August 7, 2008 2008 Market Participant Survey Action Plan Dale Goodman Director, Market Services.

August 7, 2008

2008 Market Participant Survey Action Plan

Dale GoodmanDirector, Market Services

MP Survey Action PlanAugust 7, 2008 2

Direction

• ERCOT conducted a Market Participant Survey to gain a perspective from the market as to the level in which ERCOT was meeting its responsibilities.

• The results indicated several areas where ERCOT could improve.

• At the June 17, 2008 ERCOT Board of Directors meeting, the Directors instructed ERCOT to develop an action plan to address areas of performance identified in the survey.

• In development of the action plan to meet the Board’s directive, ERCOT is requesting the TAC to assist in several areas in order to gain a greater clarity and perspective of the Market Participant concerns identified in the survey.


Improvement Areas

• Spending Priorities– Survey Indicators

• Respondents concerned with equity, cost effectiveness, and focus of ERCOT spending practices

– ERCOT Action Plan• Improve the communication process when seeking the market’s input on the

PPL• Do a better job in educating the market on spending priorities and the

process used to reallocate funding via the SRT• Communicate to the market earlier in decisions affecting market projects

– TAC Assistance Requested• Request TAC provide more clarification on issue to meet stakeholders needs• Assist ERCOT in determining which market groups require greater levels of

education and communication as a focus


Improvement Areas

• Website Satisfaction– Survey Indicators

• Respondents less satisfied with look, search functionality, ease of finding documents

• Increase value of resource to Market Participants

– ERCOT Action Plan• The Nodal Market redesign should address many of the issues sited in the

survey• Analyze what stakeholders want and need as compared to their use of the

site• ERCOT has begun plans to replace the tool used to post to the website• ERCOT has rolled out Registered Access which should be an improvement

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests TAC assign the TASOR Task Force to be involved in order

to solicit and gain input on the appropriate stakeholder forum to gain consensus on needed website improvements

– Determine if the issues are business or technical regarding improvements


Improvement Areas

• IT Technical HelpDesk– Survey Indicators

• Helpdesk perceived as not being knowledgeable and simply an answering service

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT will conduct a user survey based on users filing tickets and solicit

direct feedback• ERCOT will study ways to implement improved Helpdesk procedures and

processes for assisting stakeholders • Solicit Helpdesk employee suggestions for handling day to day stakeholder

concerns• Develop SLA for Helpdesk

– TAC Assistance Requested• Request TAC assign to subcommittee to gain clarity on issues for user

requirements and needs assessment


Improvement Areas

• Dispute Resolution– Survey Indicators

• Respondents want more consistency in resolution responses• Dissatisfied with Timeliness in processing disputes

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT will pull data on similar disputes and compare consistency of

responses • ERCOT tracks Timeliness of dispute responses and is within protocols

99.5%• ERCOT to spot survey ADRs vs. initial dispute responses

– TAC Assistance Requested• Request TAC assign to COPS to gain clarity on issues


Improvement Areas

• ERCOT Staff Communications– Survey Indicators

• ERCOT staff messages are negatively perceived due to lack of guidance or instructions contained within communications

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT will perform outreach to stakeholders to clarify the issue• ERCOT will focus on the instructional and guidance aspect of

communications as part of the checklist in communication preparations• ERCOT will expand SLA’s over wide range of topics

– TAC Assistance Requested• Request TAC assign to subcommittees to gain clarity on issues


Improvement Areas

• Account Managers– Survey Indicators

• Market Participant Staff members audience of the survey are not familiar with assigned Account Manager and the assistance structure available

• Decline in survey ranking due to perceived reduction in attitude/willingness, accuracy and timeliness of response, industry knowledge, and overall expectations

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT will target primary and secondary contacts to promote awareness of

Account Manager assignments to stakeholder staff level• ERCOT has increased site-visits to introduce account management team• ERCOT CEO/COO will stress importance of stakeholder awareness at new

employee orientation• ERCOT will focus on industry knowledge and expertise in hiring/development• ERCOT will stress importance of timely interaction and response• ERCOT had a significant turnover in 2007 Account Manager assignments and has

brought on board several new Account Managers with high skill and industry expertise levels

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests feedback from subcommittees on issue and will ask for quarterly

survey responses on account management staff


Improvement Areas

• Format of Settlement Statements– Survey Indicators

• Format of settlement statements received a very poor rating and should be explored to increase value

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT believes the Nodal Project changes to format will address concerns • ERCOT will solicit the market to gain clarity on current statement format

» Summary vs. Detail of Statement

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests TAC assign COPS to give feedback on the current format

and any comments on the Nodal design


Improvement Areas

• PRR and SCR Process– Survey Indicators

• ERCOT stands to benefit from efforts to educate the market on the importance of the process involving the committee structure in developing and revising market rules

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT will solicit feedback from market to clarify this issue to gain definition

of the Market Participant issue• ERCOT will address the process in education module improvements in

training courses

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests TAC to assign to subcommittee or task force to determine

if the survey segment of Market Participant staff members who raised issue has knowledge of process or if knowledge is required.

» Degree of Issue


Improvement Areas

• Data Extracts and Reports Expectations– Survey Indicators

• Consistency in application of data extract Protocols and/or market guides and should ERCOT investigate expectations compared to actual delivery

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT believes it understands the issue and has been working to improve

delivery by developing SLAs in the market process

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests TAC to solicit COPS to define expectations and define

substance of extracts– Discuss and Define Introduction of new Protocols– SLAs

• ERCOT also requests TAC to assign any non-COPS type issues to the TASOR Task Force for placement


Improvement Areas

• ERCOT Training and Seminars– Survey Indicators

• ERCOT may wish to increase outreach to Market Participant staff members regarding availability and benefits of ERCOT training

– ERCOT Action Plan• ERCOT plans to enhance and improve LMS• ERCOT will explore webinars• ERCOT will review communication of training session announcements and

opportunities• ERCOT will continue current level of on-site training• ERCOT will re-examine requirements post-Nodal• ERCOT will begin to share “end-of-class” survey results on training

– TAC Assistance Requested• ERCOT requests TAC solicit input from subcommittees on future training

and education outreaches and assist in defining future scope• ERCOT requests TAC solicit input from subcommittees on what we are

doing well and suggest any changes that would enhance service


Next Steps

• ERCOT will:– Clarify requests for assistance from TAC as required– Provide support to areas TAC makes assignments as

required – Continue to address improvement areas internally– Collect all recommendations/feedback from TAC and

begin to develop improvement efforts – Update BOD on Action Planning efforts


QuestionsQuestions

August 7, 2008 2008 Market Participant Survey Action Plan Dale Goodman Director, Market Services.

Documents

Transcript of August 7, 2008 2008 Market Participant Survey Action Plan Dale Goodman Director, Market Services.