What It Is: AI-Assisted Service Request Intake
Catalis Assistant is an AI-assisted intake tool embedded directly in the Request311 citizen portal. It helps residents describe issues in plain language and guides them to the correct service request type, improving accuracy, efficiency, and overall citizen experience.
Catalis Assistant is a direct alternative to third-party web chat tools, purpose-built for municipal service request workflows.
How it Works
Residents interact with Catalis Assistant directly on the municipality’s website or R311 portal. Instead of navigating menus or guessing categories, they describe their issue naturally.
Catalis Assistant:
- Interprets resident questions written in plain language
- Guides users to the correct Service Request Type
- Pre-populates key request fields before submission
The assistant generates responses using only the municipality’s approved source data, including Knowledge Base content and configured Service Request Types. This source data is explicitly loaded into the system and does not change unless refreshed. While responses may improve in relevance based on how questions are asked, the underlying data remains controlled and governed by the municipality.
Why It Matters
For Residents
- Submit the right request the first time
- Less confusion about categories
- Support available outside regular business hours
For Municipal Staff
- Fewer misclassified or incomplete requests
- Reduced follow-up and rework
- Improved data quality at intake
Implementation & Rollout
- Initial setup requires approximately 1 hour of development time per client
- Data refreshes are handled by Dev and take only a few minutes
- This approach is acceptable for initial rollout; longer-term automation is on the roadmap
- A defined limit on refreshes should be included as part of pricing (recommended: 4)
Pricing & What’s Next
- Initial rollout via a limited beta
- Beta clients receive access free of charge in exchange for usage validation and a marketing use case or quote
- Broader pricing and packaging will follow post-beta
This is an initial release. Additional enhancements and automation are planned as part of Catalis’ broader AI roadmap. Catalis Assistant is designed to help residents submit the right request the first time, rather than act as a general-purpose conversational chatbot.
How Catalis Assistant Compares to Citibot Web Chat
Catalis Assistant
- Purpose-built for service request intake
- Embedded natively in R311
- Uses client-approved data only
- Focused on accuracy and workflow completion
- Governed, controlled AI behavior
Citibot Web Chat
- Broad conversational engagement
- Standalone third-party platform
- Website crawling and open-ended Q&A