On 20 August 2019 we told you about our proposed time frame for considering a new opportunity we’ve identified to significantly reduce reschedules on the day. The idea is to seek active confirmation of appointments by consumers, with unacknowledged appointments being rescheduled.  We asked for your feedback on, among other things, the timetable itself.  You’ve told us you want more time to consider the results of our BAU data capture before we test the alternative approach. So, we are making some changes to our proposed timetable. 

What’s happening

We have been investigating ways to improve the efficiency of installation crews by reducing the number of wasted truck rolls, where the crew arrive and no one is home. The idea is to seek active confirmation of appointments by consumers, with unacknowledged appointments being rescheduled.

We are keen to understand in more detail what the implications are for you.  We’ve developed a proposed time frame over which to gather some important data to help us make a decision about this proposal and get feedback from you about the impacts on your business. We set out the proposed time frame in our previous update and asked for your feedback.

What’s the details

Some of you told us you would like to see a few changes to the proposed timetable to as follows:

• more time to consider the results from the BAU data capture (Step 2);
• results provided as soon as possible rather than within a week of the end of the 2 week reporting period; and
• a delay to the timing of the alternative approach test (Step 5).

Some of you indicated how important it is to have a one month notice period if we decide to implement this change.  You told us you need this time to change your customer comms and adequately train your front line staff on the internal changes you are making in response to this proposed change.

We are working with our service companies to explore the possibility of bringing forward result delivery.  We’ll let you know as soon as possible if we can get any of the results (or any part of them) to you earlier than we’d proposed.

In addition, we’ve decided to change the timetable in response to your feedback. 

The new proposed timetable is set out below, with more detail available here:

We have considered whether to delay (or even stop) the test of the alternative approach (Step 6).  We have received contrary feedback on this point but the majority of feedback suggests service providers think there is value in testing this alternative approach, viewing it as an essential step before we are in a position to meaningfully assess whether or not to progress to full implementation. On that basis, we have decided not to change the timing of this test.

We considered the potential impact on service providers if we reduce the one month notice period.  We’ve taken on board your feedback that adequate notice is really important. As a result, we’ve extended the implementation date to 25 November, which allows us to provide one months’ notice of any change as originally planned.

As promised, we’ve created a dedicated space on the Chorus Service Provider website in which you’ll find all the information related to this project. We recently uploaded our view of what ‘good’ test results look like here and details of the service company customer communications and process. 

Next steps

We’ll let you know if we are able to deliver results to you earlier than we’d initially proposed in the timetable.

Contact

For any queries please contact your Account Lead or Service Delivery Manager.