Building Understanding of Municipal Service Integration: A Comparative Case Study of NYC311 and Philly311

A 311 system provides quick and easy access to non-emergency municipal services and information through a consolidated channel. This study explores the operation of 311 contact centers in New York and Philadelphia and identifies critical success factors and challenges of municipal service integration. Having the right technology at the right time is identified as a critical technological factor. While the lack of technical interoperability between a 311 system and departmental legacy systems is a major barrier to connecting a variety of systems, human agents fill the middle ground so that training for qualified agents is crucial for their role. Inter-agency coordination and collaboration is pivotal to creating and updating service level agreements and knowledgebase. However, turf protection raises cross-organizational concerns. The executive support and political champions help resolve interdepartmental conflicts.