The mission of the Call Center is to provide accurate, efficient handling of all incoming telephone calls. The Call Center is committed to providing excellent customer service and representing Butte College in a positive, professional manner.
The Call Center resides under the Student Programs and Services branch of the college overseen by the Vice President of Student Services and Dean of Student Services. Our unit takes direction from the Director of Admissions and Records. The Call Center was established to provide personalized assistance to students and to enhance the customer service experience by increasing first call resolution at the college. By answering a number of commonly asked questions we provide assistance and free up resources at the department level.
The Call Center provides information to new students about the steps to enroll, navigation to the six steps to financial aid, important dates and deadlines, ID retrieval, MyBC login assistance, student email assistance, general navigation, busing information, fee information, cashiering and registration services, and assistance with contacting college departments and personnel.
The Call Center is comprised of:
• One (1) full-time Call Center Representative
• One (1) full-time bilingual Call Center Representative
(1 VACANT)
• Five (5) Call Center Representatives who are
permanent part-time 24 hour employees (1 VACANT)
• One (1) part-time grant funded Spanish speaking
Center Representative through Student Equity
• One (1) full-time Call Center Supervisor
During peak periods our call volume can exceed more than 1000 calls per day. Call monitoring software would allow the Call Center to more effectively manage resources, align staffing with peak student demand, and minimize caller wait times.
Call Center Representative Reclass
The reclass and pay increase for Call Center Representatives has definately helped to maintain current knowledgeable staff to meet our student needs. This front line staff which takes up to 1000 calls a day, with a first call resolution of near 60%, provides an invaluable service to Butte College students. We were thrilled that the scope, knowledge and training required to adequately provide service for the volume of calls we provide assistance to warrented this reclass and pay increase. This increase and reclass will help to maintain the high level of service to students which comes from adequately compensating trained and knowledgeable staff. This also helps to reduces staff moving to higher paying positions which had lesser scopes. (Increased to Range 18 @ $16.56 up from Range 12 $14.28/hr)
Bi-lingual Part Time Call Representative
We have connected with the Latino population more this year than any other and students are beginning to feel safe to get help through us and are spreading the word. Having an additional Representative allows us to have a queue and be able to assist each and every caller without them having to leave a message. This has tripled our Spanish callers and we have found these bi-lingual representatives are discovering better ways to assist each day and really take the time to get this population squared away with the STEPS TO ENROLL and DREAM ACT financial aid to really make a difference in their success. Having this position has really gone a long way to assist the Latino population and make them feel welcome here at Butte.
The Student Learning Outcome the Call Center declared was to always provide each student with their ID# or check that they knew it. By providing this service, it saves other areas time to not have to look it up. We surveyed several areas and they were able to confirm that we indeed were providing this to all students.
We help students with the Connection and Entry standard by navigating them through the STEPS TO ENROLL that get them into a major and classes.
Everything we do is to assist and get students connected to the correct programs and services to give them the tools to succeed from start to finish. We help them with applying, assessing, orientation, registration, financial aid or other ways to pay for college. We tell them about busing, different programs, tutoring, computers and services available to them. We help them appeal when they stumble and we help them with grad checks and transcripts for transferring and applying for jobs when they succeed.
The Call Center was included in the 2016 Admissions and Records Program review. The Program Review validation team recommended the Call Center obtain a system for tracking calls, monitoring the volume of calls and providing data to analyze outcomes. The Call Centers ability to implement this recommendation is solely dependent upon securing funding through the augmentation requests. This request is the 3rd item on the Call Center's Augmentation requests.
Our goal at the Call Center is to provide excellent customer service and go above and beyond to help students with the process and make them feel welcome.
Strategy 1 - Quality Information and Access to Students
The Call Center is often the first point of contact for students. It is our goal to get students timely answers in the most efficient manner possible.
When phones lines are busy, students turn to self service. To assist students online we wished to create a Student Services FAQ webpage where students can fiind answers and have now created this mechanism to answer their top questions of the period. This page as we wanted includes links to top services (e.g. Steps to Enroll, Transcript Ordering, General Education Sheets, Financial Aid Distribution Dates, Steps to Financial Aid, password retreival and how-to-videos, etc.) We hoped and now provide a mechanism for students to email additional questions. We hope one day to also have an online knowledgebase system but at this time use the FAQ's and support of online questions to serve our students online as well as directly with live operators.
Strategy 2 - Customer Service and Sustainability
To provide the best service to students in a sustainable manner, I wish to mantain the most knowledgeable Call Center staffing level possible.
This requires us to stay knowledgeable of all areas of the college in order to accurately share the Steps to Enroll, our programs and services as well as all the resources that students and staff can use to select and complete their goals.
The Call Center has experienced a significant amount of staff turnover in the last year and a half. Well trained staff are critical for answering student questions thoroughly, accurately, and efficiently. This is particularly true during peak call times. Vacant staff positions can significantly increase caller wait times.
Strategy 3 - Utilizing Technology for Information Access
Continued improvement of online services and navigation for students to self-serve. Main areas that students continue to have difficulty finding and understanding are:
Continually adding new functionality and services online through ongoing utilizing of newer technologies impowers students, reduces frustration, improves academic success and reduces phone calls.
This last year we implemented a Student Services FAQ page to help students navigate to services that continue to be difficult to find on our website.
We also provided an online help email service that continues to grow as students find this an alternative self serve option useful and timely.
Strategy 4 - Additional support to Spanish Speakers
We currently have (1) full-time Spanish speaker to assist with our Latino population. This year the Call Center applied for an additional Spanish speaker through Student Equity funds and we were granted (1) Half-time worker.
This support has allowed us to request and acquire a queuing system which now allows students to be assisted with a live operator each and every call. We brought this on board and we have tripled the amount of Spanish speakers we are able to assist. This extra position was funded through Student Equity. We will continue to apply for Student Equity funding to provide two Spanish speakers to give the coverage needed to effectively serve this growing population. This is especially needed now that the Butte College Promise Scholarship Program is available to this population of Dreamers and AB540's. It is also my understanding that we are close to being a Hispanic Serving Institution which gives us more funding.
Having Spanish speaking staff for set hours allow us to advertise a live operator to be available for students to get personalized assistance. We have found this population is hesitant to leave messages or ask questions without an actual operator to assist them. Having (2) operators online for the hours we are open or set hours of Spanish speakers is important to provide equal services to this population.
With additional staff we would also be able to reach out to current Latino students and assist them with online services. Getting these students online where most of our services are we hope will assist with their success.
To help with call volume and to improve online services, we would like to ask for ongoing support of the Call Center's Student Services FAQ page. This page provides answers to the top 10-15 questions students are asking for the given period. We would like to keep these answers relevent throughout the year and also provide important Student Services links and how to videos to provide additional online support to students. We also wish to provide ongoing email help. I would like to see "ASK ME" buttons placed throughout our webpage and in MyBC to get students to this page. Currently access to these services is on the main Butte College landing page. It would also be nice to get statistics on the number of hits the "find help here" gets.
The Call Center has used SSSP, non-credit SSSP and Student Equity funds on an as-needed basis and will continue to do so as needs arise.
CURRENT FUNDING
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | SSSP, Student Services, Call Center | Personnel | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 52390 | $14,540.00 | $14,540.00 |
| Seasonal Worker Budget for Vacancies, Registration and Orientation periods | The Call Center with 2 FT and 5 PT staff answer up to 1000 calls a day during peak periods. This is an average of 22.5 questions per operator per hour. Call Center training costs are expensive and with our scope requiring operators to know so much about the college and Student Services it takes a minimum of 3 weeks of training. The budget here reflects 2 additional staff during our 5 key orientation/registration peak periods for 40 hours per week and training costs. |
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| 2 | SSSP, Student Services, Call Center | Personnel | 122597001649005 | 52190 | $22,551.00 | $22,551.00 |
| Bi-Lingual Call Center Representative (.6 FTE) | It is critical for our service to the Latino to have immediate service as opposed to having them leave messages. This population has a tendency to not feel comfortable to do so. Therefore this position allows us to have a queuing system for this population and be able to answer each call directly. |
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| 3 | SSSP, Student Services, Call Center | Equipment | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 55610 | $35,000.00 | $35,000.00 |
| Call Monitoring System | Our calls and scope have double or tripled and our staff level has stayed the same. We need a way to measure our volume to be able to set reasonable call volume limits for staff and be able to justify additional staff to meet any increase in volume or scope. Without a monitoring system or guidelines in this area, we are not planning effectively for a sustainable future. This was a recommendation from the Program Review Validation Team. |
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| 4 | SSSP, Student Services, Call Center | Operating Expenses | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 56411 | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Budget for Headsets, equipment and basic supplies | Operators often go through a headset each year with the volume of calls we receive. Additionally, paper, envelopes, printer cartridges, business cards, binders and other supplies are needed for outreach, training and day to day operations. |
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| 5 | SSSP, Student Services, Call Center | Equipment | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 56410 | $2,027.00 | $0.00 |
| (8) Drawers for Adjustable Desks | Having drawers on our new desks would provide operators the tools needed to organize information and supplies effectively to better assist students. |
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