Richard Humphreys |
The city of Brampton has a diverse population that represents people from 209 distinct ethnic backgrounds who speak 89 different languages.
As part of its commitment to making municipal government more transparent and accountable, the city wanted to create a lobbyist registry. Mandated by the government, the registry would allow lobbyists to register and document the subject matter(s) they are lobbying the city’s staff or council members about. The online tool needed to be easily accessed by stakeholders and the public, and simple to use.
The city wanted their registry to allow users to: attain simplified, secure log-in access to documentation; register as a lobbyist as a way to communicate with local government officials and staff; communicate lobbying activities according to the city’s lobbyist registry by-law; ability to close registration and profile at any time; and easy search capabilities without requiring registration. At the same time, and in addition to developing a new lobbyist registry, the city also wanted to provide a means by which the citizens could easily connect with the municipality to manage issues like permits, property taxes, complaints and comments.
The city’s vision includes an online portal access that would allow residents and businesses to: register for a user account and personalise their web experience; sign-in with supported social media logins such as Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, etc; browse general 311 content online; complete and submit service requests and permits; cancel or self-resolve service requests; make payments for permits, fines and property taxes; subscribe/unsubscribe to notifications (in compliance with CASL requirements); and read or upload data directly into the database.
The city chose KPMG Adoxio to design and implement a solution that would leverage customer relationship management (CRM) for service-request management and to enable communication between lobbyists and government. KPMG Adoxio’s Portals solution, built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, promised to provide cost-effective online services, registries and support for stakeholders and the public.
Working with the city, KPMG Adoxio took a phased approach, beginning with the lobbyist registry in order to comply immediately with the new government-issued mandate, and currently working with city staff to provide solutions for online access to services and information for all citizens.
The solution will be of particular benefit to citizens. The online service includes a ‘one-stop shop’ on the portal, which makes it simpler for them to access any services they are looking for and at the same time, simplify the process of service delivery by municipal administrators.
As a result of the solution, the city now has: compliance with lobbyist registry by-laws; self-managed user profiles that are easily updated; faster, more efficient processing of service requests and permits; online payments to streamline processes; and more personalised relationships between municipality and its citizens.
KPMG Adoxio is currently showcasing its solutions at the Microsoft Smart City Expo in Barcelona.