Ministry of Interior services: Excellence in customer satisfaction

The Ministry of Interior stands out among the recipients of prestigious Gold category awards across various government entities, thanks to the outstanding performance of its service centers and its dedication to enhancing government performance and service quality. To achieve this, the Ministry established a Service Centers Branch, a unit within its organizational structure that plays a crucial role in developing and monitoring the evaluation of different service centers affiliated with the Ministry across its divisions. It is the authority responsible for communications with government service centers under the Ministry, based on Ministerial Decision (17) of 2020.

Launch of excellence practices

The idea of creating this organizational unit for service centers emerged after the first government evaluation in 2018. A plan was put in place to improve the performance of service centers in alignment with the Government Service Centers Evaluation Guide (Taqyeem). Given the challenges faced in obtaining documents and communicating with relevant individuals at the centers, the Service Centers Branch was established under the Directorate of Organization and Administrative Development and was implemented on September 16, 2019.

Preparations and diverse applications

The Ministry of Interior outlined several initiatives for implementation through the Service Centers Branch, including:

• Focusing on enhancing and keeping tabs on service centers affiliated with the Ministry of Interior.
• Conducting regular evaluations of service centers for continuous improvement. A Permanent Internal Evaluation Committee for service centers was formed by Decision No. (5) of 2021. This committee assesses centers semi-annually based on the Government Service Centers Evaluation Guide, with results submitted to the Ministry of Interior’s Undersecretary. An internal electronic evaluation system facilitates immediate input of assessment results and observations.
• Offering technical consultations to customer service centers through quarterly meetings with supervisors. These sessions facilitate the exchange of ideas and experiences among different supervisors and coordinators for continuous improvement.
• Compiling an annual report to assess service centers affiliated with the Ministry of Interior. This report highlights performance developments through comparisons with the Permanent Internal Evaluation Committee's report and external evaluation results. It also outlines developmental measures across various centers in line with the general framework for evaluating government service centers, covering all stages that customers go through, with a focus on administrative processes to ensure performance efficiency and quality service provision.
• Developing training plans for customer service employees in the Ministry of Interior, including collaborations with training institutes. This encompasses specialized courses for customer service staff, taking into consideration the security aspects of the centers:
  • In 2021, the Ministry of Interior entered into a partnership with the Bahrain Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) to develop a training course tailored specifically for its customer service employees. The collaboration included the incorporation of elements aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the customer service team, with a focus on the security aspects of the centers.
  • The Ministry secured a contract with a PR consultant to involve 20 supervisors from its service centers in obtaining a training diploma in customer service by July 2022.
  • Demonstrating a commitment to community partnership, the Ministry coordinated with a telecommunications company to provide training for a group of customer service employees associated with the Ministry of Interior in 2022.
  • In 2023, ten supervisors from the Ministry's service centers were enrolled in a Professional Diploma in Future Services program offered by the Ministry of Interior in the United Arab Emirates. The program aims to qualify and train participants in the fundamental principles of designing and delivering government services. The diploma was completed and included a range of tracks, such as Future User Experience, Digital Communication and Marketing Management, Digital Data Management, and Artificial Intelligence for Services.
• Continuous external evaluation of government service centers by facilitating communication with the Service Centers Branch. This involves providing all necessary documents and requirements, making it easier for the external evaluation team to communicate with a single point of contact within the Ministry.
• Compiling an annual report on the performance of service centers, tracking their development over time.
• Preparing specialized studies on government service centers.

Designing an organized methodology for practices

The Ministry of Interior organized its design processes systematically to develop an optimal application mechanism. This involved several steps:

• The establishment of the Service Centers Branch and its extension by ministerial decree to cover all general directorates.
• Appointment of a supervisor for each service center.
• Training of service center supervisors on the details of the standards outlined in the Government Service Centres Evaluation Guide (Taqyeem).
• Standardization of documents for service centers, using uniform templates such as the ones for developing improvement procedures based on feedback, presentation of customer satisfaction measurement statistics, and more.
• Regular meetings and visits to service centers.
• Coordination with various relevant departments, such as the Directorate of Works, to adopt a periodic maintenance mechanism for service centers in line with Taqyeem. Also, coordination with the Protection and Safety Directorate under the General Directorate of Civil Defense for periodic safety assessments of service center buildings and issuance of safety certificates every six months.
• Coordination regarding the opening, closing, or development of the work environment at service centers affiliated with the ministry.

Initiating implementation

The Ministry began implementing this practice, leveraging its expertise in monitoring the performance of all its centers. The evaluation process started immediately, involving the enumeration of centers, preparation of necessary data and files, self-assessment, application of evaluation standards to different aspects, and significant attention to monitoring and tracking customer opinions, evaluations, and satisfaction.

Impact of the practice and Gold awards

The Ministry analyzed the results of the development of service center performance and categorized them based on their performance evolution and the standards successfully met. These results were detailed in the annual report, along with recommendations for each service center, and presented to the Minister of Interior. The impact assessment of practice implementation showed that most service centers in ministry sectors had been elevated to the highest Gold and Silver categories. There are promising centers poised for advancement to higher categories. This achievement reflects the Ministry's success across its centers and the diligent work of the Service Centers Branch, led by the Assistant Undersecretary for Planning and Organization, along with supervisors and staff across all affiliated centers.

Importance of self-assessment

Following the success of this experience, the Ministry of Interior shared its success with some government ministries. Based on the acquired experience, it recommended that centers conduct self-assessment their performance and facilities, and prepare periodic reports for the relevant administrations. This approach aims to facilitate procedures and overcome challenges. The impact of the periodic self-assessment conducted by ministry-affiliated centers in measuring their performance against quality and efficiency standards related to customer service and the provision of government services was measured by the Internal Evaluation Committee.