Prefeitura do Recife: Innovating citizen support thanks to a unified registration platform
About Prefeitura do Recife
Prefeitura do Recife (Recife's City Government) is the organization representing the capital city of the state of Pernambuco. This Brazilian northeastern urban area with 1.5 million inhabitants is known for its tech hub, which boosts its economy.
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Contact usAfter implementing Conecta Cidadão, a platform based on Google Cloud, Prefeitura do Recife now provides more proactive and less reactive public services, which have benefited thousands of people.
Google Cloud results
- 14,000 people impacted by Cartão do Idoso, thanks to platform-enabled data identification
- Scalability and ease of use provided by cloud resources
- Consumption-based pricing
- Accelerated development of new services
- Automated security layers
More interaction with Recife citizens
Prefeitura do Recife (Recife's City Government) is the organization representing the capital city of Pernambuco. Located in the northeast of Brazil, the city has 1.5 million inhabitants and a vibrant economy, including its outstanding tech hub: Porto Digital.
Tackling social inequality is one of the core issues the City of Recife focuses on. Half of its population is enrolled under the Federal Government's Single Population Register, a system identifying low-income families in Brazil that require several public services. This is one of the reasons why the City's Mayor created a digital transformation strategy to simplify operations at municipal offices and promote citizens' healthcare and welfare.
This plan involved implementing Conecta Cidadão, a platform that transforms and streamlines the way public services are offered to inhabitants. Not only is it used as a citizen data repository, it also identifies individuals' needs and provides them with effective solutions quickly and efficiently.
With a simple user and password login, residents can view their profiles registered in the City Government, which are subject to Brazil's personal data protection regulations. They can also receive key alerts and reminders on medical tests and vaccine schedules, and access several services provided by the City Government.
As a result, the City Government manages to promote healthcare and welfare, serving as a true data curator to help individuals throughout their lives. Conecta Cidadão acts as an ally, supporting citizens across processes, such as SUS system queries, and questions about education services, including libraries, universities, and public technical centers, and ensuring better handling of all administrative citizen-related matters.
Unifying several previously scattered databases and bringing them together into a single source of truth was crucial to put the platform into operation. For example, Single Population Register data had to be integrated, including information on families, vaccination of various population segments, vaccines used, access to municipal services, and more.
The entire project was based on Google Cloud, which the City Government had already been using before Conecta Cidadão was developed.
Unifying data in the cloud
In 2021, at the beginning of Mayor João Campos's term of office, the City Government team realized they needed a platform that could be more flexible in using cloud solutions and supporting other ongoing social projects.
"Our storage capacity was limited, as our servers were on-premise. Other issues arose when we launched services with usage peaks, such as vaccination processes. Therefore, we needed to scale. And that's why we chose Google Cloud to embark on a new journey."
—Rafael Figueiredo Bezerra, Executive Secretary, Prefeitura do RecifeAfter implementing Google Cloud tools, some of the City Government's programs started to run faster. First, this was evidenced through the "Atende em Casa" application, a remote triage system to support the assessment of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, other solutions were added: Go Recife, SEI, Conecta Zap, and others.
On the other hand, Conecta Cidadão was more complex. The large volumes of data compiled from historic records needed to be reliably organized, as this was the only way the City Government could offer the desired innovation level to platform users. Google Cloud solutions helped achieve this goal.
"BigQuery played a critical role in cataloging and orchestrating everything related to Big Data, coupled with a robust security layer. Cloud Storage also proved extremely useful for data storage, and Cloud Functions was used to develop triggers to identify critical messaging points."
—Rafael Figueiredo Bezerra, Executive Secretary, Prefeitura do RecifeCentralizing this data structure in the cloud turned Conecta Cidadão into a helpful and easy-to-use tool.
A new era with more interaction and accessibility
Modernization and innovation brought by the project made public services more proactive and less reactive: citizens’ demands are now anticipated and solved even before they are made, through vaccination alerts, for example. This is the very essence of the program.
As far as the City Government's team is concerned, using Google Cloud to implement this project provided more scalability, easier-to-use resources, and flexible, consumption-based pricing, without the need to pay for idle machines. Another advantage is related to faster development of new services, as well as to the availability of automated, cloud-based security layers.
However, the most significant gains concerned the ability to make information available in an integrated manner, and the opportunities brought by higher levels of interaction with Recife's community.
An example of this is how easy it is to obtain a Cartão do Idoso, which offers benefits to elderly citizens. Through platform-enabled data, the City Government's team noticed that many residents entitled to receive this card did not apply for it. And now over 14,000 individuals receive this benefit thanks to messages sent via Conecta Cidadão.
"Conecta Cidadão truly impacted people's everyday lives, which significantly increased satisfaction rates. And this foundation enables us to revolutionize public services."
—Rafael Figueiredo Bezerra, Executive Secretary, Prefeitura do RecifeLooking forward, the City Government intends to continue focusing on services supported by cloud-based solutions. It is also currently evaluating the use of generative AI. The goal: gathering enough data to carry out a proper screening and offer microcredits to Recife's small-sized entrepreneurs. Once more, this shows how the City Government leverages technology to benefit citizens.
Tell us your challenge. We're here to help.
Contact us
About Prefeitura do Recife
Prefeitura do Recife (Recife's City Government) is the organization representing the capital city of the state of Pernambuco. This Brazilian northeastern urban area with 1.5 million inhabitants is known for its tech hub, which boosts its economy.