| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
|
|
Implementing Philly311 was a collaborative effort. It was imperative to receive the approval of the Mayor, along with people who have assisted in similar system applications. In 2008, project managers Jeffrey Friedman and Patrick Morgan engaged an external consulting group to develop a plan and scope for the 311 system. In June that year, Mayor Nutter and City Management Director and Executive Sponsor, Camille Barnett, approved the implementation strategy. Rosetta Carrington Lue joined Philly311 project team, which collectively worked to develop civil service testing requirements for the contact center agents. Thirty departmental liaisons assisted in populating Philly311’s knowledge base with over 2,000 articles about city services and municipal information.
In September of 2008, the National financial crisis caused a drastic cut in Philly311’s budget, affecting its technology implementation. However, the project team viewed the crisis as an opportunity to rely on established city services. Rather than implementing a software-based Customer Service Relationship Management (CRM) system, the project team worked with the City’s Department of Technology to implement a less expensive web-based solution to serve as the CRM system. This solution allowed agents to look-up municipal information and directly enter service requests into the integrated work systems of servicing departments. Philly311’s new budget constraints also caused a shift in its hiring plan. Instead of hiring external, experienced contact center agents, Philly311 decided to hire internal transfers and employees who would have been laid off due to a revised City-wide budget.
Between October and November 2008, the Philly311 Project Team implemented its new CRM system and trained news employees. By December that year, Philly311 accepted its first phone call.
|
|
| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
|
|
The Philly311 system was the vision of Mayor Michael Nutter. The initiative was implemented by, then, Managing Director Camille Barnett and Project Managers Jeffrey Friedman, Patrick Morgan, Rosetta Carrington Lue, and the consultation of 30 liaisons from city departments.
|
| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
|
|
In total, nearly $200,000 was spent on implementing Philly311. The national financial crisis, which resulted in citywide downsizing, allowed Philly31l to pull from internal resources. Employees, who would have otherwise been out of work, were relocated to Philly311 to build knowledge base, perform circuiting, and help develop policies and procedures. Volunteers from the private sector, who saw the potential of Philly311, offered their services as well.
|
|
| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
|
|
The following outputs contributed to the success of Philly311’s customer service goals for Philadelphia city government:
1. The establishment of a contact center allowed for the collection of departmental servicing data. This laid the groundwork for the establishment of the City’s performance management system, PhillyStat.
2. The Philly311 Mobile App was created to engage and service customers who had adopted a mobile lifestyle.
3. The Philly311 Neighborhood Liaison Program was created to establish community partnerships and train community leaders on the 311 system. Similarly, the Youth 311 Neighborhood Liaison program was created to help educate youth about public services, and to teach younger generations how to make a difference in their neighborhood.
4. Philly311 has received an average 1.2 million calls each year from its customers.
|
|
| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
|
|
Philly311 manages the performance of contact center agents through the establishment of “teams” which are managed by supervisors. Philly311’s supervisors meet with their teams daily to discuss upcoming events, changes in information, and recent performances. Supervisors also conduct live and recorded monitoring of customer calls.
Philly311 uses externally collected customer satisfaction data that is obtained by follow-up, and on-the-phone surveys.
Philly311’s telephony system collects data on the contact center’s performance (i.e. customer wait time; number of customers in queue; etc.) and displays current performance levels on reader boards located throughout the call center.
|
|
| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
|
|
The biggest problem encountered during Philly311’s implementation was severe budget-cuts. This affected implementation but was overcome by using a smaller, web-based CRM system, and by working with the City’s Department of Technology. The City’s Department of Technology integrated the City’s servicing departments’ work order systems, and developed a smaller web-based CRM. This CRM was used instead of a new and larger CRM system.
Philly311’s staffing plan was compromised. Budget-cuts forced Philly311 to be limited in its hiring process. Instead of relying on outside hires, the City was encouraged to use transfer hires, and hire employees who were to be laid off due to citywide budget cuts. While Philly311’s original staffing plan focused on the hiring experienced contact center agents, the Project Team created a robust and interactive internal training program to provide inexperienced agents with the tools and knowledge they needed to serve customers effectively from day one.
Like the alterations that were made to both Philly311’s CRM and hiring process, the system’s marketing budget saw cuts as well. To combat this, Philly311 developed an effective community engagement program to spread the word on a grass-roots level and educate community members on the service. Through the program, Philly311 sent a community engagement coordinator to community meetings to provide free training sessions on how to use the 311 system. Once trained, community members were given personalized accounts and could directly enter service requests into the 311 system. These trained liaisons often became the centralized voice of their communities and evangelists for the 311 system.
|