The vendor is required to provide information regarding the development and implementation of an artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot service primarily as a customer service channel and potentially as an assistant for city employees serving customers.
- Customer service is centralized through a 311 customer service center with live agents working Monday – Friday 8 am – 5 pm (excluding holidays).
- Handling over 200,000 customer interactions annually for approximately 30 partner departments/divisions; our interactions range in difficulty from simple information requests to utility emergency dispatch and inspection scheduling.
- Customer service interactions are documented with a cloud based Microsoft dynamics CRM software and the city uses microsoft office suite solutions for day-to-day operations.
- Phone services are provided through cisco products.
- Alongside that software, specific services and information requests can involve one or more departmental systems including (but not limited to):
• CA yenta utilities – water/sewer billing and maintenance
• Accela – code compliance reporting, permitting and scheduling, mobile app host
• Tower – waste service billing and maintenance
• City works – service request and work order management for multiple departments.
- Vendor background & market position
• Provide company history, founding date, and chatbot product evolution.
• Briefly describe key chatbot use cases your company is known for.
• Briefly detail about major clients, competitors, and market differentiators.
- Chatbot platform capabilities & scalability
• Briefly describe the Chatbot’s scalability, including support for multiple intents, bots, and workflows.
• Briefly explain how the platform handles complex bot hierarchies (e.g., universal/master and child bots).
• Briefly describe support for workflow automation and business process mapping.
• Briefly explain how the platform “learns” from existing city resources (including as they are updated), proactively identifies    knowledge gaps, and is “trainable” by designated subject matter experts.
- Engagement channels & deployment options
• List all digital and communication channels the chatbot supports (web, mobile, social media, intranet, etc.).
• Briefly describe deployment methods, including SaaS, on premise, or hybrid models.
• Briefly explain multi-channel support, including customization for different platforms.
• If the platform includes a phone/IVR option, briefly describe its functionality, capabilities, and ability to leverage a common knowledge base shared with the chatbot.
- Language support & accessibility
• Briefly detail text and voice-based language support.
• Briefly describe multi-language capabilities, translation support, and ease of implementation.
- User experience & interaction features
• Briefly describe personalization options, including user preferences and role-based interactions.
• Briefly describe chatbot engagement features (mentions, multimedia support, spell-check, reminders).
• Briefly explain how the chatbot handles live agent handoffs and chat queue management.
- Administration & customization
• Briefly describe administration console capabilities, including no-code/low-code options.
• Briefly explain governance, role-based access, and approval workflows.
• Briefly describe Bot-building lifecycle management, including versioning and development team collaboration.
- Natural language processing (NLP) & AI training
• Briefly detail the Chatbot’s NLP engine and strategy.
• Provide a brief list of pre-built industry-specific conversational templates and recognized entities.
• Briefly explain support for third-party NLP engines and training methodologies.
• Briefly describe capabilities for context switching, multi-intent detection, and sentiment analysis.
- Data analytics & reporting
• Briefly outline built-in metrics for chatbot performance evaluation.
• Briefly describe data retention policies and reporting capabilities.
• Briefly explain options for integrating chatbot analytics into other municipal systems.
- Security, compliance & privacy
• Confirm compliance with regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and municipal data policies.
• Briefly describe encryption, data storage, retention policies, and PII redaction capabilities.
• Briefly explain identity authentication models and chatbot transcript security.