Building a Smarter Service Strategy: How a Municipal Service List Helps Prioritize Digital Transformation
Digital transformation in local government isn’t about launching the next big app or automating every interaction overnight—it’s about aligning services with what residents truly need. For municipalities, one of the most effective tools to support that alignment is a comprehensive service list.
At Perry Group, we’ve worked with municipalities like York Region to turn their service list into more than just a catalog—it’s a foundation for digital prioritization, improved service delivery, and strategic decision-making.
Why Create a Municipal Service List (MSL)?
A service list is a detailed inventory of all external, customer-facing services offered by a municipality. This includes everything from applying for permits and paying fines to registering for recreation programs or reporting an issue.
The point of a service list isn’t just to capture what’s being offered—it’s to help municipalities answer key questions:
How many people use each service (volume)?
How complex is each service to deliver?
Is the service available online, and if not, could it be?
By mapping out these details, municipalities can start prioritizing which services should go digital first and where to focus their transformation efforts for the biggest impact.
How It Works: The Perry Group Approach
In our work with York Region, we used our repeatable approach for developing and enriching a municipal service list. Here’s a simplified breakdown:
1. Inventory the Services
We start with a base list of all public-facing services, drafted using website reviews, budget documents, and past digital initiatives.
2. Validate and Augment
Each department then validates this list, ensuring accuracy and filling in key details, such as:
Annual transaction volume (S, M, L, XL)
Service complexity (Low, Medium, High)
Whether the service is currently digitized
Whether there’s potential for digital delivery
3. Define Patterns
Each service is also reviewed for common digital patterns, such as:
Apply
Register
Book
Get Info
Pay
Submit
Tell (report a problem)
Identifying these patterns allows municipalities to group services that follow similar workflows, so digital solutions can be designed to serve multiple needs at once.
4. Prioritize with Purpose
Once services are categorized by volume and complexity, municipalities can focus first on high-volume, low-complexity services—like booking appointments or submitting requests. These are typically easier to digitize, have the widest reach, and provide immediate value to residents.
The Bigger Picture: Beyond Digitization
While digital delivery is a major benefit of the service list, the tool offers much more. Municipalities can use their service list to:
Assign clear service ownership and accountability
Identify critical services for business continuity
Track key performance metrics tied to service delivery
Understand which departments are more (or less) digitized
Build a foundation for continuous improvement
In York Region’s case, their Services List (YRSL) is helping them set a “digital health score” across departments, track self-service availability, and identify where improvements will have the most meaningful impact.
A Living Tool for Modern Municipalities
The Municipal Service List isn’t a one-time project - it’s a living asset that can guide service reviews, inform procurement, and align departments. Once complete, it can even be used to support change management, onboard new staff, and communicate clearly with council and community stakeholders.
Perry Group’s framework helps municipalities not only create the list but also operationalize it with governance processes, ownership models, and update cycles that keep it relevant over time.
Final Thoughts
Digital transformation doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. With the right tools, like a well-structured service list, municipalities can make smart, strategic choices about where to invest, what to build, and how to serve their communities better.
If your municipality is ready to start prioritizing digital transformation in a more meaningful way, let’s talk about how the Perry Group team can support your service strategy.