Quality Customer Services Significant progress was made in developing the initiative, including the publication of a Customer Charter and a Customer Service Action Plan. The charter outlines the commitments the organisation is making to its customers regarding the standards of service they can expect; the Action Plan includes the measures the organisation is taking to ensure these commitments are met.
fruit, mushroom, nursery stock and vegetables commodity areas. These teams provide a stakeholder input to the organisation’s programme development and review processes in agriculture research and advisory services. They, therefore, influence the strategic direction of business plans, programme content and delivery, evaluation and quality of customer service.
In 2005, the organisation established thirteen commodity teams, involving farmers and industry representatives, to cover the dairy, sheep, tillage, cattle, environment, rural development, management and technology, pigs, forestry,
Thirteen hundred staff attended Quality Customer Service workshops, providing feedback on how customer service can be improved. Area Management Units are incorporating this feedback into their 2006 business plans.
Business Planning Teagasc implements an internal business planning process. All directorates and management units prepared business plans in 2005 based on the organisation’s Statement of Strategy 2005-2007. These plans were analysed and the templates on which they were based were revised for 2006 to achieve a
more consistent format, better integration of business objectives with the Statement of Strategy and the incorporation of actions to meet statutory and corporate governance guidelines. All managers received training on the use of the revised templates.
Risk Management Risk management was incorporated into business planning in 2005 for the first time. Each business unit compiled a risk register, identifying the major risks in achieving its planned objectives. The risk management measures in place were documented and additional measures identified to better manage the risks.
The Management Committee identified the most serious corporate level risks facing the organisation and the strategic control actions to be implemented. The Authority approved the corporate level risk register.
Finance The organisation delivered the 2005 financial statements within the 28 February deadline and received a clean audit report from the Comptroller and Auditor General. Payroll was relocated from Kinsealy to the new Head Office at Oak Park during the year. The number of staff and suppliers paid electronically increased following a major campaign in the last quarter of the year.
Finance staff took a leading role in the development of the payroll element of the new HR and payroll project, which got underway in 2005.
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