Queen would be proud this week, as ‘another one bites the dust’ – or should I say another four forms bite the dust!
Three of those were for assisted bin collections and the last one was an internal form for front office staff to communicate with our Business Operations Team.
Staff Training
For the assisted collection forms we had to do some in depth training with Business Operations as this process was brand new to them. This involved us reusing existing functionality in the Digital Customer Portal (DCP) that we currently have in use in the Resident Helphub and we redesigned this workflow so it was fit for purpose for our waste processes.
The Business Operations Team are now able to check a person’s eligibility for assisted waste collections with the use of another system we have in the council and they can then complete the 3 yearly renewals that are required. Documents were created with a step by step guide on how to complete the processes, these are a really useful tool to create, as they are a guide that can be referred back to time and time again. We reuse many of our training guides often, one of the main ones being how to create a customer account on DCP. This is one that can be used for any new user of DCP, no matter what team they are from. This saves both time and resources.
Mobile worker
Our plan was to have mobile worker added to all of the appointment and bin delivery forms. During this development we have come across issues that means we have incurred a slight delay. We are currently working with our suppliers to try and get the development to a stage that we are happy with. The last thing we want to do is rush the process through and release a product that is not right for our users.
Garden Waste
We are now in the run up to the signing up period for garden waste, we are as busy as Santa’s elves getting these ready for customers and users to use. We have worked really hard to get these forms right. There will be testing, testing and more testing carried out over the next couple of weeks to get everything prepared and to ensure a smooth journey for the customer to sign up for this service.
User research
This week has seen us do lots of user research on our account log in and single sign on. This is just a starting point, as we want to identify what users expect to be able to do from their account. Currently we have to log on to a separate account to view Council Tax details, and we want to see how our users feel about that.
Also this week we have attended the taxi forum, and met with some taxi drivers. They were really enthusiastic to be involved in the transformation of the taxo driver application process and they recognise that by helping us, the service would be better for them.
Our aims for the coming week:
- Test all garden waste forms.
- Work with our providers on the mobile worker function.
If you have any questions, comments or feedback please let us know at: customerpanel@blackburn.gov.uk
