Friends/Partners of Aviation Weather – Review of NOAA Aviation Weather Program

1. Friends/Partners of Aviation Weather – Review of NOAA Aviation Weather Program Mark Andrews NOAA Aviation Weather Program Manager October 8th, 2003

2. NOAA’s Aviation Weather programpartnering towards improved aviation services • Conversion from Office of Meteorology to Office of Services • Assessment and analysis of services • Operations based verification (System impact/dollars) • Customer satisfaction survey results • Product accuracy improvements would improve satisfaction most • Format changes least!

3. Review of the American Customer Satisfaction Index • A uniform, cross-industry quarterly index of private sector customer satisfaction that was adopted in 1999 as the “gold standard” measure for Federal government agencies. • Relates expectations and evaluations of quality to customer satisfaction. • Internationally-accepted measure of customer satisfaction used in over 20 countries. • Database contains information from over 300,000 customer interviews. • Produced by a partnership between the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School, the American Society for Quality and the CFI Group.

4. 77 * 77 * 79 * NWS Aviation Aggregate Segment Aircraft Dispatchers Aircraft Pilots NWS Aviation Segment Overall Results • The Customer Satisfaction Index score for NWS Aviation customers is… • This score is seven points higher than the 2002 American Customer Satisfaction Index for the Federal Government overall (70). • The Customer Satisfaction Index scores for the individual NWS Aviation segments are… * Data for the National Weather Service is calculated at the 95% confidence level (+/-1.6 for aggregate sample; +/-1.8 for pilots; +/-3.4 for dispatchers).

5. Customer Satisfaction Model Aircraft pilots and dispatchers who use NWS aviation weather information, products, and services Score: The weighted average of the set of attributes comprising a component or activity. Impact: The predicted increase given a 5-point increase in a component or activity score. Product Delivery 0.0 0.0 6% Complaints Information Utility 0.7 Product Format Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) 0.6 1.3 Likelihood to Take Action Value 0.0 Accuracy 3.4 Confidence 78 85 84 80 85 73 77 89 88 1.3 Customer Support 2.2 INPUTS ACSI OUTCOMES Sample Size: 250 Note: Scores for individual questions, or attributes, appear in the charts on the following pages.

6. Detailed Results Summary • Customer Support is the highest-rated component, at 89. Customer Service also has the highest impact on the Customer Satisfaction Index (2.2). A score increase in this area would most likely be difficult given the already high score, but the NWS should maintain its current high levels of service. • At 73, Accuracy is the lowest scoring among the drivers of satisfaction. Accuracy also has the second highest impact (1.3). This component shows the most room for improvement, especially with regards to “Accurately predicting the times of future weather events” and “Consistently providing accurate forecasts.” • Value is one of the lower scoring components at 78. However, due to the low impact, making changes in this area would have little effect on overall satisfaction. • Product Format is a fairly high scoring, high impact area (80, 0.6). While customers appear to be satisfied with how weather information is presented, there are still possibilities for increasing customers’ perceptions in this area.

7. NOAA’s Aviation Weather Program • FY03-10 Aviation initiative ($2.5M FY03) • Data • Aircraft sensed atmospheric data • Product Delivery • Human in the loop progress • GFA Status • TAF accuracy/# of stations supported • Airport Specific TAF Amendment Criteria (Alaska) • Additional model guidance (Eta) • Qualified Internet Communication Provider • Training • National Aviation Workshop • Assumes no additional forecasters