New Feature to Kharkiv City Municipal Chatbot

We talked to the Director of the Digital Transformation Department of the Kharkiv City Council Halyna Lytvinets and to our developer who did a big part of the work from our side – Maxim Kovtun, Chief Innovation Officer at Sigma Software.

Halyna, why did the city of Kharkiv need a chatbot?

Halyna: We were looking for ways to provide people with information about the state of their homes. Since Kharkiv was shelled by the aggressor from the first hours of the war, about 6 thousand residential houses were damaged or completely destroyed.

Thousands of residents of the city who left their homes because of the invasion, wanted to know what happened to their houses. The municipal call centers received thousands of calls, and it was very difficult for them to process all the requests.

First, we were thinking about a website, and with this idea we addressed Sigma Software.

Maxim: First thing we did after receiving the request and analyzing their situation was suggesting to make a messenger-based chatbot instead of a website. It was easier and quicker to implement, moreover, it could be even more convenient for users.

Halyna: The development really turned out very quick – just in a few weeks we went live, including the integration with the municipal database of all damaged real estate objects. Since our main concern was to provide people with the information they needed as soon as possible, it was a good choice.

Did the chatbot help with the avalanche of calls?

Halyna: It became a very efficient informational tool. During a year of its operation, the chatbot has processed 480 thousands of requests from city residents. Just imagine the workforce necessary to answer that number of phone calls.

And you continued adding new features to the chatbot?

Halyna: Yes, when the Kharkiv City Council faced the need to inform people about the state of their applications for receiving compensation for the restoration of damaged real estate objects, we decided to add a corresponding function to the chatbot. Though the application is filed at the state level via the state service app Diia, it is then handled by municipal authorities. So, at our level, we can provide detailed information about the application execution route.

Maxim: Also, we have started adding visual materials to reports on damaged houses. The Forensic Center captures the damage to real estate objects on photos and 360 panoramas, and we make these photos available to residents to better realize the amount of damage to their homes. This task requires organizational and infrastructural efforts because it involves storing large volumes of visual materials, however, we are moving forward.

Another recent feature is providing access to information about the location of the nearest bomb shelters and support centers that work in case of damage to critical infrastructure objects.

What other areas in your interaction with city authorities would you like to automate or digitalize?

Maxim: Sending utility meters’ reading every month to utility companies. That’s a repetitive task, it takes time from many people, and I’m sure that automating it would bring a lot of benefits. Not just to citizens, who would have one errand off their lists, but to utility companies too. They would have better quality data, in fixed time, and without the need to remind their clients about it. Obviously, automating the transfer of meters’ readings would require equipment upgrade.

Halyna: Actually, most digital transformation projects require a complex approach – infrastructure, trained personnel, legal basis. Unfortunately, we cannot just buy a software solution and put it to work. First, we need to ensure we have the required technical environment. Then, we need to organize a series of training sessions for the personnel that will work with the solution. At the same time, provision of state services is regulated by law. To start providing such services in the digital format, competent authorities should introduce corresponding changes in the legislation.

Maxim, what did it feel like working with municipal organizations? Have you noticed any specifics?

Maxim: Mostly, I have been working directly with the Digital Transformation Department of the Kharkiv City Council, and we had a very efficient and seamless cooperation. However, when I had some requests at the crossroads of the responsibility areas of different organizations, it took more time to handle requests.

Anyway, we at Sigma Software, have experience working with clients from various spheres, including municipalities and city administrations, educational bodies, public organizations, state agencies, and others – for example, we developed an EMC solution used in 80% of all government institutions in Sweden, made school management software, created info-portals for Swedish theater organization, and helped to automate business processes for an entrepreneurs support center in terms of a national entrepreneurship development project. So, we know how to work with different organizational specifics and dynamics.

Halyna: For people from outside, the whole city management looks like a single structure, but in reality – it includes many different organizations. To reengineer services in the digital format, we need to ensure cooperation across various structures, which can be a difficult task. However, Sigma Software has a good feeling of requirements and can easily adapt to them, which facilitates cooperation.

Halyna, can you name a couple of successful digital transformation projects that your organization worked on?

Halyna: One of the projects that we have launched recently helps citizens get administrative services in a more comfortable way. Document Sharing is the newest way to provide copies of digital documents.

Thus, citizens, when addressing an administrative center, can present their documents via the mobile state app Diia on their smartphone, and the center workers get copies of the documents by scanning a QR code from a citizen’s smartphone. It increased the efficiency of the administrative center operation and reduced the time for processing and checking applicants’ documents. It is good for nature too, because it minimizes the need for paper for application processing in line with the “paperless” initiative.

Another project is automation of Kharkiv’s single contact desk, where city residents can send complaints or request info on utility repair terms, etc. Now all complaints incoming through a chatbot or by phone are automatically transmitted to a corresponding organization for fixing.

For example, I file a request to replace a missing road hatch via the chatbot. I can even attach a photo of the problem. My request is automatically transmitted to the road service that fixes the problem and sends a notification of completion. I get the notification and can either confirm or reject it, also attaching a photo. It allows the city administration to control the quality of work and unite all city services and organizations in one solution. All requests are trackable and clearly seen in the system. After a person registers in the system, he or she starts receiving notifications about utility outages on their registered address, planned repairs, and so forth.

These are just a few of our projects, we have a lot of plans in the area of automation and digitalization in order to make our city more comfortable for its residents and guests, and we are grateful to Sigma Software for contributing to our projects.

Maxim: Sigma Software takes part in many social projects in terms of our CSR plan, we believe in the importance of social responsibility of businesses. I, personally, value the opportunity to see how my work immediately translates into social benefit, into the comfort of my friends and neighbors.

• #Business Process Automation
• #Mobile Development