3.7. 12-17-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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REQUEST FOR ACTION To Item Number Ci Council 3.7. Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Consent December 17, 2007 Lori ohnson, Ci Administrator Item Description Reviewed by Consider Services Agreement for WebQA Reviewed by Action Requested Consider entering into a services agreement with WebQA. Background/Discussion Several years ago, the City implemented an on-line tool called RequestPartners far citizens and others to report complaints and request services through the City's website. The program was also intended to allow staff to track complaints and requests, and to ensure responses were made in a timely manner. However, despite efforts to make the public aware of this service, use by the public has been very limited. Because the ability for residents to contact the City at their convenience is very important to us and because our current system is not being utilized as we had expected, a committee was formed to research how to better provide this service to the public. The goal of the committee was to determine if we needed to market RequestPartners more in an effort to increase use or see if a better, easier to use, and more comprehensive program was available to meet our needs. The committee members were Jeff Beahen, Sheila Cartney, Jennifer Johnson, Tonya Love, Terry Maurer, Tristan Nicka, and Bruce West. After much surveying and research, the committee recommended purchasing a program called WebQA. Several other staff members and I also viewed WebQA and agree with the committee. WebQA is an on-line program that is much more user-friendly, comprehensive, and adaptable than our current program. It provides several additional tools that aren't available with RequestPartners such as the ability to survey residents through on-line surveys; the ability for the public to receive immediate responses to certain questions because it contains an option to allow staff to have set responses to those questions; it allows for a frequently asked question section for citizens who have questions on routine issues such as tall grass, requesting park shelters, etc.; and it will integrate on-line payments. These features will help us to provide more information to the public more quickly than we currently can. Finally, not only do we feel this product will serve the City and its residents much better, it is also less expensive. Depending on the optional modules that the City chooses, the cost will still be about $600 less than the $6,000 per year the City pays for RequestPartners. WebQA, if approved, would be implemented along with the City's website update that is expected to be complete in the next few months. S:\Council\Lori\2007\WebQA 12 17 07.doc