 All right, thanks everyone. I'm super excited about today because we're going to Have an evaluation of the city-wide software and technology needs With miss Sylvia white chip chief information officer and chief of information Technology department, so I guess we switched up those names over the last few years. Okay So I'm looking forward to this and I'm going to turn it over to y'all Wait, I'm sorry either of you have anything to add Okay, waiting on Sylvia and Cory Entertain us with all this new stuff So the program management office we help support our enterprise-wide solution Applications and programs Tendents today So well we did a survey probably not a very scientific survey, but did survey our departments This was something that had been on our minds as well So this was a good impetus around getting this information. We did a survey of departments to Help quantify the number of applications that we have out there that usually we defined it by department specific or limited to You know a handful of departments as opposed to our enterprise-wide solutions that Sylvia will talk about That are our basically our core functions of the entire organization or touch every department and on our and our Are our main business applications? They are the things that help run the city day-to-day So the survey that we conducted about a hundred and seven total applications across 28 departments By far the largest of that was the police department police department Now don't have that statistic in here, but yeah But IT by far has the largest number of department specific type of applications that we use so I'm looking at our survey I'm looking at our Results the support we looked at what how those applications are supported 35% percent are supported by vendors 25% are supported by IT 18% are supported by department subject matter experts meaning a staff person within the department Or 22% are jointly supported and the PMO fits into that aspect as well This doesn't speak to volume of workload. This is just based on the number of the applications So it could be that some of these applications may take Two or three different IT individuals to support because of the Left the heft of the product, but it doesn't necessarily speak to the workload again It's just the quality the quantity of the applications The question on the 35% supported by vendors Can I assume that there is a price associated? With the ones that are supported by vendors more than likely yes There may be some annual support cost and then do you have some that are supported by vendors and still require Staff oh yes, and that's the joint that's the jointly supported ones Okay, the 22% there's really very few as we shift I guess more to cloud solutions IT may or may not necessarily be as Hands-on as they would have been had there not been in clouds Supported, but there's really not any product that IT doesn't support or touch at some point Whether it's through the help desk or the others, but still they can speak to that piece Vendor support so let's go with a Hosted solution for example banner that'll be moving to the cloud that'll primarily be supported by But there will still be some Because there's some infrastructure things that would need to be set up for instance like we set up secure connectivity through the cloud environment Will support the functional user, you know ensure that the computer where browsers functional will support the computer They run into any issue, so we'll still always have And a department specific one could be like power DMS with this department Power DMS management system called power DMS that's hosted and Police is pretty self-sufficient on that system Do they have a subject matter expert that supports their functional users create their account that's like a thing if there is like a connection issue that's when we jump in you know And then of course sometimes there's turnover and they'll ask why with the product so I think it's safe to have you that most of the time the Division the department staff will reach out by to Then if it's something that your staff Don't realize it even if you're not in In the vendors that's what they like to do Basic troubleshooting first before Right right the other important part of what we look at with our applications because this Obviously critical to operations Especially when we're talking about business continuity is regarding to training of our products and training of our applications So 45% are trained by staff That's usually like a train the trainer approach the vendor will train a handful of staff individuals And then that staff is responsible for training the rest of the department or the rest of the users Then we also have vendor training. There's a lot of self-taught capabilities now especially with YouTube almost every vendor now has some kind of platform that they have out there available for self-taught whether again as Public as been as as YouTube and then some that's specifically available by subscription Some type of subscription like our annual support maintenance. I mean then of course other Other could be Workshops or others, you know, if it's a Microsoft product and then one's tech or something like that Critical versus non-critical Critical is broadly defined here in the sense of could services still be providing can work still be performed So of course 85% self-determined that critical would be The applications that they use Pretty much meaning they they wouldn't they were their work without either be hampered or not able to be performed If they did not have technology and I think that's sort of an obvious Question, I don't think there's much work that we could perform today that doesn't require technology Even I would say in the folks doing construction work. There's there's some kind of technology that's related to it getting that workout Next slide frequency and type of use About 70% self-described that they use these applications on a daily basis Some are 13% as Weekly and about 12% monthly We also looked at whether it's public-facing right now about 13% of our products or our software that the Self-defined of those departments specific or public-facing meaning the public interacts with or that or Somehow utilizes it in some way shape or form whether it's an online or web component And then of course the majority that's going to be internal And I'm guessing public-facing would that be like our application process Is that the best one Online billing online payments Any questions about our our survey that is the survey Here's a snapshot of our enterprise-wide at the pool departments I'd like to make a note on the GIS portion That should the user's sponsor should be Public work is one of the users of the system And then ifis and banner those project upgrades are under way today And in the next slides I'll go into more detail There's water sewer You use GIS. You have your own We work together. We've got some mapping staff that interfaced with sun june and sylvia's GIS team They're doing a little more of the detailed asset stuff that would be pretty time consuming. So they're only Very GIS intense In the context of the city-wide as well by most of the departments Every like I mentioned GIS is the sponsor of it in public public work. It's just one of the users of that But GIS touches a lot of the departments here In the Planning and development business license Um Hiring new employees And The last time we had a briefing The last time we had a briefing On city works down it on belt line You are implementing an update to city works and that's completed You completed the problem at that time was you needed to have I can't remember whether there's more staff or you you were doing it in a testing environment that was Slowing you down. Well, so we we we tested we trained we bought tablets And we've implemented and we we're we're revising the templates that the staff used but the goal and and I'd say We're 80 percent there. I can't say that every crew is using the tablet as efficiently as they should We haven't completely gone paperless But we're close but the goal is when they're out there Making a let's say a leak repair They're filling out the work order and completing it in the field So you're not bringing a piece of paper back and somebody else logging it in So it's we're trying to get all the field crews using the tablets Some staff are a little More attuned to using tablets than others and so that's taking a little bit what Sometimes it's a generational thing sometimes it's uh, you know, I'm just not used to doing that and and um but the ones that that Have used it the long it that it becomes very intuitive and they really pick it up quickly So we're doing a little bit of additional training with uh about the tablets and Trying to get each and every field crew using them to the maximum Well, I think that'll do a lot for your numbers on your monthly report Yes, sir, the three thousand still out there real time closing of the work order And then if it's a a paving restoration or sidewalk restoration, it pushes it automatically to public works The process is getting it I was briefing the mayor the other day. I think it's better than it's ever been I'm not saying it's perfect, but we're getting better every step every day. So um big thanks to it for helping us get the The templates and and every time About every other week we run across some new thing. Hey, we could we adjust the template and make this a check box? So it's easy for them. So we're trying to refine the process, but it It does appear to be working. I want you to get the steel plates on your gis. So we'll know where the steel plates are talking about So and of course pmo plays a big role in in city works as well and in all of these applications effect. So Harmon she she's the Business analyst for city works. Okay project manager I'll call her the subject matter expert For city works um I do have one question with the Intergov and code enforcement Can you give me an example of how So the code the intergov code enforcement Um, that's david hatches group. So they have mobile apps on iPads that allow them to Do inspections and write up issue tickets They can do those on the scene. Okay. I got you On their iPads and update And business life. So yeah, it serves multiple purposes Yeah Next we have the We're going to specific systems. We have the banner utility billing system We're currently A data migration is underway currently right now. So we're migrating data from our current on-premise system into the hosted environment user accepts acceptance testing is occurring And then additional customizations The interface with Banner such as nice in contact, which is our call center software And innovation in city works Our target go live for banners january 2023 And some of the improvements that Will be evident once we go live Expanded enterprise innovations Which allow us to integrate with other systems like nice in contact in city works um Easier look up method to to look up account a person's account by using their phone number Allow customers to set up payment plans without speaking to someone so they can And then an automated process for bad debt. That's tiffany's Tiffany will be thrilled Everybody else Yeah, Carmen is a project manager for it as well. So she's doing a good job of getting everyone together and testing moving and Sylvia So we had a little bit of a hardware issue Yeah, understating a little bit of a hardware issue and these folks Hours upon hours and a lot of sleepless nights getting that fit when a lot of sleepless hours Getting that fixed for us last week. But as we move to the cloud with this upgrade, I think some of those It does because there was a redundancy in the hosted environment So it'll be so we had a little bit of interruption our customers being able to pay and Tiffany and the it team worked that out. But this is a solution that helps us resolve some of those issues as well I'm really looking forward to it Last week certainly helped to get everybody motivated to make that go live make that go live date Ifas upgrade is underway as well Business process reviews are underway between various functional users such as hr finance those are the major Players of users of the system budget procurement Each of the areas are testing their functional areas, you know, like creating Purchase orders running payroll that type of thing The technical environment there was some configuration items we needed to complete in order To establish a secure connection to to the ifas environment that's hosted in the cloud And of course testing the various integrations like, you know Some of the mark migration next steps include we'll begin november 18 That's again, we'll be moving our current data into the cloud environment Um Once that's completed, then we'll get our users back in the system to test to Verify the data that it came over we're getting the same results that we get in Like if we were on a payroll, you know, we would do it in the cloud does the data match And the target go live is april For that system Some improvements to the new system are enhanced reporting capabilities. It has a cogniz reporting system Is some built-in analytic tools as well out of the box And we could also build our own custom reports as well workflow automation tools and Of course this one is hosted as well And a lot of the work for these these upgrades is the configuration of the product to our business processes and our business tools Which is where we take the opportunity to to review some of these business processes Some we can implement as we go live Most of them we don't come after we go live so that we can test an equal system to the system But that's what part that's also a big component of why these upgrades take so long Especially one from the version level one to this cloud solution. So we want to make sure we do it, right Um, get everybody trying and the users are getting more and more familiar with the system and you know, the added features Of course, we'll be You know The goal is to you know, not disrupt our business processes Well, I understand the amount of time that it takes because I have also seen Where the workers comp commission didn't take their time And they had to pull the whole system it was up for maybe two weeks And they pulled the whole system down and we haven't seen it in two years And we so I understand it's important to make sure that you go through that process Yeah, it is especially talk to the end user first because they know their business process They know what they need so that's key and a lot of times that gets And and the staff that's testing and the fact the staff that is testing it And then the staff that's training on it is doing it at the same time. They are also doing their daily duties So this is this is an added responsibility to them So of the portion of keeping the ship right while we're also trying to redecorate the new one Next we have the intergov system business online So we'll be implementing the online portal to allow businesses to pay for the removes and business licenses Right now, um, we're close to going live with the system. What's going to say is there a date on here? December 5th is a soft go live. So Kelly and business license she'll reach out to some of the businesses now the system will be available online to anybody But she'll reach out She won't advertise initially, but she'll reach out to some of the businesses get them in there To remove their licenses. We already have businesses that are intergov users. So We'll reach out to some of those businesses As well. So that's the soft go soft launch But the system is close to being fully tested We're making a few minor changes Those changes will be moved into production and then Once that's finalized then you go live We're very close The customer has to have intergov So they're logging into the intergov So intergov has minimized the business license planning and development Code enforcement Um, of course, um, it may as see already has a portal. Um, the loud businesses to pay online. So, um We're working with them as well. They've given us access to their test environment, right and We've we've completely tested the whole process from, you know, You know the license and up through making the payment through their system. Excellent organization. Yes So they they'll turn over the system the production environment to us in january. So right now we've completed all the testing with them, but January we won't be able to configure our part of it until So but, um, ma sc and tyler tech the vendor for intergov they're, um in negotiations To develop a interface So because right now it's a manual process So we would have to outlay upload our businesses manually into So If this integration is done, you know between ma sc and intergov then it'll be a more automated And it'll benefit other agencies in South Carolina city of charles And if that integration is done because right now It's a manual process between the two systems. So any data that's in internet in ma sc you have to manually It's not automated If that makes sense You know, it it does it makes sense. That is me. Exactly. Yeah So, you know, it's early stages negotiation the lawyers are talking so We don't have a timeline for that, but we do have a stopgap method to to deal with the renewals and business license licenses Next we have the intergov e-review system So, um that allows for a paperless plan submission There's a workflow process that provides automated Processing of plan review plans so they they can do markups online, you know, do their reviews Do any markups send it back to the contractor, you know, have that back and forth All in in a digitized manner versus paper copy Everything's automated So I know a lot of the the folks that are submitting utility plans You know, we've we've been investing in larger monitors for our staff Because you can imagine from looking at the plan sheet, but but we're not investing in drawing boards anymore And so this blue bean technology our engineering staff the utility review staff They absolutely love it. I think planning and development as well They can insert their comments directly on the submittal and send back So it's it's very efficient rather than Letters back and forth and then another set of plans coming in. I mean it's It's really streamlining the process and saving a lot of trees The system has been live as of july 1st I had my system admin reach out to Utilities engineer they've had 54 plans submitted to the portal. That's probably a couple weeks Old information So yeah, it's something I need to follow up on as an action I I'd love to talk to some of the developers and engineers and see how they like it when we get about six months into it Are you liking this or What could we make I haven't heard any negative feedback Our team loves it, but I really want to talk to them to see if How well is that going? Well, and that's what I was going to say clint trust me if it was difficult You would have heard about it right now You would have gotten at least 54, you know 54 calls, but um the fact that we haven't heard any complaints I take as an indication That is Very easy to get very easy to maneuver Okay, so some department specific projects. We'll start with the public parks project We're installing computer equipment ap's for Wi-Fi access at 16 parks Right now we started with Catherine Bellefield, but um We're setting up. Um, they were our first Silent site, I would call it. So and that's another thing. I'm not sure, you know, as far as the usage, you know from the public But it'll provide visitors with, you know, um access to the technology They can bring their own equipment in connect to them to the Wi-Fi access point Or utilize the computers that are Speaking so you're giving them 300 mag at all apart. We upgraded all the parks for 300 mag spectrum Also, um All right, updating the wiring and all of the parks. So we've completed four sites But we had to pull away some But I mean it's underway, I was hoping to get it done by the end of this year Hopefully, but all the equipment is in We just waited on the wiring to be completed furniture to come in, you know, so we're ready to go And what sort of computers do we have home devices home And home computers, do you know about how many computers will be at each part About between five to 10. So Catherine Bellefield will have 10 Some parts it depends on the size of the park. You know, some parks will have three You have some with five five computers. So it varies among the different parts And I should know this but do all of our parks have Wi-Fi access The 16 that we're installing right now. Yes, okay They have it now currently we've improved the speed With the ball Hopefully Well, no, I only say that because we did a dedication at Hyatt Park Asia Painted a mural on one of the courts But I guarantee you some of the Hyatt parks folks asked me about their computers and when we're there coming So no people are people are anxiously awaiting Yeah, Hyatt Park is number two on the priority list and they they will get 10 computers at their location Oh, you sounded real good. Yeah, so it was a project of a total of 72 computers Um about 32 access points to cover those We're making progress Mr. DeVall your favorite topic disaster recovery So Cory's taking a lead on this particular project So this provides us with some recovery solutions in the event of a disaster so Currently we've moved 90 of our environment Into this new backup solution backups or check daily it's a combined effort between CDIT and then the vendor that guard Our next steps is to move public safety into that backup environment. Um, and then develop an annual Schedule and plan So improvements is hosted, you know, you're not tied to You know local right backups where if a disaster were to happen locally, you know It would take us out. But now since it's hosted So, uh, let's say we have a huge tornado that wipes out the data center 1401. I recognize your data center What would be the process? For getting to your data anybody with a laptop that's got internet access? Uh, yes, sir. So Right now it will be similar to what we do with remote work So we would just mount you to a different location, which would be a cloud location and employees will have access to what they need And we've got ifas going to the cloud. We've got banner going to the cloud Your major most most critical functions would be In the cloud. Yes, sir, and your data is not across the street. It's uh At least 75 miles apart. Yes Yeah, we're replicating two locations. Yeah, east coast and the west coast Seven years Yeah, thank you again I'm worried about those 757s flying right over your building One of them might drop out of the sky where these things so improvements. Yeah, um, it's cloud base. Um, we we have technical resources daily available to us To ensure the backups are running And assist us in any recovery scenarios And we have a one-year retention on our data And then a technical actual written technical restore process What about testing We're gonna have a city citywide test that you call on an alert day and They're all right. You don't have um, you don't have access to x y z. How are you gonna operate? Yeah That's being discussed. Yeah I'm just not gonna access my stuff If y'all know you need to know what to do when the emergency happens because I'm a costum Somebody needs to go through the process because you'll find little kinks in there that you don't Don't realize but you need to exercise those They find out a little bit more than they want to Yeah real life The kovid helped a whole lot on getting people to understand that you can operate remotely as long as your data Is available. Yeah Or accessible. Yeah Next we have plan improvements for next year First cpd we're planning to Place their existing body cameras Next we had the finance enterprise phase too. So there's some other functionality that We'll tackle in phase two that is too much of a lift to try to get us, you know through this current Upgrade that on like this if this will become finance Yes, that's the name of the upgraded version. That's the new system. Yep. So if this will be no longer Um Then uh building up fit for cpd. So they'll be standing up a new facility for So we're making plans right now, you know Getting a circus order, you know And providing specs for network equipment We're in the midst of a cpd mobile upgrade that has already started so We're upgrading about 25 vehicles a week cpd vehicles a week Once the vehicles are upgraded we can cut over to the new mobile software, which is the same version of And then Finley park, you know, just like with the building And then finally No system Sylvia do you have a question? Um What about cameras in the parks that doesn't follow up under you? That's the security camera project. So that is a project that's underway right now motor Is is the vendor that will take full responsibility for that system? So they'll implement maintain that And is that going to be for the same 16 parks or I don't have the locations Right now for that particular project. I can find out for you From cpd and what the location So it is happening through cpd now placement Yeah So we're only replacing cameras that were previously there Some as well I'm one of the people I get calls about and we need cameras Now I know they're whenever we get a request there has been a request for cameras at some parks And so we'll provide them, you know the specifications close for them, you know To implement those cameras at the parks as well Is it was there a specific park green view park Green view park Yeah, we won't mention names um And then one other question that I get a lot is cameras To catch people dumping And that's that's something that david already has I'll check with on his knees That's a part of the issue or okay I know that I had heard that they um, but I just get questions And so I like to give as many updates as I can You know, I have had to explain to folks what I call city time and So when no, but really when you tell folks, yes, we're putting cameras out Then they think that the cameras would be there in two weeks Um, and so you kind of have to manage expectations Well, next we'll go into the customer relationship management Functionality All right, so I understand that the customer relationship management system Is something that's a hot topic So I'm going to start with giving an overview of the existing system that we currently have and use right now Um, so our current system called gov qa. That is what it's called to our administrative staff To our citizen facing Customers it is called my columbia sc This is an online portal where citizens can submit a request For service or a concerned a city related concern Through either the columbia columbia website columbia water website or the city of columbia website We also have the columbia sc app Which is supported by ios and android devices So the portal like I said allows for citizens to submit requests to city staff It also allows some tracking Based off if a customer sets up an account or not Citizens can basically just go on to the home page and You see where it says submit a service request or report a concern After that the next slide will show well the next page will list a A list of departments city departments and they can choose from the departments Or if they don't know which department manages their specific concern they can simply Hit the tab that says ask a question So when they hit that tab that goes straight to our customer services department where our online specialist Responds to those requests within 24 hours As I mentioned earlier customers citizens can create an account if they create an account what will happen is they for instance if A leak is reported if a citizen calls in to report a leak They also have the capability to submit photos and attachments along with that request So if they create an account they will get a response back from us Indicating that there has been a service request created for that particular leak If someone does not create an account They'll get a response after they hit the submit budding just indicating that we have received their request But of course there's no way for us to you know reply back to them if they haven't created an account The just a question on that so is there something Um When they're putting in the complaint that tells them If you want to get feedback or check on the status you need to create an account There is not not to my knowledge Have some FAQs out there and one of the FAQs is about you know, how do I use gov qa? So it alerts them that they can respond anonymously Or if they want to track the report they can register and so forth. So That's out there for them to to get that information not necessarily just prominently out here Saying if you want to track, but it isn't that a whole series about the q then the top question is how do I use this I think it would be good if it's prominent because what we get is I called or I put it in or I called or I put it in And then we get a call Um Whereas a lot of that could have been eliminated Had they known that they had the ability to track it So if there's any way to make it more prominent And if I need to just start telling people to make sure, um, I think that's important And again, it's about getting full utilization of the product to Is this the same system that the AMI Is hooked up to for us No, sir. That's a A separate application The island water application through badger meter. They're not It's not pulled into that Right So also, um other departments utilize as well as far as the my gov qa System, um, they can reassign to other departments. And for instance, um, a request comes in that is not managed by their department It can reassign to different departments. There is a reporting function tool Where you can, um, have reports, you know Reported daily or you can schedule reports to to come to specific Staff members As far as current status With this system that we're exist. We're using existently right now We are scheduling a vendor led refresher training this month. Um, karmine has reached out to granicus The vendor to just provide a refresher training because we have several new staff that have come aboard and Since we implemented this system So we feel it will be beneficial for the vendor to provide us a refresher training Just also make sure that we're fully utilizing all the features and the tools And just, you know, give us some advice as far as anything that we can change and update to make it more user friendly to our citizens Well, I have a question for my citizens who aren't going to use this Which is probably 40 of them aren't going to use it But could I actually create an account? And then every time I get a call Enter that into the system and therefore I'm able to get updates It's called chenique that well absolutely. So There is a portion in there. We're all sitting automate. I'm sorry That's okay. Um, so for our other departments, um, for instance like chenigue and erica Can have an account and they can go in and create a request as well as if they were a customer or or But they would do it from the the administrative side So that's something that you would like as well to have an account created where you can go in and do that That is an option. Well, I'm looking more so about I'm thinking more so from the perspective of so that I can track I don't want to go through people So like can I put can I tina herbert start an account? And when I get a call like I got a call on friday, the tree is down on whatever whatever address Can I put that in there and because I have created an account? Get an update when the tree is picked up So here's a good example I got a call on thursday frat. No got to call on friday and talk to david about it and I drove By to look at it either sunday or monday and the tree was gone So which is good but You know, maybe if I had seen that the tree was gone then I maybe Would have went on to the next thing on my list We're gonna get to that as far as the integration with city works because currently this system We do not integrate right now with city works So for an example like you just gave with the tree Of course customer care would submit their request in city works But for the actual citizen to see The updates status is from city works that is not currently in place So we are going to discuss that in just a few minutes Going back to the water department when clint sends out his monthly report He's going around about 25 to 30,000 contacts a month Are those coming through customer service? Those are coming through either email majority phone about 22 to 25,000 calls per month Chat as well as mail faxes. So yes, sir. All of those are coming into customer care But it doesn't show these it doesn't show it does if you look on there There's a it says app and it's a very small number right now. Um, the most has probably been about 25 Since I've been here It could be and those items become service requests or work orders so they would show up on the backlog graphic But they wouldn't show up on the customer care throughput graphic because We've got to figure out, you know, how to capture those And I guess I do have just so I'm clear. So what What are folks able to get updates on? So if someone creates an account, um, they will get their response back with the actual service request But being that we don't integrate right now with city works, they would have to contact us to get updates on that Well, that's what I'm saying. You said if they do set up an account Just in general, what are we what are we capable of giving them updates on? If it's something that's not city works related, um another city was like a real I'm not really picky animals in city works, too A general question like if someone just had a general concern and it didn't really, you know, entail a city works order We just respond back. So if they have a question about something You know, they created account. We can respond back if they haven't created an account We don't have, you know means of you know, corresponding back and forth with them But yeah for anything that's not city works related as far as a service request that they just have general questions Um, the the portal that where they create the account will allow us to communicate back and forth and answer any other additional questions they have That's within 24 hours just that 48 hours customer care 24 hours. Yes, sir I think um if they do create the account And and they report Water leak a sewer overflow or a pothole, whatever Once a service request is created Then it automates a response back to the customer saying hey, we've received your request a service request has been created The feedback they don't get is that the work is done That integration is not there yet The way that I handle that is I have a tablet on my desk And when I get a call I've got a water leak and so on and so forth I respond I send it to Tiffany or whoever But I also Reply to the customer when it's fixed you call me back or you when it's fixed you send me an email That's that's the way I know to strike it off as being completed But that's what we want to get away from well Well, I'd like to have the feedback from the customer too. Well, they got that Have a real time Well, and and I probably do it just the opposite because I don't I ask them to call me if it hasn't been done within three weeks two to three weeks Or the best day is when I remember to call myself and say, I'm just checking to see if it's been done Um, and they say yes, but I don't have the ability to do that on a consistent basis But it is fun when I call and they say that it was done. Um, you know, I mean, I mean, it's a good call It's usually a very good call. Wait till Clint tells you it's done and then call them and say is that done? Just checking I had to do that sometimes too because I do have to do that So pretty much like I said, those are just kind of um, what the existing system does. Um, Erica is going to discuss because I understand we have been tasked with looking at exploring some other options And so Erica is going to discuss about the completed task for that request and the next steps And before I get started, I do want to add that we realize that there is an opportunity for us to close the loop on some of our customer service responses And so we are evaluating that and we will respond accordingly I am talking about this because earlier this year constituent services was added into my role And a part of that is to take, uh, some of the The um, buzzmen piece from chenique and a lot of the calls that we get at city hall And make sure we're doing exactly what you're expecting, which is Getting the request or the concern to the appropriate department and then following up with the constituent and make sure we're closing that communications loop And so I have been working alongside acm benjamin and pretty much everyone you see here at the table and in the room To evaluate various products that offer constituent relationship management But um, just recently we've done some requirements gathering So we've gone from department to department because we want to move past the day Where uh, we have a need at city hall, but we don't look to see what other needs or similar needs exist around the city And so we've bought together even um, we've bought in public works and some uh customer care, of course We've bought together the team just to figure out what are our requirements What is what is it that we're expecting a crm to do and so that's been our requirements gathering so we've met with a few vendors and um, we've um We've even received some vendor demonstrations And so I believe you all are familiar with a couple at least one of those vendors And so we're at the point now Where we're in the procurement phase and so we talk about gov qa more on a parallel track We're evaluating gov qa We want to make sure that we are doing the all that we can do to get the best out of the system Because the system is only as good as the information we put into it and as much as we use it So we're not quite ready to say we're we're done with gov qa And so we just come today to Present our business case so to speak To say that we have a product that we believe we could make it work And if you all would just continue to bear with us We met you just on yesterday with procurement We have christiana and rodrick from missy's team We met with procurement yesterday to see what the procurement process would look like if we decide to go another avenue And so of course we have won't get into the ins and outs about procurement But there's a formal track and an informal procurement track that we could take if you all decided that Gov qa is not the avenue that you want to continue to stick with Well, and I guess because I haven't used gov qa Sorry And I'll just tell you and I I did call the mayor to make sure because I wanted to make sure I was on the same page Yes, that's what he I think the expect we get calls um and In a lot of situations We really do want to be the person to call back. Yes, okay some things You know, I know certain things i'm i will give to people, but then there's some things that I realized I need to call back um, and so just having a way to Right now what I do is I email it to the to whoever it who it falls up under um and Sometimes I will get an email back and and this is not a criticism at all. This is just how it works Sometimes I'll get a response back of when it will be done. Sometimes I don't sometimes I remember to to send an email You know two weeks later because I get a lot of them and I get a lot of calls So I'm trying to find more of an uh, uh automated way um I don't know if it's a good use of staff's time to have to You know have to enter stuff in about Um a call that I got I'm assuming as as processes are happening and things are closing out That I could see it and and I will tell you how I try and do the same thing at my office If everything is in the system, then I don't have to call My folks to get you know every detail um I think that's that's kind of more what we're looking at and and then when I get the call back in two weeks Do I didn't have to make another call or send an email to ask what you know, what's the status I would Rather be able to give a status. Okay. Does that make sense? Oh, it makes perfect sense. Yeah Yeah, we definitely appreciate your observations and your feedback on that and I would say that They're staff dedicated to do that So when you say that it's not a good use of staff time We have staff that are dedicated solely to doing just that and I think that with your feedback We're going to take that back What I hear you saying is not necessarily part of it is automated and part of it is something that Is a human resource that we can begin to adjust and implement right away. I believe We can respond to that rather quickly Yes, ma'am I don't know Really I want to get away from using Folks, I guess folks not a good one Yeah, something that allows me to be more independent as a council person and it helps me respond quicker So you're sick weighing right into our next step, which is a council and management demonstration Yes, ma'am So I believe that we have the capability if that's what you're truly wanting to do we have the capability to Set up user accounts internally And so if that is the desired path and we can definitely talk about that more and explore it more But the next step is to schedule council and management Demonstrations, I believe on both sides the public facing side and the internal administrative side And I guess because I'm the new person you would have to tell me what I can do Yes, ma'am With qa and if it was here when I left my bad, but um, I have no idea What can be done with it? I'm like, well my bad, we're learning too. Yeah You're fine Oh, they have an office of like a muslin office like eight people or something Well, and I don't anticipate it completely going away, but I guess I'm also looking at the other stuff that I know Folks will work Folks, you know, I'm I kind of look at on the the list of things that folks need to do throughout the day I don't know chasing behind one of my emails is And I I think so and I think it kind of goes back to what clint mentioned earlier The main part is we just want to know it's done And communicate that with the folks I mean The best way the easiest way to to for us to know When something is done so we can just take it off off the list. Yeah Yeah, and we definitely um as we've gone through this data Gathering and looking at the business requirements. We've seen um a lot of areas for You know opportunities for improvements like for example, the customer has to They don't get an automatic response like you just said what the example was talking about They have to go in they have to know their number. They have to check things that way things aren't integrated with city works So there are things that don't connect to each other that should that would make it easier for for you the customer Anybody that we task with keeping up with these things it would flow much better with the integration Um some improvements The look and feel of it It's a little bit bulky. No, we're talking about the app right now or we're talking about going online Or going through the app either one of those they need to be refreshed and they need to be updated Some of the data in there still You know really people being able to focus in the different departments to update some of that information Well, I have a question And I don't know if y'all know. I mean how I think we know how many are coming through the app. Do we know how many Requests are coming in through the website On the 25 that I mentioned is just customer care. So as far as the other departments, I'm not Aware as how many they are getting I would assume very little as well, but um just customer care. I know it's And that's part of it also, you know the other departments, you know really utilizing it Um as much as they can to help it all Go into one system Instead of being so fragmented all over the city And so if if I have a young savvy not young but someone who I know will use an app Or is it the recommendation right now to go ahead and send them to the app and say, you know, you can put this on the app Or not right now Wait a while Um as miss pam just that question Well, as miss pam just mentioned, there's definitely um some maintenance and some cleanup things that need to be done. Um I just as far as directing them being now that we in customer care phone systems Are more manageable as far as with having more people. Um, I wouldn't necessarily direct them right now But it is working We've been testing testing it recently and I will say just so y'all know I'm what neighborhood seminary rich Someone came up to me and said y'all have a great app Just so we know that for the record. So there are people I guess the people who use it are having a good Response I should have got his name A functionality of being able to go to a pothole on a city street And take a picture and geolocate that and it creates the request that's there A lot of folks aren't using it. Um, and and that function out of reporting back that hey that pothole was repaired on this day That's not there yet I'll say this we we were strategic about not integrating We launched the app. We were strategic about not doing the city works integration because A whole lot of our work Is not being captured in city works And so we've gone to the mobile app that was part of driving that process to make sure the work we're doing Is captured and captured in real time So that that enables us Now or very shortly to be able to do the city works integration And it makes it a better experience for that customer to me that makes the app much more valuable For a user That's the real value that's there that has not been there as well as a A viewpoint to other city services that is there, but it is clunky. It does need to be refreshed So what's the time frame climp for putting into place? Exactly what you just described because it's on the back end the satisfaction is seeing the work done and so with our recruitment retention Issues we've had I think we're doing a lot better with that We're catching up on work orders seems like now's a good time to really bring all this together to ultimately Tighten up that time frame for work orders to be done. So the the resident the customer that does call in that work order Sees the the sidewalk gets fixed or the pothole gets fixed quicker than currently So I'll defer to our team on the the mechanics of city works integration Of getting that real time. I know it's on the on the list. I don't know what that time frame is in terms of next steps And we will make a recommendation to us about that Yeah, and we look like Erica said we have gone through the process of evaluating some solutions, um, I will say that There's a lot that's already in the qa that we will have to Put those same things into a new thing if we did a new thing So there is some value in staying with this and working with some of the improvements and and we'll have to You know continue to use it but whether or not we Really Integrate do some of the enhancements and do some of things like that or pivot and go to something new You know, that's where we are looking at all the pros and cons of of doing that. Can you give us some examples? Clinton team of The gov qa Group that interfaces with city works that that's doing it right out there that really has it humming the the integration the communication Networks that we're talking about is there a case study out there for us to look to municipality utility combination With the current vendors we have because it sounds like is it going to be a heavy load to transfer The re-enter data. I mean because that's we don't want to rework the rework Right exactly and that's what we've been talking about because because some of the some of the products there is no city works integration So without that piece, right, you know, why would we the question is why would you take that on when there is no integration? Possible. Yeah, so that puts us a step back from where we are So we definitely can look and find some case studies to look at But those have been some of the things that we're checking the boxes on is do you integrate with city works? Do you can we utilize you for our current the things we currently have right? And if you you can't then we we don't want to explore that as an option because it's gonna it's a heavy lift to Kind of reinvent the wheel. Well, there's no there's no there's no used to do there's no desire to get away from city works I mean, we're here. What file But the but the cms the crm what goes hand-in-hand with city works. Exactly. Yeah Yeah, Herman, do you know that interface? Do you know who's doing it? Well, you have any Right now, I don't know who's doing it. Well, we can definitely um, it was 2018 when we explored and So we can check in and see currently what's happening But I just want to clarify that we actually have a test environment That we're that we already have set up the gov qa city works integration And I like clinton's mentioned at the time we made strategic decision not to Move forward with it through production So we did get the vendor to point us back where it was And one of our next steps as we explore that when we say explore city works integration And we're going to go to this test site where you already had something set up And just dust it off and see where we are with it And so in terms of timeline, I think and if we're one of our requirement for any Solution is to make sure it integrates back to city work because that's where the work is happening That's where you'll know and so right out of the box This tool has it and so we're going to dust it off wherever we left off see what's there do some testing What tiffany and her group um and and play with it and see if it's in a good state to move forward So I think we could probably we can get that part that exploration done in the next few weeks Also, like we said, we have planned for the vendor to come in and refresh us on the back end And what can we do to configure it more efficiently? And so within like I said in the next few weeks, I think those parts can be completed What we find when we dust it off, you know, that's an exercise we're about to begin And I think we would like that opportunity to look closer at that so that we can determine is it A good fit for where we're trying to go, you know from where we started a few years back It met all the boxes WQA already existed. We added the city works integration piece and then we said let's pause so We haven't done anything to it should still be there and we just need to get back opportunity So I think, you know our commitment to customer service tiffany and her team We're hearing from the residents that it's it's making a big difference The follow through with this full circle Connectivity educating where are we in the case work the case though the work orders, but also clint Following through on the work to see it from start to finish in a tight timeline I think would be a home run for this council as a as a and staff as a big a big win So any any any, um, you know Tight timelines we need to push Let's let's keep doing that with our our digging into gov qa and the and the integration possibilities And did you say you're scheduling something as I try to find good Wait on my iPad That's another thing we talked about was Accessing it from the city's website. How easy that is or not All those things are things that we are We've evaluated again to make a total customer Experience much much better because we actually as staff we went out and we played around and we were like, oh Well, you know, you can't quite get to it and it needs to be somewhere more prominent and and You know some of those features that would make it a better experience We we're taking notes of those and I think those things can be some of those things can be done sooner than later It's just a matter of spending some time with it And focusing on it Yeah, and then it doesn't say gov qa. It's my columbia sd really basic people Um, I'm looking for I'm looking for gov qa So that's a part of it too is um, how do we want to relaunch? How do we want to rebrand? You know, how do we want to? Get it out there, but we want to make sure, you know, everything works and everything is Working well before we do any of that How do we communicate it? It's going to be really important But I think y'all get y'all get the overall of what we're trying to and It's a mixture of human capital and software that we have It helps with the integration. That's fine, but But that's ultimately I think what all of us Need to do and see how we're you're at large I don't know if you get the number that district. I mean the number of direct calls that district folks get I know and let me tell you what I love about how But what I love about Howard is if someone copies him on mine and he answers i'm like let Howard Thanks, Howard. Let let Howard handle that one. So I appreciate it Howard All right, so where are we now? It's a very good update. I appreciate all of that We've come a long way I think it is an evolution and you think about, you know, just customer service customer response It's a process and we've tried to be strategic and we're we're getting to a point where I mean we're just checking things off the list Ultimately, we you know, we'd love to have For whatever city service When someone reports that And they get a notification that hey, we've investigated and found this And this is the service level expectation. You can expect that this will be resolved in X number of days if it's a service line It's a little longer than if it's a main line. It's a little garbage is different But you know and that could inform them so they don't have to say well, how long is it going to take It's already this is your service level expectation. Then it's our goal to meet that service level expectation That's where we want to get to All being processed Appreciate y'all's patience, but we do we do want to get there Percentage wise, where would you say we're at right now? We are leaps and bounds beyond us not a percent leaps and bounds And so being able to do that I think we're 90 percent of the way there for being able to report out I'd say we're 50 percent of the way there from the service level expectation being where we want it to be So there's a pretty good backlog of work still out there in some areas That we are whittling down And some of that is by closing out work orders that were just open It had that had we in and we integrated the report back The customer might think well that pothole's still not repaired. It might have been repaired to you Just hadn't been closed out So we'll clean up a lot of that and and we're well on our way to doing that. So All right, that's why I said timing is probably good now. Yes, sir You know with your successes in that that initiative and also employment levels So I have a question. Do you think January Would be a good time to at least show council Love qa or is that too soon? I honest answer is the best one Um a demonstration for us because I've checked with them. They don't use it either I think january is as feasible Like I said, we wanted to do some cleanup and once we get the demonstration from the vendor We can kind of replicate that demo to you all so and even if it's a demo to to show What it can do if we add some more it's not there yet or if it's a demo of This is why we I guess all I would be looking for is a decision point Of whether or not we're gonna stick with it And you think you can you know in two months is that reasonable is that And not that it has to be done. We're just saying a decision point. Yeah, okay Because then you know the other thing is I don't my Capacity to take on a demo that I may never use Right, right and and we would want to be thoughtful about that We wouldn't want to demonstrate something and then the next month we say, oh, we've decided not to go that way So right so we would probably be February would probably be three months more reasonable for all the pieces and parts that will be We got holidays in the middle and connecting things so And I guess too along those lines if if it's more of a capacity issue Then that may resolve the issue Right, so What we're just looking at the end The end and I take staff recommendations I like saying that I mean I take them under advice, you know, but y'all know what I mean I like to hear what staff is recommending To help us make decisions. Yes, we have a one o'clock The chairman might not be back by one o'clock, but we will don't call the meeting to order without me Well, you don't I'm sorry Is a motion to um adjourn To adjourn it's done