ONLINE ENGAGEMENT
PUBLIC PLATFORM
RFP P09-2023
Proposal Submission:
RFP No. P09-2023
February 2, 2023
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We are pleased to present this proposal outlining PublicInput’s enterprise software platform, support, training and our team’s collective planning experience. T ogether with the City of Chula Vista, we can help foster increased participation and intuitively engage residents in an accessible manner from every background, in every language, and every corner of the community to collaboratively plan the city’s future, purposefully advance hundreds of projects and measurably improve the quality of life for residents of Chula Vista. “Public Engagement” is often defined as a transactional process with a beginning and end-date, accompanied by a printed report, and scoped as within a survey, or an in-person meeting. However, that’s not how we see it. Engaging the public requires a wide range of formats to reach diverse audiences and achieve representative participation, without limitations based on background, work schedule, or even access to the internet. We know that when done well, successful engagement results in the public’s ownership of outcomes, reflection of community values, efficient project delivery, and agency credibility. Traditionally though, budgets and timelines for projects force concessions in the engagement process, so we have made it our mission to ensure every resident has the ability to contribute to every project through any means by which they are able, no matter the size or budget. PublicInput is constantly evolving to facilitate this unified approach as an enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution focused on gathering robust data, measuring representation, and growing close relationships.
Thank you for the opportunity to outline our platform’s capabilities and consideration for this contract.
Sincerely,
GRAHAM STONE
Vice President of Government Relationships
Citizen Solutions, Inc. DBA PublicInput.com
[email protected] | 704.607.3441
VICTOR DE LA CRUZ
Procurement Services Agent
City of Chula Vista
Purchasing Division
RE: RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROJECT NARRATIVE ................................ 1
QUALIFICATIONS ................................... 28 REFERENCES ...................................... 33
FEE PROPOSAL .................................... 38
PROJECT
NARRATIVE
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WHO IS PUBLICINPUT?
ABOUT PUBLICINPUT
PublicInput is a Software-as-a-Service (Saas)
solution designed to manage every phase of the
public engagement process. Based in Raleigh,
NC the company was co-founded by Jay Dawkins
and Graham Stone, who wanted to create a better
civic engagement process after experiencing first
hand the shortcomings of existing engagement
solutions. With a shared background in municipal
planning, Jay and Graham believe that public input
is integral to building healthy, happy communities,
and that public agencies make the best decisions
when they understand the people they serve.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
The United States has some of the most
spread out communities on earth. Elected
officials and government staff in these
amazing communities are tasked with
engaging residents on all types of issues.
Accessibility, equity, the environment– every
issue requires ongoing dialogue and plentiful
opportunities for participation. They also require a
clear understanding and solid foundation of mutual
trust and respect. The City of Chula Vista has over
275,000 residents. Our goal is to help you reach
a broad and representative audience of these
residents to make informed decisions for your
community.
OUR APPROACH
Digital tools are critical to achieving equitable
engagement. Many engagement solutions
only address small parts of the engagement
process, offering a piecemeal approach that
relies on third-party partnerships to fill in the
gaps. PublicInput’s unified approach, blends
traditional and virtual engagement tactics via
one integrated platform. Reliable, equitable, and
simple, our streamlined user interface gives you
all the tools your staff or consultants need to
create successful public engagement projects.
LIVE POLLING
Public Engagement Hub
VIRTUAL PUBLIC
MEETINGS VOICEMAIL
HOTLINES
WEBSITES &
SURVEYS MEETING SIGN-IN
KIOSKS
INTEGRATED
SOCIAL MEDIA SCANNABLE
PAPER SURVEYS
EMAIL
COMMENTS
TEXT MESSAGE
SURVEYS
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JAY DAWKINS
CEO,
Founder
• Civil Engineering,
North Carolina
State University
• Professional Engineer
• 17 Y ears of Experience
Jay is the founder and CEO of PublicInput. Jay
has spent nearly a decade building PublicInput
into the public engagement powerhouse it is
today. On a day-to-day basis, Jay works closely
with the Sales, Marketing, Customer Success,
and Product teams, using his experience to guide
decision-making and product development.
GRAHAM STONE
Vice President,
Co-Founder
• Economics and
Business Administration,
Appalachian State
University
• 20+ Y ears of Experience
Graham is the co-founder of PublicInput
and serves as Vice President of Sales,
Marketing, and Customer Success. On a
day-to-day basis, he applies his experience
in consulting, planning, and engineering for
state and local governments, researching and
sharing best practices for public engagement
and data-driven decision making.
OUR LEADERSHIP
COMPANY INFORMATION
PublicInput DBA Cityzen Solutions, Inc.
Address: 2409 Crabtree Blvd., Ste 107, Raleigh, NC 27604 Phone: 919-295-9051
Website: www.publicinput.com
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OUR EXPERIENCE WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
TRUSTED BY CITIES, TOWNS, AND COUNTIES IN OVER 38 STATES
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PLATFORM FEATURES AS
LISTED IN THE RFP
Y es, PublicInput’s
Platform fulfills
this requirement
No, PublicInput
cannot fulfill
this requirement
Educational: A straightforward, intuitive platform
to present information in multiple readable
formats, including text, maps, charts, and lists.
Customizable: A flexibile platform that
will work across a variety of projects to
solicit feedback in multiple ways.
Visual: The tools must be visually appealing, with
a design preference for simplicity over complexity.
The platform should effectively present visual
elements such as maps, layouts, and photos. Any
stock photos on the platform that show people
must represent the diversity of Chula Vista.
Self-Guided: The development and management
of the content and data generated by the platform
must be usable in a non-facilitated online setting.
Accessible: ADA-compliant and conforming
to the Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 2.0, as applicable.
Capable of Integration: Able to host or link
documents, images, or other relevant content
and able to be embedded on other webpages.
Able to download data or content for use in
documents, reports, presentations, etc.
Compatible: Usable with a variety of web browsers
and devices (tablets, smartphones, etc.)
PUBLICINPUT FEATURES VS. CHULA VISTA RFP REQUIREMENTS
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PLATFORM FEATURES AS
LISTED IN THE RFP
Y es, PublicInput’s
Platform fulfills
this requirement
No, PublicInput
cannot fulfill
this requirement
Civil: Allow the moderation of comments and the
removal of inappropriate comments and messages.
Social: Interface with social media platforms,
including Instagram, Twitter, NextDoor, and
Facebook, and support sharing on those platforms.
Data-Smart: Collect data on participation or survey
responses, as well as narrative input and geographic
data (if mapping features are used) and provide this
data through both native reports and data export.
Mappable: Enable users to provide specific locational
feedback. Integration with ArcGIS highly desireable.
Engaging: Provide for two-way engagement and
communication between the City and public.
Verification: Employ methods to limit or identify
spam comments and interactions by bots, focusing
on input from legitimate individual users.
Privacy: Employ a strong privacy
policy and functionality to safeguard
personal identifiable information.
Multilingual: Bilingual (English/Spanish) or
multilingual functionality is highly desirable.
PUBLICINPUT FEATURES VS. CHULA VISTA RFP REQUIREMENTS
PublicInput’s platform
integrates with
Twitter and Facebook
and supports sharing
on those platforms.
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EDUCATIONAL, CUSTOMIZABLE, & VISUAL: THE ENGAGEMENT HUB The Engagement Hub is the heart of the PublicInput Platform. Purpose- built for government agencies, our platform is designed to be accessible, equitable, and efficient so that agencies can have more time to focus on creating successful engagement strategies. Our portal automatically aggregates and codes feedback from all channels– survey responses, There are two levels to the platform. One is the Public Engagement Hub, which is the front-facing website that hosts all your projects, surveys, meetings, and educational content for your community. The second is the back end or Administrative side of the portal, where you can:
• Create content like projects, surveys, and meetings
• Analyze or compare data with our reporting
suite and equity mapping features
• Use our integrated CRM to create target groups
for engagement projects
• Use the communication suite to build email,
text, and social media campaigns
Three important tenets of our platform are surveys, meetings, and comments.
Public Surveys
Surveys have long been a key part of public engagement. PublicInput’s survey toolkit goes beyond the standard survey experience. We offer a variety of survey types to help you collect detailed information and insights from your community. Instantly publish stepped surveys or quick poll formats online. All results are automatically synced into our built-in report and analysis tools. Y ou can even build text message surveys.
Specific question types include quick polls, budget allocations, mapping exercises, skip-logic functions, census-synced demographics, Title VI questions, and more than a dozen other data-gathering question formats.
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THE ENGAGEMENT HUB
Public Comments
One of the most time-consuming tasks in public engagement is recording and sorting through feedback. Public comments are received through dozens of feedback formats, and it can be a hassle to aggregate all this feedback into one cohesive database.
The PublicInput system does all this work for you. Our platform aggregates comment sources, streamlines comment coding, and even offers response workflows. We are the industry’s most comprehensive management platform. We offer a variety of formats to collect comments from your community. This includes features like online comment forms, discussion forums, idea walls, voicemail hotlines, text message commenting, automated social media comment capture, and even custom project email addresses.
Agencies can also manually upload comments from any sources outside of the PublicInput platform, like paper surveys from canvassing. Our automatic comment- tagging ensures that each comment is recorded and sorted by project and topic to support accurate reporting and ensure compliance with federal mandates such as NEPA. 3 Public Meetings
Online meetings are a flexible, equitable, and safe way for residents to participate.
Our Public | Meetings integration helps you provide more flexible engagement options for public meetings, hearings, councils, boards, and commissions. The PublicInput platform lets you schedule and host meetings, whether they are in- person, online, or a hybrid of the two. All public meetings can be posted to your Public Engagement Hub, with public calendars and an embeddable RSVP button.
We can offer contactless sign-ins for in-person attendants, while all online attendance is automatically recorded and stored in the platform for reporting and reference purposes. Any comments made during a meeting, whether written or spoken, are also recorded and transcribed for documentation and reporting. Use features like live polling and presentation mode. Our platform also captures transcriptions and audio files of each meeting, making it easy to keep track of all relevant data. Y ou can even share these files or video recordings of your meeting on your Public Engagement Hub so that those unable to attend can review the meeting on their own schedule. 2 8 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
THE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT HUB: WHAT RESIDENTS SEE
CUSTOMIZABLE HEADER
Agency name, logo, your mission
statement, graphics: make it your own!
STATISTICS
Show your community that others
are participating by highlighting data
from your past engagement projects
PROJECTS, SURVEYS, EVENTS
One tab displays all current projects
and surveys; the other displays a
detailed calendar of upcoming events.
Participants can RSVP to events by
clicking on them. Add more tabs to
further organize your information.
SUBSCRIBE TO UPDATES
The updates feature makes it quick and
easy for participants to stay in the loop.
PAST PROJECTS
Highlight successful projects by
keeping them available for viewing.
Show survey results and allow
current and past participants to see
how public engagement played a
part in shaping their community.
SOCIAL FEED
With the right PublicInput plan, you
can sync your social media updates
to your public engagement page.
FEATURED PROJECTS
Have a project that you want front
and center? Add it to your featured
projects to draw attention to it.
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ADMIN PORTAL OVERVIEW: WHAT YOU SEE
NAVIGATION
BAR
Easy navigation
to major features,
such as Meetings,
Reporting, CRM,
Social Media,
Email & T ext
Campaigns, and
Equity Mapping
(if enabled).
PROJECTS
View and sort
projects via
department, tags,
status, etc. Build
project templates
or use pre-made
templates in PI’s
T emplate Library.
EVENTS &
MEETINGS
View all past
and upcoming
meetings; sort
through meetings
via keywords,
tags, and more.
SNAPSHOT
View a quick
review of
your weekly
engagement
statistics
(automatic), or use
the drop down list
to view statistics
over a longer
period of time.
ADMIN PORTAL OVERVIEW
PublicInput’s admin portal is designed for ease of use. We wanted an experience that minimized administrative tasks and duplicative work. The admin portal hosts all projects, pages, meetings, emails, reports, participant data, and text campaigns in one central location. The City will have their own administrative portal, but can share with other organizations as needed. Every aspect of your Public Engagement Hub is managed via this portal.
With a pre-existing template library and the option to duplicate or reuse existing projects and questions for new surveys, the City will be able to use previous questions, surveys and projects as a foundation for new ones to streamline your workflow.
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Building a project or survey in the Admin Portal is simple and intuitive. While you can use custom coding for a more curated look, our basic page builder helps you create projects, surveys, email campaigns, and meeting pages with just a few clicks of a button. No previous web design expertise is necessary; our drag and drop formatting and preview/draft options allow you to work on projects on the backend of the process before publishing your survey or campaign to the public.
Use our drag and drop formatting to create an informative page for your project.
Make it even easier by using template questions or copying an existing project to simplify the setup.
BUILDING A PROJECT
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Use preexisting projects as a foundation for new ones to minimize your workload or create a version of your project in a separate language.
Use existing survey questions to simplify
your survey-writing process.
Y our project overview page allows you to create and edit your public page and surveys, as well as monitor any other engagement options you’re using, like email, text, phone, social, and meetings. View, reply, or moderate comments, view any participants who have subscribed to your project, or review any reports or data related to your project.
PROJECT PAGE EXAMPLES
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A key part of creating engaging projects and collecting accurate, meaningful data is education and sharing information. The Public Engagement Hub allows you to structure projects and surveys in “steps,” letting participants learn about the project before participating in a survey, discussion board, or idea wall. Upload pdf files for download, embed videos and pictures, or get creative to “gamify” the education process by using survey questions to ask participants about the information you’ve provided as part of the survey.
INFORM & SHARE
Embed videos to help your community understand the
who, what, when, where, and why of your projects
Use idea boards or maps to allow community members to
pinpoint areas of concern
Use pictures to help inform residents of what areas
might be affected by an upcoming project
Go over project timelines and upload ongoing
documentation for residents to review
EXAMPLES OF ENGAGEMENT CONTENT
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The Engagement Hub features 16 different data gathering tools to ensure the right format for feedback whether quantitative, qualitative, or interactive mapping is called for. The platform supports all industry standard survey question types (multiple choice, ranking, Likert, matrix, consensus, etc.) as well as interactive mapping tools to ensure geospatial reference for participants to better understand impacts and outcomes. All industry standard survey and geospatial formats are supported, and questions can be hosted on PublicInput sites as polls or complete engagement initiatives, or can be embedded in third party applications for increased visibility. PublicInput integrates with ArcGIS to provide locational feedback and tracks location of participants via IP address or voluntarily provided locations like zip codes.
SURVEY EXAMPLES
Use maps to allow participants to select specific areas of the community they are familiar with or wish to discuss Checkboxes, multiple choice, and a
responsive progress bar to track selections
Allow participants to drop pins and specify specific
areas or items they want to focus on
Participants can rate items by frequency, as well as on a scale of 1-10
SURVEYS
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ONLINE MEETINGS
Meeting Mode allows for multiple points of
registration, including online registrations and
RSVP’s to increase and anticipate attendance,
sign-in kiosks for in-person registration, and
QR code sign in options to reduce wait times
in line. All registration syncs with a unique
meeting instance for follow up communication
and reporting in the dashboard.
The Meetings & Offline tab on your
Engagement Hub is where you can:
• Create virtual, hybrid, or
in-person meetings
• Associate in-person
meetings with a project
• Create a kiosk for your project (for sign-
ins and transportable survey recording)
• Manually enter data (e.g.,
from paper surveys)
• We provide public organizations more
flexible engagement options for public
meetings, public hearings, councils,
boards, and commissions by allowing
participation during virtual and hybrid
meetings to transcribe in the same
place as all other engagement.
The City would be able to track attendance
by embedding RSVP and public calendars
and offering contactless sign-ins. We also
record and transcribe online meetings;
digital comments and spoken comments
are automatically documented and
are tracked in our online platform.
Above: The meetings portal, where you can view
overall meeting statistics, transcripts, recordings,
and more.
Above: Citizens can view meeting details on
your public-facing engagement hub, RSVP ,
and even watch recordings of past meetings
to stay informed.
MEETINGS
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Our system provides integrated access to WebEx, Zoom, and Microsoft T eams, as well as live streaming via certain social media platforms (optional).
Create meetings quickly and easily; use templates or copy a previous meeting to streamline the process.
Use the offline kiosk option to sign in
attendees in person.
When hosting meetings through the PublicInput portal, the system auto-generates a transcript of each meeting.
MEETINGS
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PARTICIPATION FOR ALL
Demographics can present a number of challenges to online public engagement. Pew Research reports that up to 10% of Americans (33 million people) live without ready access to wifi. Some don’t have access to data on their phones, which leaves them with only SMS, text messaging, or phone calls to participate in online engagement. Even more don’t speak English as their first language, and experience a language barrier that prevents full participation. How do we make participation equitable and accessible for everyone? Voicemail Comments: Y ou can add a hotline number to your project, and anyone who calls in will have their voicemail comments recorded and transcribed in the system.
Mobile Optimization: Our project pages and engagement hubs are optimized for viewing on both regular screens (laptops, computers, tablets) and mobile screens. This means participants can easily answer survey questions via their smartphone.
LastMile Translation: The City can use LastMile Translation functions and Smart Translation to automatically translate a project into a foreign language, provide editing access to a translator, and more.
Smart Translation: Closed captioning in multiple languages provides language accessibility to non-English-speaking communities during meetings.
SMS/T ext Surveys: Offer text surveys that allow participants to answer questions without needing to access wifi.
In-Person and Phone-In: Meetings can have an offline option for in-person attendees, and participants can also phone in to participate without needing access to a computer or wifi.
WCAG 2.1 Compliant: PublicInput keeps up with standards of accessibility in the software development community
and constantly strives to improve our accessibility features.
WCAG compliance tests are compiled by the ADA.
Use text/SMS surveys to
reach people without access
to smart phones or wifi.
Mobile optimization allows
participants to use their smart
phones to answer surveys or
view projects.
ACCESSIBILITY & MULTILINGUAL CAPABILITIES
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The PUBLICINPUT CRM is a living dashboard built into your engagement hub, and stores historical data over time and across projects. Designed to help governments move past data collection to actionable tactics, our CRM automatically synchronizes to develop a deeper understanding and segmentation after each interaction. There is no need for database expertise in the agency or any kind of export to excel for deeper analysis. With our built-in CRM, the City will be able to:
EQUITY MAPPING
PublicInput’s Equity Mapping tool demystifies
the complex process of Environmental
Justice (EJ) analysis by bringing demographic
information right to your PublicInput
dashboard. Y ou can overlay mapping layers
from the Environmental Protection Agency’s
(EPA) EJSCREEN tool directly onto your
participant maps in PublicInput, allowing
you to track how your public engagement
efforts impact Environmental Justice (EJ) and
historically disenfranchised communities.
BUILT-IN CRM
See a 360
view of
participant
history
1 Create
robust
reporting and
data sharing
2 View
attribution
and
segmentation
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• Measure the equitable access to
the decision-making process
• Visualize the impact of
engagement tactics
• Demonstrate compliance with
Federal requirements
• Color coded mapping
• The ability to generate a standard
report for a selected area
• Compare the selected area the
state, region, or the nation
• Measure using 11 different
environmental indicators
• Measure using 6 different
demographic indicators
• Measure using 11 different EJ Indices
• Compare block group
population percentiles
EQUITY AND DIVERSITY MAPPING
SUPPORTS YOUR TEAM’S EFFORTS TO...
BUILT-IN CRM
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Create new segments based on existing demographic data
stored in your CRM.
Create new segments manually or upload
existing KML or KMZ files.
View your customized participant segments on a map and use additional maps and data to add extra insight. Y ou can also edit the criteria for segments, view insights, or view all communication sent to a certain segment.
A CLOSER LOOK: PUBLICINPUT CRM
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In tandem with our
integrated CRM, our
customer management
system (CMS),
Public l Contact,
makes outreach
and engagement
communications easy.
Purpose built for governments with unlimited
contacts, we leverage the resource rich data
gathered using your engagement hub to seamlessly
open and close the communication loop between
your agency and the community. For example, you
can use this module to keep residents updated
on topics they have subscribed to, such as road
closures, construction, and project updates.
Example of outbound text alerts as used by NC DOT to
inform subscribers of ferry service interruptions
Use the integrated communication suite to build, send,
and monitor email and text campaigns
CONTACT
Contact & Communication Suite Features:
• Contact List Manager
• Mass Email Campaign Builder
• Drag and Drop Email formatting
• SMS T ext Message notification
• Social Media Posting/Sync with
Twitter & Facebook
• Embedded Share Buttons for All Social Media
Platforms (including NextDoor & Instagram)
• Subscriber Hub & Embedded Signup Buttons
• Geo-enabled Segmentation
• Automated Response settings
• Unlimited Contacts
• A/B T esting
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Use the drag-and-drop email builder to quickly and easily format email communication. Embed images, linked buttons, the ability to share to social media, and RSVP links for events.
Create email campaigns quickly and easily; use templates or copy a previous email format, or start from scratch.
Agencies can create unlimited templates based on their needs, such as project update email templates or newsletters.
Use SMS/text campaigns to reach
participants who might not have reliable
access to wifi or a personal computer.
Use segmented lists of participants, curated in your CRM, to easily contact participants in a particular demographic. for both text and email campaigns. Y ou can also add contacts individually.
CREATING EMAIL & TEXT CAMPAIGNS
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SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION
Monitor your synced Twitter and Facebook accounts and any social media engagement you receive on your pages.
Add your social media feed to your Public
Engagement Hub.
Post directly to Facebook and Twitter from within the PublicInput platform. 23 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
SMART REPORTING
With data coming in from so many sources, it’s important to have a reporting suite that can keep up with your needs.
PublicInput’s smart reports draw from all your engagement data to create accurate, dynamic, and visually appealing reports.
Our dynamic reports...
• Visualize data in various formats, include maps, graphs, percentages, word clouds, metrics, and more
• Update data in real time
• Mix & match questions from various projects to create unique reports that give insight into your community
• Download and share reports with your peers or the
public to create a culture of transparency
• Draw from all engagement data collected via the PublicInput platform, automatically coded, sorted, and stored within your CRM • Allow you to create and edit reports whenever you like • Don’t require a 3rd party; all report creation
stays within the PublicInput platform
SHARING DATA
WITH THE PUBLIC
After collecting data from the public,
our dynamic reports can easily compile
data into charts and visuals of your
choosing; this information can be used
internally or shared with the public
to promote transparency and further
understanding of public engagement.
Use our built-in dynamic report
function to generate charts that
help visualize data
Analyze question: question
data to embed in your dynamic
reports or as a stand alone chart
DYNAMIC REPORTS
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DYNAMIC REPORTS
Add data from any project and choose how to display your engagement data to best suit your report.
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MONITOR & RESPOND TO
COMMENTS
Moderation in any public forum is essential, and
PublicInput utilizes the open source Google
Perspective API (perspectiveapi.com) to allow
fully automated and customizable moderation
24/7. Comments identified by the system for
toxicity or profanity first trigger a prompt to
notify the participant that it may be flagged as
nonconstructive and encourage a more tempered
approach, and then automatically flagged and
hidden from the discussion if the prompt is
ignored. Admins are alerted via email of the need
to review the comment and choose between
keeping it visible or hiding it from public view (but
still storing it for records retention and analysis).
Admins can publicly respond to comments if
they choose, to provide additional context, guide
a participant to a particular resource they might
find helpful, or to answer any questions they
may have. This helps build a culture of open
communication. Participants can also upvote
and respond to each others’ comments, creating
a dialogue between community members.
AI-ASSISTED COMMENT ANALYSIS
Above: The meetings portal, where you can view
overall meeting statistics, transcripts, recordings,
and more.
Above: Y ou can reply to public comments
publicly or privately within the PublicInput
platform.
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The PublicInput Platform is designed to make collaborations between departments and consultants simple and streamlined. Built in Admin Permissions ensure that you have complete control over each project, campaign, and survey while also allowing for open collaboration between stakeholders.
At the start of the contract, the City can select administrators; these individuals will have the ability to grant staff the ability to create, edit, and publish projects. Each project can also have individual admin permissions. Chula Vista staff will be able to control exactly who has access to which project. City admins can choose to set permission levels as follows:
• At the organizational level
• By department (for enterprise clients)
• Per project
Y ou can add more roles and access permissions at the organization, department, and project levels, such as:
• Administrator: Admins can perform all tasks for the department, project, or organization to which they are provided admin access. • Publisher: These admins can perform all editor tasks. They can also make surveys and reports visible to the public, send emails, and create social media campaigns. They cannot add/remove administrators. • Editor: These admins can perform all data viewer tasks. They can also edit surveys and reports, view CRM contact data, and export raw data. They cannot publish any content. • Data Viewer: These admins can view reports, operate meeting kiosks, conduct data entry, and view email & text correspondence. They cannot edit content or export raw data.
Manage your admins within the PublicInput portal. Invite consultant agencies to collaborate, share information with other departments, and more.
COLLABORATION & ADMIN ACCESS
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DATA SECURITY
SECURITY
Our system is hosted and managed within Microsoft’s Azure environment, and as such is subject to the physical security and controls of Microsoft, which are top-notch. All data is hosted and stored via Microsoft Azure; we use Azure’s encryption and security functionality. Our system is SOC2 Type 2 certified. Y ou can visit https://publicinput.com/wp/privacy/ to read more about our data privacy policy,.
PRIVACY
Customer data is logically separated by an organization ID (org_id) column in the DB and enforced using logic rules. It can also be segregated by maintaining separate S3 buckets per customer and a shared database by regions (store US data separate from EU).
Organizationally-owned or managed (physical and virtual) applications, and infrastructure system and network components, shall be designed, developed, deployed, and configured such that provider and customer (tenant) user access is appropriately segmented from other tenant users, based on the following considerations:
• Established policies and procedures
• Isolation of business critical assets and/or sensitive user data, and sessions that mandate stronger internal controls and high levels of assurance • Compliance with legal, statutory, and regulatory compliance obligations
CONTENT HOSTING
Our platform offers unlimited projects, surveys, and content hosting until the end of contract. 28 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
PROJECT
QUALIFICATIONS
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OUR TEAM
TEAM & SUPPORT
As a SaaS, PublicInput’s impact and reach depends on our depth of knowledge. Reaching a representative audience in diverse communities requires a dedicated solution built with a knowledge of your community’s unique challenges. PublicInput’s team has built this knowledge by working with over 200 agencies in 38 states.
These agencies have leveraged our platform to engage more than 10 million residents. Our users range from small towns to large cities, county governments, and state organizations.
Each new client teaches us more about our platform. Our dynamic, dedicated product and development team uses these opportunities to continue to improve our product, ensuring we continue to provide the best public engagement software on the market.
New clients receive implementation support and training from our Customer Success T eam. Our Customer Onboarding Manager, Amy Gagnon, will work with the City and one of our Customer Service Managers (CSMs) to create an implementation and onboarding timeline after contract award.
PublicInput uses a combination of training methods, including an eLearning platform and training videos.
Our support team is available from 9 am to 8 pm EST , Monday to Friday, including live support from our Customer Support T eam. After-hours assistance is available as requested. During support hours, our team directly addresses any issues with registration, access issues, or functionality.
We also offer Professional Services, including:
• Data migration
• Specialized training
• Consulting
• Custom CSS Services
• Data Analysis
These services are available at an additional cost, based on scope of work. We have not included pricing for professional services in our cost proposal, but are happy to provide additional estimates if the City of Chula Vista anticipates needing any of the services listed above during the onboarding and implementation phase. 29 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
OUR TEAM
MIKE LEE
Director of
Customer Success
• Doctorate
of Business
Administration 2023,
UNC Charlotte
• MBA, Information T echnology,
University of Massachusetts Amherst
• B.S, Computer Science, Alabama
Agricultural and Mechanical University
• 28+ years of experience
• OnDeck Customer Success
Founding Fellow
Mike brings 28+ years of experience to
PublicInput as our Director of Customer
Success. Mike leads the entire post-sale
team, including Customer Success, Customer
Support, Onboarding, Renewals, Management,
and Training. The focus of his team is building
value-driven relationships, application adoption
planning, and subscription renewal.
Mike has served on the Board of Education at
Durham Public Schools for 8 years and has a
great knowledge of the inner workings of local
governments, budgets, and public engagement.
Mike is currently pursuing a Doctor of Business
Administration at UNC Charlotte and plans to focus
his research on the mediating effect of Customer
Success and the construct of consumer intentions
of renewal. Mike’s certifications include PMP , CSM,
ITIL Expert, Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt, and PSM I.
AMY GAGNON
Onboarding Manager
• M. Ed, University
of Oregon
• B.S., History,
University
of Hawaii at Manoa
• Salesforce Certified Administrator,
Salesforce Pathfinder Training Program
• Certified Support Expert, Intercom
• Certificate in Google Data Analytics
Amy has worked in education, data management,
and customer success. She uses her formal
education in curriculum and instruction and pairs
it with her passion for customer support and data
management as PublicInput’s Onboarding Manager.
Amy works closely with each client at the start
of implementation and onboarding to create a
path to success. This includes setting deadlines
for implementation milestones, identifying
any potential challenges that might delay
implementation, and working with the client’s
assigned CSM to ensure everything goes smoothly.
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TASK ACTION ITEMS FORMAT TIMELINE
Pre-
Introduction
Call
• Schedule an intro call
• Identify your goals for public
projects, including a timeline
• Confirm main points of contact
for each department
Email
Coordination
Pre-
Kickoff
Post-
Introduction
Call
• Schedule kickoff call
• Identify IT person to help with
CSS or integrations
• Compile list of users/emails to be added
• Have social media handles
ready and available
• Admins successfully log into
their PI accounts
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
1 to 2
Kickoff Call
• Public portal is enabled and accessible
• Discuss organization wide settings
• Email domain set up
• Custom portal domain set up
• Customize Public Portal
• All initial users and admins added to PI
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
2 to 3
The following overview is an example of the our Customer Success T eam’s onboarding process. Each client has unique goals and expectations of their engagement hub, so your onboarding might not align perfectly with the sample timeline.
Our most successful clients participate fully in onboarding from the very start. Building your portal is the foundation of your onboarding process, and we encourage your staff to participate fully and take advantage of all our eLearning training modules and training videos. The first step to successful, equitable engagement is understanding how to use your platform to the fullest extent.
IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE
IMPLEMENTATION & ONBOARDING
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IMPLEMENTATION & ONBOARDING
TASK ACTION ITEMS FORMAT TIMELINE
Engagement
Training
• 50% of all users have completed
PI’s Engagement training
• Collect and upload KML files
• Create survey templates
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
2 to 5
CRM +
Reporting
Training
• 50% of all users have completed
PI’s CRM + Reporting training
• Collect and upload any relevant data
• Collect and upload contact lists
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
2 to 4
CMS
Training
• 50% of all users have completed PI’s
Customer Management System training
• Create email/newsletter templates
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
4 to 6
Public
Meeting
Training
• 50% of all users have completed
PI’s Meeting training
• Decide which platform to use
(Zoom, WebEx, etc)
• Dry run VMP with Customer
Success Manager
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
2 to 7
Project
Launch • Client’s first public project goes live
Virtual
Meetings,
Email
Coordination
Weeks
2 to 7
32 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
TRAINING
Project-based onboarding and
implementation includes eLearning
courses and video trainings. Users
can learn at their own pace and all
team members can create and test
engagement tools to master the
platform. All training is performed via
video or eLearning and is provided at
no extra cost to the customer. These
digital learning methods allow users
to review the material at their own
pace and time. All agencies will have
an assigned Success Manager that
will coordinate with the onboarding
manager during implementation to
ensure a successful implementation
of the PublicInput platform.
BRUSH UP ON TRAINING
All training videos and eLearning courses are
available if you ever want to brush up on your
training. Our training website also has an online
database of tools called Knowledge Base.
These articles are quick and easy walkthroughs
on various topics, including each comment
analysis, social media tools, troubleshooting,
building your first project, and more.
TRAINING & ONGOING EDUCATION
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
In addition to training resources, PublicInput
also publishes regular blogs, newsletters,
case studies, ebooks, and webinars on
new innovations in civic engagement.
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CLIENT
REFERENCES
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EXAMPLES OF WORK
KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Warren Kagarise
Digital Engagement Manager
King County, Washington
206-263-0992 | [email protected]
JPW COMMUNICATIONS
Susanne Bankhead
VP , Client Affairs
JPW Communications
tel:(760) 683-8395 ext. 706 | [email protected]
CITY OF AUSTIN, TX
Marion Sanchez
Community Engagement Consultant
Austin, TX
512- 974-2955 | [email protected]
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA
Jennifer Camacho-Curtis
Community Affairs Officer
Rancho Cucamonga, California
919-477-2700 | [email protected]
KIMLEY HORN & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Nick Kuhn
Sr. Project Manager, Landscape Architect, Park Planner
Kimley-Horn
314-706-3104 | [email protected]
34 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
KING COUNTY, WA
Contact
Warren Kagarise
Digital Engagement Manager
King County, Washington
206-263-0992 | [email protected]
King County Public Engagement Portal
https://publicinput.com/kingcounty
Synchronous and asynchronous engagement hub
facilitating resident participation on topics ranging
from zoning and redistricting plans to pro-equity
community projects and affordable housing
Included features: Engage+ Plan
Budget: $57,715/year
VIEW ALL MEETINGS & EVENTS
EXAMPLES OF WORK
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA
Contact
Jennifer Camacho-Curtis
Community Affairs Officer
Rancho Cucamonga, California
919-477-2700 | [email protected]
Rancho Cucamonga Public Engagement Portal
https://www.publicinput.com/Portal/J4454
Synchronous and asynchronous engagement
hub facilitating resident participation on
topics ranging from recreation initiatives to
community and infrastructure planning
Included features: Engage Plan
Budget: $32,700/year
VIEW ALL MEETINGS & EVENTS
35 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
CITY OF AUSTIN, TX
Contact
Marion Sanchez
Community Engagement Consultant
Austin, TX
512- 974-2955 | [email protected]
Austin, TX Public Engagement Portal
https://publicinput.com/Portal/F1211
Synchronous and asynchronous engagement
hub facilitating resident participation on
topics ranging from transportation planning to
community planning and diversity initiatives
Included features: Engage+ Plan
Budget: $66,000year
VIEW ALL MEETINGS & EVENTS
EXAMPLES OF WORK
36 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
CASE STUDY
HOW THE CITY OF RALEIGH, NC INCREASED THEIR REACH USING
AGILE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
EXAMPLES OF WORK
PROJECT INFORMATION
Affordable Housing Bond
Feedback Data Analysis
PROJECT INFORMATION
A sprawling metropolitan area,
the North Carolina capital City of
Raleigh is home to nearly half
a million people. As the second largest city
in North Carolina, the City of Raleigh serves a
diverse community, which is evidenced by 49%
of its population identifying as a minority.
HOW PUBLICINPUT WAS USED
The Raleigh team used PublicInput to create
the “Engage Raleigh” online community
engagement portal in 2018 to serve as home
for their informative and listening efforts.
37 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING CHALLENGE
Though Raleigh is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, over 33% of Raleigh households currently spend 30% or more of their gross income on housing costs each month; this means around one third of all Raleigh residents are “cost burdened” or “severely cost-burdened” by housing costs. A 50% growth rate in Raleigh’s metro area population since 2011– coupled with rising home and rental prices –meant that the City needed to take action and sought to pursue the passage of an affordable housing bond during the November 2020 local election. The proposed action would represent $80 million worth of investment; the largest housing legislation proposed in Raleigh history.
As part of the effort, city staff planned to engage the community about the bond’s feasibility using a series of planned in-person public forums. The need to pivot became clear as the team was faced with determining how to collect meaningful input from the community amid the in-person restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
AGILE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT POWERED BY PUBLICINPUT
The City created a 24-person advisory committee to oversee the public outreach and engagement effort associated with the affordable housing bonds. Made up of local leaders, community members and stakeholder representatives, over the course of a few months the advisory board used the PublicInput Engagement Hub to engage more than 4,800 residents by pairing a strategic social media marketing campaign with the following Engagement Hub features:
• Created an online affordable housing bond survey
• Hosted virtual public meetings with recordings available for later use • Automatically captured virtual meeting comments
• Integrated Local media options into the online survey • Increased Language accessibility using the integrated translation tools • Shared the Engagement Hub phone-in input option to allow for offline accessibility By using the PublicInput platform (pictured below), the Raleigh team was able to survey the public about their level of perceived support with each bond option as well as overlay participant data using the Equity Mapping feature to clearly see the impact and potential gaps in their reach based on community demographics. 38 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
FEE
PROPOSAL
38 | RFP NO. 22-CMO-RFP-586 PUBLICINPUT.COM
FEE PROPOSAL
CHOOSE A PLAN THAT SCALES TO YOUR NEEDS.
PublicInput offers three plan tiers. Given the scope of work outlined in this RFP , we recommend either the Engage Plan or the Engage Plus plan. We do not recommend the Listen Plan for your current scope of services. The bid graphic below contains a detailed description of everything included in each tier.
For small teams, organizations with a
limited budget, or infrequent initiatives.
• Deliver a consistent, accessible
andpredictable resident experience.
• Increase efficiency for you and your
people: everything in one place
for your team and your residents.
• Mitigate risks to access, increase
transparency and improve
credibility in the community.
• Automatically aggregate,
analyze and visualize data
from multiple sources that
empower you to understand and
respond to trends and issues
impacting your community.
• Unlock innovation informed by
best practice and the world’s
largest community of public
engagement practitioners.
Highlighted Features Include:
• Online project engagement portal
• Online meeting registration and
integrated comment forms
• Participant maps
• In app comment acknowledgment
and response workflow
(RECOMMENDED)
For organizations prioritizing
representative feedback and data-
driven decision making with frequent
initiatives that often overlap.
Everything in Listen, and:
• Phone, text, and email engagement
formats to provide residents more
flexible, accessible options
• Analysis tools to understand unique
segments of your community,
share insights with stakeholders,
and defend decisions using data.
• Equity Mapping tools to ensure
representative engagement
and targeted outreach to
key stakeholders.
• Automated workflows to maximize
team capacity, including auto-reply,
sentiment analysis, and email
comment management.
• Enhanced multi-lingual support to
provide tailored experiences for
non-English-speaking residents.
Highlighted Features Include:
• Custom links and branding
• Census-backed
demographic reporting
• SMS text message
commenting/surveys
• Drag & drop email builder
• Resident subscription management
For organizations utilizing
numerous point solutions to gather
feedback and inform residents.
Everything in Engage, and:
• Integrate disconnected engagement
and communications solutions.
• Optimize investments for
complex teams managing
ongoing resident interactions.
• Show statistically representative
participation across hard-to-reach
audiences and automate much
of the analysis process.
Highlighted Features Include:
• ESRI ArcGIS integrations to
overlay custom layers in Equity
Mapping and reporting
• API integrations
• Last Mile language translation
and web page form editor
• Real-time and multi-lingual
closed captions
• EPA EJScreen segments in CRM
• Automated demographic
segmenting
• T ext message outbound campaigns
• Custom CRM fields and activities
NOT RECOMMENDED 1 Y ear | $29,302
2 Y ears | $58,604
1 Y ear | $43,953
2 Y ears | $87,906
LISTEN ENGAGE ENGAGE PLUS
ABOUT PUBLICINPUT
Trusted by hundreds of communities, governments, and consultants in the U.S. and Canada, PublicInput provides software solutions for public engagement and communication. The overarching mission of PublicInput is to facilitate lasting relationships between government and the public by providing the technology needed for agencies to listen, communicate, and make informed decisions.
T o learn more about PublicInput visit www.publicinput.com.
CONTACT US
2409 Crabtree Blvd.,
Ste 107, Raleigh, NC 27604
919-295-9051
[email protected]