Number of City Services provided online through the City of Austin Web Portal (austintexas.gov)

Status

This number measures how many City services are completely online and accessible for Austin residents. The measure includes services that residents can use digitally without printing, mailing, or visiting an office in-person. The City has identified over 500 different paper and PDF forms and applications. The Digital Services team is using Google analytics and working with service providers to prioritize services for digitization.
A new measure, the City is working to bring more services online and make them available to residents via computers, tablets, and mobile devices. It is a part of the City's effort to ensure residents can find services, understand them, access and use them, and provide feedback to the City. The City strives for this level of online access across languages and all levels of ability.
With this focus on services that are both online and accessible, this metric only includes services that:
  • Are completely online. Residents can use it without printing, mailing, or visiting an office in-person.
  • Are hosted on an official City platform. Residents access them on Austintexas.gov.
  • Have been reviewed or improved for accessibility. The City has worked to make the services more accessible and easy to use for residents. This includes digital accessibility, language translation, plain language, and ease of use.

Trending

The City is measuring this number for the first time in 2020. As departments work to bring more services online and make them accessible for residents, we expect this number to go up in future years.

Additional Measure Insights

This measure sets a high standard for City services. As seen in the first measure from 2020, only a small number of the City's many services meet this standard right now.  The Digital services team has aggregated customer impact scores from their research surveying departmental needs and further relies on real time Google Analytics dashboard to help determine prioritization of services for digitization.
We do not expect to ever finish making services accessible for residents. The City must keep up with residents’ expectations for accessing and using City services. Likewise, City services must keep pace with technological change. This measure is a reminder that is always more work the City can do to make services work better for residents.

Measure Details and Definition

1) Definition:  This number is a count of services provided by all City of Austin departments that meet all of the following criteria:
  • Resident-facing. Austin residents use the service, as opposed to internal business processes for the city government.
  • Transactional.  The service uses a form for data collection from the resident.
  • Completely online. Residents can use it without printing, mailing, or visiting an office in-person.
  • Hosted on an official City platform. Residents access them on Austintexas.gov.
  • Have been reviewed or improved for accessibility. The City has worked to make the services more accessible and easy to use for residents. This includes digital accessibility, language translation, plain language, and ease of use.
2) Calculation method: Count of City services that meet the criteria in the definition.

3) Data Collection Process:  This count is taken from an inventory of services managed by the City’s Communications and Technology Management department. The inventory includes services listed in the customer service directory on Austintexas.gov and any associated official City of Austin subdomains.

CTM keeps this inventory up to date on a quarterly basis by tracking new and updated services on the Austintexas.gov platform.
4) Measure Target Calculation: The target is based on Communications and Technology Management’s plans to bring more services online over the next year. The target assumes that CTM will bring online a mix of complex and simple services. More complex services will take more time and resources to bring online. Simpler services will be brought online more easily and quickly.

5) Frequency Measure is Reported: Annually (Fiscal year)

Date page was last updated: November 2021.