Many questions
A municipality continuously receives questions by phone, chat, forms and social channels. Many concern building work and permits.
All use cases
Use case · Municipalities and environmental planning law
Fewer contacts, less search time, better public service
Residents find their answer online first, with the relevant provision. Questions that still come in are better prepared.
Recognisable?
Recognisable?
Relevant to almost every resident
Anyone planning building work may need to consult the local environmental plan.
Rules keep changing
As local plans evolve, the rules change — and so do the answers.
Verifiable knowledge layer
Why Quonai, not Copilot or ChatGPT
Quonai is not a chatbot for environmental planning law, but a verifiable knowledge layer over municipal regulation. General AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Copilot generate an answer. Quonai provides an answer traceable to the underlying source, including the article and paragraph.
| General AI assistant (ChatGPT, Copilot) | Quonai | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the answer comes from | From what the model learned, or from web pages it selects itself | Only from the municipality’s environmental plan, national rules and the municipality’s own website |
| Source reference | Not guaranteed, and rarely down to article and paragraph | Required, with article, paragraph and a link to the official text |
| Asking the same question again | The answer may differ each time | The same question and sources produce the same answer |
| Reviewing it afterwards | There is a conversation, but no recorded substantiation | The question, sources, answer and model version are recorded |
From question to answer
Reduce the pressure before the question comes in
First
The resident asks online
At any time and in plain language, without a queue or phone menu.
Then
A direct answer with sources
The limits for each situation, drawn from the local plan and national rules. Often, that resolves the question.
Finally
Continue well prepared
Complex questions go to the service desk or contact centre with the relevant rules already in view.
Quality assurance
Quality you can manage yourself
Quonai records how each answer was produced. The municipality manages quality instead of answering every question itself.
Illustrative example
Question
May I add a dormer window?
Quonai · Answer
That depends on the situation. Below are the limits for each situation, with a reference to the article and paragraph and a link to the official text.
Mandatory source reference
Every answer names the article and paragraph. If Quonai cannot find a source, it says so instead of guessing.
The same answer for everyone
Residents, contact-centre staff and permit officers receive the same answer, with fixed sources and model version.
Audit trail
The question, sources used, answer and model version are recorded for later retrieval.
Every conclusion can be checked
Each rule in the answer links to the official text. Quotations are checked against the source.
Protected environment
Each municipality has its own environment on European infrastructure. Municipal data is not used to train models.
Insight into residents’ questions
The municipality sees which topics matter to residents and where its own website falls short.
Answers are informative and not legally binding.
Expected value
What it delivers
Illustrative calculation
Every share of contacts resolved independently online means fewer contact moments and more capacity for complex questions. We measure the actual impact during the pilot.
What we examine together
- What share of contacts concerns building work and permits?
- How much time does answering an average question take?
- What is the average cost of a contact-centre interaction?
- How much time do permit officers and legal specialists spend on recurring questions?
Pilot approach
From internal use to online public service
First
Internal use by contact and permit teams
Staff use Quonai as a reference source.
Then
Measure and refine
Subject-matter experts review the answers. We measure accuracy, speed and time saved.
Finally
Online on the municipal website
Alongside information about environmental planning law, available to all residents.
Send us your most common permit questions
We show how Quonai answers them using the local plan, applicable regulations and the municipality’s own website. Then we design the pilot together.
Plan a session