Customer Solution Case Study
/ Town of Okotoks Provides Residents and Leaders with a Virtual Town Hall
Overview
Country or Region: Canada
Industry: Nonprofit or Public Sector
Customer Profile
Okotoks, a town near Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is experiencing a growth rate averaging 5 to 6 percent annually for the past 10 years.
Business Situation
Due to their rapid rate of growth, the Town of Okotoks needed a city computing solution that would provide easy access to information for both residents and community leaders.
Solution
Okotoks implemented Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® on a server running Microsoft SQL Server™. This was integrated with software designed for municipalities and developed by Microsoft reselling partner, Diamond Software.
Benefits
n Real-time reporting
n Improved customer access and satisfaction
n Improved financial capabilities
n Staff time savings / "Our previous reports were only available through the finance department. Since implementing Microsoft Business Solutions, reporting is available to all business centres."
Charlene Nagy, Information Technology Team Leader, Town of Okotoks
The town of Okotoks, located in Alberta, Canada, has experienced a growth rate averaging 5 to 6 percent annually for the past 10 years. This growth has increased the demands on the municipality for arts, culture, utilities, recreational facilities, licenses, permits, and other services. Of the town's 12,000 citizens, almost 80 percent are under the age of 45. When compared to the rest of North America, they have a significantly higher rate of home Internet access. In response to the town's rapid growth, Okotoks city government implemented Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™) on a server running Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000. This solution, along with integration with municipal software developed by Microsoft partner, Diamond Software, has given Okotoks the ability to provide residents with a Web-based “virtual town hall.” This enables residents to log on and see their accounts for water, sewer, garbage, and taxes. It also enables them to view pet licenses and identify the owner of lost pets online.
Situation
The town of Okotoks has established a unique management and operational framework designed to meet varied community needs. Based on a model of small businesses (under a larger corporate umbrella), the city government's online "business centres" approach facilitates effective organizational empowerment.
Every three years, a community survey is conducted and gathers information that forms the foundation for the development of a three-year city government business plan. Enhanced resident satisfaction is the result.
Okotoks is the second fastest-growing community of the municipalities surrounding Calgary. Okotoks has experienced a growth rate averaging 5 to 6 percent annually for the past 10 years; during some years the rate has exceeded 10 percent. Population for the community has more than doubled in the past 10 years.
Almost 80 percent of the population of Okotoks is under 45 years of age. The community has a higher-than-average level of home Internet access than the majority of North America. With the increasing demands placed on Okotoks by its exceptional growth, community leaders wanted to increase the availability of Internet-based municipal information and services.
Prior to the year 2000, the Town of Okotoks had been running a character-based solution running on a DEC Alpha with open VMS. It wanted to upgrade to a Microsoft® Windows® operating system. In 1999, it implemented Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains®. While that system had served Okotoks well, with the unprecedented city growth, it was time to update.
Solution
With the help of Microsoft reselling partner, Diamond Software, Okotoks implemented Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains, utilizing a server running Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000. The SQL Server database is housed on a Compaq server featuring dual Intel P4 processors, RAID drives, and 1 gigabyte of RAM.
They implemented Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management, Supply Chain Management, and Customization Tools modules in Microsoft Great Plains. The town also uses specialized municipal accounting applications written in Microsoft Dexterity® software and tightly integrated with Microsoft Great Plains.
In addition, the town implemented third-party software for municipalities by Diamond Software. The Diamond Software modules that were implemented include those for property taxes, utility billing, cash receipts, business licensing, pet licensing, and building permits. The new eGovernment system, from Diamond Software, facilitates online citizen inquiries.
Future plans include implementation of inventory, project costing, and purchase orders to further streamline and automate the operations and maintenance departments. The Okotoks city government also plan continued expansion of the eGovernment system to include advanced utility bill presentment and notification, as well as and online payment processing.
Benefits
Real-Time Reporting
Real-time information and mission-critical data are available across the organization from line staff to team leaders. “Our previous reports were only available through the finance department,” says Charlene Nagy, Information Technology Team Leader. “Since implementing Microsoft Business Solutions, reporting is available to all business centres.”
Available reports include both accounting and resident data. These reports provide leaders with vital information and enable more timely internal business decisions, as well as increased service to citizens and other stakeholders.
The deployment of Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics–FRx® Professional delivered the software's financial report launcher to every team leader’s desktop. This has resulted in dramatically improved financial decision making. This financial information is critical in a municipal government such as Okotoks, given the heavy dependence on budgets approved by, and accountable to, elected officials.
Improved Customer Access and Satisfaction
Residents of Okotoks now have easy access to online information about many aspects of the town, its municipal government, and services.
The implementation of Microsoft Business Solutions and integration with the Diamond Software eGovernment modules (powered by a server running Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains back-office infrastructure) gives citizens and other stakeholders the ability to perform Web-based inquiries on their own accounts and on general municipal information.
New electronic payment methods such as automated account debit have given residents added choice and convenience. They can choose to pay bills either monthly or bi-monthly.
Many residents previously had multiple accounts with the town of Okotoks (possibly including a receivable account, a business license, one or more pets, one or more properties, and one or more utility accounts).
Microsoft Business Solutions–Great Plains provides incredible consolidation capabilities, enabling the consolidation of these multiple accounts into one central customer record. This ultimately leads to dramatic reductions in payment and inquiry processing times and improved information flow. Residents now obtain a password to access their account, and then log on to view their multiple accounts at any time.
If resident find a lost pet, they can go online, and if the pet owner has signed a privacy statement allowing access to his or her phone number, the finder can enter the tag number of the lost pet and access the owner’s phone number.
Despite the rapid growth of Okotoks, easy access to information has helped reduce the overall call volume of resident inquiries. This has allowed the town government to manage the high growth rate without significantly increasing staff levels.
Quicker response times, more accurate revenue calculation and recording, and more orderly inspection processes with the building permits module, alongside full integration with customer records and general ledger modules has also improved customer satisfaction.
The community survey that is conducted every three years recently revealed that the ability to access information online has increased resident satisfaction to the point that 96.5 percent of the residents indicate they are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the overall service of the town.
In the latest survey, 74.5 percent of respondents “strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” that there is good value received for taxpayer dollars. This is a 15 percent increase from the survey three years earlier.
Improved Financial Capabilities
The new software helps the town integrate cash receipts as they are received, thus saving over 500 hours of staff time annually. Accounts receivable are now much easier to track.
Tight integration between the Microsoft Great Plains core financial software and the Diamond Software municipal accounting applications has eliminated redundant data entry and the accompanying possibility of human errors.
Staff Time Savings
The standardized environment has saved Okotoks IT staff considerable time. With all offices using Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office applications, staff training has been simplified. Significant gains in productivity have been experienced through the elimination of duplicate data entry thanks to the exceptional integration of this solution.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systems your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship
and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
www.microsoft.com/dynamics