Citizen Forum (CF)

Context

The Municipality of Pombal is a Local Municipality in the framework of the Portuguese Administrative Organization. Employing 450 people and with an annual budget of 30 million Euros, the Municipality of Pombal stands before a Commune of 640 Km² with 56,300 residing inhabitants; the commune is composed of 17 Parishes.

Challenge

After addressing and improving the efficiency of the internal processes, with the implementation of an optical fiber network and with the implementation of an Intranet containing a document management system (WebDoc), the Municipality has made an effort to improve the services it renders to its habitants and companies. At first, the Municipality faced some constraints, such as an outdated website developed in static HTML, three citizen service counters for municipal services with different services being addressed at each counter and the centralization of services, forcing the citizens to go to the Commune headquarters (Pombal). 

Therefore, the need to improve and facilitate access to municipal services was obvious and, for this reason, the following projects were defined: development of a portal with online transactional services (including payments); implementation of a single virtual counter; development of an electronic service platform in the parishes of the Commune of Pombal.

The group composed of these three sub-projects was given the name of Citizen Forum. 

Solution

The Municipal Portal is a solution that offers Online Vertical Municipal Services. This solution, developed with municipal human capital, offers online service provision, thus overriding the need for clients to physically contact the Municipal Services.

The Municipal Service Counters (B@M – “Balcão de Atendimento Municipal” in Portuguese) is a project that aims at two objectives: the decentralization and standardization of the services provided to citizens and an instrument to battle against “info-exclusion”.

Before the creation of the “Single Counter” there were three physical service spaces with different services being provided at each counter, which prevented flexibility in the provision of services depending on the subject. This meant that a citizen would have to go to three different municipal institutions in order to attend to three different subjects.

The processes are managed in conformity with NP EN ISO 9001:2008, integrating process management, service provision, support, measuring and monitoring, in PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle.

 Results and impacts

The introduction of eGovernement services shows excellent working results and excellent acceptance among the population from rural areas.  The decentralization of municipal services into the parishes increases every year, as well as the revenues. There is also an evident saving of costs since citizens avoid going to the city a number of times every month, which also represents less carbon dioxide emissions.  

With the implementation of the Single Counter citizens may now easily access Municipal services, and through the Portal (www.cm-pombal.pt) citizens may not only submit their request, but also follow up on and monitor its status. With the dematerialization of processes the municipality is contributing to reduce paper use, and hence, contributing to environmental well-being.

All these measures have contributed to increase citizens’ global satisfaction. 

Policy Context

In August 2005 the Municipality of Pombal signed a program contract with the Leiria Digital Region project (LRD). This project had the following goals:

Wide Band Municipal Networks interconnecting about 98 municipal buildings and several public interest places:  security forces, fire department, health centers, libraries, schools, industrial parks, etc;

Online municipalities: Online contents and municipal services for citizens and companies (checking information, transactional services, payments, forms, etc.);

Regional and municipal geographic portals offering georeferenced contents, Municipal Master Plans (PDM), Mapping, etc.;

The Municipality of Pombal is integrated in the Metropolitan Area of Leiria with other Municipalities (Alvaiázere, Ansião, Batalha, Leiria, Marinha Grande, Ourém, Porto de Mós). A deep and long expected territorial reorganization of the Portuguese continental territory into urban communities or metropolitan regions (presently underway) allows a unique opportunity for the convergence of European polycentric regional development policies and of strategies for the implementation of information access and sharing through digital infrastructures on a regional level, especially the policies related to new participatory government models, with the mobilization of the civil society, and the dynamization of the entrepreneurial group.

The call for tenders for financing projects from Digital Cities and Regions, which LRD is part of, was opened by the Ministry of Science and Technology namely as part of the POS_Conhecimento program (www.pos-conhecimento.pcm.gov.pt), formerly known as Programa Operacional Sociedade de Informação. The purpose of the Digital Cities and Regions project, financed by the POS_Conhecimento program, is to develop the Information and Knowledge Society on a regional level to create applied regional competences that will generate economic value for the region, increase the quality of life of its citizens and promote the competitiveness of its enterprises and their sustained development.  

The POS_Conhecimento program (Digital Cities and Regions), the LRD program and the Municipality of Pombal have had the support of the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and of the ESF (European Social Fund).  The LRD Project ceased operating in July 2008.

In July 2009, the Municipality of Pombal joined the Municipal Simplex program (http://www.simplex.pt/autarquico/00_index.html), aware of the importance of partnerships, which aims at implementing measures that will assist in the simplification of the interaction of citizens with General Government. This program integrates the following types of measures: Cross sector, which depend on the cooperation between the central and local governments; cross municipal, which depend on the articulation between the participating municipalities; municipal, which depend on the exclusive commitment of each municipality. 

The Municipal Simplex program is coordinated by the Secretariat of State for Administrative Modernization (http://www.gsema.gov.pt), which includes the Agency for Administrative Modernization, a Public Institution (www.ama.pt) that aims at identifying, developing, assessing and regulating programs, projects and actions of administrative modernization and simplification and at promoting, coordinating, managing and assessing the distribution system of public services in the framework of government policies.   

The Municipality of Pombal has been working continuously in the context of the Municipal Simplex program, making several contributions and sharing experiences either from the Citizen Forum or other eGovernment projects.

Description of target users and groups

The Commune of Pombal is located in the Centro Litoral  Region, in a position that allows multiple binding.  It is located between the coastal and the interior regions, the North and the South, Lisbon and Oporto, and between Coimbra and Leiria. Its 640 Km² surface is divided into 17 parishes, with an effective population of about 60,000 inhabitants.

In the last decades several transformations associated to the settling of some industrial centers have been observed, especially due to the fact that the municipality is crossed by some of the main accessibility axes in the country, both roads and railways, and due to the configuration and development of some local urban axes.

Pombal is, in general, a territory in visible economic transformation and a commune that has witnessed significant diversification and modernization over the years.  In the last few years, especially during the transition from the 1980's to the 1990's, the industrialization process increased significantly due to the creation of the Parque Industrial Manuel da Mota (Industrial Cluster) and of some industrial zones in rural areas.  The success of these industrial areas needs to be perceived in a multi-activity and multi-revenue framework as a complement to agricultural activity that promotes the development of these rural communities and, in general, the strengthening of the commune's entrepreneurial structures. 

Consequently, commercial activities, distribution and services have grown both in the city of Pombal as well as in some small rural areas which have reinforced their commercial structures.   Employment is controlled by secondary (43.8%) and tertiary (53.5%) sectors, followed by the agricultural sector (2.7%). Some parishes have shown positive demographic dynamics in accordance with an industrial growth sustained by the progressive improvement of accessibilities. Tourism is foreseen as an activity with strong potentialities, which involve investing in equipment capable of promoting urban, rural and landscape tourism in several sectors.  

Thus, the commune of Pombal presents economic progress dynamics that are interconnected to a wide transformation of the local production structures and that may be perceived in urban and industrial distribution.   

The Municipal Executive of Pombal strives to assemble the necessary conditions for the implementation of this strategy by focusing on several areas - culture, education, society, environment, sports, and economy - and investing in conditions and equipment that will promote it.

The configuration of this global strategy, on which stakeholders may mirror their specific strategies and may feel enveloped by the same spirit, meets the general concern to overcome problems and restraints, to seize potentialities and opportunities and, in general, to generate and sustain progress factors and synergies aiming at sustainable development. This configuration relies on the participation of citizens, institutions and enterprises and aims at a system that promotes the unification of citizen will and that is also a generator of well-being, thus leading Pombal further on the path to innovation and modernity, where one wishes to dwell and contribute to progress.    

The table below shows some indicators of progress in the Municipality of Pombal.

 

Total Area	625.7	Km 2
Parishes	17	Nr
Population Density	91.3	hab/km 2
Resident Population M/F, in 2001	56,299	citizens
Resident Population M, in 2001	27,334	citizens
Buildings	26,954	Nr
Lodging Capacity in Hotels	162	beds
Stays in Hotels	13,040	Nr
Occupation Rate in Hotels	22.1	%
Average Stays per Guest in Hotels	1.6	nights
Registered Societies	1,990	Nr
Banks, Savings banks, and Agricultural Loan Banks	32	Nr
Physicians per 1000 habitants	9	Nr
Pharmacies per 10.000 habitants	2.8	Nr
Official Hospitals	1	Nr
Illiteracy Rate M/F, in 1991	21.5	%
Illiteracy Rate M/F, in 2001	16.2	%

Description of the way to implement the initiative

The most determining factor for the success of the Citizen Forum project was the alignment of the management group and of the workers in the various levels of the strucutures with the benefits that citizens expected.  With this alignment, it was possible to overcome the various barriers that naturally appeared. In this regard, the management group had a preponderant role in worker motivation as well as in proper guidance so as to obtain the best results possible. 

The fact that the Municipality holds the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications in the organic units that have more customer service processes contributed greatly to simplying the implementation of the project, as well as to establishing a clear definition of the processes and of the chain of responsibility.

The Municipality set the development of in-house software as strategic which ensures several advantages from the start: business knowledge and control; internal capacity to solve problems, implementing new features and updates (mostly requested by the users); low software acquisition costs; customized development; easiness in the transition from the business to the information system structure; know-how maintenance in the organization.    The Project was, in the most part, managed and implemented with Municipal internal resources, resorting to some enterprises solely for hardware installation purposes (i.e.: queue management system, network, among others).

 This project was divided into three secondary projects based on a Multichannel servive strategy: 

• Development of a Portal with online services allowing the whole process to be processed without the need for citizens' physical presence in Municipal institutions.
• Development of a decentralized customer service platform in parish councils named B@M (Municipal Service Counters);
• Implementing a single counter for face-to-face customer service in the Commune's headquarters;

The only channel missing for fully achieving the proposed channels is the call centre service, which will be implemented until the end of the year by means of a Contact Centre with Self-Service features.

The management of this Project demanded an efficient management organization. In order to achieve such results it became necessary to resort to management tools that allowed the planning and management of the actions that were to be implemented by each stakeholder. MsOffice tools, such as MsExcel, MsWord and MsProject, were used to support Project management; in order to achieve a more efficient management the software SugarCRM (www.sugarcrm.com)  was also used for project management, situations and bugs.  The Municipality also acquired a Quality and Environment Management software that allowed the uniformization of the information regarding the customer service processes because the Portal, the customer service support tool (B@M), and the employees of the face-to-face customer service units, access this application to validate business rules. Knowledge management is therefore ensured by these tools that are accessible to all Project stakeholders. The Intranet is also an excellent communication channel for all Municipal workers, including those from parishes (a document management module was developed in order to allow and simplify the communication between parish and Municipality workers). The software Skype (www.skype.com) was also used in order to facilitate communication and knowledge spread in the network (project managers, Municipality workers, and parish workers).  

The Municipality counts in its ranks with professionals that hold expertise in information technologies, software development, Quality and Environment, and also management competences. All of the maintenance of this project is ensured by these professionals.

Technology solution

This Project could never have succeeded if it did not have a communication network that could support the data flow associated to such a project. Thus, several measures were implemented in order to create a network with the proper availability, safety and speed.

As such, all Municipal infrastructures in the city were interconnected using optical fiber with Cisco equipment ensuring communication between all the buildings concerned.  Besides this network the Municipality also installed a VoIP system which permitted the optimization in Wide Band use and the reduction of voice communication costs. This Project had the financial support of the Leiria – Digital Region Project (www.leiriaregiaodigital.pt) and, inherently, of European funds (ERDF).

The Leiria – Digital Region Project also contributed with the equipment forparish councils where Cisco routers and Access Points were installed, and this, besides providing free wireless Internet access, also created an adequate local network. 

In the access to the customer service tools (B@M - www.cm-pombal.pt/intranet and Geoportal - http://geoportal.cm-pombal.pt) by parishes and citizens (www.cm-pombal.pt) the Municipality counts on an ISP access in optical fiber with a symmetrical transfer rate of 10Mbps.   At the customer service counters access is made without any problems as it uses a LAN environment.

Regarding the software, one may say that the Municipality’s information systems are based on a hybrid solution because these are based both on commercial and open source technology.  The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is based on an Oracle database. This database also holds the document management system and several business support applications that constitute the Intranet. These systems were developed with Microsoft technology (ASP and ASP.NET).

Nevertheless, in the Citizen Forum Project the main technology is open source. Both the Portal and the customer service tool B@M were developed with resource to PHP language (www.php.net) with a Postgresql database (www.postgresql.org). The Web Server that was used is Apache (www.apache.org) and the operating system is Linux, namely the Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org) and CentOS (www.centos.org) releases.

In order to ensure the interoperability of the several systems, the Municipality developed webservices, resorting to ASP.NET technology, that run on a Windows 2003 Server.

The servers that support the Project operate in a virtual environment ensured by VMware tools (www.vmware.com).  

All the applications that compose the Citizen Forum Project are ensured by Municipal resources, with the exception of a Citizen’s Card access tool (CCTools) and the tqueue management system installed in the two customer service areas.

It is important to note that the customer service support tool in the parish councils and in the Single Counter is the same (B@M), which allows the reduction in maintenance costs since any changes or updates are immediately available to all users.

All the requests that are submitted through the various channels converge to the document management system (WebDoc – also developed internally) whose main function is to allow the worker in charge of the process to take action and solve it.

All the service stations, either in the Municipality or the parish councils are equipped with a PC, a scanner with ADF, and a Citizen’s Card Reader. Part of this equipment was financed by the Leiria – Digital Region Project.

Technology choice: Standards-based technology, Open source software

Main results, benefits and impacts

The Citizen Forum receives in its several channels (Portal, B@M, and Single Counter) an average of 5,432.67 visits each month.  The conclusion that the number of citizens covered by the project is the same cannot be drawn since some citizens resort to Municipal services more than once each month (example: Master builders, payment of water supply and wastewater systems).

With the implementation of the Citizen’s Card’s features it was possible to reduce registration tasks that used to take about 6 minutes (ID and TIN registration and scanning) and which now take about 15 seconds. This has a significant impact on customer service and consequent waiting periods. 

The following issues may be highlighted as quality benefits associated to the Citizen Forum project:

·         Staggering customer service (Single Counter) and avoiding having to go to several buildings in order to attend to several subjects;

·         Continuous working hours from 9 AM to 4:30 PM; 

·         Uniformization of customer service with the use of a single tool (B@M);

·         Possibility of measuring global performance indicators by subject: Number of citizens attended, average waiting periods, average time spent on each situation; 

·         Increase in citizen satisfaction; efficiency improvement in the processing of requests – the information is distributed in digital format; 

·         Reduction of the request resolution periods; 

·         The information is now made available to citizens in a precise way and in due time;

·         Simplification of processes in the citizen service provision.

 

The main quantitative benefits are the following:

·         Reducing the number of mishandled process from 47% to 3%;

·         Reducing the waiting periods from 36 minutes to 10 minutes;

·         Reducing the time spent on each situation from 14 minutes to 11 minutes;

·         Reducing process evaluation and resolution periods in 40%;

·         Increase of citizen satisfaction from 52% (2006) to 63.99% (2007) and to 79% (2008).

·         Reduction of global internal processing periods: set in 21 minutes before and in 16 minutes now.

·         Reduction of unitary process costs set in € 4.37 before and presently at € 3.36.

 

Next are some indicators considered to have had the most impact on citizens’ lives.

Reduction of citizens’ costs to access the service: Since customer service is carried out in the parishes, whose average distance to the city of Pombal is around 10 km, citizens are estimated to have saved 12,700 km (10 km x 1270 visits to customer service per month).  Considering an average cost of € 0.35 per kilometer it implies a monthly saving of € 4445.50 for citizens. Environmentally speaking it implies the non emission of approximately 14 T of carbon dioxide.

Reduction of costs or increase in profit per beneficiary that uses the service: Regarding Municipal HR the customer service department had 13 workers in previous years and nowadays this department employs 10 people, meaning a saving of € 50,400.00 per year ([€ 1,200.00 x 14] x 3). With the integration of customer service, costs with the facilities were reduced by 12.5%, meaning a saving of € 1,600.00 per year. 

Increase in collective productivity (services/people ratio): The Municipality is now capable of dealing with the same number of citizens with 10 workers, instead of the previous 13, meaning a saving of € 50,400.00 per year.

Savings due to productivity increase (processes or information system): There are savings related to the extinction of one customer service station (Casa Manuel Henriques). Reduction of indirect costs (facilities) of € 1,600.00/year, and of direct costs (HR) of € 50,400.00. This data shows the increase of saving and productivity because with this reduction in costs the work is processed much faster (the waiting periods have decreased from 17 to 12 minutes comparing 2006 to 2007) as well as the internal processing periods from 21 to 16 minutes.

A sustainable reduction of the total unitary costs by output type has been proven: the cost with HR for customer service decreased from € 4.37 to € 3.36, meaning an annual saving of € 50,500.00. The costs related to facilities decreased 12.5%, meaning an annual saving of € 1,600.00. 

Using the eGovernment evaluation portal method, eGEP, one may conclude that in terms of content richness the Municipality achieves a score of 82.36%, and in Service Sophistication the Municipality achieves a score of 70.15%.

Concerning complaints, the Citizen Forum receives a quarterly average of 7.5 complaints.

Regarding registered users that may use any customer service channel (data that support all three channels) there are a total of 25,334 users – meaning 45% of the Commune’s population. 

Regarding visits to the Portal www.cm-pombal.pt, there have been a total number of 14,130 monthly visits by 8,255 individual visitors each month. Regarding easiness of use, the Municipality has a score of 8.8 according to the result of a test performed by an online tool (http://www.acesso.umic.pt/webax/examinator.php).

It is also important to note that during the implementation of the Project the staff received 1,080 hours of training, having made individual contributions to redesigning the business model which was being incorporated. The workers’ involvement in the participative process of solution definition received merit based on performance evaluation according to SIADAP (General Government Performance Evaluation System) rules namely concerning the valorization of competences and attitudes and which received the grading of “Very Good” by its appraisers.    To sum up, this project also contributed to the professional valorization of all the employees involved.

Return on investment

Return on investment: €49-299,000

Track record of sharing

The Citizen Forum Project has drawn the attention of several Public Administration organizations in Portugal from the beginning. The Project was even awarded some prizes at a national level (ex.: www.boaspraticas.com). The portal www.cm-pombal.pt was considered the most developed at a national level by a study carried out by a partnership between a Portuguese university (http://www3.dsi.uminho.pt/gavea) and a national portal (www.sapo.pt).    The study may be accessed through this URL: http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/handle/1822/8443.

Considering the project’s innovation, the Municipality received several requests for visits from other Portuguese Municipalities and Public Administration organizations, and held several workshops where the results of the project and the implemented actions were presented. The Municipality of Pombal has thus given these organizations the opportunity to get to know the project and share the Municipality’s know-how and experience.

The Municipality also has several requests to partake in many conferences where eGovernment is the main subject.  The Municipality is also requested to participate in initiatives promoted by the Agency for Administrative Modernization (www.ama.pt) sharing the experiences and results achieved with the implementation of the Citizen Forum Project. 

Whenever it is required, the Municipality issues press releases to present the measure which has been implemented to facilitate citizens’ acquaintance. These press releases have effects at a local as well as national level.

In 2007 the Municipality promoted a clarification workshop that registered the participation of 40 Public Administration organizations. This measure was carried out due to the number of requests submitted by such organizations.

The Municipality also collaborates with an online Portuguese magazine that aims at making eGovernment projects known (iGov www.i-gov.org) by means of opinions that allow participants to share experiences deriving from the implementation of their projects Based on this healthy relationship with iGov, the Municipality promoted an event in Pombal that joined over 100 representatives of 38 distinct entities. The event was called Innovation in Municipal Customer Service and may be consulted at: http://www.i-gov.org/index.php?headline=210&visual=1 . In these two videos, produced by IGOV, can be seen a summary description of the project “Citizen Forum”:

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB9XQQaTJZQ]

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD9AKaQZu6o]

The Municipality also contributes to the national portal Knowledge Common Network (www.rcc.gov.pt) that is a cooperation platform of support to sharing administrative modernization, innovation and simplification initiatives promoted by the Portuguese Public Administration.    The subjects that relate to Pombal may be accessed on the following URL: http://www.rcc.gov.pt/pt-PT/Directorio/Entidades/administracaolocal/AdmlocalAC/ContentDetail.aspx?id=494 .

The Municipality has also shared some documents via e-mail regarding project management and implementation with several Municipalities, thus contributing to the exchange of experience and dissemination of the good practices carried out. 

Lessons learnt

Lesson no. 1 – Investment in internal human resources

One of the basis in the implementation of this customer service approach comprised ensuring that the know-how related to the platforms and the procedures systematization process remained within the organization. Bearing this in mind, it was necessary to invest in specialized human resources in order to minimize the impact of depending on third parties.

The fact that the Municipality’s Human Resources remained in charge of the management of the Project is a great advantage as there was no external dependency and it made it possible to overcome the difficulties that arose during the project’s implementation. The Citizen Forum Project went through many difficult moments that could only be overcome with the persistence and commitment of its managers.

The selection of internal human resources for the development of the customer service platforms proved to be an ideal option. On one hand, it ensured the regular support of users/customers both in their initial training which allowed them to operate the platforms conveniently, as well as in terms of assistance related to achieving specific forms of organization. On the other hand, it ensured a continuous development that guaranteed the technological assistance and adequacy to the necessities that arose daily such as performance issues and software version updates.  

The training and awareness of all the workers were fundamental for the interiorization of the Municipalities’ goals and were simultaneously the main induction agents for the implementation of important improvements in the services. It is this department that deals with the citizens and the new service provision platforms and, therefore, is more aware of their needs.

Every now and then the Municipality holds a session to discuss the problems and opportunities for improvement with all workers involved in the customer service process, comprising Municipal employees and employees from the 17 parishes. These sessions always spawn new ideas and new opportunities for improvement that the Municipality is able to implement with the assistance of its internal and permanent Project support team. 

Lesson no. 2: Involvement of top management and all the Project’s stakeholders 

The commitment and involvement of the top management executives was also of intrinsic value for the success of the Project’s implementation. Resistance to change is always a problem but the Municipality managed to gather a group of highly committed and dynamic people, despite their average of 30 years of age.   It became much easier to motivate the employees with this age average.

Lesson no. 3: It is mandatory to be close to the population

We have learned that after launching the Portal online it became necessary to be close to the population. Pombal is a Commune with a rural profile and, as such, the Internet usage rates are somewhat low. The Portal did not, thus, play a role of generalizing online services usage.  This lesson lead us to the creation and implementation of the B@M Project by decentralizing customer service from the Municipal headquarters to parish councils allowing the Municipality to reach a much wider group of its population.

The implementation of this Project made it possible to conclude that modernity can be introduced by resorting to internal resources, especially in Local Administration bodies. It is possible to promote the usage of electronic means for the benefit of all the stakeholders and to use the difficulties that arise from it to promote process reengineering.  

It is possible to obtain important victories in terms of efficiency in customer service simply by doing things right from the beginning.  It is also possible to bring the services closer to customers and increase the transparency of the Administration’s actions.   This is where competitiveness is reinforced. This is where the spirit of citizenship is reinforced.

Scope: Local (city or municipality)