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Home My WebLink AboutCM Digital Services UpdateSAN RAFAEL 6. 1,, THE CITY WITH A MISSION Agenda Item No: 6.a Meeting Date: January 17, 2017 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Department: City Manager's Office Prepared by: Rebecca Woodbury, City Manager Approval: Senior Management Analyst TOPIC: DIGITAL SERVICES UPDATE SUBJECT: INFORMATIONAL UPDATE ABOUT NEW DIGITAL SERVICES AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, INCLUDING A NEW CITY WEBSITE RECOMMENDATION: Accept informational report. BACKGROUND: In January 2015, the City Council approved a Communitv Enclaaement Action Plan. The Plan is organized by five main categories: 1. Demystify Local Government: Clarify City processes and how to best participate in civic affairs. Better communicate the type of engagement that we are seeking on a given topic and how representative government effectively functions. 2. Engage Earlier: Get the word out early to the community on projects and programs, including items on board and commission agendas, to increase participation prior to City Council meetings and decisions. 3. Hable Espanol: Improve communication and soliciting feedback from our Spanish-speaking community. 4. Enhance Technological Tools: Utilize technology for improved communication, tracking, and online resources and engagement. 5. Close the Feedback Loop: Communicate better about the engagement process and the feedback that was received. Let people know about decisions and any follow-up actions or next steps. This Plan identified several specific digital needs including: ■ Create a centralized place for all city news and an easy way to subscribe to news updates, including RSS feed capability; ■ Increase use of social media, specifically using NextDoor; ■ Implement constituent relationship management software and mobile -friendly issue reporting; ■ Make open data sets publicly available; ■ Post timely and accurate information on the City website; ■ Update design and content of the City Manager `Snapshot' electronic newsletter. FOR CITY CLERK ONLY File No.: 9-3-89 Council Meeting: 01/17/2017 Disposition: Accepted report SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2 The City Manager and City Manager's Office has promoted digital services and innovation as a top priority in keeping with the above Action Plan and the City Council's Goals and Strategies. In the summer of 2015, a team of staff was assembled to prioritize the action plan and determined that a new City website was needed. The current site was over six years old and no longer met the growing needs of staff or the public. In February 2016 staff provided the City Council an update about the prioritization efforts. The team shifted focus to procurement and evaluated vendors for a new website and constituent relationship management (CRM) software for issue reporting. On July 18, 2016, the City Council approved an aareement to work with a vendor named ProudCity to develop a new City website. A website implementation team formed to work on building the new site. This group included: ■ Tom Adams, Economic Development ■ Henry Bankhead, Library ■ Danielle Ferrigno, Finance ■ Christine Foster, Public Works ■ Michele Ginn, Community Development ■ Lindsay Lara, City Clerk ■ Alan Montes, Community Development ■ Laura Washburn, Community Services ■ Rebecca Woodbury, City Manager's Office In September, staff began piloting a CRM product called Romulus and slowly rolled it out to all City departments. In October, the website team launched a beta version of the new website to the public with a feedback survey. The team also conducted user -tests with people in the community to learn about what information and services people are looking for and how they look for it. The new site became the official citv website on December 8, 2016. ANALYSIS: Here's how the City's recent digital efforts are meeting our community engagement goals: 1. Demystify government: the work of the website implementation team was guided by four kev desian-principles that help ensure content is clear and meaningful: ■ Identify user -needs. The site is organized with content areas for residents, businesses and visitors. Staff also created guides for certain processes, such public meetings, movina to San Rafael, and aettina a use permit. Based on feedback from user -tests, staff is working on a page dedicated to families with kids in San Rafael. The site has a feedback form that asks users if they were able to accomplish what they wanted and going forward, staff is planning to conduct periodic user -testing. ■ Create content that's consistent and easy to understand. The team focused on creating all new content for the site, rather than just copying and pasting the old content over. They created content that was easy to understand, with limited jargon and acronyms. This was achieved by using the Heminawav App and a lot of peer review (the readability of this staff report is Grade 10). ■ Use analytics and data. Staff used site analytics to identify frequently visited content. Going forward, a website team will meet quarterly and review site analytics, feedback surveys and user -test results. ■ Lots of iteration. The website team has embraced the idea of continual improvement and iteration. With the new tools available, staff will work to keep improving the delivery of digital information and services. 2. Engage earlier: the new site provides easy tools for staff to create project -specific webpages, newsfeeds, and event listings. The site also makes it easy for the public to find information, sign up for updates, and provide feedback. SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 3 3. Hable Espanol: the site can be translated into Spanish, as well as many other languages, via Google Translate. 4. Enhance Technological Tools: staff is using many new technology tools to improve access to information and services. The new website serves as a platform to the City's existing and new digital services, including: ■ A robust search feature on the new website so people can quickly find what they are looking for; ■ A `Service Center' with frequently asked questions, location -specific information, online payments, and issue reporting. The Service Center is available on the City's Facebook page and will soon be available as a lobby kiosk; ■ A new CRM that allows the public to easily report issues, ask questions and provide feedback; ■ Online forms with payment options and electronic signatures; ■ Maps showing current planning projects under review, infrastructure projects, and locations of key points of interest like Downtown parking lots and garages, schools, fire stations, libraries, and parks; ■ A page with access to data visualizations and open data sets, using OpenGov; ■ A centralized `newsroom' with multiple newsfeeds and an easy subscribe process; ■ A centralized social media feed displaying various accounts on multiple platforms; ■ New electronic newsletters and updates using MailChimp; ■ An updated `Snapshot' newsletter with new features including a San Rafael -themed quiz question, featured photos from community members, and a `Tales of the City' spotlight sharing accomplishments and highlights; ■ Increased social media presence, including NextDoor, a new Citv Facebook Daae and an Instaaram feed; ■ An easy-to-use, open -source content management software (CMS) called WordPress, making it easy for staff to make updates. 5. Close the Feedback Loop: the new CRM allows staff to easily provide updates to people who have written to the City on certain topics. For example, last year the City Council spent several months reviewing the City's residential building resale inspection program. The new CRM tool allowed staff to manage all correspondence received and provide updates about upcoming meetings and meeting summaries. COMMUNITY OUTREACH: Throughout this process staff has provided updates to the community via social media, a weekly bloc, the City Manager's newsletter, and at the monthly neighborhoods meeting. Staff sought community feedback using online surveys and in-person user -tests. Staff has also published articles on the procurement of new digital services and the development of the beta site. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no direct fiscal impact to accepting this informational report. OPTIONS: The City Council has the following options to consider on this matter: 1. Accept informational report. 2. Direct staff to return with more information. 3. Take no action. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept informational report. ROUTING SLIP / APPROVAL FORM INSTRUCTIONS: Use this cover sheet with each submittal of a staff report before approval by the City Council. Save staff report (including this cover sheet) along with all related attachments in the Team Drive (T:) --> CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS 4 AGENDA ITEM APPROVAL PROCESS 4 [DEPT - AGENDA TOPIC] Agenda Item # Date of Meeting: 1/17/2017 From: Rebecca Woodbury Department: City Manager's Office Date: 1/3/2017 Topic: Digital Services Update Subject: Informational update about digital services, including a new city website Type: ❑ Resolution ❑ Ordinance ❑ Professional Services Agreement ® Other: Informational report APPROVALS ® Finance Director Remarks: MM - approved 1/3/2017 ® City Attorney Remarks: LG -Approved 1/3/2017. ® Author, review and accept City Attorney / Finance changes Remarks: ® City Manager Remarks: