GovTech Service for Community Planning Case Study

Client

The “Community Spatial Development Planning Service” was created under the USAID Agriculture and Rural Development Program (AGRO). It helps territorial communities prepare terms of reference for comprehensive spatial development plans, a document that must be prepared in accordance with current legislation. For communities, this is a complex bureaucratic procedure where mistakes are easy to make.

Challenges

The task was to move the preparation of terms of reference for a comprehensive plan into a clear online service that guides users step by step and generates the document in line with regulatory requirements on its own.

The service is used by territorial communities, local governments, design and architecture firms and government agencies, including people without technical training.

Simplicity: a complex process must be understandable without specialized knowledge.
Accuracy: fewer errors when filling in forms.
Legal compliance: the document is generated according to current requirements.
Speed: a shorter path from getting started to a finished document.

Solution

We started with the legislation. We studied the requirements for preparing comprehensive plans and designed form-filling scenarios based on them, taking different types of communities into account.
Step-by-step dynamic forms. The interface breaks the process into sequential steps, and the forms change based on the answers and prompt users on what to enter next.
Autofill from public databases. The service pulls data from open sources, so users don't have to enter it manually.
Automatic document generation and storage. The finished terms of reference are generated automatically, and all files are kept in centralized storage. Before launch, we verified that all scenarios worked correctly.

Results

Automated document creation, from filling in forms to the finished terms of reference.
Fewer errors thanks to prompts and autofill.
Shorter preparation time for community documentation.
A more transparent process and legal compliance.