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Thumbs up for South Gippsland's request handling system

An innovative system implemented by South Gippsland Shire Council has resulted in resident requests being easier to deal with. This in turn has lead to greater efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Council’s Request Handling System works via phone calls, emails, faxes and face to face consultations between Council’s request handling officer and the public. All relevant details are recorded on a document imaging system called a LAVA and directed to the relevant department or officer for prompt action.

Requests are listed under a range of categories and reports are generated to document the progress of requests. Follow up phone calls are made to check that concerns have been addressed.

“The aim of the system is to provide a central point of contact for ratepayers and residents regarding service requests or inquiries and to provide a responsive customer focused service to the community,” said Council’s Request Handling Officer, Dennis Conn. “Our system is flexible enough to allow us to modify the data to suit our community’s needs, as well as supporting our reporting requirements. It is also open enough to allow us to access the information via any third party reporting tool.”

The system is also a source of statistics and data highlighting trends and areas of concern. This is shown through service reports produced quarterly and monthly by the request handling officer.

“The system, which has been in place since 1998, has been highly successful and this is reflected by the increase in performance rating of customer contact in our annual Constituent Satisfaction Survey,” said Dennis Conn.

For further information, contact Dennis Conn on (03) 5662 9263.

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