williamelledgepe's picture

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Submitted by williamelledgepe on
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General Questions and Comments

Who is the internal customer group of the quality department?
For annual performance reviews I always like to make explicit who the customer is for internal customer relationships. The quality department only recently came under my responsibility and I am not sure who to define is their internal customer. On some level it could be everyone or anyone, but that's not very helpful. Is it project managers? Engineering? Operations? Taxpayers/ratepayers?
(I'm a civil engineer working for a government agency. Not sure that is relevant, but maybe it is. I think most quality departments have similar internal roles.)
Under customer service (on an annual performance review) who should I say the customer is for folks that work in the quality department?

Kevin1's picture
Submitted by Kevin1 on Sunday October 30th, 2016 10:44 pm

There are several possibilities that I can think of, and probably several more that I can't.

  • The Sales department - quality drives customer satisfaction which leads to repeat business
  • Engineering - high quality reduces waste and rework and improves efficiency
  • Executives - high quality reduces waste and rework and improves profitiability
  • Project Managers - because their deliverables are project deliverables

It depends somewhat on what role they play in the overall business process, where they are focused, and who they are answerable to.

Kind regards

Kev

msowens's picture
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Submitted by msowens on Wednesday November 30th, 2016 5:46 pm

That's a good place to start in defining the internal customer. Without knowing the details I would guess Operations and Engineering are the most likely internal customers.