The Canal & River Trust has chosen SocietyWorks’ FixMyStreet Pro solution as its new platform for the reporting of national waterway and towpath issues, complete with integration with its fault management system, SugarCRM, and Microsoft Entra ID for single sign-on.
The Canal & River Trust looks after 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales. With such a vast network to maintain, reports from boaters and other members of the public about issues on, in and around canals, rivers and towpaths play a vital role in helping the charity to carry out its work. However, it’s not always easy for people to know when a problem is the Canal & River Trusts’ responsibility, and when it’s that of a local authority or other public body, with high potential for misreporting, delays and disengagement.
Understanding this, the Canal & River Trust wanted to provide an easy way for people to report problems accurately, and to have those reports along with any associated photos and other necessary details sent directly into its management system, so it chose to procure a dedicated version of FixMyStreet Pro.
From stuck lock mechanisms and damaged bridges to water contamination and overgrown vegetation, FixMyStreet Pro’s map-based technology will provide a simple and intuitive way for boaters and other users of waterways and towpaths to report problems and receive updates on the issue’s journey toward resolution.
As a networked service connected to the national FixMyStreet site, issues which are not the responsibility of the Canal & River Trust will be diverted based on the location and category selected within the report. Likewise, issues reported via FixMyStreet or one of our other council cobrand instances of FixMyStreet Pro which should go to the Canal & River Trust will be triaged, helping to improve the user experience and reduce avoidable and inaccurate contact for all parties.
Integrated with SugarCRM, updates will be sent automatically to and from FixMyStreet Pro. A second integration with Microsoft Entra ID will enable both staff and public users to use a single sign-on method when logging in.
A progressive web app, FixMyStreet Pro works on all devices and even allows for reports to be started while offline, which will be handy for reporting in areas where connectivity is unreliable.
Users will benefit from being able to see existing reports on the map, and will have potential duplicates suggested to them at the point of reporting, with the option to subscribe to the existing report. Asset layers provided by the Canal & River Trust will be applied to the map to help increase accuracy when reporting in certain categories, while reports in other categories will require extra information to be provided by the report-maker to help triage the report.
Angela Dixon, Managing Director at SocietyWorks, said: “Extending the scope of FixMyStreet to incorporate reporting along waterways and towpaths is such an important and exciting development for members of the public and for authorities.
“We’re exceptionally pleased to be working with the Canal & River Trust on this project. Building on nearly twenty years of experience, the charity has recognised the reliable and transformative nature of FixMyStreet Pro, sharing in our belief that reporting problems to help care for our local communities should be as easy as possible.”
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