Q&A - Number of Problem Reports - NPR

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These questions generally relate to the Number of Problem Reports (NPR) measurement.

Question 9205 — Regarding the NPR measurement, the definition of a problem report in the Measurement Handbook glossary is "A report from a customer or on behalf of the customer concerning a product or process defect requesting an investigation of the issue and a resolution to remove the cause." If a customer calls with a reported problem that can be solved immediately and does not require corrective action (per the definition of corrective action), does that mean that this report would not be reported as a problem report?

Answer — All of the rules in 5.1.4 along with the glossary definition of a problem report need to be considered when determining whether a given issue is to be counted in NPR. Whether an issue which is immediately solved is counted as a problem report or not depends on the nature of the issue and its resolution. Obviously, anything that meets the exclusion criteria in 5.1.4 c) would not count as a problem report. This includes requests for assistance in correcting failure conditions in the product if there is no underlying design issue that has to be addressed. However, any issue that required a change to the product design or a process would count, even if the development of that change had occurred prior to the call, assuming the fix had not been delivered to the customer or they had not had sufficient time to implement it.

Question 9382 — Our category is 7.6.1. Can I get the Measurement SQ Examples for this category? During operation and data collection we found that they are similar between NPR and SQ.

Answer — These would not be similar numbers if the rules are being followed correctly. NPR includes only customer reported problems that meet the definition of problem report in the TL 9000 Measurement Handbook and meet all of the counting and exclusion rules contained in section 5.1.4 of the Handbook. The Service Quality Measure (SQ) for 7.6.1 Procurement Services is based on the number of defective units received in the month and the total number of units procured over a period of time. NPR is the number of problem reports over the number of units procured in the month.

Question 9875 — Regarding the NPR measurement. My organization ships units categorized as 7.7.4 Electromechanical Assemblies. I interpret the "NPRs" value as "Number of units shipped in the 12 months ending with the reporting month." The "Np4" value is the "number of problem reports received in the reporting month." In this case there is no Afactor applied. Because of this, depending on when problems are reported and whether I use fiscal or calendar months I could get different values for NPR for a given month. Am I interpreting this correctly? Should we be using only calendar months only or is the difference considered to be insignificant?

Answer — Yes, with the current twelve-month normalization for NPR4 for 7.7.4, as company with a steady problem report rate using fiscal month reporting would see a 25% fluctuation for five week versus four week long months.

As you noted, there would likely not be a noticeable change if calendar months were used. Interestingly, you are the first point to this out. To address this issue would require a change to the normalization units to just "units", which would presumably fluctuate with the fiscal months.

Question 9918 — In the event that a particular month does not have a Problem Report, do I still submit the data as "0"?

Answer — Yes, the number of problem reports is submitted as 0 for any month where there are no problem reports.

Question 10134 — For NPR measurement can you please provide clarification on counting rule b) 3). If a service provider such as Comcast calls in a problem report on Monday, July 20 and states that 1000 set-top boxes (category 6.2.6.1) in Chicago are resetting themselves, is the problem report counted as one or one thousand problem reports?

Answer — This would be considered one problem report.

Question 11076 — I am trying to submit data for 7.7.4-H. For the NPR4 measurement, can you help me confirm if it is right for me to use "monthly shipped quantity" of the reported month for NPRs?

Answer — No, it is not correct to use the quantity shipped during the reported month. You must use the number shipped in the 12 months ending with the report month. Per Table A-2 Measurement Applicability Table (Normalization Units), the correct normalization unit for NPR for category 7.7.4 Electromechanical Assembly is “Units Shipped”. As explained in Note 4 to this table, if the normalization factor contains the word “shipped,” then the quantity shipped in the 12 months ending with the month being reported shall be used.

Question 11118 — When using the category 7.7.4 NPR measurement, we use an annualization factor, but the example published by the TIA QuEST Forum for this measurement is different because it does not use an annualization factor. Could you send me some examples that apply to my category?

Answer — As shown in table 5.1-4 NPR Data Table for Family 7, there is no annualization factor applied to NPR4 for the Service categories. Example 5.1.2 in the NPR examples located at https://tl9000.org/handbooks/mh_examples.html illustrates this.

Question 11198 — What is the Critical Benchmark? Critical issues should be a greater impact for customers, the problem must be solved immediately. But this criterion is vague and needs more specific criteria. It is my understanding, since each product failure, generally needs to re-start that, if there is failure to re-start, then there needs to be immediate restoration. Whether the product to re-start-up time as the benchmark to determine whether the problem is Critical?

Answer — Problems are reported as critical problems when the organization must immediately and continually apply resources to fix the problem. If the problem does not have to be fixed immediately then it is classified as Major or Minor depending on the impact to the customer.

Question 11539 — We have questions about the NPR and SQ calculations. Our products belong to 7.6.1 (Procurement Services), but our category includes cable and other parts. For example: we shipped 1500ft cable, and 1000 each computers in one month, and received 2 customer complaint reports in that month, so could you please tell me how to calculate the NPR and SQ?

Answer — The normalization factor NPR for 7.6.1 Procurement Service is unit. For cable, the length would not matter. It is the number of units shipped that is to be counted. If this was one spool of 1500 ft of cable it would be one unit. In that case the NPRs for the month would be 1001 (1000 computers plus one spool of cable). The SQ denominator is the total number of units procured in the prior 12 months.

Question 12339 — I have two questions regarding TL 9000 Measurements

1. We have registered for Cat. 7.7.4, so Appendix A shows "Unit shipped", it means that we have to add the total qty shipped in the 12 months ending with the report month for NPR. Then how about problems report? Do we have to add the problems in 12 months ending with the reported month also?
2. The NPR example (5.1.2, #3) shows the NPRs calculation for Cat. 7 are not annualized.

Answer — You are correct in your interpretation of units shipped. As an example, when reporting NPRs for September of current year, you add up all the units shipped from November of previous year through September of current year. You report for Np4 only the total number of problem reports received in September. You do not add up the problem reports over the prior year.

Regarding item 2, NPR4 is not annualized in category 7. (There is no Afactor).

Question 12560 — I have a few questions on measurements for the End Customer Support Services category. What would be examples of NPR reportable problem reports and how do you recommend we go about measuring FRT & OFR for these problems. Will this be a problem with the internet service provided to customers or problems with the customer service itself and if so what would be examples?

Answer — For category 7.5.2, the issues to be included in the NPR count would be those customers reported problems concerning the customer support service itself and not the internet service being provided to the customer. Problems with the internet service would fall under category 9.5 Internet Access. The closure objective for FRT would be based on any service level agreements, contractually or advertised, that the organization has with its customers. OFR is simply a measure of the closure of those problems that do not meet their closure objective.

Examples of problems with the customer service itself would be the customer reporting that erroneous or incomplete information was provided, that the wait to actually talk to an agent was too long, that the agent was rude or inconsiderate or that the agent could not be understood.

Question 12582 — I attached a capture error file. Please inform to me the reason that problems are cropping up in NPR.

Answer — The reason you are receiving this error message is the number of critical problem reports you are submitting for the month is greater than the upper limit set for this category. These limits are based on the historical performance for all companies certified in the category. From the information you provided for Np1, Np2, and Np3, it appears you may be including issues in your Np1 count that do not meet the definition of a TL 9000 problem report. That definition is - All forms of reporting product and process defects from the customer or on behalf of the customer via any medium. Problem reports include defects or deficiencies with hardware, software, documentation, delivery, billing, invoicing, servicing or any other process involved with the acquisition, operation, or performance of a product. An inherent characteristic of a problem report is the expectation by the customer that the organization will investigate the issue and provide necessary corrective action for the identified defect in the product or process.

Please note the last sentence. In addition, routine events such as expected maintenance, return of units, and technical assistance unrelated to a product or process defect are not counted. Please review the exclusions in section 5.1.4 c) of the Measurements Handbook. If after reviewing all of the rules, you have confirmed that 124 is the correct number of critical problem reports for the month of August, please let us know and we will adjust the limit.

Question 12698 — Could you please let me know how to calculate NPRa?

Answer — NPRa is the annualization Factor and represents the number of reporting periods in a year for which you are calculating and reporting data. Most organizations calculate and report data based on calendar months, which is 12. Unless you are counting and reporting data by fiscal weeks you will enter 12 for the Annualization Factor. For more information, please refer to the definition of Annualization Factor in the glossary of the Measurements handbook.

Question 12802 — Given a Product is Software Only and is installed on 3rd party supplied equipment. In registering the product for Software Only, are all Problem Reports (Hardware and Software) used when reporting NPR, OFR, and FRT? It would seem in this situation, only Software Problem Reports should be reported even if you may be fielding support questions for both.

Answer — The answer to this question depends on the nature of the 3rd party supplied equipment. If it is provided by the customer, then problem reports associated with it would be excluded as per the rule in 5.1.4 c) concerning issues provided by customer-supplied products. If the third-party equipment is provided by the organization, then any problem reports against it would be reportable under the assumption that the software requires the hardware in order to function.

Question 13334 — I have a question that is not clarified in the Counting Rules for Problem Reports. If the supplier provides a service to the Service Provider where the Service Provider can access a "Knowledge Base" to perform their own problem resolutions, are these counted as Problem Reports? If they contact the Supplier for assistance this is pretty clear but what if they perform their own searches and resolve the issue without the Suppliers assistance?

Answer — The answer is driven by the glossary definition of Problem Report. If the customer is using a knowledge base provided by the organization to fix a problem encountered by the customer without the organization's involvement, then that is NOT a problem report unless the customer somehow communicates a request for a change in the process or the product by the organization.

AB/CB Team Question — If the organization resolves a problem with a customer and then the organization receives a call from another customer with the same problem where the organization has a fix established and provides the fix to the subsequent customer, is this a problem report?

Answer — If a problem has been reported by one customer and the notification along with fix is provided to all customers, then the subsequent calls concerning the problem will be redirected to the available fix. This call would not be a problem report. If the notification of the fix has not been provided to the second customer or sufficient time has not elapsed for the second customer to install the fix, then it would count as a problem report.