Redesigning a City Portal for 180,000 Residents
A 12-year-old municipal portal was costing the city $2.4M annually in unnecessary call center volume. We replaced it with a modern, accessible self-service platform in six months.
- Reduction in support calls
- 37%
- Form completion increase
- 52%
- Lighthouse accessibility score
- 100
- Median form completion
- 4 min
- Resident satisfaction gain
- 31pt
- Annual call center savings
- $1.4M
In the first quarter post-launch
Across all self-service transactions
Maintained across all pages
Down from 18 minutes
In digital service ratings
Projected in year one
The challenge
Maplewood's legacy portal had not been meaningfully updated since 2012. It failed on mobile devices, scored 31 on Lighthouse accessibility, and required staff assistance for 60% of resident transactions. The city was receiving 4,200 support calls per month for tasks the portal was supposed to handle.
The solution
We began with six weeks of discovery — shadowing call center staff, interviewing residents at the community center, and auditing every transaction flow. The new portal was built on Next.js with a headless CMS, full WCAG 2.2 AA compliance, and smart form automation that reduced the median form completion time from 18 minutes to 4 minutes. We launched with 12 services and expanded to 34 within the first year.
The outcome
The new portal reduced support call volume by 37% in the first quarter. Form completion rates increased 52% across all services. The city's Lighthouse accessibility score reached 100. Resident satisfaction surveys showed a 31-point improvement in digital service ratings. Staff now spend less time on routine inquiries and more time on complex resident needs.