IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment Service

The IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment^® Service¹ is designed to allow government agencies to systematize management of public involvement by combining content, document, image, and communications management with electronic management of public comment collected online and via traditional methods.

Helps you avoid the large capital investment required for in-house solutions - no special software or technical support staff is required

Helps you organize large amounts of complex data in a central repository, making project records accessible virtually anytime, anywhere

Helps get you up and running quickly with an on demand service that is prebuilt and ready to go

Helps meet legislative standards for transparency and public comment, and addresses new statutory requirements for electronic public comment collection and involvement

Provides a single, security-rich location for project management and citizen education, outreach and comment

Collect and manage public comment on demand

As society evolves, so do the ways in which government agencies interact with citizens. While town hall meetings worked in simpler times when communities were still small, they are less effective today. Many projects are multi-jurisdictional or regional, involving many communities that must work together. What’s more, new legislation, along with more complicated public policy-making, puts increasing pressure on government agencies to solicit and collect public comment. And while using electronic methods to handle public comment is not always legally mandated, it may still be politically expedient.

Now you can keep the public involved and capture public comment accurately and in a timely manner with a security-rich Web-based platform that is designed to allow you to organize and manage information and communications for multiple public involvement projects simultaneously. Excessive mail and phone traffic can be avoided, as well as the security risks, virus threats and non-attribution that come with email.

The IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment Service is a comprehensive system that integrates project administration and citizen participation, helping your government agency to communicate with the public and manage one or multiple projects or Web sites simultaneously. This on demand service is designed for local, state and federal governments, and provides a systematic and reliable approach to collecting, organizing and responding to public comment in a security-rich online environment.

The Public Comment Service is designed to allow organizations to supplement and enhance traditional forms of public involvement, reaching citizens without the large capital investment required for dedicated in-house solutions. Hosted and delivered on demand by IBM, the service can be deployed rapidly. We provide and manage the application environment, including security, backup and recovery, and support services. Accessing the solution as a service allows you to save money while focusing on the project at hand rather than the technology behind the project management application.

With the IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment Service, you can:

• Collect, administer, moderate and report attributable public comment for diverse public planning processes including projects, events, issues, rules and legislation
• Boost productivity by leveraging existing staff and coordinating among project committees, agencies, and multiple jurisdictions
• Pay for the service out of your operating budget – it’s priced to fit within that of most organizations
• Save money on project costs, staffing and training, as well as printing, mailing and shipping costs – a small project team can manage large-scale, data-intensive projects
• Create an electronic institutional memory or project record through archiving – new employees can quickly become current on a project
• Govern access to and uses of project data and information by assigning information rights management to users
• Avoid spam and viruses and burdening in-house mail servers
• Leverage an innovative solution that combines the substantial experience and best practice knowledge of Neighborhood America – the leader in public communication management solutions – with IBM’s hosting and on demand business expertise

The IBM - Neighborhood America Public Comment Service offers three solution modules, which can be purchased separately. The Public Communications System provides the combined capabilities of the front-end Public Comment module and the back-end Communications Manager^TM module.

Public Comment
The front end, or public side of the system, this module is used by project managers, communication managers, elected officials and legislative bodies to moderate, collect, analyze and report public comment across a variety of applications. Using this module, both online public comment and input collected by traditional methods, such as public hearings, can be managed. The module can be customized to support many types of public involvement projects, including projects, events, issues, rules and legislative processes. It can also support a number of diverse planning environments, including homeland security, transportation, and environmental and economic development planning projects.

Communications Manager
This module is the back end of the system. It supports project teams and provides content for public outreach and comment. It provides task management, document, and image management functionality, plus a range of tools, including integrated Web email, discussion boards, content updating and reporting, link management and Web site statistics.

Public Communications System
The Public Communications System (PCS) offers the combined capabilities of the Public Comment and Communications Manager modules, along with all the features and benefits. The PCS is ideal for public involvement projects with large, dispersed teams, such as master, comprehensive and regional planning, transportation planning and corporate transparency. The PCS manages information electronically and provides administration and security features. PCS also includes an integrated publishing application and a content management application that enables project managers to edit public information Web page content using a Web browser.

In-depth information
Learn more about Neighborhood America

¹ Neighborhood America and IBM, two separate companies, have joined forces to deliver this service. Public Comment, Communications Manager and Public Communications System are trademarks or registered trademarks of Neighborhood America.