Overview

CitiCall is a public service reporting platform designed for the Durban municipality. It enables citizens to quickly report civic issues such as water leakage, pipeline failures, road damage, potholes, sanitation problems, and other infrastructure concerns. The system replaces slow, manual reporting with a structured digital workflow that allows real-time tracking and faster issue resolution.

This case study highlights the design of a simple, mobile-first experience that empowers residents to submit complaints with photos and location data, while giving government teams a clear dashboard to assign, track, and resolve cases efficiently.

Objectives

• Enable citizens to report issues quickly using photos and location tagging
• Improve transparency with real-time complaint tracking
• Reduce response time through automated routing to the correct department
• Provide a clear communication channel between citizens and municipal teams
• Ensure accessibility and usability for a broad range of users
• Design a scalable system that supports multiple issue categories and workflows

Objectives

• Enable citizens to report issues quickly using photos and location tagging
• Improve transparency with real-time complaint tracking
• Reduce response time through automated routing to the correct department
• Provide a clear communication channel between citizens and municipal teams
• Ensure accessibility and usability for a broad range of users
• Design a scalable system that supports multiple issue categories and workflows

Target Users

• Citizens reporting water, road, sanitation, or infrastructure issues
• Government field workers responsible for on-site repairs
• Municipal administrators assigning and prioritizing complaints
• Supervisors tracking issue-resolution performance across departments

UX Research Insights

Key findings from user interviews, observations, and workflow analysis:

• Citizens prefer simple forms with photo upload and automatic location detection
• Lack of status updates leads to frustration and repeated complaints
• Field workers need clear categorization and location details to reduce travel time
• Municipal staff require dashboards that highlight priority issues first
• Most complaints are submitted via mobile, emphasizing mobile-first design
• Users trust systems that provide confirmation messages and progress notifications

High-Fidelity Design