INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS

THIS DOCUMENT IS TO BE REGARDED AS THE OFFICIAL CUSTOMER EXCEPTION HANDLING

PROCESS WITHIN INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS. IT IS TO BE MAINTAINED UNDER CHANGE CONTROL

BY THE DOCUMENT CONTROL COORDINATOR.

Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 PROCESS FLOWCHART

3.0 DEFINITIONS

3.1 CUSTOMERS

3.2 CUSTOMER EXCEPTION HANDLING PROCESS

4.0 COMPLAINT ACTIVITIES

5.0 RESOLUTION

6.0 METRICS

6.1 CONTACT DAYS

6.2 RESOLUTION PLANNING

6.3 PLANNED VS. ACTUAL COMPLETION DATE

6.4 TREND ANALYSIS

6.5 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

1.0 Introduction

The Customer Exception Handling Process is designed to increase customer satisfaction by resolving customer issues.

The major tasks within the process include:

• ensuring high visibility of complaints and rapid response time for their solution,
• assessing the timeliness of responses and
• initiating appropriate corrective actions to resolve and prevent reoccurrence of Customer Exception Handling Process.

3.0 Definitions

3.1 Customers

A customer is any end user, or their representative, internal or external users of Integrated Solutions products and services.

3.2 Customer Exception Handling PROCESS

A Customer Exception Handling Process is defined as any written notification to an Integrated Solutions employee that a significant customer expectation has not been met through normal operating procedures. Examples of Customer Exception Handling Process:

• A phone call to the company owner,
• A call to the CEO/President,

Integrated Solutions employees will use proper judgment in deciding what issues are resolvable through normal operating procedures and which issues should be escalated as a complaint.

Typically, issues will be judged as complaints if any of the following criteria is met:

• A letter or call is received, expressing dissatisfaction
• An issue is outside of individual’s span of control; it requires planning and participation from several functional areas
• An issue will impact another organization

Technical Product Faults that deal with product functionality and quality issues are currently tracked and monitored within the SABLIME problem tracking system which conforms to an independent process. These faults are reviewed Quarterly in the Quality System Management Review.

When an issue is determined to be a Customer Exception Handling Process, an associate should immediately Customer Exception Handling Process Coordinator. The Integrated Solutions Customer Exception Handling Process Coordinator will attend to the matter immediately as well as present the issue during the weekly Operation Meeting The Operation Team will select a team or individual to study the situation and come up with resolution actions and the experience learned from the instance will be presented during the weekly meeting.

The Complaint team will immediately inform customer of receipt of complaint and establish communication channel. Team should review the complaint procedure and set date to report back progress of the issue or provide resolution plans.

The complaint team should get a full debrief of the situation from the customer and plan a strategy. The team will report back to the Quality Management Team about its plan of actions.

If the Quality Management team agrees that there are valid reasons for not taking action upon a complaint. The team should prepare a work-around or alternative function and inform the customer timely.

When this alternative approach or work-around is accepted by the customer, the team should follow-up with a letter or email to close out the issue. When the customer rejects the work-around, the Quality Management Team will revisit the situation.

5.0 REsolution

Below is a suggested format for resolving Customer Exception Handling Process. The most appropriate action plan is determined on a case by case basis by the complaint owner.

• Establish communication link
• Set a plan, estimate a resolution date (if necessary)

• Assemble the people necessary to resolve the issue, discuss the issue, set a plan, estimate a resolution date,
• Present plan to customer ASAP and get agreement of the date from the customer

• Team should provide root cause of issue for CLCA and preventive actions planning

When the issue is resolved, personal visit and e-mail to the customer (and copy to Exception Handling Process Coordinator) to close out the issue.

6.0 Metrics

All metrics will be monitored by the Engineering Manager at the weekly staff meetings. These metrics are designed to ascertain how well the business unit is managing customer expectations in resolving their complaints. The metrics will be compiled quarterly and reviewed at the Quality System Management Review.

6.1 Contact Days

The number of days from the receipt of the complaint to the initial verbal or written contact with the customer:

6.2 Resolution Planning

The number of days from the receipt of the complaint to providing the customer with a committed resolution plan:

6.3 Planned vs. Actual Completion Date

The number of days closure is late from the original agreed-upon planned completion date, unless the customer initiated the change in the planned completion date. If we initiate a change in the date, we will continue to track against the original date and the new date

6.4 Trend Analysis

All complaints will be analyzed by the Engineering manager to determine the root cause of the dissatisfaction. The root causes will be compiled and analyzed regularly to determine corrective action plans to address any trends.

6.5 Process Improvement

This process will be reviewed annually to determine if it is meeting its purpose and to determine if any improvements can be made.