Industry overview
What is shaping government
Government departments, PSUs and public programmes need independent evidence on citizen needs, service delivery and programme outcomes, often gathered across large and diverse geographies.
- Programmes are expected to show measurable outcomes
- Citizen feedback is shaping service delivery
- Large field surveys need rigorous quality control
Client background
A municipal corporation, working in Gujarat. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A municipal corporation
- Sector
- Government
- Team engaged
- IT & Development
- Services
- Web application development, Mobile app development, Data analytics & dashboards
Client challenge
Complaints were tracked manually, and residents received no updates. Residents often complained that problems were ignored, and officials could not track how long complaints took. Residents’ complaints were recorded on paper and often lost between departments. Departments blamed each other for delays, and residents had no way to know whether anyone was working on their complaint.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: a grievance management system for a municipal corporation.
- Define requirements and success criteria the solution would be tested against.
- Deliver a reliable, secure solution the team can run and extend.
Target audience
Scope: City-wide.
Audiences we typically reach in government
Citizens and householdsProgramme beneficiariesFrontline workersLocal officialsBusinesses using public services
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Gujarat. Market: India.
- India
Research methodology
An iterative delivery approach: discovery, design, build and test in short cycles, with the client reviewing each step.
- 1Brief
- 2Process mapping
- 3Grievance app
- 4Insight
We built a grievance system with app and web channels, tracking and dashboards. We mapped complaint workflows with each department and built the system with automatic routing, deadlines and escalation. Field staff used a mobile app to update complaints with photos. Complaints were routed automatically to the right department and ward officer, with escalation if deadlines were missed.
Web application developmentMobile app developmentData analytics & dashboards
Sampling strategy
- Users and stakeholders from every affected team took part in discovery workshops and acceptance testing.
Data collection
- Requirements were gathered through workshops, process walk-throughs and a review of existing systems and data.
Data quality & validation
- Peer code review on every change
- Automated and manual testing
- User-acceptance testing with the client
- Release checklist and rollback plan
Data analysis
- Usage and performance monitoring after launch
- Defect and support-ticket trends
- Process time before and after
Key findings
- Resolution times became visible, and residents received updates.
- Residents could track complaints online.
- Councillors used ward-level dashboards to follow up on long-pending issues in their areas.
Transparency improved accountability.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: transparency improved accountability.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: resolution times became visible, and residents received updates.
Business impact
- Average resolution times fell, and the corporation published monthly performance reports.
Deliverables & next steps
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interactive dashboard
- Deployed solution with documentation and handover
- Support and maintenance plan
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: what changed after a programme?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.