The City of Calgary has conducted an annual door-to-door civic census since 1958 to gather essential data used by City departments in their short-term and long-term planning.In 2015, The City expanded the census program to provide citizens with an online census option. Residents who are unable to complete the census online are still able to complete the census with a door-to-door census taker or by calling Election & Information Services and providing information over the phone. The data that is collected for the civic census is not only essential for City planning, it is also provided in open data and used by external organizations such as public and separate school boards for enrolment predictions and decisions on future schools.
The census online is an example of Transforming Government because it is an innovative way to put citizens first by letting Calgarians provide census information at their own convenience. It will reduce the number of households that require a door-to-door census taker in years to come and streamline the information collecting process, allowing citizens and staff to save both time and resources.