SUPPORTS ITEM NO. 3
P&E COMMITTEE AGENDA
OCTOBER 10, 1996
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: September 24, 1996
Dept. File No.: CW
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: City Manager, on behalf of the Corporate Management
Team
and the Intranet Steering Committee
SUBJECT: Intranet - QUICKFIND
RECOMMENDATION
A. THAT Council approve the Intranet-QUICKFIND project at
an estimated cost of $376,500, in advance of approval
of the 1997 Operating Budget, with interim financing
from Revenue Surplus.
B. THAT Council approve an addition of $25,000 to the
annual operating budget of the Information Technology
Department to fund the on-going technical maintenance
cost of the Intranet-QUICKFIND project, starting 1997,
without offset.
C. THAT Council approve an addition of $23,000 to the
annual operating budget of the City Clerk s Office to
fund the information coordination cost of the Intranet
- QUICKFIND project, starting 1997, without offset.
COUNCIL POLICY
On June 19, 1990, Council established 'information' as one of the
City's corporate priorities.
On December 8, 1994, Council approved the following
recommendation regarding an information plan for the City:
That Council authorize the City Administration to
proceed with implementation of the strategy outlined
in the Information Systems Plan, as well as Internet
connections and on-line systems, subject to follow-up
reports on those components of implementation which
require Council's approval.
The Information Systems Plan, referred to above, included the
following specifics in describing its "vision":
* Information is a readily available resource to help workers
provide one stop service to customers wherever possible.
Both internal and external sources of information are
available throughout the City.
* The public has easy access to ...information...by working
with a knowledgeable City employee who has access to most of
the information required by the public.
City Council, on July 23, 1996, approved the Long Term Financing
Strategy - Information Technology Replacement Program report,
which provides a sustaining source of funds for information
technology implementation and renewal; with follow-up reports on
components of implementation which require Council approval.
SUMMARY
This report describes the proposed Intranet - QUICKFIND project.
QUICKFIND will reduce the bureaucratic "runaround" by providing
accurate, complete and current answers to many of the simple
questions asked by the public - who, what, when, and where. The
public will be able to access this information through the City's
website on the Internet or through staff. QUICKFIND will include
a telephone directory, "Frequently Asked Questions" and
information on current issues, events and regulations. The
project has been developed with significant input from front line
receptionist staff who are the face and voice of the City for
many of our customers. With QUICKFIND, these - and other - staff
will have most of the information customers need at their
fingertips and will be able to answer questions and refer
customers quickly and with accuracy and confidence. A proposed
Technical Project Manager, on a short term contract, will
develop the business and technical requirements for QUICKFIND and
will research and implement required technical solutions. The
cost of the project also includes the acquisition of computers
for those front line staff who do not yet have the hardware
capable of running the system.
BACKGROUND
For many years, lack of rapid access to the City's own
information about services has been a major irritant to customers
and staff. This deficiency, from the viewpoint of many citizens,
finds its expression in an all-too-familiar litany: "The
runaround at City Hall". The symptoms are also all-too-familiar:
outdated information, absence of information, information from
varying databases and of varying authenticity, information held
at some levels of the organization and not in others, information
finally found on the sixth telephone call.
In the fall of 1995, a group of staff interested in the issue
from a customer service perspective came together to discuss
possible solutions, with a specific focus on the information
needs of the front line staff who are the first point of contact
for many of the City's customers. In February of 1996, the group
made a proposal to the Corporate Management Team "to improve
service to our customers by providing front line staff with an
efficient, effective and up-to-date on-line information system".
The following recommendations were made and approved by the CMT:
1. That front line (receptionist) staff be identified
corporately as the first priority recipients of this system
and of the computer equipment required to operate it.
2. That the group making the proposal (referred to as the
Intranet Steering Committee) be requested to develop a
corporate approach to funding the system.
3. That this project be identified as a Better City Government
initiative.
Since that time, the Steering Committee, with representation from
the City Clerk s, the Community Services Group, Human Resources,
Fire and Rescue Services and Information Technology has been
working to identify front line staff, to identify the content and
format requirements of a system that will serve City residents
and staff alike and to identify hardware needs and requirements
for implementation.
The proposed on-line information system - now called QUICKFIND -
will become an application of the City's Internet initiative.
QUICKFIND will be available to the public via the City's Internet
website and to staff on the internal "Intranet".
Internet communications technology has emerged as a world
standard. Organizations are using the technology to communicate
with both customers and their own staff. In Vancouver, this
technology, for example, is being used to support the
Neighbourhood Integrated Service Team initiative by facilitating
inter-departmental, inter-agency and community communication.
Development work to create QUICKFIND will give the City the
necessary expertise in creating other applications that will
allow customers a range of faster, more efficient and convenient
transactions with the City.
Progress on the development of QUICKFIND and recommendations for
implementation are the subject of this report.
DISCUSSION
Customer Service, Information and Front Line Staff
City staff - like everyone else - want to do the best job they
can. For our front line staff, doing a good job means providing
the best service they can to the customers of the City, whether
these customers need inspections or permits, want to book a
recreation program or discuss a parking ticket; need copies of
documents such as brochures and bulletins; require directions to
City facilities or a fast referral to the appropriate service, or
have any general enquiries.
QUICKFIND will allow customers with Internet access themselves to
draw directly on many of these information resources. The
Internet-using customer is not yet, however, typical. More
typical is the telephone or in-person enquiry that comes to a
front line employee.
In many instances, front line staff are dealing with these
customer enquiries without good, accessible information. With few
exceptions, front line staff attempt to extract the information
customers need from sticky notes attached to their desks or
walls, rolodexes, binders (often in someone else's office), an
out-of-date telephone directory, additional departmental or work
area telephone lists (which normally are not shared with other
departments), colleagues and of course, experience. Many of our
receptionists have dumb terminals with limited capabilities -
rather than PCs - and in a few cases, no computer at all.
In contrast to our current reality, consider the following
excerpt from the U.S. Government's National Performance Review
Group's compilation of best practices for customer calling.
Speaking in the voice of the "Customer Representative":
All of my procedure and reference material is on-line,
in a user friendly format. I do not have to remember
hundreds of codes. I do not have to refer to paper
manuals. The system alerts me to new procedures and
other information I need to have to serve the
callers....I can do everything I need to serve the
customer from my computer..."
The Intranet Steering Committee and more than fifty front line
staff have crafted this vision: to develop, support and deliver
the best information system possible for our customers.
The Intranet
Many people have now seen or used the Internet's simple "point
and click" technology to access worldwide information. In
simple terms, the Intranet is the term being used for the
implementation of Internet technologies within an organization.
An Intranet can deliver the immense informational resources of an
organization to each person's desk top computer - and from there
to the customer - with minimal cost, time and effort. It can
also help an organization achieve the following:
- much improved customer service as a result of the ability to
quickly access correct, current and complete information
- improved productivity through quicker access to information
resources
- better control of redundant or out-dated information
- assurance that the staff who require information have access
to it
- a means of unifying the many departments and locations of
the organization
- reduction in the cost of office supplies, printing and
copying and in staff time required to print,copy and
distribute information, thereby freeing staff up to do more
"value added" work
- reduction in the amount of file and shelf space required
Vancouver now has one of the best developed municipal Internet
websites in North America. And the user interface for the
Intranet system is the same as the one used by the public
visiting the City's Internet website. This is what allows for
the seamless sharing of information internally and with the
public. Staff see a Staff Home Page, which includes all of the
City Internet website information. In addition, it includes - or
is scheduled to include - a range of internal information such as
policy and style manuals that would be of no interest to the
public or that needs to be kept secure for reasons of privacy.
Development Process
The Steering Committee believes that the users of the system
should be involved in its design and development. Accordingly,
much of the work we have done thus far has, in one way or
another, included the front line staff who will be the initial
users of the system. It should be noted, however, that while we
are beginning with the information needs of the customers of
front line staff, any staff or Councillor with a PC, connected to
a LAN will have access to the system. Again, the information will
also be available to Internet users from homes and businesses and
through the Internet access terminals in the Library and in
other City locations.
Since meeting with the CMT earlier this year, the Steering
Committee has worked with front line staff to identify customer
information needs and develop content and format guidelines for
an on-line information system. It has also identified computer
hardware/software and other technical requirements.
QUICKFIND
What will QUICKFIND look like and how will it work? During our
focus group sessions with front line staff, we discovered that
the type of information customers require did not vary much from
department to department, so the message we received was very
clear and consistent. Staff said that they needed a fast,
user-friendly, key-word based and accurate system that would
enable them to answer the questions they could and accurately
refer the questions they could not answer. They identified four
categories of information for which customers have the greatest
need:
1. An expanded telephone directory which, in addition to the
basic information, would include E-Mail addresses, FAX
numbers, cell phone numbers (if appropriate), days off,
scheduled vacation, name of back-up, hours of work and so
on.
2. A mega- "Frequently Asked Questions" which would include -
by key word - ultimately all of the topics on which
information is requested, from "ALARMS- False" through
"GARBAGE -abandoned" to "ZONING". For each topic listed, a
user would find out the department/work group which deals
with the issue, a correct telephone number and, if
appropriate, a short explanation.
3. Current Issues and Events, which would include media
releases, advertisements, information about important
meetings, task forces, time limited or seasonal information
such as water sprinkling regulations. These kinds of
issues/events are the subject of many customer calls and at
this point we do not have a reliable system of provided this
key information to front line staff. Not only are customers
frustrated when they can't get this type of information when
they first call, but our staff are upset because they appear
unknowledgeable.
4. Customized "home pages" that would provide the detailed
information that an individual or work group might use all
the time, similar to a personal reference binder.
A user would be able to enter the telephone directory/frequently
asked questions part of the system by any one of four means:
telephone number; work group/department; key word or name. There
would also be a direct link to a key word index. So, with one or
two clicks of the mouse, a user could access information about
people, telephone numbers, departments and services. All key
words would be cross-referenced to allow for variations in
people's thinking - an example would be the inclusion of trash
and rubbish as fairly common synonyms for garbage. And the
system will be integrated, so that a change in one piece of the
information would effect the same change wherever that
information is mentioned in the system.
The next steps for the project will include hiring a Technical
Project Manager; up-dating staff on the project's progress and
requesting further input; identifying the best possible
technological solution; tendering; organizing data
gathering/input throughout the corporation at the same time as
laying the groundwork/getting commitment for up-dating (this will
require a significant amount of time of the project manager and
of front line staff in all areas of the City); transferring data
to the data base, then piloting; buying and distributing hardware - 2 -
and developing and implementing training.
The estimated time of completion is May, 1997.
PERSONNEL IMPLICATIONS
The Community Services Group will continue to provide overall
project management and the Steering Committee will continue as
the decision making group. However, we will require the services
of a Technical Project Manager on a 3-6 month contract. We
believe that the development of QUICKFIND is sufficiently
important to do quickly and given the current resources of
Information Technology, hiring this person is critical for the
work to proceed. The Technical Project Manager will be
responsible for: documenting and developing the business and
technical requirements for QUICKFIND; researching and making
recommendations on the options available to us regarding
technical solutions. [The three possibilities we foresee at this
point are: developing the technology ourselves; retaining a
consultant to develop the technology (or modify already-developed
technology); and buying the "best fit" off-the-shelf solution];
tendering; and technology implementation management.
This system will only be as good as the information in it and the
quality of its maintenance. Our vision is to distribute the
"ownership" of information - and therefore the responsibility for
up-dating - throughout the organization. Since the first round
of information will be identified by front line staff, they will
need the time - and the support of supervisors and managers to
take that time - to identify the information, take on additional
research where necessary and enter the information into the
system. This data gathering and entry should be complete by
early in the new year.
This is a corporate system used by City Departments. To assist
and coordinate the many people required to take on responsibility
of updating the system, we are requesting a .5 FTE in the City
Clerk s Office. This assistance will be required at least for a
couple of years, until maintenance of the system becomes an
integral and accepted part of work performed by front line staff.
This function would reside in the Clerk's proposed "Information
Group" which has resulted from that department's Customer Service
Process Improvement Project. The cost of an additional .5 FTE is
estimated at $23,000.
The responsibility for on-going technical maintenance of the
system will be assumed by the IT Department, and an additional
0.25 FTE of a staff position for application support, at an
estimated cost of $15,000 is required. The system will also
require on-going hardware maintenance and operational support (.1
FTE) at a cost of $10,000.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
The QUICKFIND system will be operated from approximately 96
workstations in selected work sites in all City Departments,
except the Vancouver Public Library. Cost for the system is
estimated as follows:
A. Capital Cost
Workstations:
33 - require no modification or upgrade $0
24 - existing workstations requiring network hookups
@$300 each 7,200
8 - new workstations with existing network hookups
@$5,000 each 40,000
31 - new workstations requiring network hookups
@5,300 each 164,300
96 211,500
System Hardware and Software, including server 85,000
Project Management Costs (Outside Consultant/Staff) 60,000
Contingency 20,000
$ 376,500
B. On-Going Operating Costs
System Hardware Maintenance $ 5,000
Operational Support (0.1 FTE) 5,000
Information Coordination and support (.5 FTE) 23,000
Application Support (0.25 FTE) 15,000
$ 48,000
The QUICKFIND project is the first project presented to Council
for approval as part of the long- term information technology
renewal program to support the Better City Government
initiatives. It is being presented at this time, in advance of
the approval of the 1997 Operating Budget, in order to have the
system in place by May 1997, which would provide a significant
improvement in service level at the front counters throughout the
City. Therefore, it is recommended:
THAT the QUICKFIND project be approved at an estimated
capital cost of $376,500, in advance of the approval of
the 1997 Operating Budget, with interim financing from
Revenue Surplus. The on-going maintenance cost of
$48,000 would also be required to be provided to the
Information Technology Department s and City Clerk's
operating budget, without offset, starting in 1997.
* * * * *