BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A Walk-Through Audit captures what actually happens as people interact within and between processes in
an organization. Conducting a walkthrough helps in obtaining a complete understanding of the process
flow of transactions, the perspectives of the different stakeholders about the process, identification of
gaps in perception etc. The audit eventually helps to provides value addition, and improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of the process.
As part of our Operations Management course, we were required to perform a Walk-Through Audit of a
service process (of our choice). This involved selecting a service organization, a service process of the
selected organization, designing and administrating survey questionnaires (to customers and service
providers), processing the questionnaires, and interpreting results. This is the report of the WalkThrough Audit performed by us.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To understand what a Walk-Though Audit is, the process of conducting the audit, using the audit as a
tool for performing GAP analysis and managerial decision making.

INTRODUCTION
In order to meet, the said objectives of the assignment, our group met on several occasions to i) decide
on the organization and the service process, ii) developing the survey questionnaire for the interview, iii)
administrating the questionnaire, iv) tabulating the questionnaire, v) interpreting the results and vi)
preparing the report. Here below is a brief introduction of the tasks performed by us to meet the
objectives of the assignment.
Identified Service Organization
Identified Service
Process:

KIA Motors
Maintenance and Support of KIA Vehicles at
the KIA Workshop

Location:
Date of Survey
Administration:

5th and 6th June, 2011

No of Respondents:

15 Customers, 3 Service Providers (2 staffs

from sales, 1 from service), 2 Managers (1
each from sales and service)

Our Survey Questionnaire was broadly divided into four sections and contained twenty questions in
total. The first section attempted to learn about the vehicle used by the respondent, while the second
attempted to capture the service experience at KIA workshop. Similarly, the third section attempted to
derive the overall level of service satisfaction of servicing KIA vehicles at KIA workshops. The last
section was merely for statistical use. The designed survey questionnaire was fixed format
questionnaires and contained a mix of rating and ranking questionnaires. The questionnaire and the
administered responses are given in Appendix A. Similarly, the tabulation of results is given in Appendix
B.

ANALYSIS OF THE WALK THROUGH AUDIT

As part of our analysis, we tabulated the survey questionnaire first. We noted that all the respondents
had not answered all the questions.

Our analysis of the survey has identified the following areas, where customers desire improvements
Before service has been performed

Helpfulness in listening to their service needs

Asked more questions to clarify their needs

Understood the specific problem(s) with their vehicle

After service has been performed

Explanation of charges for work performed

Customer Oriented Service and Facility Convenience

Convenience of location

Variety of amenities (i.e. beverages, magazines, TV) in customer waiting lounge

Similarly, our analysis has identified the following areas, where staffs and managers desire
improvements
Before service has been performed

Ease of obtaining appointment by customers for service

Courtesy and respect extended to customers by KIA staffs

Understanding the specific problem(s) with customer vehicles

After service has been performed

Fairness of charges for work performed by customers

Process of paying for the service by customers

Customer Oriented Service and Facility Convenience

Convenient days and hours of operation

Convenience of parking in the service department

Cleanliness of service counter/customer waiting lounge

Variety of amenities (i.e. beverages, magazines, TV) in customer waiting lounge)

Maintenance and repair performance

Ability to diagnose problems properly

Thoroughness in fulfilling your requests

Availability of parts for service

RECOMMENDATION

From the Walk-Through Audit performed by us, we have identified some areas where the company can
benefit, if they can improvise, and thus recommend the same. The identified area are:

Appointment System to provide appointments to customers

The expertise of the service staff to ask and clarify questions in order to determine the true
problem in the vehicle

Pricing for the services extended

Location- this seems a wide concern both for customers and staffs