5 Performance improvement

Monitoring performance

You regularly assess how well you and your staff meet the Transport Agency’s expectations as set out in the PRS.

The frequency of self-assessments is appropriate to the size of your business and the inspection and certification work carried out by your business. This means you carry out a self-assessment at least once a year and within two months before a scheduled review.

You record each self-assessment by completing a Self-assessment record which is filed in this folder.

You record any problems or opportunities to improve that you identify during self-assessments in your Improvement record for follow-up.

The Transport Agency will:

• talk to you and your staff
• inspect your Self-assessment record
• inspect your Improvement record to check that any problems or opportunities to improve identified during self-assessments have been recorded for follow-up.

Correct handling of complaints and vehicle recalls

You and your staff are open to complaints and regard them as opportunities to improve.

This means you:

• display or provide to your customers your complaints policy, including information on how to lodge a complaint and your customers’ right to complain to the Transport Agency
• handle complaints in accordance with Transport Agency requirements.

You keep a Complaints record, in which all verbal and written complaints are recorded.

You record any problems or opportunities to improve that you identify in the investigation of complaints in your Improvement record for follow-up.

The Transport Agency will:

• inspect your complaints policy
• talk to you and your staff
• inspect your Complaints record to check that any complaints against you, including any complaints raised with the Transport Agency, have been recorded and handled in accordance with Transport Agency requirements
• inspect your Improvement record to check that any problems or opportunities to improve which are identified in the investigation of complaints have been recorded for follow-up.

Commitment to the PRS

You and your staff are committed to making the PRS work in and for your business.

This means you:

• actively use the system for improving your inspection and certification work
• are open about your problems and achievements
• fully cooperate during regular performance reviews.

The Transport Agency will:

• talk to you
• assess your level of cooperation during reviews.

Monitoring performance

You do not assess how well you and your staff meet the Transport Agency’s expectations as set out in the PRS.

This means there is no evidence of your carrying out self-assessments.

You sometimes assess how well you and your staff meet the Transport Agency’s expectations as set out in the PRS.

This means you carry out some self-assessments but you do not:

• carry out self-reviews regularly (ie at least once a year and before scheduled reviews), or
• document self-assessments by completing a Self-assessment record.

You regularly assess how well you and your staff meet the Transport Agency’s expectations as set out in the PRS.

This means you carry out self-assessments at least once a year (or more often as appropriate to the size of your business and the inspection and certification work carried out by your business).

However, you do not always:

• carry out self-assessments before scheduled performance reviews, or
• document self-assessments by completing a
  Self-assessment record, or
• record in your Improvement record problems or opportunities to improve that you identify in self-assessments.

You and your staff are fully committed to improving your inspection certification work.

This means you:

• actively identify and prioritise problems and opportunities to improve, and
• assess the cause of problems and identify what you need to do to address them, and
• address problems and opportunities according to available resources, and
• document any dealer visits you carry out and any associated corrective action required, and
• have evidence of internal improvements or assessments.

Correct handling of complaints and vehicle recalls

You and/or most of your staff are not open to complaints and your handling of complaints is inadequate.

This means you:

• do not have an adequate complaints policy, or
• do not communicate your complaints policy to your customers, or
• seldom handle complaints in accordance with Transport Agency requirements, or
• do not keep records of complaints.

You and/or many of your staff are not open to complaints and your handling of complaints is barely adequate.

This means you:

• have a complaints policy but that policy is not correctly communicated to your customers because your display does not accurately reflect your policy, or
• regularly do not handle complaints in accordance with Transport Agency requirements (eg you regularly exceed the time frames set by the Transport Agency for responding to complaints), or
• regularly fail to record complaints in your Complaints record, or
• do not record any problems or opportunities to improve that you identify in the investigation of complaints in your Improvement record and follow up on them.

You and most of your staff are open to complaints and your handling of complaints is adequate.

This means you:

• display your complaints policy to your customers, including information on how to lodge a complaint and your customers’ right to complain to the Transport Agency, and
• usually handle complaints in accordance with Transport Agency requirements, and
• keep a Complaints record in which you record most complaints.

However, you do not always record in your Improvement record, and follow up on, the problems or opportunities to improve that you identify in the investigation of complaints.

You consistently comply with Transport Agency, vehicle manufacture and the legal requirements to notify Transport Agency of any safety related defects in a vehicle production run.

This means you promptly:

• update the MIA website, or
• contact the Transport Agency directly.

Commitment to the PRS

You and/or most of your staff show little or no commitment to making the PRS work in and for your business.

This means you do not:

• use the system for improving your inspection and certification work, or
• share your problems and achievements with Transport Agency Transport Officers, or
• cooperate in Transport Agency reviews.

You and most of your staff show some commitment to making the PRS work in your business but there is little evidence that you actively use it to improve your inspection and certification work.

This means:

• you make some efforts to use the system in your business, but mostly to satisfy Transport Agency Transport Officers, and
• there is a basic level of cooperation in Transport Agency reviews but there is a reluctance to share problems with Transport Agency Transport Officers.

You and most of your staff show an adequate level of commitment to making the PRS work in and for your business.

This means you:

• actively use most aspects of the system for improving your inspection and certification work, although you do not use the system to its full extent, and
• are usually open about your problems and achievements, although some staff are reluctant to share problems with Transport Agency Transport Officers, and
• show a good level of cooperation in Transport Agency reviews.

You and your staff are fully committed to making the PRS work in and for your business.

This means you:

• actively use the system for improving your inspection and certification work, and
• are open about your problems and achievements, and
• fully cooperate in Transport Agency reviews.