Enhancing Complaint and Problem Management: Design and Evaluation of an M-Service Using Pictures and Positioning

M-government is an emergent area for mobile applications, where citizens and organizations can interact with government and municipal agencies through mobile devices. One promising area for m-government is complaint and problem management, where mobile applications using the integrated functions of a cellular telephone can offer citizens convenient ways of rapidly reporting problems. The problems reported can then be effectively managed by the municipality using state-of-the-art workflow techniques. Furthermore, the municipality can inform citizens and companies of problems already reported or addressed, which can be visualized through interactive maps. In this study, a municipal e-service for complaint and problem management is transformed into an m-service and put into operation in a Swedish municipality. The experiences from developing the m-service comprise of a suggested design and several identified challenges. Suggestions for future research include the application of new technologies for positioning and the adaptation of the m-service to new cellular telephone models.