Using group support systems for program evaluation in a state agency

Many government agencies find themselves under increasing pressure to demonstrate that the services they provide are valued by their citizen clients, and to show that they (the agencies) are continually improving their services and are responsive to client suggestions. These agencies must make their case to increasingly skeptical state legislatures. Client feedback sessions can be one way to meet this challenge, and group support systems (GSS) can be an effective way to manage the feedback sessions. The paper describes the case of the International Marketing Program in the Washington State Department of Agriculture that used a GSS to run a series of client feedback sessions around the state. The session participants and the agency staff evaluated the use of GSS using a questionnaire. The paper describes the case, summarized the questionnaire results, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of GSS use, and presents some lessons learned for future GSS projects