| The Survey of Organizational Excellence is continuously enhancing the survey experience for all of its participants. This includes improvements in soliciting organizations, collecting survey data, and distributing the results using the latest technologies. With these technologies we can produce more informative results customized for each organization as well as provide a collection of additional reference material for state employees. |
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The Future |
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More Effective and Interactive surveys: The future of the Survey has several great additions to look forward to. These additions will add to the efficiency of distributing the survey and gathering data, as well as add to the effectiveness of the results and how they relate to the organizations. As technology improves, it is important to utilize it to increase the customization and interactivity of the survey results. In 1993, optical scanning was introduced, as well as 100 percent sampling, using the World Wide Web to distribute results, and discrete datasets provided in Excel file format. The Survey database was moved from a SAS application to Access. In 1995, an html (Internet) survey was introduced. In 1996, a secure server was placed online to permit authorized access to data files. From 1997 through 2001 refinements were added to the scanned instrument, improvements to the LAN handling of data files were made, and the use of the Internet to gather data increased. Tying Data To Improvements The fundamental purpose of the Survey is to improve organizations and assist employees in developing skills. In 2000 the Survey began to work with a pilot set of organizations on state-required Customer Service initiatives and followed, at the request of the Governor, a web-based assessment of progress after the 1999 Governor's Conference on Organizational Excellence. These data were reported by selected agencies in Forum 2001, the new annual report of best practices created from Texas state organizations. Scheduled new Survey products will focus upon training and educational support tools to assist in findings derived from the Survey. Additional Funding: Creating and maintaining these new technologies will require additional funding. The benefits are many, and as the survey progresses, we can all be satisfied knowing that we played a part in creating better state agencies with happier, healthier, and more productive employees. |