San Ramon now using call-tracking software

By Scott Marshall
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

SAN RAMON - Residents can now use a computer to ask for help, post a complaint or offer a suggestion to City Hall, thanks to new software that went on-line last month.

The Citizen Request Management system channels work orders, comments and even ideas to city employees and provides the city a tool to view its performance, said Kendall Smith, founder and president of Pleasanton-based Government Outreach, the software company.

The new system also will allow city department managers to keep better track of citizen requests, to better track request or problem trends and help fine-tune budgets to accommodate those trends.

With the new system, several hundred resident requests have been logged since the Citizen Request Management system started in January. Those requests for service and other postings are channeled to specific departments and employees responsible for handling each problem or question, according to Smith and Steve Keagy, the city's information technology manager.

The system also establishes trends -- for instance, how many requests are made for road repairs in a certain area -- "and we can budget and plan opportunities that way, with 15 seconds of work," said City Manager Herb Moniz. The system will cost $1,000 per month, Keagy said.

Every city department provided input on the system, based on commonly asked questions and requests. As a result, the software gives residents more than 100 topics from which to choose from in telling the city where a problem exists.

The system establishes an account for any resident who opts to use it on the city's Web site by clicking the "contact us" button.