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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS-14-080 - e-Services Strategy Update REPORT TO: Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee rd DATE OF MEETING: June 23, 2014 SUBMITTED BY: Dan Murray, Interim Director of Information Technology, 519-741- 2200 x7825 PREPARED BY: Sandy Nickel, Manager IT Planning and Projects, 519-741-2200 x7037 WARD(S) INVOLVED: All th DATE OF REPORT: June 12, 2014 REPORT NO.: FCS-14-080 SUBJECT: CORPORATE CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGY - E-SERVICES STRATEGY, PINGSTREET & CRM UPDATE ___________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: THAT Council receive the e-Services roadmap as a component of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy Phase 2 and direct staff to proceed with the following priority e-Services actions: Internet website improvements to better promote and improve access to existing e-Services and mirror PingStreet “Report a Problem” categories to our website e- Service offerings Parking systems review to enable parking exemption capabilities and parking complaints e-Services Examine additional e-Services through the existing AMANDA public portal product BACKGROUND: In November 2013, report CSD-13-077 on Phase II of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy th was presented to Council. Council passed a resolution on December 9 directing staff to report back to City Council in 2014 with the following information: A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) acquisition and implementation plan, including detailed costing, that is in-line with the roadmap outlined in CSD-13-077. A multi-year roadmap, including timelines, for the delivery of additional e-services by the municipality. Staff report CSD-13-077 outlined the vision and guiding principles for the subsequent phases of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy as below: Corporate Customer Service Vision: 1 - 1 The following diagram, adapted from the City of Kitchener’s Corporate Technology Strategy, illustrates the seamless approach to customer service and demonstrates the significant body of work required to achieve that vision (e.g. CRM software, Corporate Contact Centre, e-Services, mobile computing, and corporate enterprise applications). Figure 1.0 – A seamless customer service experience Corporate Customer Service Guiding Principles: 1. Channel Availability (ensure services and information are available to citizens through any contact point (phone, walk-in, web, mobile device) 2. Channel Integration (ensure the information is consistent and flows across service channels) 3. Customer Interactions (customers find it easy to interact with the City and access municipal services) 4. Efficiency and Effectiveness (corporate wide approach to customer service performance) Staff will provide a follow-up presentation at the Planning and Strategic Initiatives Committee on rd June 23 to: Present the multi-year e-Services roadmap in support of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy Provide an update on the PingStreet mobile application implementation Provide an update on the CRM acquisition and implementation plan REPORT: Continuing advancements in the City of Kitchener’s Customer Service Strategy have positioned the city as a leader in multi-channel service delivery, increased the city’s online, social media 1 - 2 and mobile service presence and implemented one of only two 24-7 municipal contact centres in the province (excluding centres offering 311). The development and implementation of the E-Service Strategy component of the overall Customer Service Strategy represents another evolution in the effort to create a seamless customer service experience for residents. For the purpose of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy, an e-Service can be defined as any service that is delivered through a digital interface. The most common e-Services are provided through an Internet web site but e-Services continue to evolve and now can include mobile devices, social media and instant messaging/chat service channels. E-Services play a significant role in delivering on vision of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy. That role will continue to grow as more and more customers turn to e-Service channels to find information, request services or register for programs in a convenient, easily accessible service channel. e-Services Consultation Key Findings Consultation initiatives were key to the development of the e-Services strategy. A number of sessions and varying approaches to gathering feedback were employed as follows: Consultation with city staff by division during the CRM requirements gathering sessions as well as follow-up interviews with specific departments. Review of available service volume information. Public engagement and feedback through social media channels and online surveys. Consultation with the Region of Waterloo on their e-Services initiative and sharing feedback received through their outreach efforts. Consultation with members of Communitech for their thoughts and ideas and to explore any potential synergies within the high tech community. Research of e-Services findings by various studies. Examining the approaches taken by other municipalities for e-Services. The following table summarizes the key findings through the research phase that provided direction for establishing the e-Services strategy and roadmap. Theme Interests and Priorities from Consultatione-Service Strategy and Roadmap Connections e-Services user Information and services need to be easy e-Services Strategy general design principles to experience to find and easy to navigate. address the overall ease of locating and using the City’s e-Services. Customers do not want to wade through information that is not relevant to them. A website review is planned for 2014 which They would prefer to have a personalized provides a timely opportunity to review the experience based on their interests and organization, accessibility and consistency of the needs. many existing e-Services available through the City’s website. All e-Services should have a similar look and feel so customers can easily navigate Online self-service e-Services will provide the forms and pages. relevant, personalized information to the end users. Provide clear upfront instructions for the required information they need to have prior to starting an application or request process (e.g. account numbers, address 1 - 3 Theme Interests and Priorities from Consultatione-Service Strategy and Roadmap Connections details) e-Services Some of the identified e-Services suggested PingStreet requested from have been deployed since the consultations Entertainment guides (food, theatre) the public through PingStreet and Open Data. Other Open Data items have existed as an e-Service for some Current road closure maps time which suggests people are unaware of Map of neighbourhoods (including them. As part of the website review, ensure names) visibility and promotion of the existing e- Snow removal updates Services. Bylaw property standards Mayor and Council Information Special events listings Parks Inquiries Utilities Inquiries Expanded online program registration Neighborhood Association programs continue to Sports field booking be added into the Class online registration Pot hole reporting system to expand the programs available. Issue reporting (lights out, suggestions Payment (parking tickets, Leisure ads, dog licenses) Parking inquiries & complaints Snow/Leaves complaints Account Self-Service is being investigated as Tax receipts part of the SAP Tax and Utility billing solution. Personalized service portal e-Service Utilities information opportunities PingStreet delivers election information to the Facility, field & tournament bookings identified by mobile application channel and the website also Park access permits staff provides that information. Election information Parking complaints & exemptions Extend Community Services program Neighborhood Association programs continue to registration be added into the Class online registration Submission of all bylaw complaints system to expand the programs available. Fire permits & prevention services Planning, engineering and building permits Business Licenses The use of the AMANDA public portal is being Business License renewals investigated for Engineering, Planning and Fire Online nomination form for and Business Licensing e-Service opportunities. committees Operations forms and waivers Utilities service requests Account self-service is being investigated as Account Self Service part of the SAP Tax and Utility billing solution. The following factors were considered to establish the importance and priority of initiatives to develop the e-Services roadmap. 1 - 4 Items identified as priorities through both public engagement & consultation with city staff Technical complexity of the implementation of the e-Service Technical readiness of software tools already in-place or readily available Impact of providing e-Service to current business processes and support requirements (change management impact) Ability to leverage existing software investments and enterprise systems Ability to create synergies by aligning with existing planned initiatives (e.g. website review, CIS replacement project, Open Government) Anticipated cost to add e-Service e-Services Strategy and Roadmap The guiding principles for the Corporate Customer Service Strategy call for channel availability, channel integration, easy to access customer interactions, efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. These guiding principles are just as relevant to e-Services as they are for traditional service channels. Applying those guiding principles and the feedback from the public and staff obtained through the consultations efforts, the e-Services design principles listed in the following table should be adopted to provide the best e-Service experience for our end users. e-Service General Description Design Principles Ease of Locating e-E-Services should be easily located from a central index of available Servicesservices. E-Services should be indexed using terms that are relevant to the intended customer and should not require knowledge of the City organization or the specific service process. Although multiple underlying technologies will be used to deliver e- Services, the objective should be to hide the complexities of the systems to the customer and provide the “single window” service experience. e-ServiceNavigation through an e-Service process should be as consistent as Navigationpossible. This can be difficult when various underlying technologies will be used to deliver e-Services but to the extent that it is feasible, attempts should be made to provide consistent navigation. Accessibility E-Services must be AODA compliant to ensure customers of all abilities can easily access services and/or consume the information. ChannelE-Services offerings should follow the same processes and use the same Consistencyforms as traditional service channels where they exist. This is a key area where the CRM will be a substantial enabler for e-Services. Any service process that is mapped into the CRM system can be easily added as a web based e-Service through the product and potentially made available to mobile platforms as well. BrandingE-Services should have consistent service branding. The look and feel for all customer facing services should be consistent and contain the same terminology. Monitoring and In order to facilitate service performance monitoring and reporting, Reportingstandard metrics for service usage and service performance should be collected for all service channels including e-Services. 1 - 5 Current and Proposed e-Service Offerings Appendix A A matrix of e-Services in identifies existing e-Services offered through the web and social media as well as the new PingStreet service channel. It also identifies a number of potential new and enhanced e-Service offerings that can be delivered in the short term (within the next year) as well as longer term initiatives that can be delivered through technology projects that are planned but occur in future years. The proposed e-Services initiatives in the matrix have been divided into several e-Service streams as listed below. These e-Service themes are defined further and specific examples of Appendix B each are provided in . Access to Information Electronic Citizen Engagement Electronic Application Forms Service Requests Registration/Booking & Payment Account Self-Service Electronic Permit Application and Tracking The majority of the specific e-Services outlined in the e-Services matrix will be delivered through five significant related projects. Those projects are as follows: Web Site Review / e-Engagement CRM Acquisition and Implementation Parking Systems Review (Exemptions and Complaints) Amanda Public Portal Expansion SAP Tax and Utility Billing (CIS Replacement) Appendix C The anticipated timelines for these initiatives are included in . PingStreet Mobile Application Implementation Update Council directed staff to acquire and implement the PingStreet application highlighted in the CSD-13-077. PingStreet is a smartphone application that is available on the Blackberry, iPhone and Android platforms that delivers e-Services in both the Access to Information and Service Request e-Service streams. The PingStreet application has been fully implemented and is currently being tested in preparation for its formal launch. The following PingStreet e-Services (known as tiles in PingStreet) were selected based on the priorities identified through citizen and staff input and are the tiles that will be included with the launch of the product. 1 - 6 The “Report a Problem” PingStreet tile has been configured with the following problem types Parking Complaints Report Graffiti Pot Holes Sidewalk Trip Hazards Trail Maintenance Park Litter Upon submission of a problem, a message is displayed that confirms the problem has been received and provides a link to more information on the service to help establish customer expectations for problem resolution times. July 3, 2014 PingStreet will be formally launched on . Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Acquisition and Implementation Plan One of the major components of Phase 2 of the Corporate Customer Service Strategy was to gather the business requirements for a CRM product and assess commercially available CRM products. The results of that assessment were presented to Council on November 18, 2013 at the Planning and Strategic Initiatives committee meeting. Council directed staff to continue to investigate the opportunity to leverage the licensing agreement for the KANA CRM software already purchased by the Region of Waterloo and develop an acquisition and implementation plan with detailed costing. City staff are actively working with Region of Waterloo staff to determine how to best leverage the KANA Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software already purchased by the Region. Once an approach is determined that is both technically and functionally feasible for the City’s requirements, the acquisition and implementation plan will be finalized and presented as part of the 2015 budget process. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN The Corporate Customer Service Strategy – Phase 2 supports the efficient and effective operations of the municipality as identified in the City of Kitchener’s strategic plan. Specific strategic directions supported by the e-Services strategy and roadmap include 1 - 7 Enhance Customer Service: improve the services provided by the city to its customer by using technology to harmonize processes across departments and expand online services. E-Engagement and e-Service are here to stay: continue to strengthen the city’s online presence by increasing opportunities for stakeholders to provide input into municipal decisions and to access the city services online. Good customer service is everyone’s job: continue to build and strengthen a culture of customer service within the corporation that responds to the changing needs and expectations of stakeholders. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS There are no financial implications resulting directly from the recommendations in this report. In order to achieve service channel consistency, most of the e-Service initiatives proposed are linked to an existing enterprise systems program of work or will be delivered through the web self-service component of the CRM system. As such, the financial requirements will be included with the budget for the CRM acquisition and implementation plan. Many of the short-term e-Services priorities can be achieved using existing technologies already in use and will not incur any capital costs. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Consult, Collaborate and Inform. Throughout the e-Services strategy and roadmap development, staff have consulted the public through an online survey and actively solicited feedback through social media channels. Staff also collaborated with other local municipalities to share their experiences and public feedback with regards to e-Services. Staff consulted and collaborated with internal stakeholders to gather their input and discuss service delivery process improvements that e-Services could help them address. Staff also consulted with the local high tech community through Communitech to investigate any potential synergies. A comprehensive external communications plan has been developed which focuses on the public launch and promotion of the Ping Street application as well as the cross-promotion of the new 2345 ‘one call’ phone number and the new 24-7 contact centre hours. The plan includes public outreach via media, online, social media, print, radio and other methods as well as an internal staff awareness component. This report informs Council and the public about the results of the consultation efforts and the next steps toward enhancing e-Services at the City of Kitchener. Community engagement efforts to consult, collaborate or inform will continue as initiatives in the e-Services strategy and roadmap are carried out. APPENDICES: A. e-Services Matrix B. e-Services Streams and Examples C. e-Services Supporting Projects Roadmap ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO – FCS 1 - 8 Appendix A 1 - 9 1 - 10 Appendix B Appendix B – e-Services Streams and Examples Access to Information: The ability to provide key information to customers has been greatly enhanced through technology through the Internet. The City’s primary e-Service is the corporate website which contains a wealth of information on the various services that the City provides to residents. Online information can range from static information to interactive, context-aware information delivery based on the customer’s choices to video streaming. The City has implemented a number of technologies to further information availability to citizens and businesses that interact with the City such as: Laserfiche WebLink, Council meeting web-streaming, OnPoint interactive mapping, BizPaL business license information and more recently the Open Data portal. Electronic Citizen Engagement: The City is already a recognized leader in the leveraging of social media platforms to communicate and interact with the public. The use of Facebook and Twitter allows the City to monitor public opinion on various topics of interest as well as actively solicit feedback from people as was done for the development of the e-Services strategy. As part of the Open Government workplan approved by Council in January, investigations are underway to increase the level of citizen engagement through online and other electronic means. Electronic Application Forms: The use of forms to collect information for applications or registrations has been a long standing practice of government. The City has made a number of forms available online in various formats. Form functionality in an e-Service can include documents that must be printed and filled out; PDF documents that can be downloaded, completed and submitted online; to web based forms that the end-user completes in a web browser and submits. The City currently uses all of these methods in various implementations. A more standardized approach should be adopted for online form usage for City of Kitchener forms. Service Requests / Report Problems: The ability for citizens to request services that are specific to them (or their properties) or submit information that will trigger city staff to investigate and resolve issues. The new PingStreet mobile application includes a tile that will enable citizens to report parking complaints, graffiti, pot holes, sidewalk trip hazards, trail maintenance and park litter. The website currently uses forms to request service in various formats. The goal of e-Services is to extend the services being offered and implement consistency. Registration / Booking and Payment: These e-Services offer the capabilities for citizens to register for such things as recreation programs, golf tee-times, purchase surplus goods and pay parking tickets. Citizens can book and pay for the services they want to sign up for. The use of Class for program registration continues to be extended as Neighborhood Association programs are being added to the online offerings. Account Self-Service: This stream of e-Service allows customers to register their account information and then access their account information and status online. The City is investigating the use of online account self-service with the implementation of the SAP Tax and Utility Billing project. This type of online self- service could allow citizens to track their gas/water usage over time and see their current taxes owing. Electronic Permit Application and Tracking: Permits are required for citizens or contractors to perform some activities within the boundaries of city codes and bylaws. Building permits can currently be requested online. E-Services would extend the number and types of permits citizens can apply for online and will offer the ability for the requestor to submit documents through a guided application process and then track their application as it is processed through the system. A recent addition to the electronic permit application and tracking e-Service stream is the easyConsent application which was designed and developed by city staff in collaboration with e-Solutions. The product allows service providers to apply for, pay for, and track municipal consent applications for tasks such as road cuts. 1 - 11 Appendix C 1 - 12