Services that matter
Annual report of the Department of Service & Innovation 2024
Department of Culture & Sport
The Department of Culture & Sports enriches daily life in the city in many ways. The department operates cultural institutions and sports facilities while supporting grassroots arts, sports and children's culture. It organizes and supports events and festivals that enliven life in Reykjavík throughout the year.
Digital roadmap and new workflows
At the beginning of the year, a draft digital roadmap was developed for the department. The priorities were classified into six main components and extensive internal work took place during the year to shape and strengthen the new department.
Three new managers started work and the digital transformation lead worked closely with the management team to analyze the situation and lay the groundwork for improvements. Projects were classified by priorities: technology, processes, services and human resources.
We put more effort into implementing the service strategy, holding both training programs and presentations for staff to ensure shared understanding and unity around the new approach.
Staff who embrace change
Department of Culture & Sports staff deserve recognition for embracing new solutions and adapting to new workflows during the year. The swimming pool technical team has been exemplary in this transformation, along with staff at the City Museum and Reykjavík Art Museum.
Web projects and content sharing
Websites moved to reykjavik.is: Hitt Húsið Youth Center, Music City and City of Literature closed their older WordPress sites and moved content to reykjavik.is with help from the Web Division and service transformation office.
New Reykjavík City Library website: During the year, we conducted preliminary analysis for a new Reykjavík City Library website, which currently runs on Drupal 7. We conducted a needs analysis and reviewed library systems solutions, including My Pages functionality and borrower areas. We also explored opportunities for collaboration among libraries in the capital area.
We decided to seek more options after the current service provider's proposal was deemed too expensive. Three options were reviewed and will be presented in early 2025.
Museum websites: New websites for the City Museum and Reykjavík Art Museum were completed and delivered early in the year.
Museum of Photography website: The second phase began with preliminary analysis in April. The solution was delivered to the owner in September 2024.
Access and bookings
Beach volleyball court bookings: In summer 2024, all City camping grounds could be booked through the Microsoft Bookings solution on reykjavik.is. This has simplified access and improved oversight. We will continue working to connect other facilities, such as Gufunesbær and the geothermal beach.
New and improved fristund.is: We continued work on fristund.is where recreational offerings for children and families will be accessible in one place. The solution is based on data from different systems and replaces an older manually updated website.
Digital city card
The Department of Culture & Sports requested that we put out a tender for a digital city card solution following initial examination of a mobile swim pass.
The same project group that conducted the initial examination continued the project.
We were unable to start the bidding process before the end of 2024, but this is planned for early 2025.
Swim pass in your phone
We conducted a preliminary study of a digital wallet solution for swim passes and other department plastic cards in the first half of the year. Positive results were delivered in May. Connection to payment systems and access control was successful, and we identified the technical requirements that the solution must meet to be useful for the city.
Swimming pools in property management
During the year, we started registering swimming pool equipment and facilities in the Department of Environment & Planning's property management system to improve oversight and make maintenance more proactive.