[Leading Cork to take its place as a World Class City] __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Telephony Upgrade : Replacement of fire station PABX and integration with corporate telephony solution for streamlined out of hours call management.
Core Upgrade: Supported upgrade of Core to v28, established new VPN tunnels to Core hosted environment and deployment of upgraded Java client to end-user devices.
Digital Transformation & Web Team The Digital Transformation and Web team had three primary areas of focus in their 2021 work programme:
Online services: A project to deliver a number of forms online was prioritised during this period to assist in ensuring continued service provision and to provide the opportunity for business, customers, and citizens to apply online for functions as diverse as Community Grants, Business Restart grant, parking permits etc. Online services: 100 different forms were developed and uploaded online including the restart grant, rates refund, parking permits and road licencing. There have been over 100,000 on-line form submissions, with 1,500 additional on-line payments through a new payment channel. The public counters were closed during level 5 restrictions, but customers still had to use CCC services. Offline processes were reviewed, streamlined, and offered as an online service. Websites & social media The importance of the website for providing information to the public was reinforced during COVID 19. It was essential to ensure that the content was continually updated to reflect the City Council’s response to the evolving situation, addressing both the availability of the Council’s services and providing a source of accurate information on the impact of the pandemic. Measures taken and functionality included: • Google Analytics, published through MS Power BI, provided rich data on information sought by the public during the different phases of the pandemic. The content was then dynamically updated to reflect this need for information. • A necessary shift to on-line events and festivals led to the development of a new website experience highlighting the best of the city in this current reality. Collaboration with audio visual companies and creative groups and citizens made Cork Heritage Open Day, Culture Night, and other events a successful, if different, experience while also opening a number of the attractions of the city to a whole new, on-line, audience. • The innovative use of new technology, together with the reach and flexibility afforded by the website helped support the democratic mandate of the Council in the preparation of a new City Development Plan. A new site was developed, rich in content and integrated to provide an opportunity to submit observations on the various aspects of the plan as well as two webinars to deliver on the public consultation imperative. • The programme of website development continued with new sites completed for the Orienteering Heritage trail, Kinship (uniting Communities through Arts & Environmental Awareness). Ongoing updates continued with a refresh of St. Patricks Day Festival and Glow to reflect the increased online nature of events. • An enhanced Web Assistive Technology for the Council’s suite of websites included functionality for a number of people with disabilities including visual impairments, dyslexia and hyperlexia. • The website was a key to the provision of timely Covid related information to both the public and staff throughout.
Digital transformation •
Driven by the Microsoft 365 suite of solutions the Digital Transformation Programme has significantly accelerated over the past 12 months, in particular in response to the pandemic.
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