Request 101004043450

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) concerning the Council’s provision and use of digital services for residents, including mobile applications and online resident/customer portals. Where any requested information constitutes environmental information, please also treat that part of the request as being made under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), as appropriate. For the purposes of this request, “mobile application” means any Council-operated, Council commissioned or Council-funded application intended for use by residents, including applications providing individual services such as waste and recycling, fault reporting, roads, payments, local information or other Council services.

1. Current mobile applications
Please confirm whether the Council currently provides, commissions or financially supports one
or more mobile applications intended for use by residents.
If so, for each application, please provide the following information:
a) application name;
b) launch date;
c) principal services or functions available through the application;
d) current supplier/developer;
e) initial development or procurement cost;
f) current annual licence, hosting, maintenance and/or support cost;
g) total contract value;
h) procurement route;
i) contract commencement date;
j) current contract expiry date;
k) available extension or renewal options; and
l) expenditure paid to the supplier during the most recent complete financial year.

Where reasonably practicable, please also provide a copy of the current contract or agreement
governing provision of the application. I recognise that information subject to an applicable
exemption may be redacted.

2. Application usage
For each current mobile application, please provide the following information, where recorded, for
each of the last three complete financial years:
If so, for each application, please provide the following information:
a) number of downloads/installations;
b) number of registered users;
c) monthly active users, annual active users, or the nearest equivalent usage measure held;
d) total number of transactions, reports or service requests submitted through the application;
and
e) any available breakdown of those transactions, reports or requests by service or reporting
category.

Where held, please also provide existing reports or recorded performance information
concerning:

f) completion or abandonment rates;
g) repeat usage;
h) resident/customer satisfaction;
i) complaints relating to the application; and
j) other performance measures used by the Council to assess the application.

If three complete years of information are not held or cannot readily be extracted, please provide
whatever information is readily available.

3. Systems and integration
For each current resident mobile application and/or online resident portal, please identify the
principal Council systems with which it integrates or exchanges resident service-request
information.
In particular, please identify the principal:
a) CRM/customer-service platform;
b) case-management or service-management system;
c) payments platform;
d) identity/account platform; and
e) other principal back-office systems used to receive, route, manage or update resident
requests originating through the application or portal.

A high-level description is sufficient. I am not requesting passwords, credentials, security keys,
detailed security architecture, technical vulnerabilities or other operationally sensitive security
information.

4. Digital and other service channelsW

Where the Council already records this information, please provide the number or proportion of relevant resident service requests or transactions received through the following channels during the most recent complete financial year:

a) mobile application; 

b) Council website/online portal; 

c) telephone/contact centre;

d) email; and

e) other recorded channels.

If these figures are not held centrally and cannot readily be extracted, please instead provide any existing channel-usage report, dashboard, management information or equivalent recorded information that is readily available.

5. Contact-centre demand and digital-channel impact

Where recorded, please provide copies of any existing reports, analyses, evaluations or performance information concerning:

a)  the volume of telephone/contact-centre enquiries relating to services that are also available through digital channels; and

b)the impact of the Council’s mobile application, online portal or other resident-facing digital services on telephone/contact-centre demand.

A high-level description is sufficient. I am not requesting passwords, credentials, security keys, detailed security architecture, technical vulnerabilities or other operationally sensitive security information.

6. Current suppliers and contracts

For each third-party supplier currently involved in the provision, licensing, hosting, maintenance, support or operation of a resident mobile application and/or online resident portal, please provide:

a) supplier name;

b) product/platform supplied;

c) contract commencement date;

d) current expiry date;

e) extension/renewal options;

f) procurement route;

g) total contract value; and

h) expenditure paid to the supplier during the most recent complete financial year.

Where reasonably practicable, please also provide copies of the current contract award notice, specification, statement of requirements or other existing document describing the services being supplied.

I recognise that commercially sensitive or otherwise exempt information may be appropriately redacted where an applicable FOISA exemption or EIR exception applies.

Where information requested under this section has already been supplied in response to section 1 or section 3, there is no need to duplicate it.

7. Replacement, migration, retirement or integration plans

Please provide copies or details of any current approved plans, business cases, project records, procurement records or recorded decisions relating to:

a) introduction of a new resident mobile application;

b) replacement or substantial upgrade of an existing application; 

c) replacement or substantial upgrade of the resident/customer portal;

d) migration from or retirement of an existing application or platform;

e) integration of an existing application with another Council digital platform;

f) consolidation of multiple resident-facing digital services into a single platform; or

g) procurement of a new resident-facing digital platform.

Where held, please also provide the anticipated procurement, implementation or migration timescale.

I am seeking existing recorded plans and decisions, rather than speculation about possible future changes.

8. Resident engagement and notifications

Where recorded, please confirm whether the Council’s current mobile application(s) or resident portal provides any of the following functionality:

a) personalised content based on a resident’s address or account;

b) push notifications or other proactive alerts;

c) personalised waste/recycling collection information;

d) service-request status tracking;

e) Council Tax information and/or payments;

f) other Council payments;

g) local roadworks or disruption information;

h) consultations;

i) planning information;

j) local events/community information; and

k) emergency or service-disruption notifications.