BATTLE CREEK, Mich. –
For most federal agencies, October 1 marks the beginning of a new fiscal year. However, for Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services, this also marks the 5-year anniversary of Digital DSR’s launch on October 1, 2016.
Digital DSR is DLA Disposition Services’ focal point for online customer interaction and training. Disposal Service Representatives (DSRs) are typically the most visible physical presence for customers and are often their first line of contact for property disposal. DSR interaction generally includes customer training, answering specific disposal questions, or delivering relevant forms and documentation.
Five years ago, Digital DSR was developed to augment interactions that traditional DSRs provide and adapt them into an online platform for standardized customer assistance. Previously, most customer instruction and guidance were unique to a specific property disposal location. Often, different sites would provide different instructions or information that occasionally contradicted each other.
Digital DSR removed the need for each site to manage its own training materials and provided field personnel with an avenue to direct their customers towards standardized user-guided assistance.
Since the initial launch, Digital DSR has garnered an impressive amount of attention. Peter Gentry, program manager for the Digital DSR, has tracked customer engagement for the tool since its inception.
“The first two years we had very solid, impressive growth - especially for a brand-new application. However, it wasn’t until we released a redesign in 2018 that true growth happened,” Gentry said. “The customer traffic we received on the DDSR more than quadrupled in less than three years.”
The 2018 update completely overhauled the look and feel of the tool and added a significant amount of new content for customers. A mobile-friendly design was added, enabling users to view pages seamlessly on their phones or tablets in addition to their desktops.
Since the redesign, the DDSR has received more than one million page views each year. For comparison, the Digital DSR has received more visitors and pageviews per year than most other DLA major sub-commands receive for their entire web content.
Over the past several years, DLA Disposition Services has updated its service model and realigned its physical presence to be more in tune with its customer base. This has included moving personnel and services to different locations to better facilitate customer requirements. In some instances, customers are now farther away from a physical DSR, which has made face-to-face engagements less frequent.
For the recent Field Office Realignment initiative that reduced the overall number of physical offices, the Digital DSR has been a crucial instrument in customer engagement efforts. It provides customer access to relevant disposal information regardless of their proximity to a traditional DSR.
“DSRs can let do the Digital DSR do the heavy lifting by providing most of what customers need and follow up with them later to see if any additional guidance is required,” Gentry said. “It effectively expands the impact a typical DSR can have by extending their reach and reducing the time spent with each customer.”
Development and updates to the Digital DSR are routine and ongoing. Future planned upgrades seek to include additional examples of property that require special handling and an improved user interface.
Comments or suggestions for the Digital DSR are highly encouraged and can be submitted at DLADispositionServicesWebContent@DLA.MIL.