Want to Measure User Satisfaction? Go to the Source!

One of the most effective ways to measure the satisfaction of your SAP Concur user base is to conduct periodic Focus Groups. Bringing users together to participate in a discussion in a non-threatening environment, led by an external, unbiased, and knowledgeable leader, is a great way to solicit user experiences, understand perceptions, and receive recommendations for improvement.

There are best practices related to the various aspects of conducting Focus Groups (the who, what, where, when and why) but with our clients, we have found that a few of the most important aspects is proper preparation of the agenda, approach, and questions to tackle. Many Focus Groups open “Pandora’s Box” once employees realize they can speak their mind and communicate openly to the facilitator/leader and other participants, without any recourse.

It is critical to include employees from different areas of the organization who can provide valuable feedback, and although the areas to discuss will vary depending on the group, there are a number of key topics to discuss when exploring the end user experience regarding Travel and Expense Reporting.

Our sessions typically address the following:

• Booking Travel

• The Trip Itself (including Safety, Health and Security)

• Expense Reporting

• Reimbursement

• Back Office Processes

Onboarding and Offboarding (including training)

• Expense Report Processing and Accounting Procedures

• Expense Monitoring

We employ several techniques when addressing these areas, among them:

• ESTABLISH A BASELINE

  Establish a baseline and understand your Focus Group (which may include use of an anonymous on-line voting tool) - keep this to no more than ten questions.

• ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

  Ask open-ended questions to drive better conversations and feedback, such as: What is working? What can be better? What do you dislike? Do you see another way to do this? What is our problem?

• ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

  Ask specific questions regarding certain aspects of the SAP Concur solution such as the mobile device experience, airfare restrictions, meal and hotel limits, approvals, rejected expenses, and training effectiveness.

Focus Groups are an important tool to use for organizational change management and conducted the right way, can provide many important ‘nuggets’ of information to improve the end-user experience and make back-office processes more efficient.