An effective and efficient phone system is crucial to providing Veterans, their families, and service providers with access to information from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) staff. The National Contact Centre Network (NCCN) provides a central point of contact for external callers to obtain general information and request benefits and services. NCCN Analysts either answer questions or immediately transfer callers to staff who can better respond to a caller’s inquiry.
The objective of the audit was to assess the management control framework, compliance with applicable policies and processes, and performance against the service standard. The scope of the audit includes telephony services between April 1, 2014 and July 31, 2015.
The audit team observed that VAC’s relevant policies and procedures were generally clear and up-to-date. NCCN Analysts and Veteran Service Agents were found to have a high level of compliance with processes and their decisions were appropriate and well documented.
To ensure compliance with the policy, the following action must be taken:
- Ensure that the service standard results are published.
The following actions would support an enhanced telephone service experience for callers and improve overall service efficiency:
- improve the interactive voice response (IVR) and caller verification process;
- establish a system for timely replacement of telephony equipment;
- mitigate the impact of the First Contact Resolution model on other workload in the area offices; and
- address the gap between NCCN analyst performance expectations and results.
Overall, the audit team determined the results to be "Generally Acceptable". The opinion is based on a comparison of the conditions, as they existed at the time, against pre-established audit criteria that meet the auditing standards for the Government of Canada and were agreed on with management. The opinion is applicable only to the entity examined.
Chief Audit Executive’s Signature
Sheri Ostridge
Chief Audit Executive