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Olean rolls out iWORKS portal for residents to file service complaints and track responses
Summary
City staff demonstrated the new iWORKS citizen-engagement portal that allows residents to submit street, pothole and code complaints with photos, track request status, and export complaints to enforcement modules; staff said departmental cooperation will be required to close requests.
City staff demonstrated Olean’s new iWORKS service-engagement portal at the May 20 committee meetings, describing how residents can submit requests, attach photos and track progress through a unique request number.
During a live walkthrough staff showed required fields (name, phone, email), an address-or-map drag-and-drop location picker, and a dropdown of common complaint types. The portal creates a reference number for each submission; when the city refers a request to Public Works or another department the referral appears on the requester’s record.
Staff said the system supports internal tracking and reporting: offices can run queries for open complaints, export complaints into the city’s code-enforcement module and retain photo evidence for pending court matters. Sean, identified in the meeting as the portal administrator, worked with iWORKS to configure the lists of complaint types and permissions.
Why it matters: the portal centralizes customer service, creates an auditable trail for referrals, and could reduce duplicate reports or missed assignments if departments follow up on referrals and update statuses.
Key points from the demonstration - Required contact information: requesters must enter a name, phone and email to submit a request. - Location entry: users can type an address or drop a pin on an internal map. Staff said the map aids departmental routing for field crews. - File uploads: requesters can attach photos; those uploaded files can be exported to the code enforcement module and retained as evidence in court cases. - Workflow and reporting: staff said departments will receive referral emails and that iWORKS can run reports (weekly, monthly, biweekly) showing open items and closure rates. The portal admin can change a request’s status from “submitted” to “referred” to “closed.”
Next steps and limits - Staff asked departments to agree on who will change status fields and to coordinate how referrals are closed in the system. The portal does not automatically synchronize with every other internal system—if a department records a complaint only in its separate system, it may not automatically appear in iWORKS without manual entry. - Staff will circulate login links for council members to test the portal and will request suggestions for additional complaint categories to add to the dropdown menu.
