Cost and scope guide
Local Government Scope and Cost Drivers
Local Government Scope and Cost Drivers organizes the decisions that matter for municipal departments, small cities, towns, authorities, and public-service offices: the current workflow, ownership, implementation choices, rollout risk, and acceptance evidence.
Working artifact
Local Government acceptance checklist
Turn broad completion claims into checks that a project owner can repeat after handoff.
| Acceptance check | Evidence | Responsible owner |
|---|---|---|
| Prove department, service, and public-information websites | Repeat the affected journey and test residents cannot identify the responsible department | Owner of WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces |
| Prove agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives | Repeat the affected journey and test meeting records and notices are hard to search | Owner of document, GIS, calendar, and alert integrations |
| Prove resident request and notification workflows | Repeat the affected journey and test requests arrive without location or service context | Owner of public records search and content governance |
The five largest scope drivers
Residents cannot identify the responsible department. Confirm who encounters it, where it occurs, and what changed before it appeared. Then distinguish the visible symptom from dependencies such as WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces.
- Department, service, and public-information websites
- Agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives
- Document, GIS, calendar, and alert integrations
- Public records search and content governance
- Responsive and accessible web application delivery
What makes an estimate more reliable
For Municipal & Local Government Websites, confirm account ownership, current exports or backups, recovery options, and recent changes before touching production. Preserve exact errors and timestamps that may disappear after a restart or update.
- Current-system inventory
- Representative user journeys
- Known constraints and deadlines
- Named decision owner
When phasing helps
Frame the first scope around department, service, and public-information websites and one observable acceptance journey. Treat agenda, minutes, notice, and document archives as a later phase unless the evidence shows it is a true dependency.
- Phase 1: evidence and risk control
- Phase 2: smallest useful outcome
- Phase 3: measured expansion
Estimate preparation checklist
Repair fits when the core remains sound. Extension fits when the boundary around WCAG-informed accessible civic interfaces is understood. Replacement fits when ownership, architecture, or operating risk prevents a responsible change.
- Desired result
- Systems and vendors involved
- Access owner
- Examples and errors
- Definition of done