Historikk

EPSI Rating was initiated in year 2000 as a result from a pilot study conducted in 11 European countries during 1999. A technical study was conducted prior to this Pilot, and supported by the European Commission.

The EPSI Rating is developed as a coherent measurement and analysis system for the European countries. Benchmarking is also possible with similar initiatives in USA, Africa and the Far East.

A European feasibility study for coordinated national CSI's (Customer Satisfaction Index) was conducted in 1997 - 98. In this, a model for CSI measurement and analysis, based on the Swedish approach (also similar to the one employed in USA), was proposed. The study led to the initiation of joint Pan European CSI efforts. In 1999 a pilot phase study was implemented in 11 countries with more than 100,000 interviews conducted. Over 10 industries were surveyed in several countries, and 4 industries were covered by the great majority of participating nations (retail banking, fixed telecommunications, mobile phones and supermarkets). The results from this undertaking were presented in a general (Pan European) report as well as in sector-specific documents.

Efforts continued in 2000 and 2001. The efforts this sixth year have been further integrated. In total, national CSI surveys are conducted in more than 15 countries, including some 125,000 interviews from 5 common industries (retail banking, fixed line telecoms, mobile phones, insurance and supermarkets) and a number of country-specific sectors.

The European Organisation

• Purpose
The European organisation will be operated on a not-for-profit basis with the objective of co-ordinating the programme at a European Level and promoting the concept of Pan European performance indicators, as well as handling the interest of participation from international clients. The success of EPSI Rating will depend upon its ability to combine national approaches led by the National Platforms and the pan-European approaches led by EPSI Rating’s Founders acting as a European platform for global and pan-European multinationals.

• Founders/Owners
The organisation is joint partnership founded and owned by the EOQ, EFQM and IFCF. The organisation is viewed by the EFQM as a marketing vehicle to promote the Excellence Model as well as attracting new members for EFQM and National Quality organisations who may be NPO’s or FMO’s. Future equity breakdowns as well as its breakdown in shares among shareholders and management board members have yet to be defined and agreed.

• Executive Office
An Executive office will be established and a Chief Executive appointed who will run the operations according to the overall strategy agreed by the management board. Initially the Executive Office will rely on taking advantage of available resources at supporting partner organisations and hiring resources on a part-time basis. The office is responsible for developing and monitoring the analysis, quality assurance of national work, maintenance of a Pan European database, website and the harmonization of reporting of results. The organisation should be a business like organisation with the highest standards of professionalism. Unanimously, Jan Eklöf, has been nominated as the CEO-Elect of EPSI Rating by the members of the joint EOQ/EFQM & IFCF working group. His appointment has to be confirmed once the legal establishment of EPSI Rating has been completed.

• Management Board
The Management Board will consist of 5 seats. One each from EOQ, EFQM and IFCF and the countries agreeing to conduct harmonized national CSI-studies (National Platforms) will elect 2 representatives to the board. The Board will hold responsibility for the co-ordination and management of the European aspects of EPSI Rating. Board members will elect a Chairman of the Board. The Board will operate on a democratic and transparent basis.

• General Assembly
A General Assembly will be held annually. Each national platform will be able to nominate one member to attend and vote at the General Assembly. Each owner of EPSI Rating may also be represented by one delegate. The Management Board and Executive Office will both be responsible to report work undertaken to the General Assembly.

• National Platforms
National Platforms will form the core operational arms of the organisation. They should include at least one national quality organisation, preferably either an EOQ FMO or EFQM NPO. In countries where two separate organisations hold this status it is preferable that they work together. In addition to a national quality organisation other interested parties including academic nodes representing the IFCF network, government agency’s etc. may join the National Platform. Each participating National Platform will be required to sign an agreement to confirm their composition and agreement to abide by the policy of EPSI Rating. Any national organisation interested in participating in EPSI Rating has to be composed of competent actors agreeing to work in transparent ways. There will be no formal/legal requirements for participation on a national level.

• Role of National Platforms
The function and role of each National Platform will be unchanged from the current de facto situation. This means that is will principally focus on:
- Co-ordinating all national operations and research

- Managing all national business elements of their CSI

- National marketing and PR

- Representing the National Platform at the EPSI Rating General Assembly

- Develop the national CSI database (the National Platform is the owner of the national dataset generated – of which the Pan European programme shall have a copy).

• Editorial Board
The Management Board will form an Editorial Board who will be responsible for the production of the Pan European Report(s). This will be done in close cooperation with the Executive Office.

• Technical Board
The Management board will also form a Technical Board who will be responsible for any technical aspects that may arise. The Chief Executive of EPSI Rating will Chair the Technical Board, whose members will be proposed by IFCF or members of the management board This board will also be responsible for taking initiative for joint research based on the CSI-studies.

Technical Issues

• Model approach
The lessons learned during the piloting and successive implementation of national CSI studies shall be taken advantage of in designing harmonized structures for the analysis. At the same time, it is appreciated that national adoption might be necessary for various reasons. The balance between consistency between countries and adoption to feasible national approaches constitute one of the main challenges for this programme and has to be attended to in a step-by-step fashion. In this context the observations on possible and not possible comparisons between countries noted in the work on the 2001 Pan European report will be especially important to learn from.

• Data processing
The Stockholm School of Economics will be the preferred choice for processing of data. However, if any National organisation would prefer to use an alternative body, this is also acceptable provided the Technical Board agrees on it in advance.

• Survey Design
The overall survey design proposed for comparable national CSI-studies has been described in technical documents (developed successively through learning from the 1999 pilot onwards). It is our intention to have similar (comparable) designs, including identical questionnaires used by all organizations. However, in the short-term countries wishing to continue to use either 1999 or 2000 questionnaires can still be included in the Pan European CSI Report where the differences in methodology will be acknowledged.

This document is finally approved by the Executive Committees of EOQ and IFCF. To be ratified by EFQM, EPSI Rating as an organisation needs to be scoped and further defined in the forms of a high-level business plan and a memorandum of incorporation. This document does however represent the structure within which the National Platforms will work within for 2002 and onwards if necessary.
June 2002