NASA Johnson Space Center Using Inquisite Surveys to Measure Leader, Customer Service Effectiveness

AUSTIN, TEXAS - April 14, 2003- Inquisite today announced that its web survey system is helping NASA's Johnson Space Center collect data about the effectiveness of its leaders and customer service initiatives. Since Inquisite's implementation last March, the center's Human Resource Office reports a 75 percent increase in the number of online surveys it deploys.

Established in 1961 as the Manned Spacecraft Center, the Houston facility was renamed in 1973 after former President Lyndon Johnson. The center serves as the home for the International Space Station Program Office, the Space Shuttle Program Office and the nation's astronaut corps. Its famed Mission Control Center has been the operational hub of every American human space mission since Gemini IV.

One way the center's Human Resource Office uses Inquisite is to conduct online 360-degree personnel assessments. Also called multi-rater, multi-perspective and peer-to-peer feedback, 360-degree reviews solicit performance information from employees' co-workers, subordinates, managers and internal or external customers. Most Fortune 500 companies now use some form of multi-perspective feedback as input to employee performance reviews, and government agencies like NASA also are using the approach to evaluate the performance of their leaders. And, as with major corporations, the U.S. government is turning to the web and security-rich technologies to maintain contact with its large and often widely dispersed workforce.

The space center's Human Resource Office also deploys customer satisfaction surveys on an ongoing basis as part of its continuous improvement efforts. In fact, it has become the center's focal point for survey development for the various directorates interested in measuring the satisfaction of the constituents they serve.

Prior to Inquisite's implementation in early 2002, the Human Resource Office relied on traditional paper surveys. It then moved to an Inquisite competitor's web-based solution, which proved difficult to use when deploying the final product onto the web.

In early 2000, the space center's information technology and human resource staff members began evaluating other web-based survey tools and ultimately selected Inquisite, which has enabled the Human Resources team to create and deploy custom surveys in minutes. Not only has the office been able to deploy 35 unique surveys in 2002, an increase of 75 percent over 2001, but its 12-member staff has become much more customer-centric.

Human resource specialists say the growing popularity of 360-degree performance reviews reflects the fact that companies that thinned their executive ranks during the recession want to do everything possible to have the most cohesive management team in place.

"The world of work is changing so quickly, especially in the area of leadership development. With the competition for top jobs heating up and hierarchies melting down, the focus on performance and career development has become more intense," said Sam Goodner, Inquisite's chief executive officer. "More enterprises are turning to web-based feedback tools because their ease of use and fast turnaround help minimize administrative time, allowing organizations to more keenly focus on the development and retention of their best leaders."

About Inquisite
Inquisite is a leading provider of do-it-yourself web survey technology and services. Inquisite helps the business user collect, analyze and report strategic information across a broad range of organizational disciplines. Inquisite's robust features empower managers to make better decisions, while its ease of use promotes enterprise-wide installation and training, resulting in superior ROI and competitive leverage. Many of the world's leading organizations use Inquisite for their mission-critical B2B, B2C and B2E evaluation and feedback initiatives. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Inquisite's customer base includes industry leaders in the customer satisfaction, education, financial services, healthcare, human resource, government, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and retail sectors. For more information, visit www.inquisite.com.

###

Contacts:

Inquisite Marketing
512.225.6800
marketing@inquisite.com