September 13, 2009 at 19:59Reception of citizens: the experience of introducing the “electronic queue” in a state organization
Good afternoon friends!
One way or another, we all have to contact the government. Take a certificate, register, deregister, register, etc. And every time you have to stand for many hours in line for one or two treasured pieces of paper or seals. In today's article, I would like to talk about how we personally deal with the queue problem (in our Office [UFRS in the Kurgan Region] there is a rather large flow of visitors, so the task is quite relevant).
Immediately I want to make a reservation about the objectives of the article:
First, I would like to show how to solve complex problems in simple ways. It is not necessary to buy sophisticated software, install, configure, etc. Some things can be solved quite elegantly, would be, as they say, head and hands.
Secondly, I would like to shake the conviction that government agencies are a kind of soulless bureaucratic machine that uses outdated technologies and working methods. Of course, not everywhere keeps up to date, but there is a positive experience. I would be glad if after reading someone could take a different look at our work.
Task
So, for starters, I will describe the problem that we are solving. When visitors are received, the main problem is, of course, the turn. One of the departments accepts just on our floor, so 10-15 people are constantly sitting in the corridor. Such, alas, is the real picture. The ideal picture should look like this: each visitor knows the exact time when they should receive it, and comes 5-10 minutes before this time. The entire reception schedule is clearly scheduled, 2-3 people expect in the corridor, no noise. This approach is called the “electronic queue” and is already used in some places (in banks, private medical clinics, etc.)
. Ideally, recording in the “electronic queue” should be accessible from everywhere.
Option one: a person calls by phone, names his name, a specialist writes it down at the right time.
Option two: through the information and reference terminal.
Option three: through the web interface (directly on the official website)
Plus, of course, all this should be implemented in a convenient way, so that everything is immediately visible, and the person was added with a minimum of mouse movements.
Implementation The
whole system was written in PHP and runs on a local web server. To enter the system, a specialist just needs to open a browser (click on the shortcut on the desktop) and log in.
By default, the record for the current date is displayed (the pictures are clickable): You can see any other day: A few explanations:
The whole working day (from 8 am to 8 pm (this is with a margin)) is divided into 4 intervals of 3 hours. Each interval is still divided into "quanta" of time (10, 12, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes) - the time of reception of one visitor.
The system takes into account all work schedules, lunch breaks and holidays. Inactive cells are grayed out.
White empty cells are active. After clicking on it, a form opens to enter the name of the visitor. One visitor can occupy several cells (if he needs to draw up several documents).
The yellow cells are busy. Green - the visitor came, red - did not come (needed to collect statistics). In the event of a visitor’s refusal, our specialist can delete it and record a new person on the vacated cells on top.
In general, the interface is quite understandable and after a couple of explanations everyone began to use it confidently.
Technical implementation.
As I mentioned above, everything is written in PHP. It turned out that everything wasn’t as scary as it was thought at the beginning - everything fit into two main scripts + several auxiliary ones responsible for asynchronous updating of information every minute (I actively used AJAX requests). All the work took about two weeks.
Benefit.
The benefit is obvious - already according to the results of the first week, you can see how visitors quite densely occupy all the cells (rarely remain free). That is, the system really works! Now recording is only by telephone and so far only in one department. Our specialists are also unloading - before, it’s a shame to admit, they made a preliminary record in the Excel file. Plus, of course, a uniform reception of citizens during the day (it happens that everyone will run in in the morning, and after lunch, on the contrary, there is already nobody).
What next?
We will expand further. To be honest, it will be harder and more interesting at the same time.
Firstly, we will implement it in the second department (there two windows work by appointment).
Secondly, you need to write an algorithm that will automatically calculate how much time it takes to receive a visitor - depending on the number of documents, type of design, etc.
Thirdly, we will introduce a pre-registration system on the information terminal and on the official website. That is, it will be possible to independently (!!!) go to the site, see free cells, select the appropriate ones and sign up for this time . Agree, this is much more convenient than sitting in lines. Or come and find out that, it turns out, there is no reception today.
I would be grateful for comments, ready to answer questions.
One way or another, we all have to contact the government. Take a certificate, register, deregister, register, etc. And every time you have to stand for many hours in line for one or two treasured pieces of paper or seals. In today's article, I would like to talk about how we personally deal with the queue problem (in our Office [UFRS in the Kurgan Region] there is a rather large flow of visitors, so the task is quite relevant).
Immediately I want to make a reservation about the objectives of the article:
First, I would like to show how to solve complex problems in simple ways. It is not necessary to buy sophisticated software, install, configure, etc. Some things can be solved quite elegantly, would be, as they say, head and hands.
Secondly, I would like to shake the conviction that government agencies are a kind of soulless bureaucratic machine that uses outdated technologies and working methods. Of course, not everywhere keeps up to date, but there is a positive experience. I would be glad if after reading someone could take a different look at our work.
Task
So, for starters, I will describe the problem that we are solving. When visitors are received, the main problem is, of course, the turn. One of the departments accepts just on our floor, so 10-15 people are constantly sitting in the corridor. Such, alas, is the real picture. The ideal picture should look like this: each visitor knows the exact time when they should receive it, and comes 5-10 minutes before this time. The entire reception schedule is clearly scheduled, 2-3 people expect in the corridor, no noise. This approach is called the “electronic queue” and is already used in some places (in banks, private medical clinics, etc.)
. Ideally, recording in the “electronic queue” should be accessible from everywhere.
Option one: a person calls by phone, names his name, a specialist writes it down at the right time.
Option two: through the information and reference terminal.
Option three: through the web interface (directly on the official website)
Plus, of course, all this should be implemented in a convenient way, so that everything is immediately visible, and the person was added with a minimum of mouse movements.
Implementation The
whole system was written in PHP and runs on a local web server. To enter the system, a specialist just needs to open a browser (click on the shortcut on the desktop) and log in.
By default, the record for the current date is displayed (the pictures are clickable): You can see any other day: A few explanations:
The whole working day (from 8 am to 8 pm (this is with a margin)) is divided into 4 intervals of 3 hours. Each interval is still divided into "quanta" of time (10, 12, 15, 20, 30 or 60 minutes) - the time of reception of one visitor.
The system takes into account all work schedules, lunch breaks and holidays. Inactive cells are grayed out.
White empty cells are active. After clicking on it, a form opens to enter the name of the visitor. One visitor can occupy several cells (if he needs to draw up several documents).
The yellow cells are busy. Green - the visitor came, red - did not come (needed to collect statistics). In the event of a visitor’s refusal, our specialist can delete it and record a new person on the vacated cells on top.
In general, the interface is quite understandable and after a couple of explanations everyone began to use it confidently.
Technical implementation.
As I mentioned above, everything is written in PHP. It turned out that everything wasn’t as scary as it was thought at the beginning - everything fit into two main scripts + several auxiliary ones responsible for asynchronous updating of information every minute (I actively used AJAX requests). All the work took about two weeks.
Benefit.
The benefit is obvious - already according to the results of the first week, you can see how visitors quite densely occupy all the cells (rarely remain free). That is, the system really works! Now recording is only by telephone and so far only in one department. Our specialists are also unloading - before, it’s a shame to admit, they made a preliminary record in the Excel file. Plus, of course, a uniform reception of citizens during the day (it happens that everyone will run in in the morning, and after lunch, on the contrary, there is already nobody).
What next?
We will expand further. To be honest, it will be harder and more interesting at the same time.
Firstly, we will implement it in the second department (there two windows work by appointment).
Secondly, you need to write an algorithm that will automatically calculate how much time it takes to receive a visitor - depending on the number of documents, type of design, etc.
Thirdly, we will introduce a pre-registration system on the information terminal and on the official website. That is, it will be possible to independently (!!!) go to the site, see free cells, select the appropriate ones and sign up for this time . Agree, this is much more convenient than sitting in lines. Or come and find out that, it turns out, there is no reception today.
I would be grateful for comments, ready to answer questions.