US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs Office of Pesticide Programs Microbiology Laboratory Environmental Science Center, Ft. Meade, MD Standard Operating Procedure for Receiving and Assessing Customer Feedback SOP Number: ADM-06-03 Date Revised 06-20-17 ------- SOP No. ADM-06-03 Date Revised: 06-20-17 Page 1 of 5 SOP Number ADM-06-03 Title Receiving and Assessing Customer Feedback Scope The SOP describes policy and procedures for handling and documenting customer feedback. Application The laboratory seeks and receives feedback from customers to improve the management system, quality and timeliness of deliverables, testing activities and overall customer service based on ISO-17025 (sections 4.7 and 4.8). Approval Date SOP Developer: Print Name: SOP Reviewer Print Name: Quality Assurance Unit Print Name: Branch Chief Print Name: Date SOP issued: Controlled copy number: Date SOP withdrawn: ------- SOP No. ADM-06-03 Date Revised: 06-20-17 Page 2 of 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page Number 1. DEFINITIONS 3 2. HEALTH AND SAFETY 3 3. PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAINING 3 4. INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION 3 5. SAMPLE HANDLING AND STORAGE 3 6. QUALITY CONTROL 3 7. INTERFERENCES 3 8. NON-CONFORMING DATA 3 9. DATA MANAGEMENT 3 10. CAUTIONS 3 11. SPECIAL APPARATUS AND MATERIALS 3 12. PROCEDURE AND ANALYSIS 3 13. DATA ANALYSIS/CALCULATIONS 5 14. FORMS AND DATA SHEETS 5 15. REFERENCES 5 ------- SOP No. ADM-06-03 Date Revised: 06-20-17 Page 3 of 5 1. Definitions Customer feedback = information coming directly from the laboratory customers about the satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product or service. 2. Health and Safety Not applicable. 3. Personnel Qualifications and Training Refer to SOP ADM-04, OPP Microbiology Laboratory Training. 4. Instrument Calibration Not applicable. 5. Sample Handling and Storage Not applicable. 6. Quality Control To improve quality of deliverables by MLB, feedback is reviewed and appropriate changes are made and documentation maintained. 7. Interferences Incomplete documentation can impede the review process. 8. Non- conforming Data Management of non-conforming data; procedures will be consistent with SOP ADM-07, Non-Conformance Reports. 9. Data Management Customer feedback documentation is maintained and archived consistent with SOP ADM-03, Records and Archives. 10. Cautions Ensure that feedback has been addressed appropriately and a satisfactory acknowledgement is received from the customer. 11. Special Apparatus and Materials None 12. Procedure and Analysis 1. MLB generates information which is shared internally or externally including reports of antimicrobial performance for a product submitted to the lab for analysis, research reports for issues under investigation, guidance documents, standard operating procedures, presentations, publications, testing guidance, standard methods (e.g. ASTM/AOAC), Section 18 reviews, technical reviews under PRIA, and responses to investigations. 2. Clientele includes stakeholders, internal peer reviewers and other federal agencies. 3. Feedback on the MLB deliverables is received typically in written form such as comments submitted though the public docket process, letters ------- SOP No. ADM-06-03 Date Revised: 06-20-17 Page 4 of 5 from industry, emails and inquiries from constituents, Inspector General (IG) and General Accounting Office (GAO) reports, etc. 4. The feedback may be obtained actively (e.g. through requests for review, suggestion box) or passively (e. g., through external audits) by MLB. 12.1 Processing and documenting feedback a. Feedback forms are used for items which are reoccurring, standard MLB deliverables, e.g., product performance reports submitted to the Antimicrobials Division and technical reviews. Questions should be directive in order to inform MLB of any issues, in particular, timeliness, clarity, and non-conforming data (see section 14). b. Review the feedback forms within one week of receipt to determine if there are any issues which require a corrective action, re- submission of the corrected deliverable, or recall of the data. c. Evaluate public comments, letters, and emails from internal and external customers to determine if the documents contain feedback information. Inform the Branch Chief and Quality Assurance Unit of all feedback received from the customers. d. The Branch Chief, Quality Assurance Unit, and the recipient or assigned reviewer meet to discuss the feedback and any resulting action that is recommended. The Branch Chief will determine if the information provided requires a corrective action or a formal response. e. If necessary, the data and records related to the study or the issue in question are pulled from the file and reviewed. If specific information is provided in the feedback form, it is compared to the file. f. The source of the feedback may be contacted if further explanation or details of the issue are required. g. If the feedback is a non-conformance, it will be handled as a corrective action. The Branch Chief will be notified and a corrective action report will be initiated using the Corrective Action/Preventive Action Report Form (see SOP ADM-08). h. Tabulate the feedback in the Customer Feedback spreadsheet filed on the G drive under Master List (see section 14), including the name of the person, affiliated organization, date feedback was received, the nature of the feedback, whether a response was necessary and if so, the date and nature of the response. i. MLB also solicits feedback from the employees in the form of a suggestion box. Issues that are brought to the attention of the ------- SOP No. ADM-06-03 Date Revised: 06-20-17 Page 5 of 5 management via the suggestion box are discussed at Branch meetings. j. Customer feedback from external sources is also shared and discussed with team members during internal MLB meetings. 12.2 Maintaining Feedback Files a. File the documentation pertaining to feedback in the Customer Service file and maintain for a period of five years, or consistent with the record retention schedule for the records in question, whichever is longer. 13. Data Analysis/ Calculations All feedback and associated responses must be tracked in a list/spreadsheet and should be updated regularly. 14. Forms and Data Sheets Test Sheets: Test sheets are stored separately from the SOP under the following file names: Customer Feedback Tracking G drive/MLB Master List Customer Feedback Form ADM-06-03 F1.docx 15. References 1. International standard ISO/IEC 17025, second edition 2005-05-15: General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. ------- |