United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Hat Yai, one of the districts in Songkhla Province, has an area of 852,796 square kilometers with a population of 400,000 people (2009 census). The Civil Registration Data however, only shows a registration of 200,000 people. That means 200,000 people have come from other areas, to study or work in Hat Yai. There are diversities of occupation such as entrepreneurs, agriculturists, government officers, self-employers, and so on. When there is an increase in the population, pollution increases accordingly. This could be as a result of increasing construction debris, human sewage, pollution from cars and construction, household chemicals, animal waste, etc.
At the beginning, Hat Yai Municipality receives complaints through a Hotline Call Center 1559, which did not operate 24 hours. There were also some complaints to municipal council members and administrators about problems that had not been resolved. Those officers involved had to direct those complaints to departments concerned for best resolution by reporting to higher positions in command. It was ineffective to take any action as some problems could take more than a month to get the mayor’s attention. Further, there was no standard set to measure the success of each project. No one was assigned to follow-up and report on the progress. Also, there was no responsible person for each project and those officers involved may trivialize the issues raised and give the matter less attention. As a result, most of the issues raised have not been solved in time.
The Hat Yai Municipality then planned and launched a Call Center System, which introduced more channels for complaints or suggestions. These could be by letter through the complaint boxes, or through the website: www.hatyaicity.go.th. There is also a Hot Line 1559, direct to the Municipal Executive Board. Complaints could also be by SMS via 089-8761559, to a member of the Municipal Council, or complaints in person to the officer in charge, can be made by the citizens

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Hat Yai Municipality has launched the Call Center Project since 2006. Statistics of the users’ record for the last 4 years are as follows: Year No. of Users 2006 155 (Data: Nov-Dec) 2007 1,677 2008 1,678 2009 2,236 2010 2,110 (Data: Nov 22nd, 2010) Remarks: These do not include emergency calls during floods and fires, CCTV requests and requests for general information. As you can see, from year 2006 to 2010 (data based on Nov 22nd, 2010), Hat Yai Municipality uses Call Center as the hub, which can be classified as follws: - Total of 7,856 complaints as 100 % - 7,311 complaints were solved: 93.06 % - 369 complaints in progress: 4.70 % - 176 complaints were unsolved: 2.24 %

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Mr. Prai Pattano, Mayor of Hat Yai City Municipality, assigned Mr. Pruek Pattano, Vice Mayor, to oversee the Technical and Planning Division (at that time) to initiate a system for use in the Call Center to receive complaints about problem resolution delays and efficiency of follow-up. Additionally, the vice mayor appointed The Guru Enterprises Company Limited to do a research on the relation between the complaints received and performance of actions taken. The complaints have been classified into 22 categories. 1. Buildings 2. Pavements 3. Roads 4. Bridges 5. Canals 6. Drains 7. Accommodation 8. Electricity 9. Water Supply 10. Telephone 11. Floods / flooding 12. Sewage and solid waste 13. Trees, parks. 14. Pet / abandoned dog 15. Misconduct in public. 16. Traffic problems 17. Civil Registration and ID card 18. Pollution and environmental problems 19. Mosquito problems / animal pathogens 20. Personnel Administration 21. Consumerism 22. Other types of complaints In addition to these, the call center is the main hub of the city's information of 370,919 people who live in this area, classified as the target group. It also takes care of the CCTV in the municipal administration and is the center of coordination among organizations such as the 191, Narenthorn Center, Hat Yai Safety Club, Radio Stations, which are involved in helping to solve public problems that occur.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Hat Yai City Municipality is headed by Mr. Prai Patthano, Mayor of Hat Yai. He has adopted the administration development guidelines for good management (Good Government). He combines technology with computer systems for connecting data among divisions in Hat Yai Municipality. To render service to people, he streamlined the working process so that people can get fast service and effective complaints resolution for 24 hours. This helps to resolve complaints and reduce public dangers. The officers can take action immediately without going through the chain of command. As monitoring and troubleshooting is important to feedback to the complainant, the aim is to meet residents’ satisfaction.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Initially, a sub-division of the Information Center Technology (ICT) under the Office of the Municipal Clerk was responsible for various information technology such as coordination between municipal information provider and companies. A system to solve the various problems arising from the use of the system and providing other related materials have to explore the problems and the needs of the municipality. For information on the preparation of the system, it was found that the complaints were channeled to the municipality through many channels such as letters, complaint boxes, and website; www.hatyaicity.go.th, hotline 1559, Executives of Hat Yai Municipality, SMS via the phone number of 089-8761559, municipal council members, etc.. The different systems have various data analysis such as called data, evaluated data, and statistics of the complaints, which store information to the system. In the Call Center, there will be four permanent officers (15 staff working in shifts, rotate in the center for 24 hours) to receive complaints through the official channels and connect it to the call center. These are then channeled to the division concerned and reported to the executive through the website of the municipality. A plan to solve each problem is set to be followed-up by a specific time. Additionally, evaluation of weekly and daily reports (by Call Center) is also set up. Administrators can view the information via E-mail.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Initially, the officers did not fully understand the process, as the training time was too short and when the system failed, it could not be fixed automatically. The Call Center 1559 is converting signals from mobile phones by coordinating with service centers in order to convert the signals to the Call Center 1559. The objective of line 1559 is not acquiring benefits. It is for public service which is not related to the national telecommunication Commission (NTC). If line 1559 has not been ratified by NTC, the municipality cannot promote the number to be well known for public service.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
The Center of Complaints has started with Information Technology Department (ICT) and the Bureau of Hat Yai City Municipality. The Guru Enterprise Limited has been hired with a fee of approximately two million baht in order to study the problems and cases to meet our requirements by creating the system, preparing the laboratory and finding the equipments (computers, television, etc.). There are 4 officers working in the Call Center (15 staffs are on rotation in the Center for 24 hours). Overtime of about 30,000 baht is paid each month.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
1559 is well known to the Hatyai residents and surrounding area as well as tourists. In the future, 1559 will not only be for receiving complaints but will also be for providing information to people or tourists. The cost of operation is not much considering the fact that the system meets the people’s requirements, as if we are in the same family. Currently the hotlines are widespread to other provinces, for instance, Lumpang city municipality 1132, Padang Bezar Town municipality 1559, etc.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The problems are increasing day by day. We can see from the number of complaints each year. To solve the problem, the Center for complaints has to fix it immediately and respond to the people promptly in emergency situations. For example, Hotline 1559 must be increased to 10 lines to serve the increasing complaints when there is flooding each year. Of course when the numbers of lines increase, the number of employees must increase as well, to relieve those who are tired.


Institution Name:		Hat Yai Municipality
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		Mr.Sispan Thaweeratana
Title:		Hot Line 1559
Telephone/ Fax:		+(66)74 200055
Institution's / Project's Website:		+(66)74 235536
E-mail:		tiger_nida@yahoo.com
Address:		445 Phetkasem Road ,Hatyai
Postal Code:		90110
City:		Hatyai
State/Province:		Songkhla
Country:		Thailand

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information