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Building a 311 System: A Case Study of the City of Minneapolis

NCJ Number
224514
Date Published
October 2008
Length
160 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the reasons for and the planning, features, and operations of Minneapolis’ (Minnesota) 311 system, which provides a single telephone number for citizens to call in seeking information and services offered by city agencies, including police precincts.
Abstract
Prior to the opening of the Minneapolis 311 Call Center on January 4, 2006, studies had shown that more than 16,000 calls came into city agencies daily; more than 1,400 calls were abandoned by callers, and 20 to 30 percent of the calls were routed to the wrong agency. Just over 60 percent of calls to police were misdirected. Recent citizen surveys indicated that the ease of telephone contact with city employees and the timeliness of response were the lowest rated characteristics of interaction. Prior to the creation of the 311 system, 11 call centers housed more than 90 city staff who answered citizen calls, excluding 911 operators. With the opening of the 311 Call Center, a full complement of trained 311 customer service agencies, supervisors, analysts, and managers were in place with a robust knowledge base upon which to draw when citizens called to request information and services. The first year of operations has shown that 311 has been effective and well-received by Minneapolis citizens, visitors, and commuters, as evidenced by the high number of calls taken in the Call Center. The system uses the Citizen Relationship Management software from Lagan Technologies. It enables the 311 Call Center to better coordinate operation, making its departments more responsive and efficient in handling constituent request. It will also provide service-request routing from one department to another, enabling consistent hand-off or followup on citizen inquiries. Other topics discussed are the budget, the Call Center build-out, marketing and education, the effect on 911 and policing, and lessons learned. Appended supplementary information