JOINT REPORT OF Assistant Directors of Salford @dvance and IT Net
& Head of Customer Services to CORPORATE SERVICES LEAD MEMBERS- March 2004
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT and
THE FUTURE OF THE COUNCIL’S CRM SYSTEM (CITIZEN)
1.
BACKGROUND
(1.1) The City Council has made great strides in embracing the philosophy and practice of
delivering truly CITIZEN- CENTRIC SERVICES, where customer needs and
preferences are better understood and services more effectively aligned to them. Such
an approach is often characterised as CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT,
which recognises that…
o
People want high quality services that are easily understood, accessible and convenient. They
want them to be highly responsive and flexible to their needs, proactive and joined up at the point
of delivery and in a way which empowers them to make choices in how they might access services
with no variation in quality
o
People want those delivering services to listen more and to make more effort to find out what they
want ... and they want to be kept informed.
IN SHORT, THEY WANT SERVICES BUILT AROUND THEIR CURRENT AND EMERGENT NEEDS
NOT NECESSARILY THE CONVENIENCE OF PROVIDERS
(1.2) Many imaginative and far-reaching steps have been taken to develop the essential
organisational building blocks and enabling measures to bring about the successful
transition. Such measures have put Salford at the forefront of the Local Authority family,
underlined by its Pathfinder and National Programme status.
Key developments include:

Development of an underlying Customer Service Strategy by which to provide the
corporate framework for the delivery of high quality front line services underpinned by
sound standards and a professional motivated workforce

Implementation of a multi-service customer contact centre, as part of an integrated
service channel approach embodying self-service via the Internet and service centres

Development of Business Process Re-Engineering skills and tools by which to
improve front and back office service processes, structures and systems

Development of a range of IT solutions through which key information about
customer service needs are better understood and service delivery therefore better
planned, managed and executed, and more particularly, the in-house development of
the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system known as CITIZEN
(1.3) It is this latter topic namely the future development of CITIZEN and how it inter-works
with other related systems which is the main focus of this report
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2.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) SYSTEMS IN CONTEXT
(2.1) CRM systems are still a relatively new feature in the public sector but are now, widely
regarded as a key enabler in bringing about radical improvements in customer
satisfaction and service performance. Many Councils are actively planning and
implementing solutions in this field, driven by the aims of greater service quality,
performance and economy. The overall strategic business case for such investments is
often characterised by aims for:

Improvements in Customer satisfaction…through a better understanding of
customer demands and preferences and aligning services more effectively with them

Greater consistency of service quality and performance…in terms of improved
accessibility, responsiveness and integration through standardisation

Reducing call handling costs aided by modern business processes and IT systems

Improved performance against Best Value regulatory and PSA measures,
particularly the so called mandatory priority outcomes by 2005 contained in the
Government specified 14 priority service areas

Facilitating new ways of working such as home-working and peripatetic models for
greater flexibility, a better work/life balance and environmental benefits

Providing the means of effective customer centric performance measures such as
service responsiveness, turnaround for problem resolution and transaction costs

Providing the means of working towards a single view of customers and services as
part of the drive for a corporate delivery channel strategy
(2.2) Before we look at the future of CITIZEN, it is worth considering the context of how the
system operates and inter-works with other key Council systems so that a seamless flow
of information is achieved from and to customers, front office, back office and potentially
with partners.
(2.3) The overall picture is shown graphically in Appendix 1 for information
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3.
ABOUT SALFORD’S CRM SYSTEM
(3.1) CITIZEN is being developed in-house. The decision to develop in this way arose in 2001,
due to the comparative high cost of bought in solutions, closeness of fit to Salford’s
specific requirements and the ability to align development to Salford’s Customer Service
and e-government rollout plan.
(3.2) The application currently has the following features:

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Integrated Customer/Residency/Property repository with customer histories
Full client-end call handling modules
Management application maintenance modules
Management application reporting modules
Legacy database connectivity through direct data links, or transparent gateways
Integration with Microsoft products for additional office automation features such as Outlook
(3.3) The system has been operational within the Corporate Contact Centre since 2001 and
currently caters for the following Council services





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General Enquiries
Council Tax
Council Tax Benefits
Job applications
Registrars
NPHL


Mobile Libraries
Emergency Planning
(3.4) The actual benefits realised to date from CITIZEN and associated underlying service
improvement measures include:

Single point of access to deal with multiple enquiries. This is aimed at reducing the
number of occasions that each customer needs to make contact.

Significant reduction in transaction times

Significant external recognition for both front line and back office partners including
-
Charter Mark
Short listed for beacon status
4* CPA rating

Single customer history allows for greater tracking of enquiries

More meaningful management information enabling better service planning

Reduction in training times as front line staff are no longer required to be experts in
the use of departmental legacy systems

Greater communication between directorates as information is automatically shared
between those who have an interest.

Separate ‘Emergency Planning’ module now developed which has generated interest
from other authorities.

Online applications for service currently being integrated.
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(3.5) The main development work during 2004 is to be focused on extending the facilities to
new Council Services, particularly to address the recently adopted Think Customer
Strategy which focuses on internal and external partner collaboration for better joined up
service delivery, and in providing new system features and integration with other council
applications for seamless information sharing and exchange:
Description
New Services and Integration Planned

Ongoing rollout of the Council’s e-Government Programme and integrated Service Channel
Strategy involving the continued re-engineering of a range of council services and cross-cutting
activities including: applications for service, payment, licensing etc

Enabling the recently approved Think Customer strategy entailing greater service collaboration
between Council services and with service partners via the PCT, initially based around 7 themes
of health and benefits advice, community safety, bereavement, children and youth, licensing,
street scene and tackling health inequalities

Providing for integration between CITIZEN and all major back office systems including financials
and the council’s local land and property gazetteer

Development of the LIFT Programme involving provision of joint face to face service centre
services in conjunction with the PCT
A FULLER SCHEDULE OF PLANNED SERVICE ROLLOUT IS PROVIDED AT APPENDIX 2
New System Features Planned:

Supplement the client application with web based interface for ease of use

Create automated workflow based process life events (Registrars)

Create different sector CRM views i.e Business users / Children & Elderly care.

Automated Customers search / data cleansing (multivue idea)

Customisation for the P.C.T users.

Workbox, to allow staff to see work allocated to them

Ability to report a fault or request a service from web site with direct entry into CITIZEN
(3.6) The active and enthusiastic participation of Customer Service staff in the development of
CITIZEN has resulted in a feeling of ‘ownership’, which is reflected in the high Customer
Satisfaction Levels as expressed by management and day- to- day users of the system.
THE OVERALL CONCLUSION IS THAT CITIZEN REPRESENTS ONE OF THE
COUNCIL’S PRIMARY APPLICATIONS, UPON WHICH THE TRANSFORMATION
OF SERVICES DEPENDS.
IT IS A SOUND, WELL DESIGNED AND WELL ENGINEERED APPLICATION,
CAPABLE OF SCALING UP FOR THE FUTURE AND WHICH WILL PROVIDE A
SOLID BASE ON WHICH TO DEVELOP THE ADDITIONAL FEATURES
SUMMARISED ABOVE
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4.
GAPS and SOLUTIONS
Whilst excellent work has been done over the past 2 years or so in designing, developing
and launching CITIZEN, from scratch, future successful development relies on new
measures to put such a key application into a more strategic and stronger position.
Perceived gaps in current arrangements together with proposed solutions are as follows:
Gap
Solution
Roles and Resources … Insufficient commitment of IT and
Customer Services resources to apply CITIZEN to a greater range of
services and to facilitate partnership working with the PCT as rollout
progresses and to provide greater system resilience and reliability.
Strengthen the team in accordance
with the proposed structure outlined in
Appendix 3. This involves use of
temporary posts until such time as
existing resources are freed up
following implementation of
replacement Council tax system
Devise corporate customer access
strategy as part of agreed Think
Customer deliverables
Customer Contact Strategy … The Authority has yet to adopt a
single strategy for customer access channels, something that is
needed in order to sustain the business case for a CRM solution.
The LIFT initiative and the Think Customer review’ will assist in this
Integration…Need to invest in a software tool to accelerate
integration work in order to enable inter-working of CITIZEN and
other council systems and so improve information sharing and
accessibility.
User Support… Need to develop more effective means of
supporting users in the application and usage of CITIZEN and in
providing an important source of intelligence regarding future design
and development.
Corporate Commitment, Awareness and Marketing.. Need to
communicate the facilities and benefits of the system throughout the
City Council and with partners and so generate economies of scale
through a single solution and avoid fragmentation from the risk of
different CRM solutions
Computing resources…Need to Increase the computing resources
devoted to the application for future development and operations
5.
This is to be addressed as part of the
wider e-Government programme
during 2004
Appoint a customer based Product
Champion, System Operations
Manager and council wide user group
Develop a council wide marketing and
awareness plan, supported by
business case evidence
Purchase additional server
COSTS AND FUNDING
The costs of the above measures and how they might be funded are summarised below:
Estimated Costs £k
2004/5
2005/6
Proposal
ADDITIONAL IT STAFF RESOURCES (See appendix 2)*
-
Project Manager – upgrade to existing post
CRM Architect – upgrade to existing post
Systems Analyst/Designer/ developers (2) new posts
Provision for use of specialist consultancy as necessary
6
6
65
25
3
3
33
25
25
127
4
68
COMPUTING RESOURCES
Purchase of additional server
Total
*Temporary posts initially for 18 months
The additional costs for the temporary additional posts, consultancy and associated server
described above can be met from the City Council’s recently notified Implementing eGovernment (IEG) allocation for 2004/5 and 2005/6
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6. RECOMMENDATIONS
(6.1) That CITIZEN be re-inforced as the Council’s chosen strategic corporate CRM solution
(6.2) That the team structure be strengthened as described in the report.
(6.3) That approval be given to the use of specialist consultancy as necessary up to a value
limit of £ 25,000 subject to approval by the Director of Corporate Services
(6.4) That approval be given to the purchase of an additional server in the sum of £25,000
from the Council’s preferred supplier
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Appendix 1
CITIZEN in Context
An Overview of the CITIZEN System and How it Will
Inter-Work with Other Key Council Systems
ACCESS
METHODS
Web
IVR System
Contact Centre
Face to Face
(LIFT,
Receptions etc)
BACK OFFICE
PARIS
CashReceipting
CRM (CITIZEN)
Email, Docman, Entry into
back office system
(manual or automatic)
Icllipse
Doc Man
Uni-Form
FLARE
CareFirst
Confirmation of service
delivery
Saffron
CONFIRM
EMS
SAP
Legacy Systems
Council
Tax
Benefits
NNDR
The above diagram outlines a way of implementing a consistent approach for dealing with all
services requests and payments from the citizen to the authority using a variety of access
methods including web, phone, face to face, other electronic (e.g. email) and non-electronic
(letter, fax).
It uses a “funnel method”- whatever way the citizen chooses to access or pay for our services,
their information is recorded in Citizen for requests and the PARIS system for payments. Once
its enters these systems, requests and payments are dealt with in the same way by the back
office regardless of delivery channel.
A critical factor in making this type of approach successful is the ability to have a single view of our
citizen or customers regardless of what system is being used for purpose of identification,
authentication and request processing. With this in place, joined -up service delivery becomes
a reality, with the citizen being able to see a full picture of what services they have requested
and track their progress. In addition, they will no longer need to continually prove who they are
and what services they are entitled to because we will already know.
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Appendix 2
Possible Service Rollout – 2004

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Highways
Traffic & Transport
Engineering Design
Community Safety
-
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Applications for Service
E-surgeries
Planning
Licensing
-
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Blue Badges
Concessionary Bus Passes
Chaperones
Work Permits
Car Boot Sales
Out of Hours / emergency planning
Libraries
Free school meals
Corporate complaints
Freedom of information act requests
Bereavement (as per proof of concept)
LIFT
-
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Hate Crime
Anti-Social Behavior Orders
Race Crime
Health promotions
SEVEN campaigns
GP liaison
Complaints handling
PALS/PPI
Tourism
Children & families (possible)
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Appendix 3
Proposed Team Structure
Joint Customer Services and ICT Management Group:
To oversee developments, priorities, risk management,
benefits realisation etc
IT Services
CRM Project
Manager
Customer Services
Would involve transfer of
existing staff member and
upgrade

To lead and own the design, development and
delivery of the CRM solution in context of delivery
channel strategy and front/ back office integration

To work in close conjunction with Customer Product
Champion to drive in the strategic objectives and
target benefits as aligned with council and national
priorities
CRM Architect

Would involve promotion of
existing team member and
upgrade
To lead overall technical design, integration and long
term development direction
CRM Business
Manager

To lead and own the underlying service model,
service design and priorities and hence the
CRM requirements, in close conjunction with
the CRM Project Manager

To promote awareness and commitment to the
CRM solution through user groups, marketing
and other approaches
System Development
& Operations
Manager


Systems Analyst/
Designer /
Developer (4)
Would involve ring fencing 2
existing posts and creation of 2
new posts
Would involve assigning
existing senior manager in
part time capacity
Would involve assigning
existing senior manager
in part time capacity
Day to day running of application from user
perspective, producing system reports, checking hit
rates, supporting user group, assisting marketing,
training and integrating into business function
Development & specification of any new services
that are introduced within External Services of
Salford Direct
Corporate user group represented by service
directorates

To lead overall technical design, integration and long
term development direction


Software development, testing and support in
accordance with agreed specifications

Contribute to system design, development
testing and implementation
Sharing of best practice
Supported by Existing (part-time) IT Resources in accordance with a Service Level Agreement

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Integration developers...
Web developer…
Database administrator…
Hardware & Network Support…
User Training…
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Developing software solutions to enable inter-working of council systems
Undertaking all related web development and integration work
Creation, maintenance and upgrades to database software
Technical support of servers, operating systems and network
Training in use of CRM system in conjunction with Customer Services
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