City of Sydney's CityConnect Ecosystem

The Council of the City of Sydney, also known as the City of Sydney Local Government Area (LGA), manages the development of services to the CBD and surrounding inner suburbs of Sydney, a global city. The LGA footprint of 26 square km is home to 246,000 residents, the base for 23,500 businesses and over 502,000 workers that generate 8% of the national GDP, and Sydney is the premier Australian destination for tourism and the arts with millions of visitors annually. For the past 182 years, the City of Sydney has been operating from a community-first set of values. Caring for our city and creating a future for all is our purpose.
In 2019, the Technology and Digital Services (TDS) team at the City of Sydney began a research and consultation program to understand how we could improve the digital experience for members of our community and visitors. User research conducted into our digital channel revealed that the community was frustrated by the City of Sydney’s limited online services, lack of visibility in council actions, and slow response times. Of over 200 council services, only 30 were available online, and most required paper forms submitted by mail, email, or in person. Requests were handled by different teams using separate systems, with no central platform to track or manage them, and no way to notify community members of their service request status. Consultation participants said that they wanted to do everything in one place online. Many people did not know the range of services our Council provided for community members.
In response, the City of Sydney launched the ‘CityConnect’ digital transformation project to improve operational efficiency, service delivery, and provide a seamless, personalised online experience. A key focus was digitising customer applications and requests, enabling self-service, improving user experience, and automating workflows.
The goals included creating a wide range of online services with conditional logic, accessibility compliance (WCAG), seamless device optimisation, and integration with backend systems. Automation of form workflows, robust security, and data privacy were also prioritised.