About Houston's 311 Department

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH 311

August 2001, the City of Houston launched 311 Houston Service Helpline, a consolidated call center that provides citizens with one easy-to-remember telephone number for quick, reliable access to city services, 7 days a week, from 6 AM to 12 Midnight. This call center makes city government more accessible and responsive to city residents.

311 Houston Service Helpline is recognized nationally for its firsts:

• First municipality to utilize 311 for all non-emergency services
• First 311 call center to provide municipal court case information to callers
• First 311 call center to implement Computer-Telephone Integration (CTI) to display caller profile & history on call-taker workstations

The main component of the 311 Houston Service Helpline is the three-digit phone number, accessible from within the Houston city limits. From traffic fines and sewer concerns to pothole problems and neighborhood complaints, Houstonians can call 311 and speak to one of our highly trained customer service representatives. From outside the City of Houston, callers simply dial 713-837-0311. Houstonians can also access this helpful service via fax to 713-837-0210, and e-mail to 311@HoustonTX.gov. A self-service request form is available online at www.houston311.org.

311 Telecommunicators process requests for information or services. For a specific city service like pothole repair or a traffic signal malfunction, 311 telecommunicators create a Service Request in the 311 Customer Service Request system (CSR). Each Service Request (SR) can be tracked from start to finish. More than 300 specific SR Types have been defined and scripted within the system. CSR routes each request to the appropriate department and assigns a deadline date for investigation and resolution. If the same individual or someone else subsequently reports the same problem, the CSR system can indicate it is a duplicate request, so an up-to-the-minute status can be reported to the caller.

311 enables the city to increase customer service and enhance citizen satisfaction. Over 2,200 frequently answered questions have been collected and warehoused. With such a broad array of reference entries developed jointly with departmental experts, and by providing specific information from other shared databases, the 311 Helpline resolves 78% of calls without transfer, Service Request, or follow-up.

The CSR system increases accountability for city departments and their personnel. The system generates numerous reports by department, by division within a department, by service request type, participants, council districts, zip codes, Key Map locations, and other geographic areas. Regular reports identify any service requests that have not been resolved within the pre-determined timeline. This provides greater opportunity for management supervision of personnel and assessment of the impact of deployed resources.

311 Houston Service Helpline grew steadily during the middle of the decade. We increased our staffing levels to keep pace with growing call volume as residents and neighbors of Houston began to rely more on 3-digit access to city services. Internally, incoming elected officials quickly recognized the benefits of delivering new city programs via the CSR system. In 2006, we designed about 40 new SR Types for Mayor Mail Tracking – an internally-focused initiative to document, route, investigate & resolve correspondence to our Mayor. In 2007, we launched a dozen new SR Types to prevent and abate Graffiti. As more and more business processes migrated into the CSR framework, we stepped up training opportunities for new users. Many of our graduates are from offices of elected or appointed officials. Council Members and mayoral administrations have encouraged their staff to take advantage of the research and reporting capabilities of the CSR system.

311 Helpline manually processed hundreds of requests for evacuation from Hurricane Rita in 2005. In 2006 and 2007, we worked extensively with METRO and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), to develop 14 SR Types for similar contingencies. Hurricane Dean threatened our Gulf Coast in August 2007; in light but realistic conditions, satisfactory performance of the new SRs promised the effort was worthwhile. The evacuation SRs proved their immeasurable value in September 2008; Hurricane Ike prompted joint City-County-State evacuation of 63 Zip Codes from the coast to the east side of Houston. Operating in a 24-hour emergency mode until 12 hours before landfall, 311 Helpline created 783 SRs for evacuating 2,219 regional residents.

During Fiscal Year 2009, the 311 Houston Service Helpline received over 2.4 million calls and 8,100 requests via email. Citizens submitted over 17,000 requests via the self-service web portal.

What's Next?

In early 2010, Information Technology (IT) published a Request for Proposals (RFP) to upgrade the technology platform that supports 311 Helpline. In 2011, the next-generation Citizen Relationship Management (CRM) solution should amplify customer access channels, expand self-service options, enable interactive transactions, enhance internal functions, and improve analysis & reporting. Designed according to Best Practices… With a tradition of innovation… Proud to be commended by the Department of Justice as the national template for a centralized call center… 311 Houston Service Helpline is committed to evolve, to improve, to expand -- to catapult customer service and satisfaction to levels only dreamed in the past.

The 311 Houston Service Helpline puts City government at your fingertips – one contact, via the channel of your choice -- and you get answers, find the right person, or have your City service problem solved.