In government and business, it's a given that every message from one citizen or customer represents more than one person's opinion. For every individual who sends an e-mail or preprinted postcard, two more share that point of view; each Web form completed effectively represents a handful of individuals; and every phone call counts as a dozen people speaking with one voice.

While these numbers aren't hard and fast by any means, they do demonstrate the difficulty government officials have in piecing together their constituents' views on both hot-button issues and more run-of-the-mill concerns.

Activist groups may help illuminate officials to residents' opinions on issues such as gay marriage and gun ownership, but few organizations have been founded to denounce potholes or abandoned cars in neighbors' yards. Residents with such minor, yet profoundly irritating, concerns previously worked their way through a tangle of "blue page" phone numbers until they hit the right department or official, gave their complaint, then crossed their fingers and waited.

Over the past five years, however, cities and counties both large and small have implemented 311 call centers that allow residents to register everyday complaints with ease. What's more, they receive answers to questions about the removal of bulky items, digging permits, school board meeting hours and more with a single phone call. The 311 call center acts as a governmental Wal-Mart, if you will, providing citizens everything they need in one location.

"Anytime you can centralize the point of contact for citizens, it makes it easier for them to get service," said Peter Collins, CIO for Austin, Texas, which plans to have calls to nearly all city departments routed through 311 by November 2004. "Plus they can get on the Web at night or on weekends, and submit details of problems."


One Ring Rules
While better service to citizens is good news to any official's ear, a 311 system can provide payoffs that more than make up for its costs. "It's a proactive management tool that lets you see the volume and type of calls, and how long it takes for them to be dealt with," said Collins. Data from incoming calls can be tracked and reviewed with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Baltimore, the earliest 311 user, installed the system in October 1996 to ease the burden on its 911 operators, because that was the only way citizens could contact police at that time. The percentage of nonemergency 911 calls, which ran as high as 60 percent prior to 311, dropped dramatically. Additionally wait times are shorter and fewer calls are abandoned.

Currently cities and counties approach 311 service from two angles -- either an easy-to-remember replacement for an existing seven-digit nonemergency police number, or a one-stop center for citizen calls. Call center operators are hired or transferred from other departments, then trained to use several hundred scripts to address all types of calls. In some cities, each call receives a tracking number, similar to those used by overnight package services, so citizens can follow up if they don't see progress.

"311 has given us the ability to monitor constituents' requests from start to finish so we know how long it takes to get a request done," said Lisa Allen, Baltimore's call center manager. "Of course, as time goes by, we get more historical information and can better predict how long it will take a citizen to get a response."

In fact, Baltimore now guarantees potholes will be filled and graffiti removed within 48 hours. "We can make that claim because we have the data to back it up," said Baltimore CIO Elliot Schlanger. "It's not acceptable for a constituent to call and ask when a pothole will be fixed and we say, 'When we get to it.'"

Departments and agencies electronically transfer data from the 311 systems onto their own network, although many call