasing the use of industry best
practices to conduct customer research.
These Presidential actions and requirements establish an ongoing
process of collecting customer insights and using them to improve
services. This new request will enable the Department of Homeland
Security (hereafter ``the Agency'') to act in accordance with OMB
Circular A-11 Section 280 to ultimately transform the experience of its
customers to improve both efficiency and mission delivery, and increase
accountability by communicating about these efforts with the public.
The Agency will collect, analyze, and interpret information
gathered through this generic clearance to identify services'
accessibility, navigation, and use by customers, and make improvements
in service delivery based on customer insights gathered through
developing an understanding of the user experience interacting with
Government.
For the purposes of this request, ``customers'' are individuals,
businesses, and organizations that interact with a Federal Government
agency or program, either directly or via a Federal contractor.
``Service delivery'' or ``services'' refers to the multitude of
diverse interactions between a customer and Federal agency such as
applying for a benefit or loan, receiving a service such as healthcare
or small business counseling, requesting a document such as a passport
or social security card, complying with a rule or regulation such as
filing taxes or declaring goods, utilizing resources such as a park or
historical site, or seeking information such as public health or
consumer protection notices.
Under this request, three types of activities will be conducted to
generate customer insights:
Customer Research (e.g., User Persona and Journey Map Development):
A critical first component of understanding customer experience is to
develop customer personas and journey maps. This process enables the
Agency to more deeply understand the customer segments they serve and
to organize the processes customers interact with throughout their
engagement with the Federal entity to accomplish a task or meet a need.
In order to adequately capture the perspective of the customer and the
barriers or supports that exist as they navigate these journeys, it is
necessary to directly interact with customers rather than relying
solely upon the Agency's stated policy of how a process should work or
employees' interpretation of how services are delivered. This can occur
through a variety of information collection mechanisms that include
focus groups, individual intercept interviews at a service site,
shadowing a user as they navigate a Federal service and documenting
their reactions and frustrations, customer free-response comment cards,
or informal small discussion groups.
Regardless of the format, the Agency will apply Human Centered
Design (HCD) Discovery methods to generate personas and journey maps,
ultimately identifying customer insights. An approach to recruiting
participants, resources for preparing and structuring interviews, and a
consent form for interviewees can be found at https://www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/HCD-Discovery-Guide-Interagency-v12-1.pdf. This document is
also included in the package.
Insights documented, summarized and presented in customer personas
and journey maps can then be shared across the program, the Agency,
other Federal, State, and Local government stakeholders and even with
the public to validate and discuss common themes identified. These
products can be used as ``indicator lights'' for where more rigorous
qualitative and quantitative research can be conducted to improve
Federal service delivery.
Publicly shared personas and journey maps will include language
that qualifies their use (see question #16), and high-level, non-
identifying descriptive statistics of the population(s) interviewed to
develop it (ex. ``25 Service members that transitioned to civilian
employment within the last decade, 14 female, 11 male, 21 enlisted and
4 officers) to ensure that the perspective represented is understood.
Quotes or insights will never be associated with an actual individual
unless they have signed a release form (see link above for template)
and this was included in the specific collection request.
Customer Feedback (Satisfaction Survey): Surveys to be considered
under this generic clearance will only include those surveys modeled on
the OMB Circular A-11 CX Feedback survey to improve customer service by
collecting feedback at a specific point during a customer journey. This
could include upon submitting a form online on a Federal website,
speaking with a call center representative, paying off a loan, or
visiting a Federal service center.
In an effort to develop comparable, government-wide scores that
will enable cross-agency or industry benchmarking (when relevant) and a
general indication of an agency's overall customer satisfaction, OMB
Circular A-11 Section 280 requires high impact services to measure
their touchpoint/transactional performance in as a real-time manner as
possible, with respect to satisfaction and confidence/trust using the
following questions, without modification. Responses will typically be
assessed on a 5-point Likert scale (1 (strongly disagree) to 5
(strongly agree)). These
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questions align to drivers of experience developed in consultation with
leading organizations in customer experience both in the private sector
and industry groups that study the most critical drivers of customer
experience.
5 point Likert scale: I am satisfied with the service I
received from [Program/Service name].
5 point Likert scale: This interaction increased my
confidence in [Program/Service name]. OR I trust [Agency/Program/
Service name] to fulfill our country's commitment to [relevant
population].
Free response: Any additional feedback on your scores
above?
5 point Likert scale: My need was addressed OR My issue
was resolved. OR I found what I was looking for.
5 point Likert scale: It was easy to complete what I
needed to do.
5 point Likert scale: It took a reasonable amount of time
to do what I needed to do.
5 point Likert scale: I was treated fairly.
5 point Likert scale: Employees I interacted with were
helpful.
Free response: Any additional feedback for [Program/
Service name]?
The surveys shall include no more than 15 questions in total. The
Agency may add a few additional questions to those listed above to
clarify type of service received, inquiry type, service center
location, or other program-specific questions that can help program
managers to filter and make use of the feedback data.
As part of the Customer Experience CAP goal's strategy to increase
transparency to drive accountability, the feedback data collected
through the A-11 Standard Feedback survey is meant to be shared with
the public. This collection is part of the government-wide effort to
embed standardized customer metrics within high-impact programs to
create government-wide performance dashboards. Data collected from the
questions listed above will be submitted by the Agency to OMB at a
minimum quarterly for updating of customer experience dashboards on
performance.gov. This dashboard will also include the total volume of
customers that passed through the transaction point at which the survey
was offered, the number of customers the survey was presented to, the
number of responses, and the mode of presentation and response (online
survey, in-person, post-call touchtone, mobile, email). This will help
to qualify the data's representation by showing both the response rate
and total number of actual responses.
User Testing of Services and Digital Products: Agencies should
continually review, update and refine their service delivery, including
communication materials, processes, supporting reference materials, and
digital products associated with a Federal program. This often requires
``field testing'' program informational materials, process updates,
forms, or digital products (such as websites or mobile applications) by
interacting with past, existing, or future customers and soliciting
feedback. These activities can include cognitive laboratory studies,
such as those used to refine questions on a program form to ensure
clarity, demo kiosks at a service center where customers can provide
informal feedback while waiting for a service, or more formally
scheduled in-person observation testing (e.g., website or software
usability tests). These information collection activities are more
specific than broad customer research and related to a particular
artifact/product of a Federal program. As such, there will be a more
structured interview/set of questions than more open-ended customer
research. Findings from these activities are meant to support the
design and implementation of Federal program services and digital
products, and may only be shared in an anonymized/in aggregate if a
particular insight is useful to include as part of a customer persona,
journey map, or common lesson learned for improving service delivery.
The Agency will only submit under this generic clearance if it
meets the following conditions:
The collections are voluntary;
The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on
considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per respondent)
and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
The collections are non-controversial and do not raise
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions
from respondents who have experience with the program or may have
experience with the program in the near future;
Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
Information gathered is intended to be used for general
service improvement and program management purposes
Upon agreement between OMB and the agency all or a subset
of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280
requirements only on performance.gov. Additionally, summaries of
customer research and user testing activities may be included in
public-facing customer journey maps and summaries.
Additional release of data must be done coordinated with
OMB.
This clearance will help the Agency to establish a process where
customer experience is regularly monitored and measured. The results
will assist the Agency in the planning and decision-making processes to
improve the quality of the Agency's products and services.
Results from feedback activities and surveys will be used to
measure against established baseline standards and for measuring the
Agency's progress toward defined goals.
There are neither legal nor technical obstacles to the use of
technology in these information collection activities. The
determination to use technology, and which technology to use, will be
based on the type of information collected and the utility and the
availability of specific technology to each respondent in a proposed
customer research activity or feedback survey.
The Agency will work to ensure the streamlining of all customer
research and feedback surveys under this clearance. The Agency will
also work to reduce existing customer feedback surveys and questions
into alignment with the A-11 Standard CX Feedback survey as part of a
coordinated Agency-wide customer program. The information to be
supplied on these surveys will not be duplicated on any other
information collection.
The information collected in these surveys will represent the
minimum burden necessary to evaluate customer experience with the
Agency's programs and processes. The Agency will minimize the burden on
respondents by sampling as appropriate, asking for readily available
information, and using short, easy-to-complete information collection
instruments.
Without regular mechanisms for collecting and generating customer
insights, the Agency is not able to provide the public with the highest
level of service. These activities will be coordinated to ensure that
most individual respondents will not be asked to respond to more than
one survey instrument per transaction or to participate in more than
one qualitative feedback or testing activity.
These surveys will be consistent with all the guidelines in 5 CFR
1320.5, especially those provisions in subsection (g) which require
that a statistical survey be designed to produce results that can be
generalized to the universe of study. There are no special
circumstances that would cause this information collection to be
conducted in an unusual or intrusive manner. All
[[Page 57880]]
participation will be voluntary. Should the Agency need to deviate from
the requirements outlined in 5 CFR 1320, individual justification will
be provided to OMB on a case-by-case basis.
No attempt will be made to generalize the findings from these three
groups of activities to be nationally representative or statistically
valid. They are meant to compliment and help to contextualize
performance and evaluation data as part of a three-pronged approach to
understanding Federal program implementation and opportunities for
improvement (Performance, Evaluation, and ``Feedback'' data \1\).
Customer Research: Insights gleaned from qualitative customer
research may be presented publicly in the format of a conceptual user
persona or customer journey map. Customer research can take anywhere
from 6 weeks for a short sprint to a full fiscal year, depending on the
specific project. The Agency expects most journey mapping efforts to
last approximately 6 months, with a user persona and journey maps ready
for feedback (both from internal and external to government
stakeholders) within one month of completing customer research.
Publicly available Journey maps will include specific language to
contextualize their use and will be included in specific requests. This
language can include something like: What should I know about journey
maps?
Journey maps are living documents--continually refined and
revisited. There is never a ``final'' version, and these maps are meant
to serve as a summary of the voices of actual customers of U.S.
Government services. A map may not precisely document the way a
Government program is meant to be navigated, accessed, or used. It
might not capture every government program or resource available to a
customer segment.
However, it is the product of a qualitative research approach to
gather insights from customers' actual experiences. These findings can
help us to identify areas for high-impact improvements across delivery
channels and organizational silos.
Customer Feedback: Once touchpoint surveys are implemented at
transaction points along the customer journey interacting with Federal
services, data from the A-11 Standard CX Feedback survey will be
submitted to OMB quarterly for review and publication in a summary
dashboard on performance.gov.
This data will include:
Specific transaction point at which the survey was
administered
Total volume of customers that interacted at this transaction
point during the given quarter
Total volume of customers that were presented the survey
Total number of customers who completed the survey
Mode(s) of collection (ex. online, over mobile, over the
phone, paper form)
Specific survey instrument that shows the Agency's wording of
standard A-11 CX Feedback survey
Distribution of the responses across the 5 point Likert scale
for each of the standard questions
The purpose of collecting volume and response numbers is to share
customer feedback measures in context of the response rate and total
volume of responses to qualify interpretation of the CX feedback data.
Testing of Services and Digital Products: Similar to Customer
Research, this can range from a short two-day rapid feedback from users
within an Agile product development sprint or longer effort to gather
more extensive feedback from multiple physical locations.
DHS is particularly interested in comments which:
1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and
4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated,
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic
submissions of responses.
Analysis
Agency: Department of Homeland Security DHS.
Title: Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience (OMB
Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation).
OMB Number: 1601-NEW.
Frequency: On Occasion.
Affected Public: Individuals.
Number of Respondents: 2,001,550.
Estimated Time Per Respondent: 3 mins or up to 2 hours.
Total Burden Hours: 101,125.
Robert Dorr,
Acting Executive Director, Business Management Directorate.
[FR Doc. 2020-20404 Filed 9-15-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9112-FL-P