Integrating with FixMyStreet: Bringing Open311 Support to Liberty Create

What is Open311

Open311 is an open API standard used to exchange information about public service requests.
FixMyStreet and other organisations use it to share information about issues such as potholes, street lighting faults, fly tipping and other environmental reports.
The benefit of Open311 is that everyone is working to the same specification. Instead of every supplier building their own proprietary integration, systems can communicate using a common standard.

The Challenge

The challenge arose through a continuous improvement exercise with our Highways colleagues. Data showed a reasonable number of Highways report emails were being received by the council from FixMyStreet, could we improve integration to improve the experience for users and staff?  FixMyStreet integrates using the Open311 standard, something we haven't tackled before. 
At first glance this seemed straightforward, but FixMyStreet operates differently from many other integrations. In this scenario, Liberty Create needed to act as the endpoint receiving requests that complied with the Open311 specification.
While working through the implementation, I discovered that Liberty Create could not fully support one aspect of the Open311 specification because of the way the standard constructs and names API endpoints.
I raised the issue with Netcall and initially there was some understandable confusion around the requirement. Most integrations involve Create calling another system, whereas this required Create to behave as the Open311 target endpoint.
It quickly became clear through technical discussion where the issue was and that this wasn't a Cumberland-specific requirement. It was a genuine standards limitation that could affect any Liberty Create customer looking to adopt Open311.
 

Working Together to Improve the Product

This is where the story became more interesting.
Rather than closing the discussion or suggesting a workaround, Netcall listened to the feedback, reviewed the Open311 specification and escalated the issue internally.
The result was exactly the outcome I was hoping for.
Instead of a one-off configuration for Cumberland Council, 

Netcall produced a formal product patch the very next day that addressed the limitation and enabled Liberty Create to support the required Open311 behaviour.

What impressed me most was that the fix wasn't delivered solely for us. It became part of the product itself, allowing every Liberty Create customer to benefit from the enhancement.
That is how supplier and customer relationships should work. Customers share real-world requirements, suppliers listen and improve their products, and the entire community benefits.