JOINT REPORT OF Assistant Directors of Salford @dvance and IT Net

& Head of Customer Services to CORPORATE SERVICES LEAD MEMBERS- March 2004

  1. BACKGROUND

(1.1)The City Council has made great strides in embracing the philosophy and practice of delivering truly CITIZEN- CENTRIC SERVICES, where customer needs and preferences are better understood and services more effectively aligned to them. Such an approach is often characterised as CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT, which recognises that…

(1.2)Many imaginative and far-reaching steps have been taken to develop the essential organisational building blocks and enabling measures to bring about the successful transition. Such measures have put Salford at the forefront of the Local Authority family, underlined by its Pathfinder and National Programme status.

Key developments include:

  • Development of an underlying Customer Service Strategy by which to provide the corporate framework for the delivery of high quality front line services underpinned by sound standards and a professional motivated workforce
  • Implementation of a multi-service customer contact centre, as part of an integrated service channel approach embodying self-service via the Internet and service centres
  • Development of Business Process Re-Engineering skills and tools by which to improve front and back office service processes, structures and systems
  • Development of a range of IT solutions through which key information about customer service needs are better understood and service delivery therefore better planned, managed and executed, and more particularly, the in-house development of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system known as CITIZEN

(1.3)It is this latter topic namely the future development of CITIZEN and how it inter-works with other related systems which is the main focus of this report

  1. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SYSTEMS IN CONTEXT

(2.1) CRM systems are still a relatively new feature in the public sector but are now, widely regarded as a key enabler in bringing about radical improvements in customer satisfaction and service performance. Many Councils are actively planning and implementing solutions in this field, driven by the aims of greater service quality, performance and economy. The overall strategic business case for such investments is often characterised by aims for:

  • Improvements in Customer satisfaction…through a better understanding of customer demands and preferences and aligning services more effectively with them
  • Greater consistency of service quality and performance…in terms of improved accessibility, responsiveness and integration through standardisation
  • Reducing call handling costs aided by modern business processes and IT systems
  • Improved performance against Best Value regulatory and PSA measures, particularly the so called mandatorypriority outcomes by 2005 contained in the Government specified 14 priority service areas
  • Facilitating new ways of working such as home-working and peripatetic models for greater flexibility, a better work/life balance and environmental benefits
  • Providing the means of effective customer centric performance measures such as service responsiveness, turnaround for problem resolution and transaction costs
  • Providing the means of working towards a single view of customers and services as part of the drive for a corporate delivery channel strategy

(2.2) Before we look at the future of CITIZEN, it is worth considering the context of how the system operates and inter-works with other key Council systems so that a seamless flow of information is achieved from and to customers, front office, back office and potentially with partners.

(2.3) The overall picture is shown graphically in Appendix 1 for information

  1. ABOUT SALFORD’S CRM SYSTEM

(3.1) CITIZEN is being developed in-house. The decision to develop in this way arose in 2001, due to the comparative high cost of bought in solutions, closeness of fit to Salford’s specific requirements and the ability to align development to Salford’s Customer Service and e-government rollout plan.

(3.2) The application currently has the following features:

  • Integrated Customer/Residency/Property repository with customer histories
  • Full client-end call handling modules
  • Management application maintenance modules
  • Management application reporting modules
  • Legacy database connectivity through direct data links, or transparent gateways
  • Integration with Microsoft products for additional office automation features such as Outlook

(3.3) The system has been operational within the Corporate Contact Centre since 2001 and currently caters for the following Council services

  • General Enquiries
  • Council Tax
  • Council Tax Benefits

(3.4) The actual benefits realised to date from CITIZEN and associated underlying service improvement measures include:

  • Single point of access to deal with multiple enquiries. This is aimed at reducing the number of occasions that each customer needs to make contact.
  • Significant reduction in transaction times
  • Significant external recognition for both front line and back office partners including

-Charter Mark

-Short listed for beacon status

-4* CPA rating

  • Single customer history allows for greater tracking of enquiries
  • More meaningful management information enabling better service planning
  • Reduction in training times as front line staff are no longer required to be experts in the use of departmental legacy systems
  • Greater communication between directorates as information is automatically shared between those who have an interest.
  • Separate ‘Emergency Planning’ module now developed which has generated interest from other authorities.
  • Online applications for service currently being integrated.

(3.5) The main development work during 2004 is to be focused on extending the facilities to new Council Services, particularly to address the recently adopted Think Customer Strategy which focuses on internal and external partner collaboration for better joined up service delivery,and in providing new system features and integration with other council applications for seamless information sharing and exchange:

Description
New Services and Integration Planned
  • Ongoing rollout of the Council’s e-Government Programme and integrated Service Channel Strategy involving the continued re-engineering of a range of council services and cross-cutting activities including: applications for service, payment, licensing etc
  • Enabling the recently approved Think Customer strategy entailing greater service collaboration between Council services and with service partners via the PCT, initially based around 7 themes of health and benefits advice, community safety, bereavement, children and youth, licensing, street scene and tackling health inequalities
  • Providing for integration between CITIZEN and all major back office systems including financials and the council’s local land and property gazetteer
  • Development of the LIFT Programme involving provision of joint face to face service centre services in conjunction with the PCT
A FULLER SCHEDULE OF PLANNED SERVICE ROLLOUT IS PROVIDED AT APPENDIX 2
New System Features Planned:
  • Supplement the client application with web based interface for ease of use
  • Create automated workflow based process life events (Registrars)
  • Create different sector CRM views i.e Business users / Children & Elderly care.
  • Automated Customers search / data cleansing (multivue idea)
  • Customisation for the P.C.T users.
  • Workbox, to allow staff to see work allocated to them
  • Ability to report a fault or request a service from web site with direct entry into CITIZEN

(3.6) The active and enthusiastic participation of Customer Service staff in the development of CITIZEN has resulted in a feeling of ‘ownership’, which is reflected in the high Customer Satisfaction Levels as expressed by management and day- to- day users of the system.

  1. GAPS and SOLUTIONS

Whilst excellent work has been done over the past 2 years or so in designing, developing and launching CITIZEN, from scratch, future successful development relies on new measures to put such a key application into a more strategic and stronger position.

Perceived gaps in current arrangements together with proposed solutions are as follows:

Gap / Solution
Roles and Resources … Insufficient commitment of IT and Customer Services resources to apply CITIZEN to a greater range of services and to facilitate partnership working with the PCT as rollout progresses and to provide greater system resilience and reliability. / Strengthen the team in accordance with the proposed structure outlined in Appendix 3. This involves use of temporary posts until such time as existing resources are freed up following implementation of replacement Council tax system
Customer Contact Strategy … The Authority has yet to adopt a single strategy for customer access channels, something that is needed in order to sustain the business case for a CRM solution. The LIFT initiative and the Think Customer review’ will assist in this / Devise corporate customer access strategy as part of agreed Think Customer deliverables
Integration…Need to invest in a software tool to accelerate integration work in order to enable inter-working of CITIZEN and other council systems and so improve information sharing and accessibility. / This is to be addressed as part of the wider e-Government programme during 2004
User Support… Need to develop more effective means of supporting users in the application and usage of CITIZEN and in providing an important source of intelligence regarding future design and development. / Appoint a customer based Product Champion, System Operations Manager and council wide user group
Corporate Commitment, Awareness and Marketing.. Need to communicate the facilities and benefits of the system throughout the City Council and with partners and so generate economies of scale through a single solution and avoid fragmentation from the risk of different CRM solutions / Develop a council wide marketing and awareness plan, supported by business case evidence
Computing resources…Need to Increase the computing resources devoted to the application for future development and operations / Purchase additional server
  1. COSTS AND FUNDING

The costs of the above measures and how they might be funded are summarised below:

Proposal / Estimated Costs £k
2004/5 / 2005/6
ADDITIONAL IT STAFF RESOURCES (See appendix 2)*
-Project Manager – upgrade to existing post
-CRM Architect – upgrade to existing post
-Systems Analyst/Designer/ developers (2) new posts
-Provision for use of specialist consultancy as necessary
COMPUTING RESOURCES
Purchase of additional server / 6
6
65
25
25 / 3
3
33
25
4
Total / 127 / 68

*Temporary posts initially for 18 months

The additional costs for the temporary additional posts, consultancy and associated server described above can be met from the City Council’s recently notified Implementing e-Government (IEG) allocation for 2004/5 and 2005/6

  1. RECOMMENDATIONS

(6.1) That CITIZEN be re-inforced as the Council’s chosen strategic corporate CRM solution

(6.2) That the team structure be strengthened as described in the report.

(6.3) That approval be given to the use of specialist consultancy as necessary up to a value limit of £ 25,000 subject to approval by the Director of Corporate Services

(6.4) That approval be given to the purchase of an additional server in the sum of £25,000 from the Council’s preferred supplier

Appendix 1

CITIZEN in Context

An Overview of the CITIZEN System and How it Will

Inter-Work with Other Key Council Systems

Appendix 2

Possible Service Rollout – 2004

  • Highways
  • Traffic & Transport
  • Engineering Design
  • Community Safety

-Hate Crime

-Anti-Social Behavior Orders

-Race Crime

  • Applications for Service
  • E-surgeries
  • Planning
  • Licensing

-Blue Badges

-Concessionary Bus Passes

-Chaperones

-Work Permits

-Car Boot Sales

  • Out of Hours / emergency planning
  • Libraries
  • Free school meals
  • Corporate complaints
  • Freedom of information act requests
  • Bereavement (as per proof of concept)
  • LIFT

-Health promotions

-SEVEN campaigns

-GP liaison

-Complaints handling

-PALS/PPI

  • Tourism
  • Children & families (possible)

Appendix 3

Proposed Team Structure

MW/Salford @dvance/Mar 04 Page 1 of 9