Transparency Made Easy: How Municipal CRM Software Improves the FOIA Request Management Process

May 23, 2023

Municipalities face a complex challenge in FOIA request management (Freedom of Information Act). To find the pertinent information, staff must carefully sift through the vast amount of documentation and data, further complicating the task. Fulfilling these requests involves not only locating the requested data but also scrutinizing it for any redactions or exclusions mandated by law. As a result, the fulfillment of such requests entails a significant investment of time and effort. This effort may divert resources from other critical responsibilities.

However, the fulfillment of FOIA requests is an essential element of government transparency. It empowers citizens to access public records and ensures accountability from their government. Thus, it is imperative for municipalities to prioritize the adoption of a solution that can streamline the FOIA request management process. Ultimately, building trust with their citizens and better serving their communities. This is precisely where a municipal CRM (Citizen Relationship Management) software comes into play, revolutionizing the processes of a municipality.

Centralized Request Management

The number one benefit of utilizing a CRM software is the ability to establish a centralized platform that manages all customer interactions, including FOIA requests. Through this platform, municipalities can consolidate all FOIA requests into one centralized system. A centralized system provides a comprehensive overview of all requests received. This efficient tracking and documentation method ensures that every request is accounted for. As a result, no citizen concern or request falls through the cracks. Outdated systems (or a lack of system entirely) significantly increase the likelihood of missing issues. The outcome of missing issues can result in legal troubles for municipalities.

Secure Document Management

Security and confidentiality are essential considerations when looking to protect the information of citizens. By utilizing a CRM platform, municipalities can ensure that they securely store and manage public records. Additionally, they can restrict access to authorized staff members only, and protect against unauthorized access or disclosure.

Choosing a system that offers trusted and secure document management tightly controls access to records and documentation of who accessed them. Staff can easily fulfill FOIA requests without being concerned whether they will violate the privacy of a citizen or accessing something they weren’t authorized to. Additionally, CRM systems track every time a record or document is updated or changed, providing an extra level of security. This ensures that specific documentation is available showing who made changes to those documents and when it happened, in case of any future concerns.

Automated Request Processing

Another key advantage of utilizing a CRM platform for FOIA requests is the automation of manual processes. The result is an efficient and streamlined FOIA request process. Upon receipt of a FOIA request, the system will automatically generate a confirmation email to the requester, confirming receipt of their request and outlining the next steps of the process. This automated response ensures timely communication with the requester. It also reduces the burden on staff to manually confirm receipt of the request, while still keeping the resident satisfied that their issue is being looked into.

The CRM software can also automatically assign the request to the appropriate staff member or department. This eliminates the need for manual assignment and reduces the risk of miscommunication or errors. To lower the risk of delayed responses or missed deadlines, the system also configures reminders and alerts. Thereby ensuring that the request is processed and fulfilled within the required time-frame.

Real Time Status Updates

One of the most frustrating aspects of a citizen request is often the lack of transparency around the status of a request once it’s been made. Offering real time updates and status look-ups give citizens the comfort in knowing that their concerns are being taken seriously and dealt with appropriately.

CRM software can provide these updates to citizens automatically. Whether it be through a self serve portal, or through email and phone support, municipalities can improve transparency and accountability of FOIA requests. The result is an increase in trust and confidence in their community.

Analytics and Reporting

Finally, adopting a CRM platform for your municipality will provide you with a powerful tool that enables departments to access valuable analytics and reporting capabilities. With a CRM platform, municipalities can gain a deeper understanding of their performance over time. It also allows staff to identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to streamline their FOIA request process. For instance, they can see which types of requests are most received, which departments are responsible for fulfilling the most requests, and the average time it takes to process a request. Armed with this information, they can tackle bottlenecks head-on. They can also allocate resources strategically, and ultimately enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their FOIA request process.

In Conclusion

The Office of Government Information Services examined the significance of collaborating with technology experts and tools to manage FOIA requests in a study. The study found that only one out of every five organizations was engaging in such a partnership. Adopting a municipal CRM software solution for managing FOIA requests is crucial for government transparency and accountability. CRM software provides a centralized request management system, automates manual processes, ensures secure document management, offers real-time status updates, and provides valuable analytics and reporting capabilities By streamlining the FOIA request process, municipalities can better serve their communities, build trust, and improve their overall performance over time. Ultimately, the adoption of a CRM software solution is a wise investment for any municipality looking to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness in managing FOIA requests.

AccessE11 is one such solution. Able to securely manage documents and citizen records while being affordable to small & mid-sized municipalities. Request a demo today and discover the changes you can make to your citizen engagement process.

About Municipal Strategic Planning

January 19, 2023

When candidates run for municipal Council, they do so not only because they have a passion for helping their communities, but they also often have ideas and goals for the community.

From my experience, the most successful municipalities are those where Council and staff work as a team to achieve identified goals. That’s why it’s imperative to undertake a strategic planning process early in a new Council term. The process serves important learning and teamwork objectives for both Council members and staff and really starts to get the team pulling in the same direction.

Many great articles have been written by various municipal scholars and organizations on strategic planning, so I’m not going to start reinventing the wheel here, but there is merit in taking a look at a few great examples that will remind us all of what Municipal Strategic Planning is, the value of Strategic Planning for communities and how a municipality goes about undertaking a strategic planning process.

What is Strategic Planning?

#1 – Source: MMAH Municipal Councillors Guide

Strategic planning is a process by which an organization defines its strategy or direction, and makes decisions about allocating its resources – both financial and staff resources needed to pursue this strategy. Through the strategic planning process, a municipal council can develop strategies, goals, objectives and action plans to achieve the future it desires. Once a strategic plan is adopted, a municipality may wish to measure its success over time and review the plan periodically to ensure that it still aligns with current issues, challenges and realities.

Why is it important for Municipalities?

#2 – Source: Bill Winegard, Municipal Strategic Planning Associates

Undertaking a strategic planning process at the beginning of each Council term is critically important to successful municipal governance by:

identifying where consensus lies among members of Council
establishing priorities for the term and indicators of success
enunciating at a meaningful level the commitment of the Council and Corporation to the community and the results that the community should expect
aligning the efforts of staff with the direction of Council
motivating Council members, staff, and other partners to work purposefully, and to monitor and take pride in their accomplishments
sketching out a council term action plan sequence that keeps the most important things top of mind
balancing a promising vision with feasible resources

How Do We Undertake a Strategic Planning Process?

#3 – Source: AMCTO – Continually Improving Municipalities to Achieve Strategic Success

A strategic plan is not static, but should be a guiding document which sets out the vision and priorities of the municipality. In this way, it establishes a framework that the municipality’s operations can align with. Strategic success is often seen as being able to achieve the initiatives in the plan.

However, equally important but often overlooked, is the need to ensure service delivery yields value for money for taxpayers. This can be accomplished by linking daily operations with the strategic goals of the organization and developing mechanisms to ensure a continual improvement of organizational performance.

#4 – Source: ICMA Blog Post on Strategic Planning, by Sara McGuffin, Town Manager, Amherst, Virginia

Through this (strategic planning) process, small communities can remember what makes them unique, focus their efforts on what unites them, and move toward a better future, and do so in a way that pulls the community closer, rather than drives it apart.

Strategic planning that involves the community, incorporates the unique vision and goals of the community, is agreed to by the elected body, and tied firmly to our budgets, will keep residents, staff, and elected representatives focused on the business, as well as the vision, of government and how to make the community a better place.

Are there any Tools to help Small Municipalities with Strategic Planning?

#5 – Source: ICMA Strategic Planning in Small Communities – A Manager’s Manual, by Sara McGuffin, Town manager, Amherst, Virginia

The Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) recently circulated this tool from the International City/County Managers Association (ICMA).

This resource will help local government leaders remember what they know and find additional tools to do their budgeting and strategic planning better. You can also download the introduction to the manual by Sara McGuffin here.

Summary:

When developed with the insights of Council, staff and the public, a strategic plan represents a shared view of the municipality’s future, encourages public commitment and supports the ability for the municipality to move towards achieving the identified, mutual goals.

By, Susan Shannon, AMCT

CEO, muniSERV.ca

Procurement Through the Lens of Cyber Security

DESCRIPTION

Join our discussion as we explore how current increased cyber risks have demanded increased awareness, and consideration in everyday procurement processes. Learn how to mitigate those risks from peers in the MUSH sector and cyber security experts.

Choose to join us online in ZOOM, or in-person at the Living Arts Center in Mississauga. The last half hour of the event will be for networking and for those at the live location, hot hor d’oeuvres and refreshments will be served during the networking.

This ticket is non-refundable unless the event is cancelled by Supply Chain Canada Ontario Institute. In-person ticket includes hot hors d’oeuvres and refreshments during the networking, following the panel discussion.

AGENDA

5:00 pm – Panel
5:45 pm – Q&A
6:00 pm – Networking

SPEAKERS

BOBBY MAHAL, CSCMP

PROCUREMENT CATEGORY SPECIALISTCITY OF VAUGHAN

Panelist

DEBBY SHAPERO PROPP, LL.B., CSCMP

LAWYER AND SCMAO INSTRUCTORDEBBY SHAPERO PROPP, LAW OFFICE

Panelist

MITCH KELSEY

CYBER SECURITY ADVISORCDW

Panelist

JOHN MACDONALD

MANAGER, LOSS MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE SERVICESREGION OF PEEL

Panelist

ROBIN GALLO, CSCMP

SUPERVISOR OF PURCHASINGTOWN OF INNISFIL

Moderator

Public Sector Leadership Series

Date: June 23, 2022
Registration Deadline: June 21, 2022

Public Sector has experienced more changes than ever in the past two years. And supply chain in the public sector has been evolving ever since. We have been leading public sector focused initiatives since the beginning of 2020 and this 1-Day event amplifies some of the pertinent issues that are impacting public sector decisions today such as procurement’s influence on organization effectiveness, move towards digital procurement, sustainable procurement, , the importance of supplier diversity, and more.

Speakers from last year include organizations such as City of Toronto, Metrolinx, City of Vancouver, NIGP, UHN, York Region Police, OECM, City of Ottawa, Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, GTAA, HP Canada, Ministry of Transportation Ontario, Transport Canada and more. Frank Rochon, CEO of Supply Ontario also delivered his keynote speech, which you can watch here.

Some of the topics covered included:

Procurement’s Influence on Organizational Effectiveness
How have Government Agencies Dealt and Learnt from COVID: Improving Citizen Experience
Sustainable Procurement
Sustainable Goods Movement
Impact of Trade Agreements/Trade Agreements in a COVID world

TOPICS TO BE ADDRESSED AT THE UPCOMING EVENT INCLUDES: Digital Procurement I Data-driven Transformation I Supplier Diversity I Sustainability & ESG I Indigenous Procurement

Here’s the agenda and speakers for Leadership Series 3.0: Public Sector. Join us: https://lnkd.in/e4Th4C38

We are delighted to have Clinton Lawrence-Whyte, Director General, Procurement Assistance Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada | Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada and Nick Xenos, Executive Director, Centre for Greening Government, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat | Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor du Canada as our first set of confirmed speakers.

The agenda for the day includes:

Leadership Panel: Reshaping Public Sector Supply Chain and Procurement by Balancing People, Processes & Technology
Ethical & Social Procurement: Leading on Social Value to Foster Economic, Social, and Environmental Well-Being
Circularity and Net Zero: Making Circular Economy a Reality
Vendor Performance Management: Drive Better Value, Better Performance and Lower Costs
Indigenous Procurement: Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Sign up for more information on this event.

For registration enquiries: Katie Cheshire at [email protected]
For sponsorship enquiries: Kim Sforza at [email protected]

What is Boolean Logic?

April 22, 2022

What is Boolean Logic?

Have you ever wondered how a computer can do something like balance a check book, or spell-check a document? If you want to understand the answer to this question down at the very core, the first thing you need to understand is something called Boolean Logic. [i]

Why do you need to understand Boolean Logic?

Well, as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases, it will be important for us all to understand it. I am no expert on it by any means, but here’s my take on what I understand to be the very basic fundamentals of it, in the simplest and broadest of terms.

The term “Boolean” refers to a system of logic developed by the mathematician and early computer pioneer, George Boole.

A Boolean search is a query technique that utilizes Boolean Logic to connect individual keywords or phrases within a single query.

Boolean searching allows the user to combine or limit words and phrases in an online search in order to retrieve relevant results. Boolean searching includes three key Boolean operators: AND, OR, and NOT which are used to limit, broaden and define the search results.

When these “operators” are used between two keywords, the search will result as follows:

A Boolean search for “Cats AND Dogs” will retrieve all documents that contain both words
A Boolean search for “Cats NOT Dogs”, will retrieve only documents that contain the word “Cats”
A Boolean search for “Cats OR Dogs”, will retrieve documents that contain either the word “Cats” or the word, “Dogs”

Wildcard Characters (? and *) are also used in Boolean Logic.

“?” matches a single character (i.e. the search string “re?” will match both rest and rent)
“*” matches multiple characters (i.e. the wildcard search “res*”, will match rest, rested and resting.[ii]

Quotation marks require words to be searched as a phrase, in the exact order you type them. For example, when searching for posts about Asset Management, using the quotation marks will search for the phrase exactly as it appears (i.e., “Asset Management”). It would not return documents that contain both the words, Asset and Management, in any other combination.

There are other elements to Boolean Logic, but I don’t want to get you too far into the weeds.

The main thing I wanted to achieve with this article is; a) to provide an introduction to Boolean Logic, for those of us who are new to it and, b) for you to understand that combining Boolean strings with AI-powered search filters to conduct a search, utilizes a search engine to its fullest, most comprehensive potential for optimum search results.

Susan Shannon, CEO

muniSERV.ca

[i] How Boolean Logic Works, by Marshal Brain, Science Direct

[ii] Gnowit Guide to Boolean Logic – Boolean Primer

UCaaS is critical for any authority service improvement

March 23, 2022

what is UCaaS?

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a network of cloud-based telephone system that controls the flow of calls coming in and out of your organization. We replace your on-premises PBXs, as well as your SIP, PRIs, and POTS lines. UCaaS enables you to use a variety of hosted programs and services (including instant messaging, video conferencing, file sharing, and email) over the Internet from any location and at any time. In addition, UCaaS provides security, allows flexibility, and integrates well with your other software applications including MS Teams. UCaaS systems are updated frequently by the provider ensuring that your communication methods will always be up-to-date in our ever-evolving world.

Why UCaaS is critical for all customer-guided corporations?

GUARANTEES YOUR BUSINESS CONINUITY & SECURITY

Experteers can easily answer this for all municipalities and companies who care about their customers.

First of all we have to emphasize about the importance of continuity in all circumstances, UCaaS provides the best option to avoid your business any hiccups along the road because of any reasons. UCaaS is available on any communication device, laptop, or PC anywhere at anytime to be able to efficiently communicate with your customers.

Security is another crucial requirement for all connected networks, voice calls, video conferencing, and instant messaging are parts of all departments communications to enable them to work properly and deliver services. Experteers, as part of security provider, enable first layer of security by having all our servers in Canada, maintaining 100% availability by having four communication centers in main four cities in Canada in Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto, and to maintain the second layer of security by having all SOC certified centers.

INCORPORATES THE LATEST FEATURES

When you have UCaaS, you’ll be able to use all the latest functions and features without any additional cost. You’ll also have the assurance that your information is kept safe and secure in a reliable data center. Having the ability to keep your communications up-to-date allows you to remain competitive and helps to increase your overall performance.

OFFERS FLEXIBILITY AND SCALABILITY

UCaaS allows organizations to add and remove users (for example, temporary employees) without any significant infrastructure changes or capital investments. UCaaS also provides seamless work experiences for your employees since they are cloud-based and accessible from any location – great for those working remotely.

PROMOTES PRODUCTIVITY

By using a UCaaS system, your productivity increases. All of your employees have unified communications support that is sharable amongst all departments, and UCaaS integrates well with your other software applications (like CRM). UCaaS keeps communication lines open and provides ways for your employees to log into various devices to access their information (such as voicemails).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

SAVES YOU MONEY

When switching to UCaaS, there are minimal upfront hardware costs – you only need phones. You will also have the ability to choose the services you need (and not waste money on the ones you do not). UCaaS allows you to concentrate on growing your business by decreasing your dependence on capital investments.

We at EXPERTEERS are helping municipalities, utility companies, and medical centers increase employee productivity by adding a state of the art Unified Communications Solution, enhancing collaboration and increasing employee efficiency.

Enable your team to work remotely (hybrid)
Train employees more efficiently with sentiment analysis
Monitor key performance metrics with automated reports
Boost company performance through detailed analytics & collaboration
.. and more

Let us help you improve your client experience, call us at EXPERTEERS to learn how we can help enable your business for success in 2022.

Experteers is a system integrator SI and managed service provider MSP for the following services:

– SASE / SD-WAN: to secure all ur networking between all branches.

– NGFW: Next Generation Fire Wall centralized to keep all networks secured in almost real-time updated system.

– NMS: Network Managed System to keep your visibility on all network elements and servers to improve your systems availability.

– Cyber-Security on all endpoints and servers

EXPERTEERS CORPORATION

WWW.EXPERTEERS.COM

Find your Dream Employee in 2022

Your next hire, on us.

Find your Dream Employee in 2022 with The Predictive Index® – New Talent Optimization Software from Predictive Success

See the power of predictive analytics in hiring a perfect fit. Your all star candidate is in the driver’s seat. Seize the opportunity by offering them the perfect job fit, backed by scientific data.

This Complementary Offer is Valid for muniSERV Members: One free job model and five free PI Behavioural Assessments® for your top candidates.

To redeem: Contact Mitch LePage, your Managing Principal with Predictive Success at [email protected] or (905) 430-9788 x110

See the full brochure on this special offer: MuniSERV Offer – Your Next Hire on Us with Predictive Success

Tips to Run a Successful In-Person Meeting

November 30, 2021

Over the last two years, many of us had to learn how to connect differently than we were used to. Instead of putting on our best suit, we’re still in our jammies from the waist down. Instead of shaking hands we’re pushing unmute.

Slowly but surely, the world is beginning to open back up. Where it’s safe to do so, many meetings are returning to an in-person format. Since we’ve all become accustomed to doing things virtually, it may take a little time and effort to get back into the swing of the face-to-face meetings. Here are a few tips to help make your meetings run as smoothly as possible.

Set the Agenda:

Municipalities know this, but meetings always run more efficiently when there is an agenda to follow. Having a clear agenda helps set the expectations. If the conversation starts going off track, you can always point back to the agenda items to steer things in the right direction. Setting out estimated times each agenda item should take for discussion, will also help provide direction and keep folks on track.

Start on Time. End on Time.

While it may seem polite to wait for some late arrivals to join, there’s a bigger downside to holding off until everyone is in the room. First and foremost, this sets a bad precedent. Accommodating the latecomers shows the others that arrival times are lax. This can spiral out of control quickly. Secondly, the attendees who’ve prioritized arriving on time are now feeling frustrated that their time isn’t being seen as valuable.

Set Ground Rules:

Having a few basic ground rules around meeting etiquette can help provide great flow in your meeting. Some solid rules, or expectations, can be something simple like; participate, get focus, maintain momentum, and reach closure. If you list these rules at the top of your agenda, both new and returning attendees will understand the direction of the meeting.

End with an Action Plan:

We’ve all been in meetings where the conversation seems to go around in circles without resolving anything. It’s important to establish a plan of action for the agenda items that need follow-up. Assigning certain people to particular tasks and plotting out a course of accountability will ensure that your meetings have purpose and value to all of those involved. We’ve conducted meetings by video teleconference for so long, (and honestly, we’ve become pretty good at them), it will be an adjustment for everyone to start attending again in person. But a well-organized meeting, and Chairperson with good leadership skills, will get us all back
in the swing of things soon.

Oh, and one more thing – dig out that suit again. Things may have changed over the last couple of years, but it’s still not considered socially acceptable to wear pajama bottoms to an in-person meeting.

Customer Service Excellence – Maximizing Efficiency and Improving Customer Service

AccessE11 Citizen Issue Management – Municipal 311 Software Designed for Local Government

Produce better relationships with citizens through automated status updates with a highly-integrated platform your staff will love.

Is your municipality looking for ways to improve your complaint and service request management?
Do you want to better understand the issues citizens are bringing to your municipality?
Would you like for your citizens to be able to view and update the issues they bring to your municipality?
Would you like valuable reports for your department heads and council?
How about collaborating with staff on the issues they are managing?
Want to streamline services requests and effectively manage them?

AccessE11 is a cloud-based, easy-to-use software solution to assist municipalities in better managing, tracking and reporting citizen inquiries, issues and complaints impacting your community.

Register for our Webinar to learn about all of this and more!

Presented in Partnership with The Ontario Municipal Leadership Institute

Customer Service Excellence – Maximizing Efficiency and Improving Customer Service

AccessE11 Citizen Issue Management – Municipal 311 Software Designed for Local Government

Produce better relationships with citizens through automated status updates with a highly-integrated platform your staff will love.

Is your municipality looking for ways to improve your complaint and service request management?
Do you want to better understand the issues citizens are bringing to your municipality?
Would you like for your citizens to be able to view and update the issues they bring to your municipality?
Would you like valuable reports for your department heads and council?
How about collaborating with staff on the issues they are managing?
Want to streamline services requests and effectively manage them?

AccessE11 is a cloud-based, easy-to-use software solution to assist municipalities in better managing, tracking and reporting citizen inquiries, issues and complaints impacting your community.

Register for our Webinar to learn about all of this and more!

Presented in Partnership with The Ontario Municipal Leadership Institute