Survey - 2

In the previous article, Märpel presented the results of the staff survey. One of the concerns of the staff is that with production increases, quality has decreased.

Apparently, our internal quality control (DQA) also noticed. Compliance decreased from 85% to 75% last year. Märpel is not so good at maths, but understands that a quarter of the searches and granted patents do not respect the EPC. Märpel is also not so sure, but believes that this figure puts the EPO behind all other major patent offices.

Management also noticed. They had to.

Common sense would have that management would lower production pressure, maybe set time aside for retraining, etc… This is pretty standard. But not, Stephen Rowan, Vice-President DG1 had a better idea: Collaborative Quality Improvements (CQI). In his own words:

Examiners in the pilot have been asked to initiate consultations within the Division for at least the following:

- One search report and written opinion per examiner per month

- One communication per examiner per month

- All files where the first examiner would envisage to summon to oral proceedings

- All final actions (both grants and refusals).

For each consultation, the first examiner fills out a logbook for recording the most relevant information such as

- stage of the procedure

- duration of the consultation

- topics discussed

- role of the colleague(s) consulted (e.g. chairperson, formality officers)

- insights gained

The first examiner also indicates which improvements were identified and to what extent the consultation was considered useful, as well as if it is likely that the consultation would have taken place if they were not involved in the pilot. For future training planning and other Quality Initiatives, every time a quality improvement is identified the type of improvement is indicated in a detailed list of improvements provided in a catalogue.

All team managers of the pilot organize regular team meetings dedicated to quality only. Outcomes of the meeting are recorded in a separate logbook.

In summary, Examiners are supposed to spend more time discussing the files together. They are also supposed to write everything down in a logbook.

There is nothing really wrong with that, except that it is not really related to compliance with the EPC and that the whole exercise costs time. But what time budget do the examiners get? Exactly zero. What was Vice-President Stephen Rowan thinking?