Tracking Productivity at Kodak’s Technical

Support Center

Heidi Huber

John Rosenbaum

Amy Stokes

Background of Kodak Health Imaging

Involved in health imaging for over a century.

Sells hardware and software involved in every facet of health imaging.

Technical support call center in Dallas.

Responsible for a select group of hardware.

Details of the Call Center

Open 24/7

Divided in two levels Level 1 – Simple, immediate support Level 2 – Complex, higher skilled techs

Cases tracked using Vantive

Problems solved using several methods

Tracking Productivity

Basic model that existed prior to our analysis tracked productivity at a dismal 39%.

Management is convinced that actual productivity is much higher than 39%. At 39% over 90 work days per year are spent

not working.

Based estimate on time entered in Vantive.

Took into account some legitimate untracked activities.

Target productivity rate is 70%.

Our Job Determine the reason productivity is

reported at 39%.

Answer 3 main questions: Do the technicians accurately track their

own time? Are there any duties they perform that are not

currently accounted for? Are the current recorded miscellaneous duties

estimated accurately?

Present an updated more accurate model.

Make recommendations regarding the future tracking of productivity.

The Productivity Model

Level 2 support technicians take an average of 3.36 cases per day.

Estimation of time was off by an average of 2.167 minutes per call with an average of 2 calls per case.

Support technicians do not track time spent assisting other colleagues with cases. Observed to be approximately 45 minutes

per day.

Productivity Model

Other indirect factors included in model: Training Vacation Sick Leave Holidays E-mail and Voice Mail Meeting and Special Projects

The updated model estimates productivity more accurately at 64%64%

Annual At Work Hours 40 hours x 52 weeks 2,080

Indirect Hours Training Hours 160 hours per year 160Average Vacation 40 hours x 3 weeks 120Average Sick 8 hours x 5 days 40Holiday 8 hours x 10 days 80Meetings/Projects 2 hours per month 24Voice mail and e-mail 1hour 10min x 5 days X 46 weeks 269Unreported Time* 2 min x 2calls/case x 3.36 calls x 5 days x 46 wks 56Colleague Assistance 45 minutes x 5 days x 46 weeks 173

Total 921

AOP Direct HoursCode Red Administration 3 hours x 46 weeks 138Product Advocate/Tech db's etc 1 hour x 46 weeks 46

Total Additional Direct Hours 184

Actual Cases per Year (MIS/CR/DR/Lumi) from Vantive 10,820Cases/Person/Year from Vantive 773Average Case Duration Hours from Vantive 0.72

Actual Annual Direct Hours cases/person/yr x case duration + additional direct hrs 738

Potential Direct Annual Hours - Total Indirect Hours 1,159Target Annual Direct Hours 70% Productivity x Potential Direct 811

Actual Team Productivity Actual Annual Direct/Potential Direct 64%

Productivity Forecasting Model

Possible Sources of Error

Support technicians modifying normal behavior because they are under observation.

Graveyard shift employees handle a greatly reduced number of cases.

Volume of cases potentially sporadic.

Recommendations

Periodic observation of staff to obtain valid estimates of indirect hours and unreported time.

Small adhesive clock that attaches to monitor to ease the tracking of time spent on a call.

Gather input directly from support technicians regarding where they feel most of their time is spent.

Conclusion

Two elements were left out of Kodak’s original productivity model: Underestimated time. Time spent helping colleagues.

Not enough time was allocated to e-mail and voice mail in the original model.

The more accurate productivity report of 64% puts the Dallas Level 2 call center only 6% away from their target.