MSO Launches Inaugural Innovation Challenge to Improve the OneService App

Sep 2, 2018

The Municipal Services Office (MSO) held its inaugural OneService Innovation Challenge (OSIC) to bring members of the public together to develop new services to improve the OneService (OS) user experience. This is part of MSO’s effort to transform the OS digital products into a one-stop community platform to meet different municipal needs of residents. The OSIC 2018 serves as a launch pad for MSO to engage members of the larger community to generate ideas and solutions that meet residents’ diverse needs. 

MSO collaborated with government agencies such as GovTech and SLA, as well as relevant industry tech partners such as Amazon Web Services, DBS’ API developer portal, Quantum Inventions, and Stripe’s payments technology for this event.  We organised a few workshops prior to the OSIC 2018 to prepare the participants for the Challenge and expert mentors were present on-site to help the teams develop their ideas and prototypes.

The three-day event, held from 31 August to 2 September 2018, saw 120 participants working in teams on their prototype ideas for the OS App. At the conclusion of the Challenge, team TBG which worked on a prototype for the feedback provider to include panoramic photos in their case submission to more accurately identify the category and the location of the feedback clinched the top prize of $4,000. Details of the five winning teams can be found in Annex A.

As part of OSIC 2018, MSO also held an online “Call for Ideas” competition in July 2018 to garner ideas to improve the OS App and OS Portal.  We received more than 200 ideas from members of the public and students.  Eleven of the best ideas were selected to receive the prizes. Details of the winning ideas can be found in Annex B 

In the coming months, MSO will be conducting focus group discussions to gather more feedback and market test the feasibility of incorporating these ideas and prototypes into the OS App and OS Portal.

Release of OS App 4.0 – A one-stop community platform to meet diverse needs

Minister Grace Fu announced the release of the new OS App 4.0 at the OSIC 2018. The OS App has undergone a major revamp in its user interface to prepare for its role as a one-stop community platform to meet residents’ diverse municipal needs. For a start, besides the feedback reporting module, the OS App will include a new transaction module for car park payment.    

The new digital parking feature, comprising “Find Parking” (beta) and “Start Parking” modules, will offer OS App users a suite of parking-related functions. With the “Find Parking” module, motorists can locate public and commercial car parks at their destination and obtain information such as parking rates, lot availability, operating hours, car park types and entry points.  For the beta version, the feature also captures the height restrictions of HDB Electronic Parking System car parks and selected commercial car parks.   

OS App users can also conveniently pay for their parking charges at HDB and URA coupon car parks through the “Start Parking” module without leaving the OS App. These payment transactions will be processed directly through Parking.sg.  

The new user interface of OS App 4.0 will allow future introduction of new modules such as involving the community in the upkeep of their neighbourhood, seeking residents’ feedback on local improvement projects, and providing neighbourhood information useful to residents.

Through these enhancements and upcoming updates, MSO aims to make the OS App as the go-to app that covers the municipal needs of residents, not just to report feedback, but also to engage one another, perform transactions and inform the community.