CAMP ZAMA, Japan – Beginning Dec. 1, some Camp Zama residents will be able to report housing maintenance requests online to help test a new U.S. Army Installation Management Command website.
During this 30-day pilot period, the website will allow residents to enter service requests 24 hours a day, seven days a week, said Larry Allar, acting chief, operations and maintenance division, for U.S. Army Garrison Japan’s Directorate of Public Works.
“Once [residents] register, they can [submit service requests] on their computer at home, they can do it on their computer at work or they can do it on their smartphone,” Allar said. He explained that residents will also be able to upload photos to help the maintenance staff understand the issues being reported.
The process is expected to be more convenient for residents because they will not have to call DPW to submit a request.
Customers will also receive case numbers through the website and not have to wait for a service representative to call back, Allar said.
In addition, the website will allow users to check the status of service issues, submit questions, comments or responses, and automate customer satisfaction surveys through the system.
At Camp Zama, residents of the 900 area of Camp Zama and Building 585, a 78th Signal Battalion barracks, have been selected to help test the website, Allar said.
Allar said he encourages residents participating in the trial program to provide details with their service requests, such as which sink in the residence is clogged, and make sure to provide a residence unit number.
“They have to give us the best description [of the issue] possible,” Allar said.
Allar said he also recommends that people take advantage of the opportunity to attach photos because they will give maintenance team members a better idea of what to expect before they arrive.
According to IMCOM, after the test period is evaluated and the new process is eventually launched worldwide, housing residents will be able to visit the website and provide a personal, .mil or .civ email address; the location, including building number, of the residence; and unit and phone number. Spouses will be able to use the website with a personal email address after the sponsor validates it.
Users will be able to create a “household” in the “account management” section of the website so all members of a residence can see open maintenance requests.
The person who creates the account and establishes a residence will be required to identify a head of household. The head of household may be a member of the military or spouse.
Specific maintenance request categories will exist for common repairs such as plumbing, electrical, HVAC, broken glass and more, but if a dedicated catalog item does not exist for a specific maintenance request, residents will be able to use the general “interior” or “exterior” request item.
A list of all of open maintenance requests will be available at the bottom of the home page of the application for easy reference, according to IMCOM. Users will be able to click the case number to view details about a particular open maintenance request. The site will also feature an “activity” text box to provide comments or inquiries back to DPW. Any comments or questions from DPW clerks will be visible just below the input text box.
Yoshiyuki “Ike” Ikegami, chief of customer service, operations and maintenance division, DPW, said the customer service team at Camp Zama works very hard, and he is excited to see how the new system might improve the overall process.
“[Our team members] always provide first-class customer service,” Ikegami said. “I am always satisfied with their performance.”
To report an emergency service order at Camp Zama, call (DSN) 315-263-4274, (DSN) 315-263-4613, or (COMM) 046-407-4274 or (COMM) 046-407-4613.
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