Mission-support services—such as human resources, information technology, financial management, procurement and facilities—provide federal agencies with the tools they need to meet pressing challenges, from ensuring the safety of medicines to assisting those affected by natural disasters. 

But for government to deliver results, mission-support offices must understand and meet the complex and constantly evolving needs of their customers—including federal employees, other federal agencies and external partners. When these offices deliver for their customers, the federal workforce receives the support it needs to fulfill agency missions more effectively. 

This issue-brief demonstrates how mission-support offices have created—and can create—more customer-focused services that better enable government to solve big challenges. By using research techniques such as human-centered design to understand customer perceptions, placing the customer at the center of key operational processes and decisions, and using real-time customer feedback to drive continual improvement, mission-support services can better serve federal employees and their agencies.