Public services improvement - Modernising a township
administration
The issue:
The local township initiated a Quality Improvement
program that aimed at improving the service level
of the township to its citizens and businesses. One
of the challenges was to modernise communication tools
and flow of information/documents within the administration.
Indeed, the city officials wanted to gain more visibility
as to what requests or complaints were lodged by citizens
and wanted to be able to address those requests/complaints
in an efficient and professional manner. They also
wanted to be able to drive and trace actions all the
way to resolution and the answer provided back to
the requestor.
The approach:
Three key projects were then started with the support
of PwC. The first one was the introduction of an electronic
document management system (EDMS) and new procedures
to facilitate the electronic flow of documents (such
as incoming letters) and an electronic agenda for
the local parliament (eCollege). The second project
aimed at modernising the network infrastructure and
the services the informatics department offers.
The third project aimed at redesigning the city's
website to reflect the city's ambitions and provide
some interactive services over the Internet.
Throughout the project, PwC provided independent advisory
services and assisted the township officials regarding
the organisation, methodology and technical advice
for those key projects. The role of PwC was to: identify
and formalise the needs, write specifications, assist
the city officials in managing public tenders, advise
and assist the city throughout the implementation
of the new system by the system integrator and assist
in change management. A third party provider was in
charge of the technical implementation.
The outcome/benefits:
Today, it takes on average half a day for any city
official to be notified that a request for services
requires his / her attention. This is a significant
improvement compared to the time it took before the
introduction of the electronic document management
system and the new electronic procedures. The official
is now able to trace all the requests for services
that he/she is responsible for. The official is able
to delegate tasks and specific actions to experts
to process the request. From the citizen's point of
view, he is treated as a client. He receives an acknowledgment
the same day, with the name of the processing agent
and reference number for traceability purposes. The
processing is much quicker for the citizen and more
efficient for the administration.
