ICMA’s Municipal Year Book 2012 came out earlier this spring.  For those interested in learning more about emerging trends in local government and the latest in research, the book is a tremendous resource.

Chapter 2 in the book presents a paper based on two research efforts that were part of ICMA’s National Study of 311 and Customer Service Technology funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.  One of these projects took an in-depth look at how three local governments—Indianapolis/Marion County, City and County of San Francisco, and Knoxville—have used data from their 311/CRM systems to aid in re-engineering local government business processes.  In re-engineering these processes, the local governments have been able to realize new efficiencies and cost savings in their service delivery.

While the primary purpose of 311/CRM systems will always be improved local government customer service, these systems are increasingly demonstrating their use for performance measurement and management, budgeting and resource allocation, and re-engineering government processes.   Below are a few examples of how local governments are using their 311/CRM systems to achieve better results.

• Performance Measurement and Management.  Indianapolis/Marion County’s Department of Code Enforcement uses daily data reports to allocate staff.  During the height of the season for high weeds and grass, building inspectors may be diverted to conduct inspections for high weeds and grass in response to the high demand.

• Budgeting and Resource Allocation. Knoxville used 311 data to address seasonal and geographic differences in demand for leaf pickup throughout the city by changing the type of equipment used, reducing crew size and directing more resources to the western side of the community where tree cover was the greatest.  These actions cut reliance on overtime and cut annual costs from $1 million to $300,000 while improving service quality.

• Re-engineering Government Processes.  In San Francisco, after analyzing the pattern of pothole service requests it was receiving, the Department of Public Works significantly increased how promptly it responds to pothole service requests by adjusting its scheduling and other operational procedures.

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