navigate: home: magazine: fall 2003: article

Cooperative Extension helps Public Utility Commission improve customer response system By Kerry A. Newman
	In 1979, Penn State partnered with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to help the commission fill a need to efficiently gather and analyze information from consumer inquiries. More than 20 years later, the partnership is still going strong. Housed in the Social Sciences Research Institute, the Consumer Services Information Systems Project (CSIS) has evolved over time to become an efficient outreach unit that conducts policy research and technology transfer activities, while working in collaboration with the PUC’s Bureau of Consumer Services. The collaboration has undergone many transitions over the past two decades, such as weathering technological changes, to improve the way the commission communicates with its customers.   “One of the things that stands out is its longevity,” Dr. Theodore R. Alter, associate vice president for Outreach, director of Cooperative Extension and associate dean in the College of Agricultural Sciences, said. Alter is the principal investigator of the Consumer Services Information Systems Project.   “It’s a 20-year working relationship that has evolved. It’s gotten stronger, and the project is more sophisticated, more detailed,” he said. “This is a longstanding effort, and Penn State has been there to provide this service.”   The partnership began under the tutelage of Dr. Drew Hyman, professor emeritus of public policy and community systems. His work in community and economic development provided the background for creating a partnership with the Public Utility Commission and helping the commission develop, and then maintain, a customer response system. As a state agency charged with the regulation of utility prices, territories and standards, the commission is responsible for providing information to the state government and reporting to the citizens of the Commonwealth. In addition, it bears the task of handling consumer inquiries and complaints about public utility companies.   As project manager, research associate Dr. John Shingler heads the Consumer heads the Consumer Dr. John Shingler Services Information Systems Project team. He began working with Hyman as a doctoral student in community systems and planning and has continued to be involved with the project for close to 20 years.   “We look at the quality of service people are receiving,” Shingler said. “We’ve been able to distribute educational materials that inform people of the proper way to do things, and companies have improved in the way they handle complaints and respond to customers.”   At the foundation of the Consumer Services Information Systems Project is a complex database that allows the team to analyze consumer information collected by the Bureau of Consumer Services. Working with SAS statistical analysis software, the data is examined and used to identify problems within the Public Utility Commission’s customer-complaint system. Feedback is organized into reports for the commission, and the data is cataloged in a database. By collecting, organizing and analyzing data, the project helps the commission better serve its constituents. In addition, the research provided by CSIS aids the commission by helping it operate more efficiently and effectively.   “We’ve rewritten the program [software] several times to make it more efficient,” Shingler said.   Responding to changing technologies has helped the Consumer Services Information Systems Project meet the PUC’s changing needs. The group has made technical improvements that help them perform better, too. For example, due to new computer technologies, the project has reduced its data-processing time. Shingler estimates data-processing time has decreased from 20 minutes to about 20 seconds. Now the project spends about $45 a month on data processing, instead of $500 a month. These cost savings occurred during a period of time when the number of cases processed has increased substantially. In addition, advances in computer technology also give commission staff access to data from a Web-interfaced database and allow them to work with the figures in a variety of formats and with different software programs.   We’re ahead of the curve,” Shingler said. The Consumer Services Information Systems   Project’s work embodies Penn State’s mission of teaching, research and service. In addition to serving the state and citizens of the Commonwealth with their research activities, team members contribute to a series of annual reports disseminated to the public and state government. The project also has been used as a resource for Penn State graduate students conducting research for their dissertations.   “I see it as an exemplar of providing a service to the Commonwealth and to the Public Utility Commission,” Alter said. “I see it as an initiative through which we have been able to do research that is grounded in the needs of people.”   Shingler projects the future will bring more opportunities for the project to grow.   “Going forward, I would like to work on adding more capabilities to our Internet-accessible databases,” he said. “I want to always be able to meet the PUC’s changing needs.”   Alter concluded by saying the project sends a positive message about Penn State and the strength of partnerships with the University.   “It’s something we can point to. It says Penn State was there, is here now, and you can count on us in the future,” he said.   In addition to Shingler and Alter, the Consumer Services Information Systems Project team includes Mollie Van Loon, network and information systems manager; Dave Fisher, project assistant and PUC payment arrangement and special issues case evaluator; and case evaluators Ethan Auker and Åsa Mukhopabhyay.   For more information about the Consumer Services Information Systems Project, visit the Web site at http://csisweb.aers.psu.edu, or call John Shingler at 814-863-8653.