How the Moreton Bay Regional Council Created an Agile Digital Application Process

Overview

Responding to today’s public health challenges has accelerated the shift to more agile operating models, technology, and processes. For local governments, this means responding to new community challenges and needs within hours or days, rather than weeks or months. Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC) worked with OpenForms, now by Granicus, and Centrelink to develop an agile digital application process to provide financial aid to residents impacted by COVID-19.

Because the information and communication technology team could configure so much of the customer journey without coding, the entire solution was created, tested, and launched in under one week.

Situation

Reliable Custom Development, Quick

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders at Moreton Bay, Australia’s Regional Council, announced a $15 million stimulus package for eligible residents experiencing financial difficulties. The information and communication technology (ICT) team was immediately challenged to create an intuitive, scalable, and smart digital application process that would ensure all residents could easily check their eligibility, apply, and meet the expected demand of MBRCs 460,000-person community.

The new application service not only had to be launched quickly, but it also had to be incredibly reliable. Considering the complexity of the customer validation process across internal and external systems, this project could have easily warranted a lengthy development process.

Solution

An Agile Approach

A collaborative effort between the property and rating and ICT teams allowed them to accelerate the creation of an entirely automatic, online process with integration between several systems. Leveraging OpenForms, now by Granicus, the ICT team simplified the customer experience by integrating between several systems, including MBRCs financial systems, and the external social security and payments services system powered by Australia’s Centrelink agency. Because the ICT could configure so much of the customer journey without coding, the entire solution was created, tested, and launched in under one week.

Impact

Eliminating Manual Processes

The automated online application process significantly reduced impact on the customer service and rates staff and gave them time to respond to other COVID-related inquiries. The streamlined process eliminated the need to manually receive thousands of phone calls, physically check and process applications against Centrelink, and painstakingly respond to customers individually.

MBRCs immediate response during the COVID crisis contributed to an efficient process. From initiating submissions, verifying them against Centrelink, and applying the financial rebate to the customer rates assessment in less than two days, OpenCities—now by Granicus—provided an efficient and successful outcome for the Moreton Bay region.