A virtual citizen assistant for the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (FHH) and its service database

This project develops a virtual assistant for citizens of Hamburg, Germany. In particular, the virtual assistant ought to facilitate access to the service database of Hamburg’s authorities. The chatbot relieves other information channels such as the phone service HamburgService (HS) and the Service Center.

For more complicated tasks, citizens rely on personal interaction with employees of the public administration. The virtual assistant takes care of standard requests. The project scope follows the study “Einheitliche Behördenrufnummern in der Europäischen Union” (IfG.CC, 2010). The project strives to establish another communication and information exchange channel alongside phone contact and service center.

The virtual assistant “Frag-den-Michel” is not limited to responding to questions. The system enables citizens to access administrative workflows by integrating existing interfaces and create new ones.