It is very rare for erven in an urbanized area not to be charged municipal rates and taxes. This constitutes one of the main activities of the municipal authority, and bills are sent to residents on a monthly basis. They also need to be able to monitor the payment of these bills. The utility bill software that is used by the municipality can play a part in the success or failure of this process.
In order to be successful, the software needs to satisfy some basic requirements. The issuing of the bills alone should satisfy several criteria. One of the most important of these is accuracy. There is a standing urban joke about how some people receive inaccurate municipal accounts. These typically refer to the astronomical figures that the bill displays, such as a power bill for millions of dollars. This is not, however, as much of a joke as it may seem.
Another factor is the sheer population of the residential area. A city can have literally millions of residents. Any database with that many files is going to need the magnitude of its population to be taken into account. The municipal software should be able to handle an enormous amount of entries, entries which are constantly updated.
Another criterion is that the software should be able to detect and alert its users to non-payment. Non-payment is a perennial issue for municipalities. Indigent residents sometimes do not pay their accounts on time, or at all, and this is typically observed in the impoverished areas of the town or city. Then there are those residents who simply won't pay, for various reasons. Software that cannot pick up non-payment is useless.
Third, the software needs to allow its users to produce paperwork that is appropriate to the local residents. Some urban settlements are home to more than one language. This should be accommodated through the use of bilingual bills, or bills issued in the language of a specific resident's area. The software should be able to handle more than one language where this is required.
Staying with language, some residents are either not literate or have only a very low level of literacy. This does not imply that they are low-income earners, either, so it is not a reliable indication of what area or suburb they reside in. They may be professionals or trained workmen, so there is no automatic indication that they stay in the poor suburbs or that they are themselves poor. The bill therefore needs to be very basic in its language, and simple to understand. Where the entire population receives a document, this is always an issue and it should be reflected in the software.
Turning to the account statement itself, its layout should be transparent and simple, showing the payable amount and associated dates. The bill should be intelligible even if the recipient is entirely illiterate or has little experience in reading such documents.
Non-payment and inaccurate statements are two of the serious problems that municipalities encounter in the issuing of their bills. Their software therefore needs to be consistent and accurate. It should also offer extreme ease of use, since in some cities it will have thousands of users and millions of records.
In order to be successful, the software needs to satisfy some basic requirements. The issuing of the bills alone should satisfy several criteria. One of the most important of these is accuracy. There is a standing urban joke about how some people receive inaccurate municipal accounts. These typically refer to the astronomical figures that the bill displays, such as a power bill for millions of dollars. This is not, however, as much of a joke as it may seem.
Another factor is the sheer population of the residential area. A city can have literally millions of residents. Any database with that many files is going to need the magnitude of its population to be taken into account. The municipal software should be able to handle an enormous amount of entries, entries which are constantly updated.
Another criterion is that the software should be able to detect and alert its users to non-payment. Non-payment is a perennial issue for municipalities. Indigent residents sometimes do not pay their accounts on time, or at all, and this is typically observed in the impoverished areas of the town or city. Then there are those residents who simply won't pay, for various reasons. Software that cannot pick up non-payment is useless.
Third, the software needs to allow its users to produce paperwork that is appropriate to the local residents. Some urban settlements are home to more than one language. This should be accommodated through the use of bilingual bills, or bills issued in the language of a specific resident's area. The software should be able to handle more than one language where this is required.
Staying with language, some residents are either not literate or have only a very low level of literacy. This does not imply that they are low-income earners, either, so it is not a reliable indication of what area or suburb they reside in. They may be professionals or trained workmen, so there is no automatic indication that they stay in the poor suburbs or that they are themselves poor. The bill therefore needs to be very basic in its language, and simple to understand. Where the entire population receives a document, this is always an issue and it should be reflected in the software.
Turning to the account statement itself, its layout should be transparent and simple, showing the payable amount and associated dates. The bill should be intelligible even if the recipient is entirely illiterate or has little experience in reading such documents.
Non-payment and inaccurate statements are two of the serious problems that municipalities encounter in the issuing of their bills. Their software therefore needs to be consistent and accurate. It should also offer extreme ease of use, since in some cities it will have thousands of users and millions of records.
