What to specify when you buy a 311 or service request system

Reference article · 5 min read

A 311 or service request system touches residents, call takers, dispatchers, field crews, and executives on the same record. That breadth is why demos go well and implementations go badly. Nearly every product can show a resident reporting a pothole, a pin landing on a map, and a dashboard counting it. What separates a platform your staff can operate from demo-ware is whether your own people can change request types, routing, timers, and forms after go-live without a vendor change order.

Write the solicitation so that difference is visible before award, and use scenario demos and reference questions that make evaluators watch configuration and reporting happen.

Configurable request types without a change order

• Who can create one. Require that a trained agency administrator, not the vendor, can create a request type, build its form, attach it to a department, and publish it to web, phone, and mobile channels. Ask for the steps in writing.
• Form building. Fields, conditional logic (if the complaint involves a vehicle, ask for a plate number), required entries, attachments, and address validation should all be administrator-editable.
• Sandbox and limits. Ask whether configuration can be tested outside production, and ask about caps on request types, custom fields, and workflow steps. Vendors price around those caps later.

Routing and SLA rules staff can edit

Routing is where 311 quietly becomes an operations system. Require that assignment rules be table-driven and editable by agency staff: by request type, by geography such as council district, maintenance zone, or parcel, by asset owner, and by time of day. A reorganization or a moved zone boundary should be configuration, not a professional services engagement. On service levels, require:

• Editable timers per request type, with business hours calendars and holiday schedules.
• Escalation paths that warn a supervisor when a target is at risk, not only after it is missed.
• Clock pause rules for cases waiting on a resident, a permit, or weather, with an audit trail of who paused and why.
• Duplicate and reopen handling, so a repeat report on the same asset links to the open case instead of inflating counts.

Field close-out and the call taker's desk

Field crews determine whether the data is true. If closing a case requires returning to a desk, crews batch entries at the end of the week and your timestamps become fiction. Require a mobile experience that runs on the devices crews already carry, captures photos, notes, and a resolution code at the point of work, works offline and syncs later, and lets a crew reject a case with a reason.

Call takers are a different user. Specify a knowledge base that agency staff maintain and that surfaces the right script and eligibility questions during intake, duplicate detection at the point of entry, an address and caller history view, and the ability to log an informational call that creates no work order. Count clicks in the demo, because intake time is a staffing cost.

Data export, APIs, and reporting

Assume you will leave this vendor eventually and write the requirements accordingly.

• Ownership and export. State that the agency owns its data, and require a complete export in a documented, machine-readable format, including attachments and case history, on request and at termination, at no charge.
• Read and write APIs. Ask for public documentation, the authentication method, rate limits, and whether calls are metered.
• Standards. Ask what the product supports of the Open311 GeoReport specification and of open data publishing, and expect completeness to vary.
• Self-service reporting. Require that staff can build a report or dashboard without vendor help, and that the data is reachable by your own analytics tools.

Multilingual intake and accessibility

Language access duties can arise from federal civil rights requirements, state law, and local policy, and specifics vary, so confirm your obligations with counsel. As a procurement matter, ask how resident-facing text is translated: is it configuration your staff control, machine translation, or strings the vendor holds in code. Ask how inbound free text in another language reaches a call taker, and require a current accessibility conformance report covering the applicable WCAG version.

Scenario demos and reference checks

Send scenarios in advance and require them performed live in a sandbox you watch.

1. Create a request type with three fields and one conditional question, route it by district, set a five business day target, and publish it. Time it.
2. Move a zone boundary and show which open cases reroute.
3. Close a case on a mobile device with connectivity off, then reconnect and show the sync.
4. Build, from scratch, a report of cases closed past target by department for a prior quarter.
5. Export a week of cases with attachments.

Ask references what they have changed themselves since go-live, what still requires the vendor, and what they paid in year two that they did not expect in year one.

Costs that surface later, and contract terms

• Message volume. SMS, email, and voice notifications are often billed per message with overage rates. Get unit pricing and estimate volume from current case counts.
• Metering. Confirm whether API calls or records beyond a base count carry fees.
• Interfaces. Connections to GIS, work order, payment, IVR, and identity systems are usually priced separately. Require a line item for each, with responsibility for both sides named.
• Environments and storage. Extra environments and photo or video retention are common add-ons.
• Post go-live help. Ask the hourly rate and minimum block, then negotiate a retained pool of hours.

In the contract, cap annual price increases, tie acceptance to the demo scenarios rather than a feature checklist, require a configuration workbook as a deliverable so your settings are documented outside the vendor's system, and write the exit terms while you have leverage.

HQT builds and integrates constituent service and case management systems for state and local government agencies.

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