Using TapRooT to Improve Quality & Network Reliability in the Telecommunications Industry
Challenge
In 1995, BellSouth Telecommunications noticed an increase in the number of service interruptions or outages caused by procedural errors. A special Quality Action Team was formed to work with an outside company that was hired to investigate the reason for the increased outages. I was a member of the Quality Action Team and worked for six months with this team and the outside company, looking into the procedural incidents. When the outside company reported their findings, I believed that the report missed several items. It was incomplete. Several other members of the Quality Action Team had similar feelings. They thought the team should do more. I began to talk with several people in the industry and found out about System Improvements and the work they had been doing in the field of procedural incidents.
Action
I contacted System Improvements, got information about the TapRooT® System, and convinced my boss that both he and I should attend one of their courses. Once we attended the course, we decided that TapRooT® RCA would help BellSouth truly identify our procedural problems. We had several Quality Action Team members from each of the Regional Technical Support Systems Groups to attend the 2-Day TapRooT® Class.
Immediately after this class, the information about the causes of the outages began to change. The Analyst conducting the interviews had new tools, and, for the first time, BellSouth began to hear about problems not mentioned in the report.
The TapRooT® RCA System proved to be such a big help that BellSouth bought a license for the TapRooT® System and trained all 98 Analysts in the Regional Technical Support Groups.
Since then, BellSouth has changed the databases associated with service interruptions and outages, including information gained from a TapRooT® System investigation. We then use that information to look for and solve network reliability issues.
Results
We continue to use TapRooT® RCA to identify problems and improve performance. And the results have been outstanding.
For example, in the first ten months of 1997, BellSouth found 10 vendor document errors (which involve procedures) and 14 internal procedure errors. Since implementing TapRooT in 1996, we have cut the procedural incident rate by 12%, leading to improved network reliability.
The TapRooT® System has given BellSouth the tools to review and correctly write procedures and report incidents to upper management. It has also given BellSouth the knowledge to write reports more clearly and precisely (including what information should be in the reports to upper management).
I believe the TapRooT System has been a complete solution for BellSouth, from finding “root causes” to developing fixes to reporting the causes (and the fixes) we find. This helps us in our quest to provide outstanding local and long-distance telephone service to our customers. Just how good is our service? Well, in 1996 and 1997, we received the J.D. Power customer satisfaction award for having the best local residential telephone service. Perhaps it is a coincidence that we started using TapRooT® RCA in 1996. However, I think it reflects that the best companies will use the best tools to improve performance.
