This story was made in collaboration with Safe Software partner Seamless.
A new system to transform resident services
Mackenzie District Council, located in New Zealand, is responsible for the region’s maintenance, infrastructure, environment, and development. The Council’s responsibilities cover a broad spectrum, including infrastructure such as roads, water, and sewage; tourism and community development; and day-to-day functions, from dog registration to park maintenance. The Council also works closely with external agencies, such as the Department of Conservation and emergency management services.
Ranked the third smallest population of New Zealand’s territorial authorities, the small council encountered limitations with maintaining in-house GIS expertise, an essential function for many of their departments.
While the team’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system was intended to cover all bases, the single platform was unable to meet all the Council’s needs, which included offering services ranging from rates to dog registration. In some cases, it lacked a service-specific solution altogether.
“From an information management point of view, our systems have to work across all of those different functions, which have entirely different needs,” says Chris Clarke, the Council’s GM of Information, Engagement and Community Development. “Trying to be all things to all people on a tight budget is not easy.”
With the existing system, resolving issues like a broken park swing involved a lengthy, manual process. If a resident reported an issue, an enquiry form would be redirected from the customer service team to the appropriate department. When finally received by the appropriate team, a contractor would be engaged to fix the issue. Meanwhile, the requestor would have no visibility into the job’s status.
As all of the Council’s data was located in their ERP system, using additional tools was challenging. The team’s strategy was to take a modular approach, selecting the best-fit software for each service—payroll, dog registrations, and building consents—and transitioning over time.
Redesigning a modular, automated solution
Seamless, a Safe Software partner, worked alongside Mackenzie District Council to scope out a solution and to manage the changes internally. They assessed the existing processes, reviewed all of the Council’s tools, and mapped out the entire ecosystem.
The new data integration solution connects 25 tools, streamlining work and reducing wait times for public amenity repair. Hosted by Seamless, the solution leverages FME system connectors and automations to optimize workflows across Mackenzie District Council’s systems.
When a resident now submits a repair enquiry, issues are automatically logged and routed to the Council’s Parks team. Simultaneously, the issue is turned into a job ticket in the Customer Service software, containing key information. FME also triggers a notification via Mailchimp, providing the resident with an acknowledgement email including an estimated resolution time. Updates are shared when the contractor is dispatched and when the issue is resolved.
Connecting services and community with FME
Automations have reduced the risk of errors and instilled more transparency into the Council’s processes. By automating the enquiry process, the Council has redirected time previously spent on manual work to more strategic tasks and reduced internal bottlenecks.
By moving away from its previous ERP and embracing a modular system with FME, Mackenzie District Council has dramatically improved its community service. The Council’s solution now provides greater visibility into resident enquiries, saving time and improving overall service quality.
Legacy Data is traditional and values the wisdom of the past. He’s the go-to for office lore and frequently reminisces about ‘the early days’. His fax number is still operational and his office shelves are filled with paper files, plus a floppy disk or two (or twenty). Find him by the water cooler solving a Rubik’s cube or recollecting on how things used to be done. Just don’t ask him to download your pdf or move to the cloud.