A resident sees a pothole, a dead street light or a pile of dumped rubbish. They want to tell someone who can fix it. For most problems in public places, that someone is the local council. This guide explains how councils take these reports, what happens inside the council, and how a council can tell the resident that the job is done.
We wrote it for council staff who manage customer service, works and systems. Residents will find it useful too, because it shows what a good report looks like.
What is a citizen service request?
A service request is a report or a request from a member of the public that asks the council to do something. Most are about everyday problems in public places:
- potholes and damaged road surfaces
- street lights that are out
- dumped rubbish and illegal dumping
- damaged or missing signs
- cracked or lifted footpaths
- blocked drains and stormwater problems
- graffiti, fallen trees and overgrown verges
Councils use different names for the same thing. Australian councils often say "customer request" or "service request". New Zealand councils often say "request for service", or RFS. In the United States and Canada, many cities call it a "311 request". UK councils often have a "report it" page on their website.
A service request is not a complaint. A complaint is about a council decision, a service or the conduct of staff, and it goes through a formal complaints process. A request asks the council to fix a problem. Keep the two apart, because they have different rules and different timeframes.
A service request is also not an emergency. If someone is in danger, the resident must call the emergency number: 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand, 999 in the United Kingdom, and 911 in the United States and Canada.
The 311 equivalent in each country
In many cities in the United States and Canada, residents dial 311 for non-emergency city services. A 311 centre takes the call, logs a request and sends it to the right department. Many of these cities also have a 311 app or web portal.
Other countries have no single national number for council requests:
- Australia: each council has its own phone number, website forms and, sometimes, its own app. Residents also use third-party reporting apps.
- New Zealand: each district or city council takes requests for service by phone, online form or app.
- United Kingdom: each local authority has its own "report it" pages. GOV.UK has pages such as Report a pothole that send the resident to the right council by postcode.
- United States and Canada: 311 where the city runs it. Smaller towns and counties often use a phone line, email or a web form.
The idea is the same everywhere. The resident needs one easy way in, and the council needs a record it can act on.
The channels councils use
Most councils take requests through several channels at the same time. Each channel has strengths and gaps.
Phone and the front counter
Everyone can use the phone, including people with no smartphone. A customer service officer can ask questions and make sure the request is complete. But a phone call gives no photo, and the location is often a description such as "near the bus stop on Main Street". The officer must type the request into a system, which takes time.
Email is easy for residents and costs the council nothing. A resident can attach a photo. But emails arrive in a shared inbox with no structure. Somebody must read each one, find the location and type it into the request system. Emails can sit unread when the team is busy.
Website forms
A web form can ask for the right details for each type of problem. Some forms come with the council's property system and create a request directly. Many forms send an email behind the scenes, so staff still retype the request. Many forms also have no map pin and no photo upload.
Reporting apps
A reporting app on the resident's phone can capture the things that matter most: photos, an exact map location and the resident's contact details. Some councils build their own app. Others use a third-party app that serves many councils. A good app sends the report to the right council based on where the problem is.
Localtech Eye is one of these apps. It is free for residents on iOS, Android and the web. The resident picks the problem from the council's own list, adds up to five photos and drops a pin on the map. The app checks that the pin is inside the council's area. Then it sends the report with the resident's name and contact details.
What a good report contains
Whatever the channel, a request that a crew can act on needs the same few things:
- What the problem is. A category from the council's own list, plus a short description.
- Where it is. An exact map point is best. A street address helps, and a landmark helps too.
- What it looks like. One or more photos show the size of the problem and help the council decide how urgent it is.
- When it was seen. The date and time of the photo or the report.
- Who reported it. A name and contact details, so the council can ask a question or reply.
A report that has all five can go straight to triage. A report with no location or no contact details often needs a phone call before anyone can act.
Localtech Eye sends all five. It removes the location details from the photo files before upload. The time and place of capture still go to the council as separate fields, with the map pin.
Triage: from report to the right team
Triage is the step where the council decides what the request is, how urgent it is and who must deal with it. In a small council, one customer service officer may do this for every request. In a large council, routing rules send each category to a team automatically.
Good triage answers these questions:
- Is it ours? A state road, a utility pole or private land may belong to someone else. The council can pass the request on and tell the resident.
- Is it a duplicate? Ten residents may report the same fallen tree. Link the reports to one job, and reply to all ten.
- How urgent is it? A deep pothole on a busy road is more urgent than faded line marking. Many councils set target times for each category.
- Who does the work? The roads crew, the parks team, a contractor or waste services.
The better the report, the faster the triage. A photo and a map pin let an officer decide in a minute without a site visit.
Customer request management systems
A customer request management system holds every request from the moment it arrives until it is closed. It may be a module of the council's ERP (enterprise resource planning) system, a separate CRM (customer relationship management) system, or a 311 system in North America.
A good system lets the council:
- log requests from every channel in one place
- assign each request to a person, team or contractor
- see open requests on a map and in a list
- link duplicates
- record what was done and when
- report on response and completion times by category and area
The important question is where the request goes after triage. If the request system and the works system are separate, someone must copy the request into a work order. Then nobody updates the request when the crew finishes. The resident hears nothing.
When the request system and the work order live in the same system, the request can become a work order in one step. The crew's time, plant and materials are costed to the job, and the request keeps its link to the work done. We explain this in more detail in From resident report to work order: closing the loop.
Closing the loop with the resident
"Closing the loop" means that the resident hears what happened to their report. It sounds simple, but many councils find it hard to do well. When residents hear nothing, they call again, report again, or decide that reporting is pointless.
There are three common ways to close the loop:
- A personal reply. An officer phones or emails the resident. This is good for complex requests, but it takes staff time.
- Automatic status updates. The system tells the resident when the request is received, scheduled, in progress and completed. This works well for routine jobs.
- A reason when the answer is no. Sometimes the council will not do the work, or the problem belongs to another authority. A short, honest reason is better than silence.
In Localtech Eye, the loop works like this today:
- Today, councils receive Localtech Eye reports by email, with the photos, the map point, the address and the resident's contact details.
- The council then contacts the resident directly, by phone or email.
- With Localtech Core (in development): a Customer Requests module will receive each Eye report as a customer request, ready to assign. When staff schedule, update or close it, the resident will see the status in the app. This module is not available yet.
Privacy and trust
Residents share their name, contact details, photos and a location with every report. They need to trust that the council and its suppliers look after that information. Councils have privacy obligations under the law of their country and state. Those rules differ, so check them with your own privacy officer.
Some general good practice applies everywhere:
- Collect only what the council needs to act on the request and reply.
- Tell residents, at the time they report, who receives their details and why.
- Do not publish a resident's report, photos or name to other residents.
- Keep the data in a known place, under the council's control.
In Localtech Eye, reports are not visible to other residents. Each council's data sits in its own database, in its own country's region.
How to choose a reporting channel for your council
Most councils will keep phone, email and the counter. The question is what to add. Ask these questions before you choose an app or a portal:
- Does it send the five things a crew needs? Category, exact location, photos, time and contact details.
- Does it check the council boundary? Reports for the wrong council waste everyone's time.
- Where does the report land? In your request system, ready to assign, or in an inbox to retype?
- Can residents see the status? Without updates, residents call to ask.
- Who can see the reports? Public reports suit some communities. Private reports suit others.
- Where is the data held? Know the country and the provider.
- What does it cost, and who pays? Some apps are free for residents and councils. Some charge councils for integration.
Small and rural councils have their own needs here. We cover them in Issue reporting software for small and rural councils.
Where Localtech Eye is available
Localtech Eye is live for Queensland councils in Australia. Residents in Queensland can report a problem on the web today. The iOS and Android apps are in App Store and Google Play review.
New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada are now taking councils. There is no resident service in those countries yet. See the page for your country: Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States or Canada.
See it with your council's data
If you manage customer service or works at a council, the fastest way to judge a reporting channel is to see one report travel from a phone to a crew. Book a demo and we will show you Localtech Eye with your council's categories and boundary. You can also read more on the page for councils.