10.06.01 - Quality Assurance | Park District of Oak Park CAPRA Accreditation

Standard: The agency shall monitor and evaluate the quality of its programs, services and facilities from the user perspective. Examples include but are not limited to customer comment cards, secret/mystery shopper surveys, user satisfaction surveys, program evaluates and focus groups.

Suggested Evidence of Compliance: Provide recent examples of methods used to collect, monitor and evaluate quality assurance data from users.

Informational reference in the Management of Park and Recreation Agencies, (2010), 3rd Ed., Chapter 15 – Public Relations, Marketing, and Customer Service, pp. 370-372.

Agency Evidence of Compliance:

The Park District of Oak Park utilizes numerous methodologies to regularly solicit and monitor user feedback in regards to programs, facilities, and services. Where ever possible, this feedback is made available to staff immediately and is viewed on an on-going basis so that staff can respond to trends immediately.

a. External Service Evaluations

On an on-going basis, external users are asked to complete evaluations^1-3 related to their experience in District programs, at District parks and facilities, and also with overall service provided by the District. Responses are collected in a variety of ways, with staff soliciting results through e-mail and in-person on tablets. Additionally, users have the ability to access the evaluations through advertised links and QR codes in the District’s seasonal program guide, on the website, and on signage in facilities. Results from these surveys updated daily on the District’s dashboards and are monitored as part of the overall MPOWER performance measurement program so that all staff have access to the most up-to-date results and can respond immediately to any trends they may observe. More detailed reports with additional comments are available to staff on a regular basis through the District’s surveying tool. These metrics are made available to the Board of Commissioners on a regular basis through a quarterly MPOWER report.

The evaluation tools have also been designed to serve as a direct communication tool between users and the staff. When a customer indicates that a service problem has occurred, an e-mail is automatically sent to the appropriate staff member notifying them of the issue so that they may contact the customer to address the problem.

b. Online Presence

The District continuously receives inquires and suggestions from the community via the Department’s website and social media sites. Messages received through the District’s “Contact Us” website form⁴ are forwarded to the appropriate staff member for a timely response. The Communications & Marketing team regularly encourages community with the community via the District’s Facebook and Twitter pages and answers questions and responds to comments from followers of the pages. Staff also monitor customer review websites such as Yelp for feedback on parks and facilities.

c. Community Survey

In 2014, the District contracted with the consulting firm, Public Research to conduct a community needs assessment⁵. The purpose of the survey was to guide the District in the future development of programs, facilities, and services. The survey results demonstrated that:

90% of citizens indicated that they were satisfied with the Park District
91% of citizens rated the overall quality of programs and events as good or excellent
90% of citizens rated the overall quality of the parks as good or excellent

It is the District’s policy that a community-wide survey is distributed at least once every 5 years, although it has been conducted more frequently in the past when citizen feedback was requested by the Board of Commissioners on major issues.

Documentation:

Agency Self Review: MET