COPC Customer

Experience (CX) Standard

for Customer Operations
Suitable for Customer Service Providers (CSPs)

RELEASE 7.0
VERSION 1.0
 Table of Contents

Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Why Get Certified to the COPC CX Standard? ....................................................................................... 13
Looking Forward: Strategic Direction .................................................................................................... 19
1.0 Leadership and Planning (400 Points)................................................................................ 20
1.1 Setting Direction (100 Points) ............................................................................................. 20
1.2 Developing Business Plans (100 Points) .............................................................................. 20
1.3 Setting Targets (100 Points) ................................................................................................ 21
1.4 Reviewing Business Performance (100 Points) ................................................................... 21
2.0 Processes (1000 Points) .................................................................................................... 22
2.1 Gathering and Analyzing Customer Information (80 Points) .............................................. 22
2.2 Defining Service Journeys and Key Customer-Related Processes (80 Points) .................... 23
2.3 Analyzing and Managing Service Journeys (80 Points) ....................................................... 23
2.4 Forecasting and Capacity Planning (80 Points) ................................................................... 24
2.5 Scheduling and Real Time Management (80 Points) .......................................................... 25
2.6 Managing IT Services (80 Points) ........................................................................................ 26
2.7 Managing Quality (80 Points) .............................................................................................. 26
2.8 Managing Corrective Action and Continuous Improvement (80 Points) ............................ 27
2.9 Minimizing Process Variation (60 Points) ........................................................................... 28
2.10 Managing Knowledge and Content (60 Points) ................................................................ 28
2.11 Managing Vendors and Key Suppliers (40 Points) ............................................................ 29
2.12 Establishing Business Continuity Plans (40 Points) ........................................................... 29
2.13 Implementing and Controlling Changes (40 Points) ......................................................... 30
2.14 Ensuring Data Privacy and Compliance (40 Points) .......................................................... 30
2.15 Reporting and Data Integrity (40 Points) .......................................................................... 31
2.16 Reviewing COPC CX Standard (40 Points) ......................................................................... 31
3.0 People (600 Points) .......................................................................................................... 32
3.1 Defining Jobs (60 Points) ..................................................................................................... 32
3.2 Recruiting and Hiring (80 Points) ........................................................................................ 32
3.3 Training and Development (80 Points) ............................................................................... 32
3.4 Verifying Skills and Knowledge (80 Points) ......................................................................... 33
3.5 Monitoring and Coaching CSSs (80 points) ......................................................................... 33
3.6 Managing Staff Performance (80 Points) ............................................................................ 33
3.7 Managing Employee Experience and Feedback (60 Points) ............................................... 34
3.8 Reducing Attrition and Absenteeism (80 Points) ................................................................ 34
4.0 Performance (2000 Points) ............................................................................................... 35
4.1 Customer Experience Performance (500 Points) ................................................................ 35
4.2 Overall Cost Performance (200 Points) ............................................................................... 35
4.3 Human Assisted Channel Performance (400 Points) .......................................................... 36
4.4 Digital Assisted Channel Performance (350 Points) ............................................................ 36
4.5 Key Support Process (KSP) Performance (200 Points) ........................................................ 37
4.6 Achieving Results (350 Points) ............................................................................................ 37
COPC CX Standard Certification Process ................................................................................................ 39
COPC CX Standard Scoring System ........................................................................................................ 40

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Exhibits....................................................................................................................................... 42
Exhibit 1: Key Customer-Related Processes (KCRPs) ............................................................... 44
Exhibit 2: Key Support Processes ............................................................................................. 51
Exhibit 3: Customer Experience and Overall Cost Metrics ...................................................... 54
Glossary ..................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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 Executive Summary

The COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard for Customer Operations is a rigorous management system
and quality management framework for CX operations. Originally designed for contact centers, the
Standard now covers all the channels used by customers to interact with CX operations throughout a service
journey. The Standard is adopted and used by buyers of CX operations and support services to optimize the
procurement and management of these services. Buyers often require providers get certified to the COPC
CX Standard for Contact Centers to drive proven levels of high performance. Buyers certify to the COPC CX
Standard for Vendor Management Organizations (VMOs) to strengthen their organization and hold
themselves accountable for high performance vendor management.

Service Providers leverage the Standard as their management system for a high-performance organization.
Use of the Standard facilitates a faster path to sustainable high performance and is accompanied by
recognition of achievement in the market. Certification is challenging and requires a commitment to high
performance but yields great rewards driving up customer satisfaction, efficiency, and revenue. To support
success, COPC Inc. provides a variety of trainings designed to enable team members to build an organization
capable of COPC Certification, high performance, and ongoing performance improvement.

Adoption of the COPC CX Standard fundamentally improves an organization’s approach to high performance
and creates a systematic and lasting ability to drive continuous improvement even for those not seeking
certification.

Introduction
COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard for Customer Operations is a performance management system
for setting a CX vision, developing best-practice based strategies to achieve that vision, and managing
customer experience operations to peak performance. It offers a set of management practices and key
measurements for operations that are involved in managing the customer experience through a single
channel or across multiple channels during the service journey that customers undertake to resolve their
issues.

The mission of every Customer Experience (CX) operation is simple — to fulfill the needs of customers
quickly, cost effectively, and with as little customer effort as possible. The path customers take to resolve an
issue, as well as the experiences they have along the way, is known as the service journey. It differs from
what many know as the customer journey as it applies to customer-facing activities and non-customer-
facing activities that impact the customer experience and outcome. The service journey includes all the
steps and communication methods a customer uses, and the tools and logistics a business or contact center
employs to complete the service process. For operations, this helps promote greater efficiency, improved
performance, and reduced cost. For customers, this means reduced effort, improved satisfaction, and
enhanced loyalty.

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With a focus on contact center operations, Release 7.0 of the COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers
requirements have been updated to expand upon the customers service journeys, digital assisted channels,
and employee experience.

The COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations is designed to:

 Provide users a management system and quality management framework with proven processes to
design, evaluate and manage multichannel CX operations.
 Improve the customer experience through better insights into customers’ requirements and
expectations and through alignment of systems, processes, and technology to meet these
expectations.
 Increase revenue (for operations that are revenue-driven).
 Reduce the cost of providing excellent service.

Companies that successfully implement the COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations will significantly
improve the customer experience and increase sales while lowering costs. COPC Inc. offers training that will
provide company staff the knowledge and capabilities to design, manage and maintain a high performance
CX operation.

Key Terms and Relationships

One of the advantages of a globally accepted performance management system and set of standards is the
establishment of a consistent “industry vocabulary.”

The COPC CX Standards are based on key terminology and relationships specific to managing customer
experience operations. The list below defines the most commonly used terms within the COPC CX
Standards. Understanding these foundational terms and relationships ensures consistent and relevant use
of the COPC CX Standards. Additional terms and definitions are included in the glossary of terms at the end
of this document.

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 The COPC CX Standards are based on the following terminology and relationships:

Figure 1. This diagram depicts how service is ultimately provided to an end user, or customer, the
organizations involved, and the channels through which service is provided. Below are descriptions of
each.

Customer Service Provider (CSP)

CSPs provide services to customers on behalf of internal Clients who are part of the same organization. CSPs
encompass most, if not all, types of service environments.

Outsource Service Provider (OSP)

OSPs are third parties that are contracted by Clients to provide services to customers on their behalf. Like
CSPs, OSPs encompass many types of service environments.

Clients

Clients may be the companies that hire OSPs to provide products and services to their customers. Clients
may also be defined as the groups within companies that obtain services from one or more “sister” groups,
divisions, departments, or teams within the same company.

Customers

Customers are the end users of an organization’s products or services. Customers may be consumers,
businesses, field organizations, or the retailers, distributors, and specialists that encompass a distribution
channel.

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Service Journey

The path taken by a customer end to end, interacting with any combination of company human and digital
assisted contact points and resources required to resolve a customer request or need.

Vendor Management Organizations (VMOs)

VMOs are organizational units or groups of individuals within a company, typically within the Client
company, responsible for managing at least a portion of the company’s customer experience programs.
Typically, VMOs manage OSPs, but may also manage CSPs, shared services such as Workforce Management.

Digital Assisted Channels

Digital assisted channels are contact points where customers direct their service transactions without
interaction with a Customer Service/Support Staff representative (CSS). These channels are also referred to
as digital channels. Examples include self-service solutions such as web-based services, self-service by
specific systems such as in-location systems, phone-based systems, or digital applications.

Human Assisted Channels

Human assisted channels are those in which the service is provided by a Customer Service/ Support Staff
(CSS) representative who helps the customer. Service is typically provided through phone, email, chat,
social media, or in-location staff.

Additional terms used in the COPC CX Standard are defined in the Glossary.

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 Objectives and Uses of the COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard for Customer
Operations
The COPC CX Standard is used by leading companies globally.

The reasons for this high level of global adoption and use include:

 It works! Users of the COPC CX Standard have improved the customer experience and revenue,
increased service and quality, and reduced costs.
 By expanding the COPC CX Standard to all customer contact channels, Release 7.0 provides all types
of customer experience operations the necessary tools to improve the customer experience while
increasing revenue and containing cost.
 For organizations providing multichannel customer service, the COPC CX Standard provides a
structure to coordinate and bring uniformity across channels to give customers a consistent
experience as they navigate their service journey to a successful resolution.

Improving Service, Quality, Revenue, Customer Experience, and Profitability

The underlying objective and power of the COPC CX Standard is demonstrated in that customer experience
and revenue can be enhanced while improving service and quality and decreasing cost. Hundreds of
companies around the world have achieved this by implementing the COPC CX Standard within their
customer experience operations.

Each of these can be defined as:

 Service is, from the customer’s perspective, how easy it is to resolve an issue and the speed with
which actions are performed. This might be how easy it is to use a self-help system, how long it
takes to reach a live CSS, or the time it takes to receive a response to an email.
 Quality is about the accuracy of the information given to the customer by a CSS or a self-service
tool. It is about handling transactions correctly the first time. Examples: giving the correct answer
to an inquiry, entering an order correctly, or resolving the customer’s issue in their first channel of
choice.

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  Revenue generation is optimized through better designed sales processes and systems, higher
skilled staff, and products/services that provide value to clients and customers.
 Cost typically focuses on efficiency and the cost per unit incurred by the CSP to provide a product or
service. In a multichannel environment, this involves combining the cost to support customers
across all channels. Typically, high operating costs are associated with human assisted channels,
while high capital costs are associated with digital assisted channels. Blending these will show if
migrating customer support from human assisted to digital assisted channels genuinely results in
reduced cost per unit.

Cost is different from price. Price represents what a CSP might charge for its services, or the cost
burden transferred to the parent corporation.

What Types of CSPs Use the COPC CX Standard?

CSPs that use the COPC CX Standard may include any combination of these types.

Inbound [IB] and Outbound [OB] Customer Contact Operations:

These operations are often referred to as “call” centers. However, most of these customer contact
operations interact with customers via phone, digital means (e.g., email, web, chat, SMS, social media,
video), or traditional mail. Typical services provided include customer service, technical support [Tech],
reservations, operator services, sales, fulfilment, and others.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Operations:

These operations typically process large volumes of transactions that may or may not directly touch
customers. They include new account set-up and activation, records management, claims processing,
redemption, and other similar functions.

Retail Stores and Other Locations (Face to Face)

These operations provide service and support to customers who come to a physical location for service.
Examples include retail stores, walk-in support or billing service, banks, medical centers, or assistance
centers.

Field Service Operations:

These include operations that dispatch service technicians to customer locations, typically to perform
installations or repairs or deliver products.

Digital Assisted Service Providers:

These operations are responsible for delivering customer service through digital assisted channels such as
online services, mobile apps, self-help kiosks, and chatbots.

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 About the COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard for Customer Operations
Background

The original COPC CX Standard (formerly known as the COPC CSP Standard) was developed in 1996 by
buyers, providers, and senior managers responsible for operational management of customer-centric
service operations. Not satisfied with the performance of existing operations and the lack of commonly
known and understood operational guidelines, these individuals worked together to fill the void and move
the industry forward. Among the development team were:

 Leading technology companies that outsource and operate customer contact operations that
provide sales, customer service, order management, technical support, and other functions (i.e.,
Microsoft, Compaq, Intel, Novell, and Dell).
 Companies known for their excellent service provided by their own internally managed customer
contact operations in the areas of sales, customer service, distribution/fulfillment operations,
payment processing, and other services (i.e., American Express, L.L. Bean, and Motorola).
 Individuals with extensive experience in operations management and performance improvement.
This experience included a Judge for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and senior
management from firms in both the contact center and manufacturing industries who had achieved
ISO certification for their firms.

The development team used the criteria and systems of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the
United States as the foundation for the original COPC CX Standard. To meet the unique needs of the CSP
industry, the team then adapted the Baldrige criteria to accommodate the practical realities by:

 Emphasizing or adding processes, measures, and results most important to CSPs, their Clients and
Customers.
 Excluding portions of the criteria that, based on CSP and Client experience, did not readily
contribute to the goals of the COPC CX Standard.
 Including from other worldwide standards those components that better addressed practical
performance improvement approaches.
 Structuring the COPC CX Standard to encompass not only high-performance approaches, but also
the extent of the deployment of these approaches within the organization. Well-designed
approaches that are pervasively deployed will lead to sustained high levels of performance.
 Approaches are the processes, practices, and procedures used to meet the requirements of the
COPC CX Standard.
 Deployment refers to how extensively these approaches are used throughout the CSP or OSP
organization.

There are three versions of the COPC CX Standard, each endorsed by the Standards Committee:

 The COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations is the comprehensive performance management
system for CSPs that is focused on achieving high levels of performance for all kinds of service
journeys customers use to get their issues resolved. The COPC CX Standard for Customer
Operations is a proven framework CSPs use to balance business outcomes across the many service

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 journeys used that include human and digital assisted customer-facing and non-customer-facing
channels and services. The COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations is an effective management
system that contributes to achieving high levels of performance across the service journey including
human and digital assisted customer-facing and non-customer-facing channels and services.

 The COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers is the comprehensive performance management system
for 3rd party contact center outsource service providers and can be used by internal contact center
organizations. The Items in the COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers reflect those areas the COPC
Standards Committee (see The COPC Standards Committee) believes, and verified through an
industry survey, contribute most significantly to achieving high levels of performance. The
objectives of the COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers are to:

o Provide high-performing OSPs with a level of recognition that will distinguish them as
among the best in the world.
o Provide the industry with a model to use to drive high performance.

 The COPC CX Standard for Vendor Management Organizations (VMOs) is the comprehensive
performance management system for VMOs that is endorsed by the COPC Standards Committee. In
2002, the COPC Standards Committee determined that the ability of CSPs and OSPs to achieve high
levels of performance was limited by the performance of their (internal and external) clients on
mission-critical deliverables such as forecasts and product/process-related training. To address this
gap, the COPC Standards Committee developed the COPC CX Standard for VMOs, which defines the
key processes a VMO must perform and the related metrics a VMO must measure and manage to
ensure high levels of VMO and OSP performance.

Each of these versions of the COPC CX Standard are available on COPC Inc.’s web site: (www.copc.com).

Release 7.0 of the COPC CX Standard is a major revision reflecting the continued and substantial impact of
digital technologies in servicing customers and the necessity and ability to measure and manage the
complete service journey for an optimized customer experience. COPC Inc.’s performance management
system is applied to all types of customer contact operations, including both human and digital assisted
channels. This marks the COPC CX Standards continued evolution to meet the dynamic needs of the
customer contact industry. As has been the practice since the COPC CX Standard was first developed,
revisions are only made by the COPC Standards Committee.

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 The COPC® Standards Committee

The COPC CX Standard and related certification processes are governed by the COPC Standards Committee.
This independent group is comprised of individuals who have senior management responsibility at their
organizations and are deeply knowledgeable of the COPC CX Standard through direct experience of using
the COPC CX Standard in their operations.

The COPC Standards Committee:

o Meets twice each year to interpret and refine the COPC CX Standard.
o Has international representation across several industries to ensure it remains a globally accepted
Standard applicable across all geographies and industries.
o Receives input from users of the COPC CX Standard and changes to the criteria of the COPC CX
Standard are made once a year.
o Sponsors research on industry topics to secure the necessary information to evaluate trends worthy
of inclusion in the COPC CX Standard.

Overview of the COPC CX Standard

The COPC CX Standard is a comprehensive and integrated system for managing a customer centric CX
operation.
 The COPC CX Standard begins with the drivers of customer-focused performance management
embodied in the leadership characteristics and activities described in Category 1.0 Leadership and
Planning.
 Taken together, Category 2.0 Processes and Category 3.0 People represent the organization’s enablers:
a skilled and motivated work force using well-designed technology and processes and managing these
to optimal levels of performance.
 The goal of the system is a balanced composite of customer experience, product and service
performance, and productivity addressed in Category 4.0 Performance.

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 COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations Release 7.0 Framework

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 Why Get Certified to the COPC CX Standard?
Underlying the COPC CX Standards is the requirement that certified Customer Service Providers (CSPs) have
the operational and performance data that is required to consistently perform well on measures of service,
quality, revenue, cost, and customer satisfaction throughout the service journey that customers undertake
to resolve their issues. Companies certified to the COPC CX Standard must have:

 Objective measures in place for all activities that directly impact customers and clients.
 A demonstrated capability to achieve a majority of their performance targets.
 Performance improvement methodologies that have been demonstrated to produce results.
 A system that allows Enterprise and customer contact operations management to verify that the
operation is actively monitoring and managing the system over time to improve performance.

The COPC CX Standards describe performance management approaches that a CSP must institute and
defines the metrics used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of its approaches. They are
sustainable performance management systems for CSPs. The COPC CX Standard links a CSP’s customer-
centered performance objectives with its operational processes and the people who manage and maintain
them. The objectives, processes, and people are in turn linked to the statement of direction and plans that
propel and sustain them. This integration ensures that customer focus and efficiency drive performance,
behavior, and direction. Enterprise and Customer-driven excellence and efficiency are the desired end-
states for all CSPs that adopt the COPC CX Standard as a performance management and improvement
system.

Many CSPs seek to institute these practices and track these measures to become compliant with the
requirements of the COPC CX Standard. This compliance is assessed and verified during the COPC CX
Standard certification process, which requires a comprehensive audit by COPC Inc. or its licensees or
Implementation Partners. Certified compliance with the COPC CX Standard is a major near-term objective
for many companies that use this document.

Some VMOs require their OSPs to seek certification to the COPC CX Standard to ensure consistent high-
performance approaches and results.

Once certified COPC Inc. and the COPC Standards Committee recognizes success. Certified entities are
added to the COPC Inc. website noting certification attainment with a description of the certified entity.
COPC Inc. shares across major news wires the success of the entity with congratulations from COPC Inc. and
the COPC Standards Committee. The entity also receives a physical trophy and digital badge to
commemorate and share the achievement.

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Quantifying Savings Gained Through the use of the COPC Customer Experience (CX)
Standard
Implementing the concepts and the principles embodied in the COPC Standards has enabled many
companies to achieve significant reductions in cost of operations; improvement in revenue or collections or
both.

This section is intended to provide a guide to help users quantify savings or gains in revenue or collections; it
identifies where common opportunities lie and the financial benefits of implementing the COPC CX Standard
as a performance management system.

Savings
Improvements in Quality
 Increase in Issue Resolution / First Contact Resolution (FCR): Solving problems and issues more
frequently during the first contact, will lead to less repeat transactions and therefore into a reduced
requirement for CSSs or other operatives.
 Cost of Poor Quality: There is often a cost of getting things wrong, which can be measured through
calculating the cost of what we do to compensate customers that have had a bad experience with the
customer contact operation, the cost of rework to fix the issue and of having to handle repeat
interactions. Examples include giving the customer extra time on their subscription, giving free store
vouchers, free product, direct financial compensation, expedited delivery (at a higher cost to the CSP),
removal of handling charges. Poor quality increases the cost of doing business, thus lowering profit
margins. Poor quality also increases customer effort (i.e., as they seek resolution or remediation), which
has been shown to negatively impact customer loyalty.

Improvements in Efficiency
 Average Handle Time (AHT): By decreasing the average handle time of transactions the CSP has the
opportunity to reduce staffing and realize headcount savings. Savings are typically made either through
reducing variation by managing CSSs who are outliers or streamlining the process to improve the
process’s capability to perform.
 Occupancy: Improvements in occupancy are made by better scheduling staff and reducing the amount of
non-productive ready time. Occupancy gains result when the customer contact operation is either doing
more work with the same number of CSSs or has reduced the number of CSSs required to do the existing
workload.
 Utilization: Minimizing the amount of CSS work time where they are not ready to handle transactions
reduces the number of CSSs that are needed. This is managed by the floor management team.
 Autonomous Handle Rate: Increasing the percentage of customer interactions where a digital assisted
system can completely handle the transaction, end to end, without any human intervention. Well-
designed digital assisted systems can provide highly efficient and accurate customer service at a lower
cost than human assisted support.
 Cost per transaction: When measuring the overall effects of efficiency gains as detailed above, these will
drive reduction in the cost per transaction.

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  Introduction of digital assisted channels: effective use of self-service and other lower cost digital system
technologies.

Improvements in Service
 Faster Service Speed: Delivering great service in an efficient manner is the product of many factors,
including but not limited to better capacity planning models, well-designed and maintained digital
assisted systems, and competent CSSs.
 Reduction in Backlog: By better meeting speed of response targets for deferred transactions, backlogs
are reduced and therefore the number of transactions that are received by eliminating repeat contacts.
 Reduction in Client Penalty Payments: OSPs can minimize penalties and maximize bonus payments by
consistently meeting contractual commitments amongst which may be Service Level targets.

Reduction in Transaction Volume

Reduction in human assisted volumes handled by the customer contact operation will have a significant
impact on CSS numbers and therefore generate savings.

Reduction in volume can be achieved by:

 Increased Issue and first contact resolution

 Reduction in Backlogs
 Identify and fix causes of contacts
 Provide customers alternate methods of resolving problems, e.g., self-service options on IVR, mobile
apps, websites, and kiosks.
 Automating contacts (self-service options on IVR)

The Importance of Employee Engagement

Attracting and maintaining a highly engaged workforce has a large impact on an entity’s ability to meet its
service, quality, cost, revenue, and satisfaction goals.

As personnel costs account for approximately 70-80% of the total operational costs in a CSP or OSP
environment, changes in employee engagement levels can have a significant impact on the financial
performance of an entity.

Two of the most common ways of measuring the direct cost savings brought about as a result of improving
employee engagement are focused on reducing absenteeism and increasing employee retention (reducing
attrition).

Calculating the Cost Savings from improvements in Attrition and Absenteeism

In addition to being affected by employee engagement, attrition is also very often impacted by the
implementation of poorly designed processes for recruitment and hiring. COPC Inc. finds that the
implementation of robust recruitment processes, which properly define the recruitment profile for CSSs
based on an analysis of good and bad hires, is a very effective way of reducing attrition.

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 Attrition: By calculating the cost of replacing CSSs, it is possible to estimate the impact of the cost of
attrition on the organization. Cost factors will include:

o Salary costs during training: Salary costs paid to CSSs during new hire training includes salary plus
benefits and fringe costs but not fixed costs such as workstations, etc.
o Direct recruitment costs: An agency’s cost or internal costs specifically spent on recruitment –
excluding fixed costs.
o Cost of overtime: Backfilling leavers until new recruits are operational.
o Reduced productivity of new hires: New hires tend to have poorer average handle times than
tenured staff. In a typical customer contact operation with a medium call length program, COPC Inc.
finds that it can take up to 7 weeks from the end of training for a new hire to reach the efficiency of
existing CSSs.
o Direct costs of training: Materials, additional equipment, hires, directly attributable costs – excluding
fixed costs.
o For OSPs paid by Full Time Equivalent (FTE): There is a revenue impact to consider when calculating
the cost of attrition.
o Fixed Costs: It is debatable whether costs of overhead such as recruiting and training departments,
training facilities, etc. should be included in the cost per attrit. COPC Inc. normally does not include
these in the calculation of savings, as often reducing attrition does not have as much impact on
these departments as the cost per leaver calculation implies, as costs will reduce by steps rather
than by attrit. If they are to be included, it is better to forecast annual attrition and spread the fixed
costs over the total number of expected leavers in a year to derive the burdened cost per leaver.
o costs over the total number of expected leavers in a year to derive the burdened cost per leaver.

 Absenteeism: The CSS headcount should be increased to allow for absent CSSs for the CSP to properly
staff to arrival patterns. For every % of absenteeism for whatever reason that is included in the capacity
plan the number of CSSs employed will increase by that %. This does not just include sickness; this will
also include vacation, training, holidays, personal time off, maternity leave (paid for), and other types of
absence. The calculation of the impact of absenteeism will include:

o Direct salary costs: Additional CSSs recruited to cover absence.

o Overtime: Paid to existing CSSs.

The impacts of Attrition or Absenteeism on Service Level, Revenue, First Contact Resolution, or other
resulting costs associated with poor performance are not included in the Costs of Attrition or Absenteeism
for savings purposes, as savings made will be calculated in those specific performance areas and including
them in Attrition or Absenteeism will lead to double counting of savings.

Calculating the Monetary Value of Savings

It is recommended that savings calculations are:

 Conservative rather than exaggerated

 Turned into monetary amounts
 Expressed as annual savings

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  Differentiated between one time and on-going savings
 Backed up by data
 Accounting for capital costs (when introducing digital assisted channels)
 Are not double counted
Typically, savings will either be directly quantifiable, or will be expressed as Full Time Equivalent (FTE) head
count savings.

 Headcount Reduction: Most commonly in customer contact operations, savings will be measured in
reduced FTEs, or reduced paid hours. To make it real to the organization it is imperative to turn savings
into monetary amounts. For example, the significance of a 5% gain in FCR in a 500-seat program is
hidden unless this is translated into 5% less call volume, or 25 less CSSs required or $500,000 potential
annual savings (assuming a CSS costs $20,000 per annum)
 When calculating actual head count savings, these need to be offset against increases or decreases in
volumes (not attributable to the project), other work taken on, or other changes to the operation.
 Direct Attributable Savings: These also need to be turned into a monetary value, so that the organization
can truly perceive the impact of the change. A 10% reduction in Critical Errors, for example, could be
turned into a 10% reduction in the goodwill paid to customers when errors are made.

Gains in Revenue and Other Benefits to the Organization

Implementing the COPC Standards will also impact other results areas of the customer operation apart from
savings. Where the operation is involved in revenue generation, lead generation, or retention there will be
a directly attributable financial gain through performance improvements. There are other areas where
improving performance will have benefits which are difficult to turn into direct financial gains; these
intangible benefits will include improvements in Customer Satisfaction, identification of areas of the
organization external to the customer experience operation that are poorly performing.

Direct Performance Gains

Sales: Improvement in performance of Service (by reduction in abandon rate), Quality (reducing
cancellations), and Efficiency (improving availability) will all drive improvement in sales performance.

The best measure of this is improvement in net sales revenue, which directly or indirectly would result from
the improved performance. It is best to translate the number of sales units into revenue using an average
sales value or in the case of a subscription to the annual revenue produced.

 If the customer operation is selling or collecting this can be measured in the $ value of the improved
performance.
 If the customer operation is generating leads, then this needs to be turned into a revenue figure by using
a conversion factor and average sale value.
 For retention, the revenue saved is calculated as the expected annual spend of the saved customer.
(Often, a save is only counted as a save if the customer is still a customer after 90 days)

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Intangible Benefits
Loyalty/ Increased Satisfaction and Churn/ Decreased Dissatisfaction: It is usually hard to put a numerical
figure on the financial benefit from improvements in Customer Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction with the
service provided by the customer contact operation.

Identification of Other problem areas in the Organization: By analyzing the reasons customers contact the
operation, it is possible to identify where failures are happening in the supply and provision of services and
products elsewhere in the organization. While this can be used to reduce transactional volume and
therefore costs in the customer operation; these improvements can also have much greater benefits to the
organization as a whole.

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 Looking Forward: Strategic Direction
The COPC Standards Committee decided that all the COPC Standards will be synchronously updated
annually, and that they will share the same release numbering to make it easier for CSPs to make sure they
are working to the same requirements.

 The COPC CX Standard will change periodically to reflect the evolution of the industry. The
customer operations industry is evolving rapidly and the COPC CX Standard will reflect these
developments and maintain their status as the global definition of “state of the art” practices and
performance. Changes to the COPC CX Standard will be announced by the COPC Standards
Committee as the changes are approved and incorporated.
 Change types:

o Maintenance changes: These include interpretations and clarifications.

o Modifications to reflect changing conditions and industry needs. These changes will
continue to increase both the reach (e.g., adoption rate) and rigor (e.g., being a true
operational and financial differentiator) of the COPC CX Standard and keep the COPC CX
Standard as the global definition of “state of the art” practices and performance measures.

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1.0 Leadership and Planning (400 Points)
The long-term success of an organization depends on its leaders’ ability to set direction and ensure the
operational practices support effective performance. Category 1.0 focuses on how the CSP provides
appropriate leadership and how doing so helps the CSP achieve its objectives. It also focuses on the
management of the Category 4.0 Performance results.

1.1 Setting Direction (100 Points)

Setting a statement of direction clarifies the organization's commitment to customers and employees and
aligns the behavior and actions of everyone in the organization with those necessary to attain the
organization’s goals.

1. The CSP must have a documented statement of overall direction (e.g., vision, mission, or purpose) that
clarifies its commitment to customers and employees.

2. The CSP must ensure management and employee behavior are aligned with the statement of direction.

1.2 Developing Business Plans (100 Points)

Business plans define actions to meet operational objectives which support the statement of direction.

1. The CSP’s process for developing its Annual Entity and Department Business Plans must:

a. Incorporate an analysis of key factors that would influence the plan.

b. Ensure plans consistently support each other and are understood by the appropriate individuals.

2. Business plans must be documented and include quantified financial and non-financial objectives,
actions, milestones, and who is responsible for implementation.

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 1.3 Setting Targets (100 Points)
By setting high performance targets, an organization establishes goals for each objective leading to
performance excellence and continuous improvement.

1. The CSP must have an approach for setting targets for all required metrics listed in Exhibits 1, 2 and 3
that ensures high performance and continuous improvement.

2. For all required metrics, targets must be clearly identified.

3. Targets must be set at high performance levels unless these are in conflict with the entity’s statement of
direction.

4. Targets must be reviewed annually, and where performance is routinely better than target and
continuous improvement would improve the customer experience or financial results, the targets must
be improved.

1.4 Reviewing Business Performance (100 Points)

Regular reviews of performance to business plans and targets informs the organization on whether
objectives are being met, which metrics are performing at targeted levels, and where actions are required to
improve performance.

1. The CSP must use a documented approach for reviewing performance to business plans and targets.

2. Targets and performance must be known by the appropriate personnel.

3. The approach for reviewing performance must:

a. Include formal quarterly analysis of performance to business plans.

b. Lead to actions where results are below targets.

c. Demonstrate sustained improvement from actions taken.

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2.0 Processes (1000 Points)
Superior performance is derived from the CSP’s ability to efficiently provide customers with optimized service
journeys that meet their expectations. Category 2.0 Processes focuses on the Key Customer-Related
Processes (KCRPs) and Key Support Processes (KSPs) CSPs use to develop and deliver these service journeys.
It also focuses on the mechanisms the CSP uses to quantitatively evaluate, maintain, and improve their
service journeys to ensure they are effective and efficient.

2.1 Gathering and Analyzing Customer Information (80 Points)

Capturing, evaluating, and taking appropriate action on information obtained from customers provides the
organization with the customer insights needed to improve the customer experience.

1. The CSP must ensure a structured approach is used to improve its service journeys by capturing,
evaluating, and taking appropriate action on information obtained from customers. The structured
approach must:

a. Gather feedback from customers about the enterprise's products, services, support and service
policies, processes, and procedures from any part of the service journey or any aspects of
customer handling from any channel available to customers.

b. Identify reasons why customers contact the CSP.

2. Satisfaction with the customer experience must be measured for each service journey (identified in
2.2.1), and channel at the program level.

a. For the service journey, the CSP must measure and manage the customer’s overall experience
with the service journey they used to resolve their request.

i. The experience with the service journey must be measured at least monthly and
analyzed at least quarterly.

b. For the channel, the CSP must measure overall satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the
customer experience associated with the transaction.

i. Satisfaction with each of the attributes that drive overall customer experience
performance.

ii. The experience with the channel must be measured and analyzed at least monthly.

3. The information gathered must be aggregated and analyzed and the CSP must quantify and understand
the relative importance of the factors that have a significant impact on satisfaction with the customer
experience and business outcomes.

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 2.2 Defining Service Journeys and Key Customer-Related Processes (80
Points)
Clearly defining the service journeys that customers undertake to satisfy service requests ensures these
service journeys meet customer expectations.

1. The structured approach must:

a. Identify those service journeys that have the highest potential impact on the CSP or customer.

b. Ensure, for service journeys involving more than one channel, the customer experience is
consistent across channels, unless there is a business reason for this differentiation.

c. Relevant customer information and data must be consistent and available through all channels.

d. The results from the same process carried out in each channel must be consistent and
predictable.

2.3 Analyzing and Managing Service Journeys (80 Points)

Ongoing analysis and management of service journeys is necessary to ensure service journeys effectively
meet customer needs.

1. The structured approach for analyzing and managing service journeys must:
a. Identify failures in the service journey, product design, or other drivers that lead to unintended
customer contacts.
b. At least annually, determine which service journeys can be optimized through automation,
elimination, simplification, improvement.

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2.4 Forecasting and Capacity Planning (80 Points)
A capacity plan based upon forecasts for transaction volumes, handle times, and shrinkage ensures the
organization has sufficient resources to meet demand.

1. Forecasting - The CSP must understand its historical volume, transaction handle time, and shrinkage and
must develop forecasts for each of these for all types of human assisted channel transactions (e.g., calls,
emails, chat, footfall (retail), social media).
a. The CSP must measure and manage all forecast accuracy metrics required in Exhibit 2.
2. Capacity Planning - The CSP must develop a capacity plan(s) (using the appropriate demand
requirement calculations, by channel, considering the type of transactions) to determine the number of
staff required to handle the predicted number of transactions.
a. The plan must be created sufficiently far in advance to allow for the time needed to recruit and
train new staff.
b. The model must incorporate the target service level or cycle time and forecasts from 2.4.1 for:
i. Transactional volume
ii. Transaction handle time
iii. Shrinkage
c. Capacity plans must be produced using weekly or daily data.

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 2.5 Scheduling and Real Time Management (80 Points)
Scheduling staff to meet expected human assisted channel transaction volumes and effective real time
management ensures sufficient staff availability to achieve business objectives.

1. Scheduling - The CSP’s scheduling approach must:

a. Calculate the number of staff required at the relevant interval (by using the appropriate demand
requirement calculation(s) for the type(s) of transaction(s) being handled).
b. Create a schedule that considers both its Service Level and Efficiency/Cost targets by minimizing
the variation between the number of staff required and the number of staff available in each
interval.
c. Incorporate service level or cycle time targets and forecasts for:
i. Volume
ii. Handle Time
iii. Shrinkage
d. Be based on appropriate intervals for the targeted cycle time.
e. Periodically review scheduling and work practices to identify those that are limiting its ability to
staff to forecasted demand requirements.
f. Change the scheduling and work practices to minimize the variation between forecasted
demand requirements and staff availability.
2. Real Time Management - The CSP must use a structured approach for:
a. Taking actions during the day when actual performance is significantly different from the
assumptions used to create the forecast and/or schedule.
b. Re-planning staffing and scheduling for the near-term when the plan is inconsistent with the
inputs used to create the original schedule.
c. Managing adherence (supply) at the interval level.
d. Measuring and managing all metrics for real time management required in Exhibit 2.
3. Allocating Transactions - The CSP must:
a. Use a documented structured approach for allocating transactions.
b. Where the CSP is managing a shared-queue environment, monitor overall network and site-level
performance on a real-time basis.

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2.6 Managing IT Services (80 Points)
Organizations design, maintain and continuously improve customer-facing digital systems to deliver high
levels of customer expectations while meeting business objectives.

1. The CSP’s IT service management for customer-facing and customer support digital assisted systems
must incorporate the following processes:

a. Strategy and Planning processes, including but not limited to planning and alignment with
business strategy, budgeting, service portfolio, and governance.

b. Design, develop and control processes, including but not limited to requirements gathering,
design, development, project management, test, release, and transitional support.

c. Delivery processes, including but not limited to provision, availability, reporting, performance,
capacity, security, and continuity.

d. Resolution processes for incident and problem management.

e. Relationship processes, such as business relationship and supplier management (using the
approaches detailed in Item 2.11 Managing Vendors and Key Suppliers).

f. Continuous improvement processes that incorporate customer and business feedback.

2. All technology or systems intended for customer use must be designed to enhance customer
interactions.

a. Systems must enable seamless transfer of unanswered questions and unresolved issues to a CSS
for handling (if a human assisted channel exists).

b. The CSP must ensure all autonomous decisions made by any systems are accessible for review.

3. The CSP or its key suppliers must measure all the service management metrics in Exhibit 2.

2.7 Managing Quality (80 Points)

An effective quality management approach reduces errors and improves consistency leading to high levels of
first contact resolution and customer experience at lower cost.

1. The quality management approach must enable the CSP to measure the accuracy or defect rate
performance of a human or digital assisted program. This approach must ensure that:

a. The number of monthly interactions to be monitored or checked for each program is based on
an understanding of the statistical implications of the sample size.

b. The methodology used to select the sample of interactions to be monitored or checked is

unbiased.

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 c. For customer-facing processes, Customer Critical Error Accuracy, Business Critical Error
Accuracy, and Compliance Critical Error Accuracy must be monitored or checked and assessed as
distinct components of human assisted transactions.

i. Defect Rate must be measured for digital assisted transactions.

2. The CSP must have an approach for analyzing quality results to understand and identify frequent errors
and their causes.

3. The CSP’s quality management approach must ensure that individuals performing monitoring or systems
used for quality assurance checks are effective and calibrated to ensure consistency.

2.8 Managing Corrective Action and Continuous Improvement (80 Points)

High Performing organizations that use an effective problem-solving methodology to identify and resolve the
root cause(s) of poor performance take actions that improve results.

1. The CSP must use a structured problem-solving approach to process improvement that:

a. Defines the problem.

b. Analyzes data to determine causes.

c. Develops and implements solutions.

d. Monitors and evaluates results.

2. The CSP must:

a. Apply this methodology to any metrics directly affecting the Customer, Efficiency or Cost,
Sales, and Customer Experience and Dissatisfaction metrics that are not meeting performance
3/4ths of the time periods.

b. Use a structured prioritization process to take actions on those improvement initiatives that
have the highest potential impact on the CSP, enterprise or customer.

c. Be able to demonstrate that performance has improved as a result of its process improvement
efforts.

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2.9 Minimizing Process Variation (60 Points)
Organizations using a structured approach that minimizes variation within the KCRPs and service journeys
leads to more consistent processes and improved service journeys.

1. For human assisted channels, the CSP must have an approach that ensures the procedures for each
KCRP are performed:

a. As intended.

b. In a consistent manner across all shifts and work teams, i.e., the CSP must minimize variation.

2. For those human assisted KCRPs where there is high variation, the CSP must demonstrate it can improve
process performance, in part, by using the continuous improvement process described in Item 2.8
Managing Corrective Action and Continuous Improvement. As part of this improvement process, the
CSP must:

a. Manage variation between CSSs and systems performing the same process.

b. Determine if changes are required to improve the process.

3. The CSP must formally audit its human and digital assisted KCRPs after a significant change or at least
annually.

2.10 Managing Knowledge and Content (60 Points)

A structured approach for managing content ensures that customers and CSP staff are provided consistent
and up-to-date information across all channels to meet their needs.

1. The CSP must use a structured approach for content management to ensure content used by customers,
staff, or digital systems assisting customers is current, relevant, and accurate.

2. The CSP must measure and manage the timeliness and accuracy of content management using all
appropriate metrics in Exhibit 2.

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 2.11 Managing Vendors and Key Suppliers (40 Points)
Effective management of vendors and key suppliers ensures that key support organizations perform
optimally to benefit the CSP and the customers it serves.

1. The CSP must have a documented statement (such as a contract, service level agreement, or letter) of its
requirements for each vendor or key supplier.

2. The CSP must analyze the performance of each of its vendors or key suppliers quarterly. At least once
every six months, the CSP must provide written performance feedback to each vendor or key supplier.

3. Corrective action plans must be developed if a vendor or key supplier’s performance is found to be
deficient.

2.12 Establishing Business Continuity Plans (40 Points)

High performing organizations develop a comprehensive business continuity plan to handle scenarios that
will adversely affect operations so that management and staff react appropriately when these scenarios
occur to minimize the disruption and get back to full operation as soon as possible to minimize impact on
operations and customers.

1. The CSP must conduct a risk assessment of the potential problems that could adversely impact its
provision of customer handling through each channel and develop contingency plans for those problems
most likely to occur.

2. The business continuity plan must be well understood by appropriate personnel.

3. These plans must be demonstrated to be effective, either by simulation or actual occurrence, within the
past twelve months.

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2.13 Implementing and Controlling Changes (40 Points)
A structured approach to implementing major changes should result in a seamless customer experience and
meet requirements for the organization and customers.

1. The CSP must have a structured approach to identify future changes.

2. For major changes to (and for new) products, services, programs, customer requirements or systems,
the approach must:

a. Define new or changed requirements and targets.

b. Identify the impacted service journeys.
c. Ensure the changes are communicated to all affected parties in an effective manner.
d. Ensure processes are designed to meet requirements and targets.
e. Include a timeline for implementing requirements (e.g., installing infrastructure, programing
services, developing software and data links, hiring, and training staff, and communicating with
customers).
f. Track the timeliness of the implementation and demonstrate implementation milestones have
been met.
g. Ensure an audit is conducted early in the implementation to ensure processes are properly
controlled and expected outcomes are realized.

2.14 Ensuring Data Privacy and Compliance (40 Points)

High performing organizations establish clear procedures that ensure compliance with regulatory
requirements and protect customer sensitive and proprietary data and information.

1. The CSP must have a documented compliance and privacy policy that considers any legal requirements
and defines:

a. How compliance with international, national, state and federal regulatory requirements will be
ensured.

b. How customer privacy will be protected.

2. The CSP must document its procedures for enforcing compliance and protecting customer privacy.

3. The CSP must verify these procedures are implemented as designed and effectively ensure compliance
and protect customer privacy.

4. During customer interactions, any violation of compliance requirements or the privacy policy by human
or digital assisted channels must be considered a critical error during the monitoring/quality assurance
process.

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 2.15 Reporting and Data Integrity (40 Points)
Organizations with appropriate and reliable data and information successfully identify the actions necessary
to meet business objectives.

1. For all required metrics, the CSP must collect data and the data must be relevant, objective, accurate
and representative. There must be enough data to discern trends.

2. Reports must be made available to and understood by the appropriate personnel.

2.16 Reviewing COPC CX Standard (40 Points)

A comprehensive review of the COPC CX Standard framework focusses the organization on areas that need
to be addressed to achieve high levels of performance.

1. At a minimum, the COPC CX Standard review must:

a. Be conducted annually.

b. Assess compliance of both approach and deployment with all requirements of the COPC CX
Standard for Customer Operations.

c. Yield findings that include documented evidence of “compliance” and “non-compliance” with
the COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations and opportunities for improvement in both
processes and performance.

2. The CSP must implement corrective actions for areas of non-compliance.

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3.0 People (600 Points)
Meeting performance targets and improving performance levels requires a workforce that is appropriately
skilled, knowledgeable, and motivated. Category 3.0 requires that CSPs have people management
approaches that enable all staff to deliver quality products and services effectively and efficiently.

3.1 Defining Jobs (60 Points)

Clearly defining the skills and knowledge required to perform Key Customer Related (KCR) jobs leads to
successful performance and motivated staff.

1. The CSP must clearly define all the skills and knowledge required to perform each Key Customer Related
job.

2. The required minimum skills and knowledge to perform the job must be verifiable (see Item 3.4
Verifying Skills and Knowledge).

3.2 Recruiting and Hiring (80 Points)

Acquiring skilled and motivated staff increases the probability of successful performance.

1. The CSP must establish a list of minimum hiring requirements of the individuals to be hired for each KCR
job.

2. The CSP’s recruiting and hiring approaches must identify and successfully recruit individuals with these
minimum requirements.

3. The CSP must assess the effectiveness of its recruiting process at least annually.

3.3 Training and Development (80 Points)

Providing training and development to staff performing KCR jobs results in higher probability of successful
performance.

1. For staff in all KCR jobs, training must be provided for the minimum skills and knowledge required for
the KCR jobs, unless staff are hired with these minimum skills and knowledge.

2. The CSP’s approach to training and development must be formally defined for all KCR jobs and must
define the required outcome.

3. There must be formal retraining of existing staff if skill and knowledge requirements change.

4. At least annually, the CSP must review the effectiveness of training for KCR jobs where post-training
performance does not meet expectations and take actions as appropriate.

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 3.4 Verifying Skills and Knowledge (80 Points)
Verifying that staff in KCR jobs have the skills and knowledge required for their jobs ensures they can service
customers as intended.

1. For all staff in all KCR jobs, required skills and knowledge for KCR jobs must be verified prior to allowing
staff to perform the jobs.

2. The verification process for all staff in KCR jobs must ensure:

a. Objective performance thresholds are established.

b. Staff that pass the minimum performance thresholds are able to perform satisfactorily on the
job.

c. Action plans are established for staff that fail to demonstrate the required skills and knowledge.

3. Following changes in program, procedures, systems, etc., skills and knowledge must be re-verified.

3.5 Monitoring and Coaching CSSs (80 points)

Monitoring transactions provides the quality control to ensure customer needs are met and identifies areas
where coaching can lead to performance improvement.

1. The CSP must monitor transactions for all CSSs on an ongoing basis for all transaction types they handle.

2. The CSP must effectively coach and take action to improve based on monitoring results.

3.6 Managing Staff Performance (80 Points)

Evaluating individual performance to appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) and documenting
actions needed to improve, support the organization in achieving customer and business performance
objectives.

1. At least quarterly, the CSPs staff performance management approach must include:

a. A review of individual performance relative to the objectives for KCR staff.

b. Identification and development of effective improvement plans for areas in which KCR staff do
not consistently achieve targeted levels.

c. Providing effective coaching to ensure performance meets objectives.

2. The CSP must conduct a formal/comprehensive performance appraisal of each individual's performance
to objectives and identify areas for improvement, at least annually.

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3.7 Managing Employee Experience and Feedback (60 Points)
Feedback from employees about the employee experience and process issues provides the information
needed to implement appropriate changes to improve employee commitment and business performance.

1. The CSP must proactively solicit feedback from staff at least quarterly on topics impacting customer
experience and employee performance.

2. The CSP must proactively involve appropriate staff in identifying process improvement opportunities
and developing recommendations.

a. The CSP must evaluate, analyze, and take effective action on feedback identified above that has
a significant impact on customer experience and employee performance.

3.8 Reducing Attrition and Absenteeism (80 Points)

Managing CSS staff attrition and absenteeism should result in improved performance and increase the
organization’s ability to service customers and decrease costs.

1. The CSP must measure and manage staff attrition and absenteeism.

a. Appropriate action must be taken if attrition or absenteeism results do not meet targets.

b. The CSP must establish targets for Attrition and Absenteeism based on an understanding of the
costs of attrition and absenteeism and the impact of each on service, quality, and the customer
experience; other business requirements; and labor conditions.

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 4.0 Performance (2000 Points)
The goal of the COPC CX Standard is to help CSPs improve the customer experience and achieve high and
ever-increasing levels of product and service performance and cost efficiency. The approaches described in
Item 2.8 Managing Corrective Action and Continuous Improvement and Item 2.9 Minimizing Process
Variation are used to drive improvement in performance metrics. All Exhibit 1, 2 and 3 metrics must be
compliant with level requirements.

4.1 Customer Experience Performance (500 Points)

Managing the level of satisfaction customers have with their service journey and individual contact channels
should result in more loyal customers.

1. The customer experience with the service journeys identified in 2.2.1 and each contact channel must be
measured and compliant with the guidelines set out in Exhibit 3.

2. The CSP must use any customer experience metrics required by the enterprise that are not in Exhibit 3.

3. The CSP must measure and manage all required customer experience metrics in Exhibit 3 for
interactions carried out by the CSP or a vendor.

4.2 Overall Cost Performance (200 Points)

Managing the overall cost to provide service to customers across all channels should result in the provision of
high levels of customer service at optimal cost.

1. The CSP must measure the overall cost of service delivery, including both human and digital assisted
channels.

2. The CSP must use all overall cost management metrics in Exhibit 3 and any additional cost metrics
deemed important by the enterprise.

3. Cost Management data must be analyzed at least quarterly.

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4.3 Human Assisted Channel Performance (400 Points)
Managing the performance of each key customer-related process (KCRP) performed by human assisted
channels supports achieving high performance levels.

1. For each Exhibit 1 KCRP that the CSP or a vendor performs, the CSP must use all the required metrics
listed in Exhibit 1.

2. Exhibit 1 required metrics used by the CSP or a vendor must be compliant with the guidelines set out in
Exhibit 1.

3. The CSP must use any KCRP metrics deemed important by the Enterprise that are not in Exhibit 1.

4.4 Digital Assisted Channel Performance (350 Points)

Managing the performance of each KCRP associated with digital assisted channels supports achieving high
performance levels.

1. For each KCRP for digital assisted channels that the CSP or a vendor performs, the CSP must use all the
required metrics listed in Exhibit 1.

2. Exhibit 1 required metrics used by the CSP or a vendor must be compliant with the guidelines set out in
Exhibit 1.

3. The CSP must use any KCRP metrics deemed important by the Enterprise that are not in Exhibit 1.

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 4.5 Key Support Process (KSP) Performance (200 Points)
Managing the performance of each key support process (KSP) performed by the organization or a key
supplier supports achieving high performance levels.

1. For each Exhibit 2 KSP that the CSP or a key supplier performs, the CSP must use the metrics listed in
Exhibit 2.

2. Exhibit 2 KSP metrics used by the CSP or a key supplier must be compliant with the guidelines set out in
Exhibit 2.

3. The CSP must use any KSP metrics deemed important by the Enterprise that are not in Exhibit 2.

4.6 Achieving Results (350 Points)

Achieving targeted levels and exhibiting sustained improvement in a majority of the required service, quality,
revenue, cost, and customer experience satisfaction metrics indicates a high performing organization.

1. The CSP must:

a. Meet or exceed targeted performance levels for a minimum of 50% of performance metrics, and

b. Meet or exceed targeted performance levels or exhibit sustained improvement in a total of 75%
of performance metrics.

2. Entities involving multiple locations or services (within or across locations) must meet the requirements
of 4.6.1 for each:

a. Location in the entity.

b. Service (e.g., customer service, tech support, retail, outbound, fulfillment, e-commerce,
healthcare, business process outsourcing).

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Metrics Included in Calculations for Item 4.6

To calculate whether it is compliant with the 50% and 75% requirements of this Item, the CSP must assess its
performance on the required Customer Satisfaction, Service, Quality, Sales, Efficiency and Cost metrics at
the levels indicated in the following table:

Metrics included in Calculations for Item 4.6

Item (by level)

Entity Program

4.1 Customer  Service Journey  Overall Customer Satisfaction

Experience Customer Experience  Overall Customer
Dissatisfaction
4.2 Overall Cost  Cost per X
Performance
4.3 Human Assisted All KCRP metrics:
Channel Performance
 Metrics managed at the entity
or client level will be counted
only once at the entity level.
4.4 Digital Assisted All KCRP metrics:
Channel Performance
 Metrics managed at the entity
or client level will be counted
only once at the entity level.

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 COPC CX Standard Certification Process

For more details about the certification process, please refer to the COPC Customer Experience
Standard Certification Guide.

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COPC CX Standard Scoring System
The COPC CX Standard scoring system involves the following components:

Item Point Values

Each Item in the COPC CX Standard has been assigned points based on the importance of the Item. The
point values can be found as you review the requirements of each Item. The score for the COPC CX
Standard totals 4,000 points.

To become certified, the entity must:

• Score 95% of the available points AND

• 100% on Approach in Categories 1.0-3.0 AND
• Meet the 50%/75% requirement of Item 4.6 Achieving Results.

Scoring Guidelines for Individual Items

The COPC CX Standard scoring system requires different methods for scoring the Category 1.0 - 3.0 Items
and the Category 4.0 Items. Both methods provide a percentage of the available points that will be awarded
for the Item.

Categories 1.0 – 3.0 of the COPC CX Standard describe the various types of processes, practices, and
procedures that CSPs and OSPs must develop and implement to meet the requirements of the COPC CX
Standard. The COPC CX Standard encompasses not only high-performance approaches, but also the extent
of the deployment of these approaches within the organization. Well-designed approaches that are
pervasively deployed will lead to sustained high levels of performance, which is the goal of the COPC CX
Standard.

• Approaches are the processes, practices, and procedures used to meet the requirements of the
COPC CX Standard.
• Deployment refers to how extensively these approaches are used throughout the organization.

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 Scoring Categories 1.0 to 3.0

Items in Categories 1.0 - 3.0 are evaluated based on the Approach and the extent of Deployment, according
to the following scoring guidelines:

Scoring Category 4.0

Items in Category 4.0 Performance are evaluated based on Results performance, according to the following
scoring approach and table of required metrics.

For a more detailed explanation of scoring, please refer to the COPC Customer Experience
Standard Certification Guide.

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Exhibits
There are three exhibits that together list the required metrics for the COPC CX Standard for Customer Operations.
• Exhibit 1 which contains the operational metrics for different types of operations
• Exhibit 2 contains the Key Support Process Metrics
• Exhibit 3 contains the Customer Experience and Overall Cost Metrics
Exhibit 1 is divided into human assisted and digital assisted channel metrics.
Exhibit 1 Human Assisted defines the metrics used to measure and manage key customer-related processes (KCRPs) within human assisted
channels. Most human assisted channel KCRPs fall into one of two groups: real time KCRPs, in which the customer is engaged during the handling of
the transaction, and deferred KCRPs, in which the transaction is handled in the absence of the customer. The metrics used to manage the human
assisted channel KCRP depends on the group to which the KCRP belongs.
For each human assisted channel KCRP not listed in Exhibit 1 that the CSP or vendor performs, the CSP must determine if this KCRP is a real time or
deferred transaction and use the appropriate metrics.
Exhibit 1 Digital assisted defines the metrics used to measure and manage KCRPs within digital assisted channels. As these KCRPs are system-based,
the response times and service metrics may be replaced by measures of system performance.
Exhibit 2
Exhibit 2 defines the metrics used to measure and manage key support processes (KSPs). Each KSP is listed with its required metrics.
For each KSP not listed in Exhibit 2 that the CSP or key supplier performs, the CSP must use, as appropriate, On Time, Backlog, and Accuracy metrics.
Exhibit 3
Exhibit 3 defines the key outcome metrics which are required to measure how the handling of customers by one or more service channels impacts
the customers’ experiences and the overall cost to the Enterprise of servicing their customers by a combination of both human assisted and digital
assisted channels.

Each exhibit defines the process and required metrics, how each metric must be measured, and any special considerations.

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Exhibit requirements:
1. The CSP may combine tracking of metrics from several KCRPs if the CSP has the same performance target for the metrics it seeks to combine.
However, metrics for electronic and non-electronic transactions cannot be combined.
2. The requirement to track all Exhibit 1 metrics for a KCRP can be waived if the CSP performs the KCRP and the CSP can demonstrate that the
volume of customer contacts for the KCRP is not material to either the CSP or to customers.
a. Guideline: If the KCRP represents 5% or more of customer contacts for a specific program, then the CSP must track all required
metrics.
b. If the KCRP represents less than 5% of customer contacts for a specific program, then the CSP must track and CUIKA either On-Time
or Accuracy to determine if the process is in control.
3. If the CSP tracks small volume KCRP’s, (typically a KCRP with less than 5% of the volume of transactions for that program), for the purpose of
calculating compliance with Item 4.6 Achieving Results, the percentage of overall metrics made up by small volume KCRP’s must be collectively
less than 10% of the required metrics.

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 Exhibit 1: Key Customer-Related Processes (KCRPs)
KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
Human Assisted Real 2.4/ Speed of Answer – Percent of transactions answered
before a targeted threshold, e.g., 40
Service Level must be based on
transactions offered to the CSS
Set target based
on customer
4.3 Must track Service Level, i.e., %
Time Transactions: of transactions answered seconds, queue, not on transactions expectation and
within targeted time period, answered by CSS queue. type of service.
Real Time transactions are or If using ASA, must CUIKA the
typified by: or distribution of answer speed
• There is a live Average time to answer all around the average.
engagement with the Average Speed of Answer (ASA) transactions in period (ASA) Where it is not appropriate or Monthly
customer, and the possible to measure Service Level
customer is present or Abandonment Rate at the site
Service

throughout the queue level for a program, such as in a

time. shared queue operation, then the
• The customer CSP must measure Schedule
determines when to Attainment for each location
contact the center, participating in the Shared Queue.
and the center is
reacting to this 2.4/ Abandonment Rate – The number of callers who hang up If there is an IVR or message system, Target set based on
demand. after the IVR but before they talk to a then a short abandon threshold customer
• The center has a
4.3 e.g., % of transactions
abandoned before being live CSS expressed as a percentage of should not be used. expectation and
limited time to pick up Monthly
answered by a live CSS calls offered. Abandon Rate and Speed of Answer type of service
the transaction before targets should be mathematically
the customer consistent.
abandons. 2.7/ Customer Critical Error Percent of transactions monitored When measuring
Errors that are critical from the
• Backlogs are not that do not have a Customer Critical satisfiers and
experienced as the
4.3 Accuracy – customer’s perspective (e.g., wrong
information, mistreating the Error. dissatisfiers
e.g., accuracy rate of
customer abandons if
Quality

customer [e.g., rudeness], not 95% (By Unit)

customer affecting critical Measured by Unit – where a unit = a
the call is not Monthly
errors of transactions resolving the customer’s issue, etc.) transaction When measuring
answered in a
monitored) satisfiers only
reasonable timeframe. Transactions with no CC Errors
98% (By Unit)
Transactions Monitored

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
Types of KCRPs which are Real 2.7/ Business Critical Error Errors that are critical from a CSP or Percent of transactions monitored 90%
Time Transactions are: 4.3 Accuracy – Client perspective but do not that do not have a Business Critical
− Inbound customer negatively impact customers. Error
e.g., accuracy rate of business Monthly
calls
affecting critical errors of Transactions with no BC Errors
− Web chat Measured by Unit – where a unit = a
transactions monitored
− Escalations (Live Transactions Monitored transaction
transfer of phone calls)
2.7/ Compliance Critical Errors associated with National, State Percent of transactions monitored 99.5%
− Person to Person or Federal compliance or compliance
Customer Services 4.3 Error Accuracy – that do not have a Compliance However, this will
to any industry regulatory body Critical Error
e.g., accuracy rate of vary with whatever Monthly
compliance affecting critical are the regulatory
Quality

Transactions with no CompC Errors

errors of transactions Measured by Unit – where a unit = a bodies’
Note: Transactions Monitored
monitored transaction requirements.
For real-time channels (e.g., Chat)
where a single transaction spans 4.3 Contact Resolution – Number of transactions that were There is no consistent industry- There is no
a number of individual Must track Issue Resolution, resolved as a percentage of the total standard way of measuring Contact benchmark or best
interactions, quality metrics must First Contact Resolution, or number of transactions answered. Resolution. practice target for
be evaluated for the complete First Call Resolution Contact Resolution.
transaction and not for individual Or Approaches include measuring in a Targets and results
interactions. customer survey, by analysis of should be Monthly
Number of transactions that were repeat transactions in CRM data or consistent with
resolved during the first contact as a during transaction monitoring. Customer
percentage of the total number of Satisfaction Targets
transactions answered. and Results.

4.3 Sales – Number of transactions where the Services that have a revenue-related Targets for
Must track conversion rate sales/revenue objective is achieved objective (e.g., making sales/revenue will
(e.g., percent of calls with a (e.g., a sale or appointment is made) appointments, completing surveys, be Program
sale) or conversion volume as a percentage of total transactions saving customers, generating leads) dependent.
(e.g., dollars sold) answered. must use this metric.
Sales

Monthly
Or

Total value or volume of

sales/revenue objective achieved in a
given period
Volume – Volume metrics do
e.g., number of calls received not require a Monthly
per period target.

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
4.3 CSS Utilization – Must be calculated as: Productive work includes call handle 86%
Percentage of paid time that time and time spent working on
CSSs are either performing Productive Time + Available Time other types of customer transactions
productive work or available Paid hours Onsite (e.g., correspondence, cases). Monthly
to handle customer Available time is the time that CSSs
transactions. are waiting for transactions.
Efficiency
4.3 AHT – Must be calculated as: Average time spent per answered Targets for
The average time it takes to transaction, including talking to a efficiency are
Total Handle Time (inc. ACW) customer (ATT), on hold with a better set with a
handle a Real Time transaction
Transactions Handled customer, or in After Call Work goal of continual
including any work carried out
after the customer (ACW). improvement and
disconnected can be based, Monthly
initially, on budget
assumptions or
similar financial
indicators.

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
Human Assisted 2.4/ On Time – Cycle time must be defined, and the
targeted cycle time set before on-
Target Cycle Time is the target time
for processing a transaction end-to-
95% for any Cycle
time requirement
4.3 Must track percentage of
Deferred transactions processed within time can be measured. end from the customer’s point of
view.
Transactions: the targeted cycle time
On time is the percent of Where it is not appropriate or
Service transactions processed within the
targeted cycle time.
possible to measure On Time or
Backlog at the site level for a
Monthly
Deferred transactions are typified
by: program, such as in a shared queue
• The customer is not operation, then the CSP must
actively engaged during measure Schedule Attainment for
the queue time. each location participating in the
• The center determines Shared Queue.
when to process the 2.7/ Customer Critical Error Errors that are critical from the Percent of transactions monitored When measuring
transaction. 4.3 Accuracy – customer’s perspective (e.g., wrong that do not have a Customer satisfiers and
• The cycle times for information, mistreating the Critical Error. dissatisfiers
e.g., accuracy rate of customer
deferred transactions customer [e.g., rudeness], not Measured by Unit – where a unit = 95% (By Unit)
affecting critical errors of
are usually measured in resolving the customer’s issue, etc.) a transaction
transactions monitored Monthly
hours or days. When measuring
Transactions with no CC Errors satisfiers only
• Transactions waiting to
Transactions Monitored 98% (By Unit)
be processed are
termed backlog.

Types of KCRPs which are 2.7/ Business Critical Error Errors that are critical from a CSP or Percent of transactions monitored 90%
Quality

deferred transactions are: Client perspective but do not that do not have a Business Critical
4.3 Accuracy –
− Emails negatively impact customers. Error.
e.g., accuracy rate of business
− Web Mails
affecting critical errors of Transactions with no BC Errors Monthly
− Letters and Faxes Measured by Unit – where a unit =
transactions monitored
− Call Backs Transactions Monitored a transaction
− Voice Mail message
processing
− Internal Escalations
(except live transfers) 2.7/ Compliance Critical Error Errors associated with National, State Percent of transactions monitored 99.5%
4.3 Accuracy – or Federal compliance or compliance that do not have a Compliance However, this will
− Exceptions
to any industry regulatory body. Critical Error. vary with whatever
− Payment Processing e.g., accuracy rate of compliance
are the regulatory Monthly
affecting critical errors of Transactions with no CompC Errors Measured by Unit – where a unit = bodies’
transactions monitored
Transactions Monitored a transaction requirements

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
4.3 Contact Resolution – Number of transactions that were There is no consistent industry There is no
− Most Back Office Must track Issue Resolution or resolved as a percentage of the total standard way of measuring Contact benchmark or best
Functions First Contact Resolution. number of transactions handled. Resolution. practice for Contact
− Processing Orders Resolution.
Or Approaches include measuring in a
Note: customer survey by analysis of Targets and results Monthly
For deferred channels (e.g., Social Number of transactions that were repeat transactions in CRM data or should be
Media, SMS, WhatsApp) where a resolved during the first contact as a during transaction monitoring consistent with
single transaction spans a number percentage of the total number of Customer
of individual interactions, quality transactions handled Satisfaction Targets
metrics must be evaluated for the and Results.
complete transaction and not for 4.3 Sales – Number of transactions where the Services that have a revenue- Targets for
individual interactions. If appropriate - Must track sales/revenue objective is achieved related objective (e.g., making sales/revenue will
conversion rate (e.g., percent (e.g., a sale or appointment is made) appointments, completing surveys, be Program
of transactions with a sale) or as a percentage of total transactions saving customer, generating leads) dependent.
conversion volume (e.g., answered. must use this metric.
Sales

dollars sold) Monthly

Or

Total value or volume of

sales/revenue objective achieved in a
given period.

Volume – Volume metrics do

e.g., number of transactions not require a
Monthly
received per period target.

4.3 Efficiency – No specific metric is required if it is: A common metric used to manage Targets for
e.g., average processing time - comparing units of input to units of deferred transaction efficiency is efficiency are
per transaction, transactions output and the number of transactions better set with a
Efficiency

processed per CSS hour, cost - relevant to the KCRP that it is processed per given time period goal of continual
per transaction measuring (usually a CSS hour or day) instead improvement and
Monthly
of measuring handle time since it can be based,
may be difficult to track this initially, on budget
without a specialist transaction assumptions or
tracking tool. similar financial
indicators.

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
Digital Assisted 4.4 Autonomous Handle The percentage of interactions in
which the digital assisted system
Also referred to as Containment
Rate or Automation Score
There is no
benchmark or best
Rate –
Service Transactions: e.g., % of interactions handled
(e.g., bot, web RPA) handled the practice target for
transaction, end-to-end, Autonomous
by a digital assisted system,
autonomously without choosing to Handle Rate,
Handling of customer contacts by end-to-end, without human
transfer, escalate, or seek any other however 90% is
a system-based service that does involvement
form of human involvement, recommended as a
not involve a live agent. compared to the total number of starting point. Monthly
Service
interactions initiated with the digital
Typical digital assisted KCRPs: assisted system.
− Web-delivered service
− Service delivered % digital assisted interactions handled
through a digital app without human involvement
− IVR Self Help number of initiated
digital asssited interactions
4.4 Systems Uptime – The percentage of time the digital Metrics should be measured on >99.6%
e.g., % of time system is fully assisted system (e.g., bot) is fully total time. Digital assisted channel Systems
Monthly
functional; System Latency functional from a customer’s point of systems are expected to be Functionality
view. available 24/7.
Volume The total number of customer-facing Volume metrics do
digital transactions eligible for service not require a target. Monthly
from all digital systems
Number of Conversations The total number of customer-facing A conversation is a complete Volume metrics do
digital assisted conversations transaction between a bot and a not require a target.
(specific to bots) human. The individual interactions Monthly
within the conversation are
considered messages.

2.7/ Defect Rate – Examples but not limited to: Defects identified during system Varies by industry
4.4 e.g., number of defects • # defects detected during system checks must be material and likely and transaction
Quality

detected by quality analysts checks to cause impact to the customer or type

or automated system checks • # defects determined during business. Monthly
checking completed transactions
• % customers who made errors
while using the system

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 KCRPs Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Practice Target
4.4 Sales – Number of contacts where the sales/ Services that have a revenue- Targets for
If appropriate, e.g., Success revenue objective is achieved as a related objective (e.g., Booking sales/revenue will
Rate; monetary value per percentage of total contacts appointments; completing surveys) be Program

Sales
contact received. must use this metric. dependent.
Monthly
Or
Total value or volume of
sales/revenue objective achieved in a
given period
4.4 Cost or Efficiency – Cost per transaction is measured as There is no
e.g., Cost per Transaction; the cost of running the service / the benchmark or best
Deflection Rate - % of total number of transactions eligible practice for cost per
transactions deflected from for service. transaction.
Cost

human assisted channels Monthly

Deflection rate is the number of
Contacts that were deflected from
reaching a human assisted channel.

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 Exhibit 2: Key Support Processes
Benchmark or Best
KSP Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Frequency
Practice Target
Telecommunications 4.5 Uptime/Accessibility – The number of minutes of uptime of
the switch as a percentage of the
This should be calculated as a
percentage of the opening hours.
99.6%
Providing and maintaining e.g., % of time the system is
fully functional, % of timelines total minutes that the service is
telecommunications hardware,
are fully available open.
software, and services (e.g., long Monthly
distance service, local line
service, telecommunication
switch, CSS phones, and call
management software)
Managing 4.5 Uptime/Accessibility – The number of minutes of uptime of
the information systems as a
This should be calculated as a
percentage of the opening hours.
99.6%
e.g., % of time the system is
Service

Production Systems fully functional percentage of the total minutes that It is acceptable to report on each
Providing and maintaining the service is open. system separately. However, these
hardware and software that should be combined to create a Monthly
support the systems that are single metric for the levels
used by CSP/ OSP staff to carry calculation.
out a KCRP

Managing Content 4.5 On Time – The number of updates that were

processed in the targeted time as a
There are no
specific benchmarks
Keeping the knowledgebase up e.g., On Time processing of
information updates within percentage of total updates or best practice Monthly
to date and accurate
targeted cycle times targets for
Knowledgebase
metrics.
4.5 Content Accuracy – This is the number of content checks This data may be sampled. This
e.g., Percentage of searches that were complete and accurate as a metric must consider both
where information was correct percentage of the number of checks incomplete information
Quality

completed (completeness) and inaccurate

information (accuracy) as defects. Monthly

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 Benchmark or Best
KSP Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Frequency
Practice Target
Forecasting Accuracy 2.4/ Staffing Forecast The average absolute weekly or daily
percentage variance between the
Forecasting must be done at least
at the weekly level accounting for
Various targets
depending upon the
Projecting the required resources 4.5 Accuracy –
forecast and actual required staffing the operational lag time for both volatility of the

Quality
in order to ensure sufficient e.g., actual required vs.
levels. hiring and training. number of
capacity exists to meet service forecasted staffing levels to Monthly
transactions,
requirements at optimal identify required staffing levels
transaction handle
efficiency. to recruit/hire and train staff
time, and shrinkage
percentage
2.4/ Scheduling Forecast The variance between the forecast Must account for the operational Various targets
4.5 Accuracy – and actual required staffing levels. lag time for scheduling. Must be depending upon the
This is calculated as the % of intervals calculated at the interval level. volatility of the
e.g., actual required vs. Monthly
that are within the +x% and -y% of transaction arrivals.
forecasted staffing levels for
the forecast staffing requirements.
scheduling resources to meet
demand requirements.
Recruiting/Hiring 3.2/ On Time – Percentage of CSS staff requests filled
by the targeted date
Recruiting more than the
requested CSS staff does not result
Typically, 90% or
above
Acquiring the necessary human 4.5 e.g., % of CSS staffing requests
filled by the targeted date in an on-time greater than 100%.
resources to meet the staffing
The maximum is 100%. Other KCR Monthly
needs of the operation
jobs are not included in this metric

Implementing New 2.13/ On Time – The percentage of milestones that

are completed on or before the
Typically, 90% or
above
4.5 e.g., % of program components
Programs It is not best practice, but it is
Service

delivered on time planned date

compliant, to track only On Time to Monthly
The timeliness of meeting
the agreed-to “go live” date.
implementation milestones

Real Time 2.5/ Adherence – No specific metric is required. Examples could be: measuring schedule attainment (Were the right
number of CSSs present in each interval compared to the schedule?); Schedule Adherence (Did
4.5 e.g., Schedule Adherence,
Management Conformance, Schedule each CSS adhere to the schedule as planned?); Schedule Conformance (Were the total available
Ensuring that the schedule or Attainment hours scheduled met?).
Monthly
roster is implemented correctly

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 Benchmark or Best
KSP Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Frequency
Practice Target
Attrition 3.8/ CSS Attrition – Number of leavers who were
backfilled as a % of total heads.
Must be measured as heads, not
FTE.
Targets must be set
based on an
Assessing the rate of staff 4.5 Annualized attrition of CSSs
calculated at both the program Staff who leave during training are understanding of
departures for CSS
and entity level not included in this calculation. the cost of attrition
Annualization can be based upon 1 and the impact on
month or more of data. At entity Service, Quality and
level, the calculation is based upon Cost. At least
the number of people who left the Quarterly
entity. At program level, it is based
People
l
upon the number of people who
left the role in the program (this
includes promotions to another
role in the same program).

Absenteeism 3.8/ CSS Absenteeism – This is calculated as the number of

hours lost through short term
CSS absenteeism includes only
short-term absence. Short-term
There is no best
practice target for
Calculating the amount of time 4.5 e.g., % of hours lost through
absenteeism. absenteeism as a percentage of absence is an absence, for absenteeism. At least
that is lost due to unscheduled
scheduled hours. whatever reason, of those staff Quarterly
absenteeism
that were scheduled to work.

Service Management 2.6/ Digital Assisted Systems The percentage of digital assisted It is acceptable to set a target Typically, 90% or
Service

4.5 Tickets On Time – system trouble tickets that are resolution time for each ticket above
Metrics e.g., on time by severity level
resolved within the targeted time. based upon its severity. Monthly
Controlling the performance of
digital assisted systems
2.6/ Forecast Accuracy – Peak The percentage of days that the Various targets
4.5 e.g., % of days with an accurate actual peak demand was within a depending upon the
peak forecast tolerance of the forecast peak in the volatility of the Monthly
day transaction arrival
Quality

rate.
2.6/ Forecast Accuracy – Run The percentage of days that the Various targets
4.5 Rate actual transaction arrival rate was depending upon the
within a tolerance of the forecast volatility of the Monthly
e.g., % of days with an accurate
transaction arrival rate transaction arrival
forecast of the daily transaction
rate.
rate

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 Exhibit 3: Customer Experience and Overall Cost Metrics

Customer Experience and Item Required Metrics How the Metric is Measured Special Considerations Benchmark or Best Frequency
Cost Metrics Practice Target
Service Journey 4.1 Service Journey No specific metric is required as
long as the organization is tracking
This would apply to the service
journeys identified in 2.2.1 Defining
There are no
specific benchmarks
At least
Quarterly
Customer Experience –
Customer Experience e.g., Customer Effort Score
the experience of the customer Service Journeys and KCRPs. or best practice
Assessing the customer concerning the way that the targets
experience with the entire Service resolution of a customer issue or
Customer Experience

Journey request has been dealt with

Customer 4.1 Overall Customer Number of responses to surveys that

score the overall satisfaction in the
COPC Inc. uses a 5-point scale with
a neutral mid-point. It is compliant
85%
Top Two Box on a 5-
Monthly
Satisfaction –
Satisfaction and Must track overall customer
top two box as a percentage of the to use other scales. If another point scale with
total completed surveys received scale is used the CSP must define neutral mid-point
Dissatisfaction satisfaction for each channel at
the appropriate metric based upon
The Customer Experience with a the individual transaction and
a number of boxes. It is also the
channel is assessed by measuring program level
responsibility of the CSP to
how satisfied/dissatisfied 4.1 Overall Customer Number of responses to surveys that
demonstrate that their target is
Typically, 5% or Monthly
customers are with the service(s) Dissatisfaction – score the overall satisfaction in the below
high performing.
provided by the CSP. bottom box as a percentage of the
Must track overall customer
total completed surveys received
dissatisfaction for each channel
at the individual transaction
and program level
Overall Cost 4.2 Cost per X – No specific metric is required.
(Costs are based on total costs of
The CSP must ensure the costs for
human assisted and digital assisted
Monthly
e.g., Cost per Customer Served,
Performance Cost per Resolution, service delivery) channels are blended to allow the
Cost

The CSP must measure the overall Cost per Contact, tracking of changes to overall cost
cost of handling customers across Cost per Unit Sold, from moving transactions from one
all the channels they employ Cost per Customer in the channel to another
customer base

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 Glossary
Abandoned Calls Calls answered by the ACD system and placed in a live agent or voice
response queue but are disconnected by the caller or incorrectly
dropped by the queue management system before being answered.
Absenteeism A measure of the percentage of staff that are not present during their
scheduled shifts (see Item 3.8 Staff Attrition and Absenteeism).

Absenteeism Costs Typically include most or all the following:

- Cost of overtime – additional hours needed to compensate for
absent staff
- Cost of increased staffing – additional staff needed to
compensate for absence
- Cost of lost productivity – hours away from work (e.g., for
doctor appointments)
- Associated costs from absenteeism – poor Service Level,
reduced revenue, increased delinquency or other
performance indicators
Accuracy The quality of the transaction. This measurement is usually separated
into Customer Critical, Business Critical and Compliance Error Accuracy.
Accuracy may be measured as “percent correct”, “percent defective”,
or “defective parts per million (dppm)”.
After Call Work (ACW) A component of Average Handle Time (AHT). An ACD work-state that
tracks how long each CSS is unavailable to take another call because of
additional activities necessary to complete the previous call. This
includes online entries that could not be completed during the call such
as call wrap-up codes, free text comments, and research. On some
ACD systems, this is also called Wrap.
Aging Categorization of the age of Items in backlog that have not been
processed. It must be calculated as “Average Time Late” (ATL).
Applied A designation from COPC Inc. identifying entities that have formally
committed to pursue certification to the COPC CX Standard.
Approach The processes, practices, and procedures CSPs must develop and
implement to meet the requirements of the COPC CX Standard.

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 Attrition Voluntary and involuntary staff separations (see Item 3.8 Reducing
Attrition and Absenteeism).
Attrition Costs Typically include most or all the following:
 Compensation of new hires for non-productive period (training
time)
 Agency fees
 Cost of “lost” production opportunity (pay per call x number of
calls/day)
 Period new hire is not “on the job”
 Cost of recruitment – internal and external (newspaper ads, job
fairs, and CSP personnel time)
 Cost of training – the allocated costs per student for the training
program
 Ramp up costs – efficiency of new hires vs. experienced agents
commonly referred to as “learning curve” costs. Typically, these
costs include reduced production, accuracy (fixing errors made by
new staff), and the resulting adverse impact on Client and
Customer satisfaction.
 Overtime incurred due to reduced staff size
Automatic Call The system used by inbound call centers to answer and distribute calls
Distributor (ACD) on a first-come/first-served basis amongst the available CSS. These
systems can be standalone or part of larger telecommunications
systems. They usually have the capability to hold callers in queue, play
announcements, and location data about the calls for report purposes.
Auxiliary Time (Aux) Non-telephone time in the CSS scheduled day. This often includes time
spent on training, breaks, meetings, special projects, restroom visits or
getting coffee. Most customer contact telephone systems have a
feature called ‘Aux Time’ or ‘Aux State’ that is tracked through the use
of one or more telephone buttons. Larger than expected segments of
auxiliary time should be noted by Supervisors to identify and analyze
possible performance metric deviations.
Available Time The time between transactions in which CSSs are ready to accept the
next transaction.

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 Average Time Late (ATL) A weighted average calculation used to monitor late backlog.
Average Handle Time The average amount of time CSSs spend processing a transaction. This
(AHT) includes time spent communicating with customers, putting customers
on hold (hold time), and wrapping up the transaction after the
customer has ended his/her participation in the transaction.
Average Speed of Answer The average amount of time all customers wait in queue before their
(ASA) calls or chat requests are answered by CSSs. Because abandoned calls
can distort the value of this metric, it is important to clarify if and how
abandoned calls are used in this calculation.
Average Talk Time (ATT) The average length of time CSSs are on the telephone with a caller.
(Ideally, the time the caller spends on hold is not included in this
metric. If hold time cannot be separated, consider this in the utilization
formula). ATT is typically calculated as the total amount of time on the
phone divided by the total number of calls taken. This is also called
ACD time in some telephone systems.
Backlog Transactions that have been received but not processed within the
defined cycle time. The appropriate measure for backlog is Average
Time Late (ATL).
COPC Baseline An audit conducted by one or more COPC Registered Auditors and
Assessment designed to provide a gap analysis of where the entity stands on all
Items of the COPC CX Standard. It is used to identify the non-compliant
Items so the entity can take appropriate action prior to the COPC®
Certification Audit.
Benchmark Data COPC Inc.’s first-hand experience from audits and reviews conducted
around the world and across industry and/or business sectors. These
are the best examples of performance and practices observed by COPC
Inc. to address Category 4.0 Performance of the COPC CX Standard.
Best Practice COPC Inc.’s first-hand experience from audits and reviews conducted
around the world and across industry and/or business sectors. This is
the best approach, process, or method witnessed by COPC Inc. to
address either a particular requirement of the COPC CX Standard or a
process that is performed in a customer contact operation.

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 Blocked Transactions The number of calls not received due to network, trunk, or PBX
limitations and/or settings. Blocked transactions may be measured as
the amount of time the network(s), trunk(s), or PBX are at capacity and
must be tracked at least quarterly. This frequency must be increased if
customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction data indicates an issue with
customer access.
Bot Bot -- short for "robot" and also called a chatbot or an internet bot -- is
a computer program that operates as an agent for a user or other
program, or to simulate a human activity. Bots are normally used to
automate certain tasks, meaning they can run without specific
instructions from humans.

BPO BPO covers a spectrum of activities that involve the outsourcing of Back
Office work to be handled by an Outsource Service Provider (OSP) or a
CSP.

Business Critical Errors Anything from the business perspective that causes the transaction to
be defective, such as:
• Unnecessary cost to the business
• Unnecessary loss of revenue to the business
“Business” could mean “Client” for an OSP or “company” for a CSP or
VMO.
Business Plan A document used by the CSP containing actions to meet the specific
objectives established by (or for) the CSP that identifies the individuals
responsible for meeting the objectives, for taking the actions and the
milestones/target dates that should be met.
Calibration Sessions Meetings during which individuals responsible for the monitoring of
transactions compare scoring results for selected transactions and
discuss the scoring of these transactions to ensure consistency of
scoring. These sessions include quantitative evaluation of the
consistency of the scores via comparison to a gauge or reference at the
attribute level and their correlation with measures of the customer
experiences and scores provided by clients.

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 Capacity Plan This is typically the model used to determine the number of CSSs that
will be required to be employed by the CSP at a future date. The
capacity plan (also referred to as a “staffing plan”) is normally created
well in advance of the period planned for to allow for the length of
time that is required to recruit and train additional staff or create
additional workspace. This is distinct from the schedule which
determines when existing staff will work.
Case Management Case Management is concerned with the management of complex
transactions that require multiple interactions to resolve. Cases will
include Complaint Handling, Warranty Claims, Technical Support, On-
site repair, Return to base repair, Application processing.
COPC Certification Audit A comprehensive review of all Items of the COPC CX Standard to
determine the extent to which an entity has implemented the COPC CX
Standard. It typically requires two to three COPC Registered Auditors
on site for three to five days. The output from this audit is a
certification decision and written report. See the COPC CX Standard
Certification Guide or VMO Certification Process for further details
(separate documents).
Chat A real time electronic interaction between a CSS and customer utilizing
an application on the company’s website.

Chatbot A digital assisted system that conducts a “chat” with a customer using
either pre-programmed potential responses or responses based on a
self-learning autonomous decision algorithm.

Client Clients are the companies that hire OSPs to provide

products and services to their customers.

Client Complaint Any negative comment from a client received in person or by phone,
mail, fax etc. about any aspect of the CSP/OSP/VMO’s products,
services, staff, or CSSs.
Compliance Critical Error An inaccuracy that causes an entire transaction to be deemed defective
because it is against prevailing regulations or laws and could cause
personal or company liability.
Compliant Meeting the detailed, individual Item requirements of the COPC CX
Standard.
Concurrency The measure of the rate at which chat transactions are processed
concurrently

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 Concurrent Sessions Chat transactions being processed simultaneously by a CSS.
Confidence Interval Based on a given set of sample data, a confidence interval gives an
(Precision) estimated range of values that is likely to include an unknown
population parameter (e.g., mean). Confidence intervals are expressed
as a +/- percentage. For example, the results of a customer satisfaction
survey may indicate the average score is 87% with a confidence interval
of +/-3%. This indicates the actual average satisfaction of the
population is between 84% (87%-3%) and 90% (87%+3%).
Contact Channel A method by which a customer contacts a company to resolve an issue
or make a request and/or the company contacts a customer in
response to a previous customer inquiry. Contact channels may include
but are not limited to:
1. Inbound phone, including the IVR
2. Social media
3. Discussion boards
4. Email
5. Chat
6. Digital applications
7. Stores, branches, kiosks, and other physical locations
8. Call-backs
9. Text or SMS (short messaging service)

Contact channels do not include marketing communications.

Content Content is the information either contained in customer-facing systems
(digital assisted channels) or for CSSs to reference when supporting
customers (human assisted channels).
Conversation In the Standard, this refers to the entire interaction between a
customer and a bot/chatbot. The individual interactions that
make up the conversation between the customer and bot are
called messages.

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 Cost Typically focuses on efficiency and the cost per unit incurred by an
entity to provide a product or service. Cost is different from price.
Price represents what an entity might charge for its services or the cost
burden transferred to the parent corporation.
Critical Error An inaccuracy that causes an entire transaction to be deemed
defective. Typically, these are errors that will cause the customer to
contact the CSP/OSP/VMO again or will result in unnecessary expense
for either the customer (Customer Critical Errors) or the CSP, VMO, or
Client (Business Critical Errors) (see also Compliance Accuracy).
CSS (Customer Service/ Staff that processes customer transactions in a customer contact
Support Staff) operation (e.g., calls, emails, web inquiries, fax, mail, etc.), locations,
offices, and field service dispatch. Alternative terminology often used
in the industry includes agents, CSRs, technical service representatives,
collectors, retail staff, technicians, and associates.
CUIKA COPC Inc. acronym used to describe the collection, analysis, and use of
performance data to enable the entity to achieve its service, quality,
cost, and customer experience targets (as appropriate). All
performance data in Category 4.0 Performance must be “CUIKA”. The
elements of CUIKA are contained in Items 1.3, 1.4 and 2.15 of the COPC
CX Standard for Customer Operations.
Customers The end users of an organization’s products or services. Customers
may be consumers, businesses, field organizations, or the retailers,
distributors, and specialists that encompass a distribution channel.
Customer Critical Errors Anything from the customer’s perspective that causes the transaction
to be defective, such as:
• Not solving the query (whether or not this necessitates a
repeat transaction)
• Mistreating the customer
• Failure to communicate clearly
Customer Experience Someone who has successfully completed COPC Best Practices for CX
Performance Leader Operations Training. The person from the entity responsible for
(CXPL) coordinating all activities to reach compliance with the COPC CX
Standard. This person is usually the primary interface between the
entity and COPC Inc.

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 Customer Experience The cumulative impact of multiple touchpoints over the course of a
customer's interaction with an organization.
Customer-Facing Systems Systems with which customers directly interact. These include IVR
systems and websites but also cover any self-service provisions which
the CSP/OSP/VMO provides to the customer. (Examples: IVR call
routing, IVR self-service, digital applications, chatbots).
Customer Service CSPs provide services to customers on behalf of internal Clients who
Provider (CSP) are part of the same organization. CSPs encompass most, if not all,
types of service environments.
Customer Support Digital assisted systems used by CSSs and other staff to support
Systems customers.
Cycle Time The elapsed time for the end-to-end handling of a transaction from the
customer’s point of view. This is used to determine the speed of
answer for deferred transactions.
Defect An error or an undesired result that is different from the planned or
expected outcome.

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 Deferred Transactions Deferred transactions are typified by:

• The customer is not actively engaged during the queue time

• The center determines when to process the transaction
• The cycle time is usually measured in hours or days
• Transactions waiting to be processed are termed backlog

Types of KCRPs which are deferred transactions include:

• Emails
• Web Mails
• Letters and Fax
• Call Backs
• Voice Mail Message Processing
• Internal Escalations (except live transfers)
• Exceptions
• Payment Processing
• Most Back Office Functions
• Processing Orders
• Assembling Product
• Pick, Pack, Ship
• Processing Returns
• Material Receipt & Put away
• Service Dispatch
• Case Management
• Activating Accounts
• Processing Lit Requests
• Processing Do Not Call List
• Processing Client Files
• Activating Accounts
• Processing Letters
• Receiving & Preparing Transactions
Demand A calculation that identifies the expected CSS resources needed, based
(Demand Requirement) on the forecasted transaction volume and AHT (“Unloaded Demand”)
or based on the forecasted transaction volume, AHT and shrinkage
(“Loaded Demand”).
Department Within an entity, a distinct group or segment of the operation most
often defined by the entity’s organization structure. The department
may be comprised of the operation’s service delivery customer contact
component or a support service (e.g., human resources, information
technology).

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 Department Business The annual plan, prepared at the departmental level, which must
Plan contain quantified financial targets (e.g., improving productivity and
efficiency, increasing revenue, reducing costs, or achieving budget) and
non-financial targets for those Category 4.0 Performance metrics that
relate to the statement of direction and annual entity business plan.
Deployment The extent to which approaches are used throughout the organization.
Digital Assisted Channel A method of support in which the service is provided by an electronic
system and a CSS is not involved. Examples include service provided by
digital applications, IVRs and automated teller machines.
Downstream In the Standard, these are the steps and activities that occur
behind the scenes to support upstream events. Also referred to
as backstage.
Efficiency Metrics Units of input (typically labor hours or costs) divided by units of output
(typically number of transactions, time, or revenue). Also referred to
as productivity metrics.
Email Electronic memos and letters sent over an internal or
external network. These can be free-form messages
or information provided by filling in an electronic
form.
Employee Lifecycle The different stages an employee experiences within a specific job and
through the employee’s progression within the organization.
End-to-End Evaluation Analysis of processes from start to finish with start defined as the time
the transaction is delivered to the entity (e.g., day and time an email is
received, day and time a fax is received) and finish defined as the time
the transaction is completed from the customer’s perspective (e.g.,
when the product ships, when an email response is sent to the
customer).
Enterprise The organization within which the CSP is situated.

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 Entity The company, organization, or service operation applying, or seeking
certification to a COPC CX Standard. As an example, any of the
following could be considered an entity for the purposes of certification
to the COPC CX Standard:
• Valu-Write Service Corporation.

• The San Jose Customer Service Center of Valu-Write Service

Corporation.

• The Technical Support Operation of the San Jose Customer

Service Center of Valu-Write Service Corporation.
• The Megasoft PowerNotes Unit of the Technical Support
Operation of the San Jose Customer Service Center of Valu-
Write Service Corporation.
Entity Business Plan The annual plan, prepared at the entity level, which must contain
quantified financial targets (e.g., improving productivity and efficiency,
increasing revenue, reducing costs, or achieving budget) and non-
financial targets for those Category 4.0 Performance metrics that relate
to the statement of direction.
Exceptions Non-compliant transactions (e.g., incomplete applications, checks that
are over or short paid, incomplete orders).
Exemption (or Waiver) Required when the CSP/OSP is not able to demonstrate a competence
in one or more Items.
This may be due to:

• Client policy (e.g., forbidding contact with customers to

conduct customer satisfaction surveys)

• Deficiencies in Client systems or processes

• Conflict with Client contractual or commercial terms (e.g., low

target requirements)

• Client not responding

These are mainly applicable to the COPC CX Standard Customer
Operations.
Exit Rate For Face-to-Face operations, Exit Rate is measured as the delta
between footfall and customers that register for a queue.

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 Failure Failure in the COPC CX Standard is defined as an unsuccessful outcome
that did not achieve the intent of the process (thereby negatively
affecting the customer experience), e.g., not being directed to the right
location by a digital assisted system; not providing the programmed
response; product not functioning as intended.
First Call Resolution The percentage of calls successfully processed during the first call made
by the customer and not resulting in a repeat call on the same issue.
Sometimes referred to as ‘FCR’.
First Contact Resolution The percentage of transactions successfully processed during the first
contact made by the customer and not resulting in a transfer or repeat
contact on the same issue. Sometimes referred to as ‘FCR’.
Forecast Accuracy The quantified difference between a forecasted number (e.g., volume,
AHT, required staff) and the actual results as a percentage of the
forecast.
Forecasting Analysis of historical transaction volume and AHT, arrival patterns, and
shrinkage to determine future patterns and demand requirements.
Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Usually defined by the entity. It requires standardizing full-time and
part-time employees to a full-time equivalent. For example, two part-
time employees who each work half time are typically considered one
FTE.
High-Performing Companies and entities that are generally recognized as having
Organizations achieved high levels of service, quality, revenue, cost, and customer
satisfaction.
Human Assisted Channel A method of support in which the service is provided by a CSS who
helps the customer. This typically includes service provided by phone,
email, chat, social media, or in-location staff.
Incident An incident is a customer issue or problem, and all the associated work
that is involved in handling it until it is resolved.
Indefinite Staff Staff occupying positions with no known end date.
Intelligent Voice There are several interpretations for the acronym IVR: Intelligent Voice
Response/ Interactive Response, Interactive Voice Response, and Voice Response Units (VRU).
Voice Response It is an electronic (e.g., touchtone, voicemail or speech recognition)
(IVR)/Voice Response decision tree used to route a customer to automated information or
Units (VRU) the appropriate queue.

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 Interval A term used in forecasting, staffing, and scheduling to define the
appropriate time interval for creating forecasts and schedules. It
applies to both real time and deferred transactions. Intervals for
inbound phone transactions are usually 15 or 30 minutes. For deferred
transactions such as email, the interval used is normally related to the
target cycle time and is usually measured in hours.
Issue Resolution The percentage of processed transactions in which the customers’
requests were successfully resolved.
Key Business Processes KBPs are those processes that are critical to a VMO’s ability to deliver
(KBPs) high levels of performance to customers and clients for the products
and services it offers.
Key Customer Related Those positions that either perform or directly manage staff
Jobs (KCR Jobs) performing KCRPs (see examples below).

• For customer-contact operations, KCR jobs include phone, e-

mail or web agents, collectors, telemarketers, and mail/fax
processors, as well as the staff who direct, manage, and
evaluate their performance (often referred to in the industry as
leads or supervisors).

• For fulfillment operations, KCR jobs include assemblers, pick-

pack-shippers, and material handlers, as well as the staff who
direct, manage, and evaluate their performance.

• For field service operations, KCR jobs include staff who are
dispatched to the customer site, as well as the staff who direct
manage, and evaluate their performance.

• For stores, branches, etc., KCR jobs include staff who interface
directly with customers (e.g., cashiers, associates, tellers, etc.)
as well as the staff who direct, manage, and evaluate their
performance.

• For the COPC CX Standard versions, KCR jobs include those that
deliver CSS training, update or manage content, perform
transaction monitoring, workforce planning, scheduling and
real time management, those who recruit CSSs, and client
relationship managers.

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 Key Customer Related Those processes that are critical to the CSP/OSP’s ability to deliver high
Processes (KCRP) levels of performance to customers and clients for the products and
services it offers. These processes are identified in Exhibit 1 of the
COPC CX Standard versions.
Key Suppliers Key suppliers are those organizations, external to the entity, that
perform a KSP. These suppliers need not be external to the company;
other parts of the company that are not part of the entity may also be
considered key suppliers. Corporate departments that provide
information systems and telecommunications represent key suppliers.
Key suppliers may also include Clients and Client-designated
companies.
Key Support Processes Key support processes are those processes necessary to enable a
(KSPs) CSP/OSP to perform KCRPs or a VMO to perform KBPs to meet targeted
levels. These almost always include information systems, forecasting,
hiring, and recruiting, training, and telecom (for customer contact
operations). KSPs are identified in Exhibit 2 of the COPC CX Standard.
Knowledge Knowledge is information and skills that are gained through education
or experience.
Lag Time The time between when a forecast is prepared and when the resulting
action will be completed (often called the operational lag time). For
example, if six weeks are required to successfully recruit, train, and
assign new CSSs to handle an expected future transaction volume, then
the forecast must be prepared at least six weeks earlier (i.e., it has a lag
time of six weeks).
Levels The performance required for each metric to meet the requirements of
Category 4.0 and as defined in Exhibits 1,2 and 3. Fifty percent [50%]
of metrics for each Category 4.0 Item must consistently meet or exceed
target ¾ of the time periods.
Licensee Companies that are licensed by COPC Inc. to determine compliance
with the COPC CX Standard and nominate entities for certification to
the COPC CX Standard. They perform audits and reviews using the
COPC CX Standard. Licensees must follow specific guidelines to ensure
the integrity of the COPC CX Standard and the COPC Inc. Certification
Process.

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 Location In the COPC CX Standard, refers to a place where face-to-face
transactions take place, e.g., retail stores, bank branches, customer’s
home, etc.
Major Changes Major changes typically involve the coordination of multiple functions
or departments and take significant time and/or substantial investment
to implement. The appointment of a member of staff as a project
manager is a clear indicator a change is seen by the organization as a
major change.
Messages In the Standard, this means the individual interactions between a
customer and a bot/chatbot that together make up a
conversation of the complete transaction.
Minimum Hiring A list of the criteria that a candidate for a KCR job must fulfill if he or
Requirements she is to be eligible for that role.
The list is typically a set of personal attributes that are a combination of
prior experience, personality, literacy, numeracy, computer familiarity
and ability to be flexible to work the shift pattern required.
The list includes skills required to do the job for which training will not
be offered by the company (e.g., language capability or ability to type).
Minimum Skills and What an employee who occupies a KCR job must know and be able to
Knowledge do before he or she becomes operational in his or her job. These skills
and knowledge must be verifiable and will be dependent upon the job.
NOTE: In common usage, this is often shortened to “Minimum Skills”.
Monitoring See Transaction Monitoring.
Net Promoter Score The difference between the percentage of customers who are
promoters and the percentage of customers who are detractors.
Non-Critical Errors Inaccuracies that do not cause an entire transaction to be deemed
defective. These may include errors in professionalism, soft skills, and
some data input errors.
Objective A specific result that a person or system aims to achieve within a time
frame and with available resources. In general, objectives are more
specific and easier to measure than goals. Objectives are basic tools
that underlie all planning and strategic activities.

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 Occupancy An efficiency metric calculated as:
(transaction handle time) / (transaction handle time + available time)
Occupancy is commonly used to show how effectively CSSs are
scheduled to work to meet the arrival of transactions.
OJT On-the-job training.
Outsource Service Third parties that are contracted by Clients to provide services to
Provider (OSP) customers on their behalf. Like CSPs, OSPs encompass most, if not all,
types of service environments.
On Time The percentage of transactions processed within the targeted cycle
time.
Paid Time Paid working time. This typically refers to the hours for which CSSs are
paid during their workday. (This excludes paid time off and lunch
breaks.)
Performance The organizational structure, procedures, processes, and resources
Management System needed to ensure overall service, quality, revenue, and cost
performance, particularly with regards to consistently meeting
customer requirements.
Performance Metrics Measures used by the entity to track performance, particularly of
KCRPs (CSP/OSP) and KBPs (VMO). Examples and requirements are
presented in Category 4.0 Performance and the exhibits.
Performance Summary A table summarizing the performance of key output metrics used to
Table (PST) calculate the number of metrics consistently meeting target and/or
showing sustained improvement (also referred to as the 50/75 rule)
required by Item 4.6 Achieving Results.
Precision See Confidence Interval.
Previous Performance The average of the previous three data points (or the average of the
Level previous data points if fewer than three data points are available).
Proactive Chat A chat session initiated by the CSP sending an invitation to the
customer.
Process Audits, Audits of KCRPs that follow the process from the first process step
End-to-End through the output of the process. These audits often cross multiple
departments within the CSP, including those outside the entity, as well
as key suppliers.

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 Productive Time Time spent by a CSS processing transactions. For blended agents
handling both real time and deferred transactions, it will include talk
time, hold time, and after call work as well as any time spent handling
deferred transactions such as processing emails or making callbacks.
Productivity An efficiency metric calculated as: (productive time) / (paid time).
Production System Systems that are used by CSP/ OSP staff to carry out a KCRP. Typically,
these include the phone system, CRM systems, knowledgebase, email
handling system or any workflow systems. Production systems are
fundamental to delivering services to customers but are used by the
CSP/ OSP staff rather than the customer.
Program A program is support provided for a specific product or service for a
specific Client. Individual Clients often have multiple programs. These
might be services provided to different divisions or departments within
the Client organization, a similar service provided for different
products, different services provided for the same product, or
individual campaigns. Programs should be defined based primarily
(although not exclusively) on the Client’s and the CSP/OSP/VMO’s
organization structures. The more distinct the organization structure,
the more the entity is likely to have different programs. Thus, an OSP
that uses two different teams for one Client probably has two
programs for that Client.
Quality Doing things accurately on the first attempt (e.g., giving the correct
answer to an inquiry, inputting an order correctly, and shipping the
correct product to the correct address).
Reactive Chat A chat session initiated by the customer.

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 Real Time Transactions Real time transactions are typified by:

• There is a live engagement with the customer, and the

customer is present throughout the queue time.
• The customer determines when to initiate contact, and the
service operation is reacting to this demand.
• The center has a limited time to pick up the transaction before
the customer abandons.
• Backlogs are not experienced as the customer abandons if the
transaction is not answered in reasonable time frame.
Real time transactions include:

• Inbound customer calls

• Web chat
• Escalations (live transfer of phone calls)
• Person to person customer services
COPC® Recertification Entities certified to the COPC CX Standard must be re-certified on an
Audit annual basis. The COPC® Recertification Audit is an abbreviated version
of a COPC Certification Audit. See the COPC CX Standard Certification
Guidelines and the COPC CX Standard Certification Process for VMOs
for more detailed requirements (separate documents).
COPC Registered Auditor An individual who has successfully completed COPC Best Practices for
CX Operations Training, successfully completed COPC Auditor Training,
and has formally demonstrated his/her ability to apply the COPC CX
Standard in the field. Annual testing and skills demonstration are
required to maintain COPC Registered Auditor status.
Request for… (RFX) A term created by COPC Inc. for any requests made by VMOs to
potential OSPs for Information (RFI), Proposal (RFP), or Quote (RFQ).
Request for Proposal A document normally prepared by a VMO and sent to OSPs asking
(RFP) them to present a proposal detailing the methods and price to perform
the services to be outsourced as described in the RFP.

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 Requirement There are two definitions of this term as it is used in the COPC CX
Standard:
1. Any need that the CSP/OSP/VMO has to fulfill (e.g., respond to
emails). Reference is made throughout all the COPC CX Standard to
client and customer requirements.
2. An element of the COPC CX Standard that is a subset of an Item.
For example, 1.1.1 is a requirement in 1.1 Setting Direction.
Resolution Resolution is when the customer’s problem or issue has been
satisfactorily (to the customer) dealt with
Right Party Right Party for Collections is defined as the person who can cure the
debt. For Outbound Right Party is the person to be reached.
Sales/ Revenue Income for the Client (or CSP) generated during a customer transaction
(e.g., making a product sale or collecting past due amounts).
Schedule Adherence There are multiple definitions of schedule adherence. The numerator
and denominator will vary, depending on the definition. For example,
comparing actual and scheduled work by time of day and type of work
(handling transactions, attending meetings, coaching, on break, etc.).
To illustrate this calculation, assume a CSS’s break of 15 minutes is
scheduled to begin at 10:00am, but is actually taken between 10:05 am
and 10:20 am. The calculation of Schedule Adherence is:
[15 (actual break) – 5 (late start) – 5 (late return)] / [15 (scheduled
break)] = 33%.

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 Schedule Attainment Schedule attainment is the percentage of FTEs in the Client-required
staffing plan that are actually available during a time period. This can
be measured in two ways:
1. The percentage of intervals in which the CSP has staffed within
the staffing band that has been agreed with the Client. These
bands could allow a degree of over and understaffing, and the
CSP/OSP does not have to have equal emphasis both above
and below the target to reflect a different emphasis on cost or
customer experience (e.g., 85% of the intervals must be
between 95% and 115% of the requirement).
Or
2. The absolute value of the difference of the number of FTEs in
the Client-required staffing plan and the actual number of FTEs
available.
On a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, this measurement must include
the weighted average (based on the number of Client-required FTE) of
schedule attainment for the relevant 30-minute intervals.
To illustrate this calculation, assume the Client-required staffing plan
calls for 15 FTE to be available from 10:00 am to 10:30 am.
If 14.5 FTE are available during this interval, Schedule Attainment is
calculated as follows:
1- (ABS (Actual FTE - Required FTE) / Required FTE)
Actual FTE = 14.5, Required FTE = 15
1 - (ABS (14.5 - 15) / 15) = 1 - (ABS (-.5) / 15) = 1 - (.5/15) = 1 - .033 =
96.7%
Scheduling Assigning CSS resources (planned ‘roster’) by period to meet the
estimated loaded demand.
See Demand/Demand Requirement.
Scope of Work (SOW) A definition of requirements created by a VMO and an OSP that clearly
describes the work product to be delivered by the OSP.

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 Service There are two definitions of this term as it is used in the COPC CX
Standard:
1. The speed in which things are done from the customer’s
perspective. This might be how long it takes to talk to a live agent
or how long it takes to receive a response to an email.
2. A specific function that the CSP or VMO has to provide (e.g.,
Inbound Customer Service, Technical Support, Collections, etc.).
Service Dispatch Service dispatch is that part of the organization that is responsible for
arranging for technicians to visit customers to provide on-site support
Service Journey The path taken by a customer end to end, interacting with any
combination of company contact channels and resources required to
resolve a customer request or need.
Service Level A measurement expressing the percentage of transactions that are
responded to in a specified timeframe. For example, 80/30 for a call
center means that 80% of the offered calls are or will be answered
within 30 seconds. Service level can be a target or a measurement of
actual performance.
Service Level Agreements Written contracts or agreements with suppliers of products or services.
(SLA) These usually consist of agreed-upon performance levels and targets.
Service Rate Total interactions completed using service functionality divided by the
total number of transactions eligible for the service. The number of
transactions eligible for service are those transactions in which the
customer has had a meaningful interaction with the system in an
attempt to obtain specific information or a resolution.
Service Request A service request is another name for an incident or customer issue.
Session Abandonment Session Abandonment Rate is a measure of the amount of transactions
Rate that abandon after a chat dialogue has been established
Shrinkage (Lost Time) There are multiple definitions of shrinkage. The definition COPC Inc.
finds most useful is the estimated amount of scheduled time that will
not be realized because of absenteeism, sick/late time (and FMLA),
training, coaching, team meetings, etc. that are not included in the
work schedule.

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 Skill-based Routing A software controlled ACD function that routes callers to specific CSSs
based upon predetermined parameters and calling conditions (e.g.,
language capability, call priority, etc.).
Social Media Tools and applications that are created with the intent to allow an
individual to create profiles; to create, develop and share content; and
to communicate and connect with one another.
Social Media Networks Specific sites that are created to facilitate social media activities
including sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest.
Specific Attribute An individual element or component used to break down overall
satisfaction into the elements that create or contribute to satisfaction
(e.g., accuracy, timeliness).
Specification Limit Used where a process is to be managed to a band around target rather
than a single target value. Upper specification limit (USL) will
determine the highest permitted result, and the lower specification
limit (LSL) will determine the lowest permitted result from a process.
Staff Classification Two distinct staff classifications describe positions (as opposed to the
personnel occupying those positions) from the customer perspective.

• Indefinite staff occupy positions with no known end date.

They are employed either by the CSP/OSP/VMO or a staffing or
recruiting firm (in which case they are often called “temps”). A
position that is occupied during the course of a year by four
three-month “temps” is de facto an indefinite position for the
purposes of the COPC CX Standard.

• Temporary staff occupy positions for which there is a known

end date, such as for a holiday rush.
Staff, Contract Full- and part-time staff on the payroll of a staffing/recruiting agency.
Staffing Calculating the estimated number of CSS resources by period
(regardless of who will actually be assigned) that are required to handle
the forecast transaction load (loaded demand).
See Demand/Demand Requirement.

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 Statement of Direction A documented statement of the entity’s overall direction (e.g., vision,
(SOD) mission, or purpose) that clarifies its commitment to clients and
customers. It must address one or more: Customer experience,
service, quality, or cost. Management and employee behavior must be
aligned with the statement of direction.
Statement of Work See Scope of Work above
(SOW)

Supervisor The managerial position within a CSP/OSP to which CSS’s report (also
referred to as first-line management).
Support Staff The personnel responsible for supporting staff in KCR jobs. This usually
includes information systems, information technology, telecom, human
resources, schedulers/forecasters, and management.
Support System Systems which are required to help manage the center. They typically
automate a KSP. Examples include forecasting systems, scheduling
applications, transaction monitoring databases, reporting software,
human resources systems, etc.
Sustained Improvement Three consecutive data points which are above the previous
performance level. The three points do not have to demonstrate
successive improvement (i.e., each point does not have to demonstrate
higher performance than the previous data point, but all three data
points have to be above the previous performance level). Data points
which are better than target will be treated as being above the
previous performance level.
Systems Functionality Operation of the system from a customer perspective and not simply
hardware availability.
Target A quantified level of performance for a requirement (e.g., respond to
95% of emails within 24 hours of receipt).
Temporary Staff Staff occupying positions for which there is a known end date.
Third (3rd) Party A maintenance supplier which is utilized to provide on-site or return to
Maintainer base repair or engineering.
Time on Phone The actual length of time CSSs are talking on the phone with a
customer including hold time (commonly referred to as average talk
time). See Utilization and Occupancy.

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 Transaction Arrival The transaction volume arriving in specific time intervals.
Patterns
Transaction Handle Time The total time spent handling transactions including talk time (inbound
and outbound calls), non-phone time (email, correspondence), and any
after call work.
Transaction Monitoring Reviewing the style, format, professionalism, knowledge, and accuracy
of information as it is provided by CSSs to customers (see 2.7 Managing
Quality). For calls, this is usually performed by remote or side-by-side
observation of actual calls. For emails or correspondence, this is
usually performed by reviewing the CSSs’ written responses to
customer inquiries. For field service operations, this is usually
performed by reviewing work performed by the CSS or accompanying
and observing the CSS. For stores, branches, etc., this is typically
performed through direct observation.
Trends Evaluation of how performance has changed over time.
Unscheduled Time The number of hours CSSs (or a group of CSSs) are scheduled to work
but do not because of unplanned absences - such as illness, tardiness,
and last-minute personal days - in a given timeframe. Example: a CSS is
absent one workday, takes an unplanned personal day and is tardy by
an hour twice during a 21-day month, totaling 18 hours. This
information is used in the absenteeism calculation.
Upstream In the Standard, these are Service events that occur directly in
view of the customer. Also referred to as frontstage.
Uptime The percentage of time systems are available to be used as intended
(computer systems, telephone lines, ACDs and desktop terminals).
Utilization An efficiency metric that represents the time CSSs are engaged in
customer interactions or waiting for an incoming customer interaction
as a percent of the time CSSs are paid (this excludes paid time off and
any non-paid breaks). This is calculated as:
(transaction handle time + available time) / (paid onsite time)
Utilization is commonly used to show how effectively CSSs are being
managed and how much of their time is truly available to handle
customer transactions.

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 Vendor Vendors are those organizations, external to the entity, that perform a
KCRP. These vendors need not be external to the company; other parts
of the company that are not part of the entity may also be considered
vendors if they perform a KCRP for the entity.
Vendor Management VMOs are organizational units or groups of individuals within a
Organization (VMO) company, typically within the Client company, responsible for
managing at least a portion of the company’s customer experience
programs. Typically, VMOs manage OSPs but may also manage CSPs.
Waiver (or Exemption) Required when the OSP is not able to demonstrate a competence in
one or more Items.
This may be due to:

• Client policy (e.g., forbidding contact with customers to

conduct customer satisfaction surveys)

• Deficiencies in Client systems or processes

• Conflict with Client contractual or commercial terms (e.g., low

target requirements)

• Client not responding

They are only applicable to the COPC CX Standard for Contact Centers.
Web Chat On a network, real-time exchange of written communication between
customers and CSSs. Usually used for technical support, product
queries, idea generation or customer satisfaction discussions.
Typically, CSSs chat concurrently with two or more customers.

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