Sending an assessor into a ministry under a false identity is, in a sense, a form of controlled role-play – an ordinary citizen who happens to be watching everything with a trained eye. That person is an ordinary man who simply needs a service from the ministry, and he moves through many stages tied closely to the target of the assignment, the officials involved, and the departments whose work he has been asked to trace, sometimes at the request of the ministry or company itself.

Arab British Fellowship Training Academy offers this course to train participants on how to manage such an assignment when sent to a ministry as a mystery shopper on behalf of another authority.

Who Should Attend?

• Charges d'affaires of different government ministries.
• Directors of offices evaluating ministry performance.
• Directors of administrative control departments within companies.
• Staff working on developing ministry performance.
• Envoys of the prime minister's office tasked with monitoring ministry performance.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the work mechanisms a mystery shopper follows to achieve the main goal of each ministry visit.
• Know which observations to focus on while working inside the ministry.
• Plan visits – their timing, number, and the different offices that need to be covered.
• Analyse results and form a general evaluation, including the proposed solutions that go into the recommendations section of the final report.
• Build an ideal mystery shopper model according to set criteria, along with the range of objectives such assignments typically target.
• Identify the different means and methods through which mystery shopping can be carried out.

Module 1: Reading the Service Environment

• Assessing the size of waiting rooms and offices, and whether service facilities (cleanliness, air conditioning, and so on) meet an acceptable standard.
• Observing crowding in ministry offices, identifying where it happens and why.
• Understanding how the ministry handles pressure days and its contingency plans for managing overload.

Module 2: Watching How Officials Actually Work

• Confirming officials' commitment to office hours – presence during working hours, and not leaving early or postponing citizens' transactions.
• Assessing how senior officials interact with ordinary citizens, and whether that interaction genuinely helps them finish their business quickly.
• Verifying equal and fair treatment of all citizens regardless of social background.
• Ruling out misuse of power or office – irregular transactions or favouritism toward those offering money or influence.

Module 3: Tracing the Transaction and the Queue

• Investigating the cause of delay when one office is slower than others – equipment shortages versus a procedural issue with the official.
• Following the queue to confirm it moves fairly and quietly, without irregularities or favouritism toward particular visitors.

Module 4: Writing the Findings That Drive Change

• Producing a comprehensive record of how the service or transaction proceeded, including notes on each office and observations behind any drop in service quality.
• Documenting financial irregularities, breaches of working hours or dress code, and queue-management violations.
• Noting missing equipment or resources that delay visitors' work.
• Recording recommendations for solving the ministry's problems based on the mystery shopper's observations.