What is a Municipal Service Level Inventory?

A Municipal Service Level Inventory (MSLI) outlines services that a municipality provides externally to the community and internally as support services. These inventories are an internationally recognized methodology used by many municipalities in Alberta and around the globe. MSLIs are foundational to municipal planning, budgeting, risk management, and community engagement.

What Does a Municipal Service Level Inventory Include?

  • The services that the municipality provides;

  • Why you are providing those services;

  • The groups of residents, businesses, and institutions that you provide them to;

  • The level of service being delivered currently (your current performance); and

  • The level of service you’re aiming to provide (your target performance).

“Trina facilitated the development of an Introductory Municipal Service Level Inventory for our organization and did a fantastic job. It was a project we struggled to get off the ground with many fits and starts. Trina came in and saved the day by making the project reasonable, sizeable, and manageable and helped us get it over the finish line. She is an excellent facilitator, a strategic thinker, and a delight to work with.”

— Sally Caudill, CAO, Town of Canmore

The Benefits of Creating a MSLI

  • Establishes a clear and systematic approach with data and metrics to making strong decisions, prioritize limited resources, and plan for the future. It confidently evaluate and communicates trade-offs between service levels, cost, and risk.

  • Supports good stewardship of infrastructure and services needed to run the municipality today and prudently prepare for tomorrow.

  • Communicate clearly and consistently with the public about what services are provided, how they are provided, and how much they cost.

  • Continually review, evaluate, and improve services, service levels, service delivery, and resource allocation to continually strive to meet community needs within resources available

  • Provides clarity and accountability which builds trust between Council, Administration, and the public for agreed-upon services and service levels.

  • Provides a way for Council, Administration, and staff to “get on the same page” for services and service delivery and operate as one team working together. The organization can be structured and resourced to best deliver these services.

  • The process of creating a MSLI develops core management competencies for current leaders and staff (i.e. future leaders) to thoroughly understand the organization, its services, service delivery, and agreed upon service levels.

Our team helps organizations courageously integrate their strategy, culture, and leadership to achieve meaningful success. MSLIs are part of our strategy specialization. Trina has over 20 years of experience in municipal strategic planning, facilitation, governance, organizational effectiveness and design, organizational culture, and performance metrics (KPIs).