10. Implement Issue and Problem Tracking

A means for issue and problem tracking is critical to getting troubles resolved in a way that keeps customers and stakeholders happy. A simple complaint process will do the trick.

ou can help customers and stakeholders feel more comfortable about the project by providing them with a working issue and problem tracking process. In any project there are problems and issues that come up and things that are produced or delivered that don't live up to the customer's expectations. In most cases these are things that can be resolved easily, but often they are left unresolved and allowed to cause the customer a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction.

You can help customers feel comfortable by giving them a complaint process that lets them feel confident  their problems will be addressed.  Next to having no way to report problems, the second most frustrating issue for customers is the feeling that their problems will be forgotten once they are reported.

It's important to make the process easy for your customers.  They'll feel even more frustrated if they think that you may have deliberately made the process unnecessarily complex or otherwise placed an obstacle in the way of getting problems fixed. Below are some considerations for putting issue and problem tracking into place.

Have a single point of contact. Whether it's you, a member of your team, or some other designee, you should be sure that there is a single point of contact for all customer or stakeholder concerns.  Others in your group should be instructed not to take complaints but to redirect to the point of contact where problems can be recorded, assigned, and tracked.

Avoid having the customer fill out a form. Even if it's an electronic form, it should be filled out by the point of contact who will use an interview process to get the information. Your customer is likely to see the form as an impersonal obstacle with little feedback. On the other hand, an interactive interview process seems friendlier, more personal, and has the advantage of insuring the customer that a living person is aware of the problem.

Make sure all information needed for resolving the problem is recorded. Your problem tracking process should have the ability to record everything you need to solve the problem and report back to the customer. At a minimum, your tracking system should gather the following from the initial reporting:

• An identification number that can be used to refer the issue later
• Name and contact information for the person reporting the problem
• Date and time problem was reported
• Name of person recording the information
• Short description, or problem summary
• Detailed description, including how to reproduce (especially important in technology projects)

Provide the ability to track resolution efforts. Your issue and problem tracking process should give you a way to assign the report to a team member and permit recording activity and events related to resolving the problem. At a minimum your ability to track the activity involved should include:

• The person assigned to the effort
• Date and time the issue was assigned
• Current status of the issue (waiting to be assigned, in progress, completed, closed, etc.)
• Multiple activity entries containing:
• • Date of activity
  • type of activity
  • Free form notes
  • Results of activity
• Summary of final resolution

Provide Regular Status Reporting. The customer should not be kept in the dark on issues and complaints. Regular communication of the status of issues should be built into your communication plan. Additionally if you are able to put your problem tracking process online, you may want to give the customer the ability to review progress on issues to satisfy them that the problems are being handled.

Your system doesn't have to be complicated -- it just needs to workable and the people who use it and who deal with the issues need to be sincere in their efforts to resolve the issues and make customers feel satisfied with the problem tracking  process. 

Next in the series: Take Corrective Action Promptly

- Jake Alexander