How we are bringing data to life in the age of online as we modernise and improve upon council services.
Our team is able to tap into a wealth of data sources, from Google Analytics reports that tell us web traffic statistics, device demographics and user interactions, to our own collated data of our customer’s digital transactions.
Being able to report on certain pages of the website can give us an idea of what needs improving and suggest ways we can help our users interact with the many transactional features on Dorsetforyou.
PERFORMANCE IS KEY
It’s all well and good being able to run a cost effective service, but to really promote the benefits of our digital channels we want to prove that the service is user friendly, customer focused, and ultimately performs well. Our Digital Dashboards are a GDS (Government Digital Service) recommended project for highlighting the benefits of increased digital use.
VISUALISING DATA
The dashboards provide a visual representation of our data for a clear insight into how our customers are using our services in an increasingly online environment. By making this data accessible to the public we can compare our performance to other government organisations as we follow a set of recommended design principles. The Government design service has outlined 4 Key performance indicators (KPIs), which are:
Digital take-up: The percentage of people using services online compared to other methods (e.g. phone or post).
User satisfaction: Satisfaction is calculated by asking people to rate a service.
Completion rate: The percentage of people who successfully complete a service.
Cost per transaction: The average cost to government of each transaction.
CHARTING SUCCESS
The reports based on these recommended factors not only tell us how many users are opting for online use, but they are also a testament to the success of going digital without compromising on the standard of service delivered. As we develop the dashboard project and release these statistics we also welcome our residents and users to find out about how we are transforming council services to be cheaper and more efficiently coordinated.
We want our customers to know that tasks such as renewing a garden waste subscription or applying for the housing register can be done quickly and easily online and by doing so can save us money that we can put back into other vital services. You can follow the ongoing project at www.dorsetforyou.gov.uk/digital-dashboard.
I suspect that there are difficulties in correctly assessing the metric ‘cost per transaction’ . Until such time as everyone uses the digital service, it is necessary to continue to continue to operate the traditional services. This is particularly true for the elderly and the less fortunate, who are often those with the greatest needs. The number that really matters is therefore ‘total cost per constituent’ of providing the service. Otherwise all that you will prove is that council support services should be provided at an ever increasingly centralised approach, because ditigal services will always benefit from economies of scale.
Hi Chris, thanks for your feedback. You are correct, the ‘cost per transaction’ involves many factors to create a benchmark. By ‘transaction’ we do mean from all channels, not just digital so this provides an overview of the service as a whole. As part of UX work we are aiming for a very high level of accessibility on the new and simplified user journey making the digital option accessible to all of our residents. We do understand that online isn’t always possible so we will always have alternative channels available.
An admirable target, but . . . . .
When I searched for “Jobs in Wimborne” I was pleased to see “Jobs in Dorset : Browse the latest vacancies from teaching and social care to environment, IT, business support, and planning roles.” at the head of 235results. However, it was the only one of the 235 results that I randomly tested that did not yield further information.
As if to add insult to injury one of the results that did yield further information was “South West Regional Assembly, FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SETTLEMENTS Final Report April 2005” (over 12 years ago!).
As Gavin and Stacey would say “What’s occuring?”
Hi Mike, thanks for your interest and enquiry. Our jobs are advertised via https://jobs.dorsetforyou.gov.uk which is a separate site to the main Dorsetforyou platform. As a means of linking the sites we have a rule setup so that everytime someone searches the word ‘jobs’ they are directed to the job site. I’m afraid there’s no easy way to return the job pages as results on the main search. You can however then search jobs or browse by location or category on Jobs in Dorset.
It is not easy to find the Garden bin collection day when you don’t have a garden bin . The only way seems to change your house number and when you have the info, change the number back again. This is one example when I find your site CLUNKY. I have had the job of putting out garden bins for both my neighbours.
Hi John, thanks for getting in touch. We only publish garden waste dates for the properties that have signed up to the service for a few reasons. The collection dates are dependant on the amount of people subscribed to the service and their proximity, so I’m afraid we can’t give generic dates for everyone.
Excellent updates – very useful and informative
Thanks for following and commenting John!