2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

46 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
is completed, appropriate notes are made, and the work order is closed out
by the service department. Should a citizen call back to check on the status
of a request, customer service agents can advise on the response thus far.
CRM and 311 systems not only help local governments to provide an
improved customer service experience for their citizens, but they also
produce a wealth of new data to help leaders understand what services
citizens want and need from their local government. Among the types of
data and information available through such a system are
• number and types of information requests,
• number and types of service requests,
• time taken to complete service requests,
• percentage of service requests completed within a targeted timeframe,
• geographic location of service requests, and
• trends in citizen requests over time.
These types of data reflect critical business intelligence that can greatly
help elected officials and other community leaders determine what services
are most critical to their constituents and aid local government
service departments in better managing their day-to-day operations.
CRM and 311 systems are transforming how local governments and
citizens interact with each other. According to Goldsmith (2012), the
idea of government having all the answers when citizens have questions
or need help is evolving, and increasingly citizens are being viewed as
partners in developing solutions to community problems. Not only are
citizens providing data through CRM and 311 systems, but they can also
analyze data and help frame solutions based on their review of neighborhood
data.
The Mayor’s Action Center, the centralized customer service system
for Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, generates critical data that
are used in the combined city–county government’s IndyStat Program.
The IndyStat Program, a performance measurement and management
program, follows a Six Sigma 2 process to pursue continuous improvement
within the organization. Measurement is a critical element in the
Six Sigma process for determining success, and teams working on a Six
Sigma project must analyze data to first understand the nature of the
service being reviewed and later to measure progress made on addressing
project challenges.