Up2code

The Context

The Office of the City Attorney coordinates the efforts of the Building, Health, Planning, Public Works, Fire, and Police Departments to identify and respond to health and safety threats in San Francisco’s neighborhoods.

Each member of the Code Enforcement Team is assigned to a different San Francisco district where they work with other City departments to identify code violations.

When a code violation is reported, the Code Team responds by coordinating the investigation and, when necessary, pursues legal action against violators.

The Challenge

The Code Enforcement Team is one of the City Attorney’s Office most critical teams for interacting with the public. Code violations are reported by email or calling a toll-free hotline. The intake process used an antiquated paper-based method for data collection.

To help streamline their operations and user satisfaction, we redesigned the intake process. The goal was to take advantage of technology to provide better service and support by replacing the previous complaint system with an easier-to-use, more consumer-friendly portal for filing and monitoring complaints.

The Solution

We conducted design research in close collaboration with the Code Enforcement Team, focused on understanding the needs of users, including attorneys, intake operators, and the community. We discovered that the workflow was dependent on staff being physically present in the office, using a manual data entry system which could result in errors. The Code Team needed a centralized way of keeping track of information and simplify communications.

With this knowledge, we designed a user-centric app called UP2CODE. The new tool would replace the paper and spreadsheet complaint system with an easier-to-use portal for filing and monitoring complaints.

The Result

UP2CODE streamlines workflow by automating the process for filing complaints, provides 24/7 reporting options, allows users to track complaint status at any time, and helps the Code Enforcement Team respond to complaints faster. Service requests are sent to a centralized database which automatically assigns the request to the appropriate attorney based on neighborhoods. Users can submit photos, videos and geotag the location of the complaint. Improved data collection provides robust data analytics. Comprehensive reports can be compiled and segmented by neighborhood to track trends and identify hot spots with ease.