Needs assessment for Ártúnshöfði

A needs assessment was completed for a cultural and community center in the new district at Ártúnshöfði. The assessment was unusual because it wasn't possible to interview actual users, since the subject was a building that doesn't exist in a neighborhood that doesn't exist.

Instead, residents in newly built areas were interviewed to understand whether the lack of services and community spaces affected their experience. Basic resident needs were mapped and suggestions were made for spaces that could meet these needs.

My Pages

My Pages continued to grow and thrive as one of the City's largest digital products. Users can easily request services and monitor the status of their cases through this platform. Its purpose is to simplify life for residents and businesses by providing improved access to public services.

Various new features were added during the year, including a new authorization solution through island.is that allows individuals and company executives to authorize others to handle their matters on My Pages.

Other additions included:

• Status updates for guardians regarding primary school enrollment

• Application for a resident parking permit

• Document upload after submission

• Secure notification payments.

• Digital mailbox

• Reporting form for technical issues

• Language settings

Multilingual

Another Bloomberg partnership project focused on finding ways to better support multilingual children and their parents. Extensive analysis work with specialists, teachers and 50 parents of multilingual children from 25 countries led to the development of three solutions:

• Goal-setting tool – A tool to help teachers, parents and children set shared goals based on realistic expectations for Icelandic language learning.

• Shared Voices – A mentoring program that connects children who are learning Icelandic with those who are more advanced.

• Information package – A central landing page with guidance about the school system, useful tools and materials to strengthen Icelandic language skills.

The project officially ended in fall 2024. The goal is for implementation in all Reykjavík City schools, and the Center for Education and School Service is also working to make the solutions accessible to schools nationwide.

Presentation at conference in Helsinki

Team leaders from service and product design presented at the International Design in Government conference in Helsinki on how Reykjavík has built an in-house design culture and implemented design methods in service transformation projects.

Management day

Reykjavík's management day focused on good service. The event emphasized the importance of analyzing user experiences to design the right solutions and ensure services meet the real needs of residents.

Front line

2024 was an eventful year for the front line, marked by improvements and increased automation of digital solutions. We focused on simpler processes and more targeted services while strengthening collaboration with other divisions within the department.

Smarter services with more streamlined processes

Over the past year, the front line started improvement work with waste collection to improve first-contact resolution. Work with Reykjavík Parking Service also continued. Working with the service and communications office at the Department of Environment & Planning, we redesigned how inquiries flow from the front line to specialists. We increased specialization of welfare department liaisons to improve child protection phone services and worked with the human resources and work environment department on a standardized quality process for complaints. We also established new processes for responding to threatening behavior in the service center.

Work requests in Jira

This year, the front line launched Jira as our new work request system. The system automatically creates requests for most email addresses that the front line manages, reducing manual entry and increasing efficiency. At the same time, we defined request flows both within the front line and between departments and set up automatic responses to residents.

Jira also makes it easier to analyze inquiries, such as the percentage answered at first contact and those forwarded to specialists. The system finally gives us better oversight of the total number of submitted inquiries, which was previously difficult to track when requests came only through email.

The launch supports more efficient handling of inquiries in the departments and opens up possibilities to use Jira as part of a new feedback website.

Confluence makeover

We worked on redesigning the front line's knowledge base in Confluence with the web team and an artificial intelligence specialist from the service and innovation department. The goal is to improve access to information and maximize productivity. With the new custom-designed area, artificial intelligence capabilities and Confluence will be integrated to create a more powerful and user-friendly knowledge base.

Purchase of Genesys licenses

The bidding for purchasing the front line's communication solution was completed and we made a three-year contract to purchase Genesys licenses serviced by Advania. The system has been continuously adapted to the front line's needs, but the most significant change this year was setting up an emergency flow that can be activated if front line workplaces need to be evacuated.

Electronic ID

We made a contract with Auðkenni this year for a registration station in Reykjavík's front line service center. The City became the first municipality to make this type of contract with Auðkenni. This created a new role for an Auðkenni registration and education representative in the front line. This project will improve access and support the self-service solutions that the City offers which require electronic user authentication.

Strong and unified front line

This year, IT Services' asset management got a workstation in the service center. The change has been successful, both for asset management's work environment and departmental collaboration, while also increasing staff access to IT Services.

The unified front line plays a key role in strengthening first-contact response, which is one of the main goals of the City's service strategy. As our services have evolved, front-line work has shifted from general information sharing to more targeted consultation. We decided to change the job title from "service representative" to "service advisor," which better reflects the actual role and focus of the position today.

More automation and digital development

This year, our digital workforce Þjarkur took over answering inquiries about property rates status. Previously, 20-40 requests arrived daily by email that service advisors had to process manually. With Þjarkur's launch, all requests now go through an automated process that eliminates wait times, increases efficiency and frees up staff time for other projects.

Mail processes were also simplified by having staff register certified mail themselves on postur.is before handing it off for delivery. This way, tracking numbers go directly to the sender and responsibility is clearly defined.

Additionally, the front line took on new projects in internal services. These include entering data from My Pages into Hlaðan for the Building Commissioner and delivering employee cards in collaboration with facility management. With these changes, the front line is supporting faster processing of cases and reducing the workload on the City's specialists.

Education

This year, work began on a new structure for training the front line at Torgið. Regular meetings with service advisors were established to identify opportunities and challenges in the City's front-line services. With increased emphasis on dialogue and collaboration, a platform was created for sharing experience and building skills, which strengthens both the service and work environment.

Front-line service advisors also attended an international conference, Customer Contact Week, in Amsterdam. The conference provided an important venue for gaining new knowledge, following developments in international front-line services and bringing good ideas home.