This reference manual was developed in response to a need identified by the American Commission on Organization and Administrative Systems (CAOSA). It was thought that the social insurance agencies of member countries could benefit from studies measuring customers' wants and needs, and the extent to which customers' expectations are being met.

This reference manual presents a practical guide to conducting customer satisfaction surveys, providing suggestions on how to identify an agency's customers, designing a questionnaire to accurately measure customers' beliefs and analyzing survey results. In order to develop this manual, the authors utilized a number of resources, including survey literature provided by the United States' Social Security Administration (SSA) and Canada's Health and Welfare Canada, Income Security Programs.

The purpose of this reference manual is to provide CAOSA's member countries and the member countries of the North American and English-Speaking Caribbean Subregion with a resource that their social insurance agencies can use to support the understanding, development, implementation and maintenance of customer satisfaction surveys. Having an understanding of what the customer expects from a social insurance agency permits the agency to take actions that will make a difference to the customer by providing: Information for strategic planning; and Direction concerning areas of improvement.(AU)