Phoenix: Using Technology to Serve
Government's "Customers"
Phoenix, Arizona
The city of Phoenix opens its "values and vision" statement with the phrase: "We are dedicated to serving our customers." Thanks to some imaginative use of information technology, this is no hollow phrase.
"Phoenix at Your Fingertips," a World Wide Web service operated by the city, offers the 1.1 million residents of Phoenix (as well as the global Internet audience) a comprehensive and readily accessible menu of virtually every service the city has to offer, from where to find job training to how to have a fallen tree removed. Citizens can use the web site to learn about public meetings or send e-mail to city officials. They can anonymously report crimes to the police or obtain crime prevention tips. They can read neighborhood newsletters or use the local library's card catalog. And they can follow links to over 250 outside agencies. Funding from TIIAP was critical in developing public-access stations across the city, so that the web resources are available to all citizens not just the citizens who are already online themselves.
Government Information Made Easy
Many other cities have also gone online to provide information on city services and activities. The Phoenix project stands out for the extent to which it presents the information in a user-friendly manner. In its service, bureaucracy has disappeared, and information is presented in categories employment, environment, health, volunteer programs that everyday citizens can readily understand.
"We organized the site so that it's from the citizens' perspective," explains Kristine McChesney, Deputy Information Technology Director.
That may not sound revolutionary, but developing the system required considerable effort. The common and easy approach to putting city information online is to let each department devise its own web page. But citizens often do not know which department offers the particular services they need. If you are looking for job training opportunities, for instance, should you contact the "Education Programs Office" or the "Human Services Department"? Should you call the telephone number for "water conservation" or "water services" to determine when you can water your lawn? For help in starting a small business, should you turn to "Community and Economic Development" or "Development Services"?
To make city government more accessible, information technology officials in Phoenix had to persuade departments to give up some control and ownership of their individual programs so that information could be reorganized and presented in ways that make sense to citizens. The effort paid off. Citizens using the web site do not need to try to find their way through a bureaucratic maze, since information is organized with the end user, not the service provider, in mind. Looking for work? The web site tells you in one place how to apply for a city job, search various job banks and classified ads, polish your job-search skills, or find training opportunities. Do you have a safety concern? The city offers information on everything from babysitting safety techniques to household hazardous materials, all gathered from numerous sources.
Interaction Allows Responsive Government
The web site also has useful search features. A community calendar lists an extensive set of upcoming events, but also enables citizens to chose from seven specialized calendars, such as one listing just arts, culture, and science events, or one that features sports. Alternatively, individual users can customize their own calendars by selecting which of 33 different categories of events they want to see listed.
Officials are developing a keyword searchable database. The search tool is being developed as part of the City Manager's "Seamless Service" initiative to help city employees find the appropriate contact in government for citizens who call for help.
McChesney notes that city-run information services like "Phoenix at Your Fingertips" have some advantages, and some disadvantages, compared to grassroots initiatives. On the negative side, a government system has to be a bit more restrictive concerning what kinds of information it presents; Phoenix generally does not allow organizations to post their own web pages or information on its system (a few organizations for the disabled are exceptions to this rule). On the plus side, however, the city has greater resources and professional staff including six full-time and some part-time city staffers. As a result, its web site is particularly well organized, sophisticated, and consistently useful.
Users seem to approve of the results. The number of "hits" on the city web site has climbed each month since it was introduced in June 1995, hitting a staggering 577,325 in June, 1997. With help from TIIAP, the city has established more than 33 public-access stations at 20 different sites, such as libraries, senior citizens centers, and nonprofit organization offices, and trained volunteers are available at many sites to help users. Almost every neighborhood is now within three miles of a public work station, and the city is planning on adding new sites in the future.
Kristine McChesney
Deputy Information Technology Director
(602) 256-3393
kmcchen@ci.phoenix.az.us
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
Last Modified: 18 Dec 97