Thunder Bay's Digital Transformation Journey Series - Modernizing Municipal Services

In part 1 of our Thunder Bay digital series, we look at Perry Group Consulting, working with the City of Thunder Bay, helping the City rethink the city's planning and building services, setting the stage for a modernization effort to help usher Thunder Bay into the digital era. 

Stay tuned for subsequent posts as we explore various parts of the digital journey, including governance and the overarching digital strategy, unraveling the success story of Thunder Bay's remarkable digital makeover. And to delve deeper into Thunder Bay's digital journey, join us on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, from 2:00 - 3:00 PM for an online webinar. Perry Group, in collaboration with MISA Canada, will present the City of Thunder Bay’s Digital Journey and will explore Thunder Bay's corporate digital strategy development, execution, impact on the City, lessons learned, and what lies ahead. For more information or to register, click here.

In 2021, Perry Group worked with the City to develop a Digital Strategy. As part of developing the strategy, Perry Group sat down with key stakeholders and community members, including the Chamber of Commerce. In these conversations, we focused on getting input on how the City could modernize and streamline City services by using digital technology, transitioning from paper to digital, and redefining the ease of access and use of city services. The message from the community was clear - they wanted to interact with the City digitally.

As part of this work, we brought together Planning and Building leaders from the City and the development and building community to discuss the opportunity. Through these conversations, it became clear that many in the development industry were already working digitally and had been for some time. They were frustrated with dealing with the city using paper. 

Planning and Building leaders immediately recognized the opportunity and acknowledged the need for change but were unsure where to start. We assured them we would be there to guide them through every step of the process - and we worked with them to build and execute a plan.

With the injection of funding from the provincial government’s SDAF program, the City was ready to move. Through what we call the "art of the possible," we showcased success stories from other municipalities and arranged vendor demos. Working hand in hand, we set up a steering committee which combined planning, building, and technology leaders, managers, and frontline staff, deploying a project manager in collaboration with IT and the business units. 

Together, we identified a vision, set out the key needs and priorities, and crafted a roadmap based on our experiences with other communities, focusing on modernizing back-office processes and introducing online services. This included allowing applicants to apply, submit drawings online, make payments digitally, and enable staff to process applications seamlessly – from circulation to feedback, review, and approval.

We broke the work plan into realistic, bite-sized chunks and helped the City work with vendors and partners to procure products and services to make the vision a reality. 

We were impressed at how the Thunder Bay team fully embraced the initial phase of this digital journey - and within 9 months, they had new planning and permitting processes set up and available online. Our team worked with the City team throughout, providing advice to the Steering Committee, supporting the City’s project manager, conducting process redesign work, and facilitating a web content redesign process to enhance the customer experience and steer customers to the new online options.

As the city prepares for the subsequent stages, with the first phase under its belt and some good success achieved, anticipation runs high, demonstrating a true shift in mindset to technologically enhanced municipal services. 

Perry Group, with a seasoned team featuring former municipal planning and building leaders and officials, process design experts, and technology specialists, has helped several other municipalities such as Burlington, Cambridge, Waterloo, Windsor, and beyond. 

With pressures on municipalities to accelerate development and housing starts in their communities, our focus remains on re-thinking and re-invigorating planning and building functions to position cities to thrive in the digital age. 

If you are interested in learning more about what we do, what we have done, or are interested in working with Perry Group Consulting, feel free to get in touch with us here.