Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

TOOLKIT EDITION 1 2018

MODULE 4
Levels of service and
customer profiling
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

MODULE PURPOSE
This module provides the means for identifying, locating and quantifying municipal customers, and for profiling such
customers in terms of key built environment planning attributes such as land use type, density and income levels. This module
also provides levels and standards of service options for infrastructure and community services as a basis for engaging with
customers on appropriate service packages, for profiling the current state of service provision, for quantifying service access
backlogs, and to estimate current and future demand.

Additionally, this module provides guidance on the type and location of social amenities to be provided in urban spaces to support
spatial objectives such as densification and the strengthening of identified spatial structuring elements (e.g. nodes and corridors).

WHY
1. Cities have a mandate to deliver a wide range of infrastructure and community services to customers. This requires cities to know
their customers, and to agree with these customers the scope and levels of services to be provided.
2. Cities also need to establish the state of service provision to its customers, both in terms of levels of service and spatially, to determine
whether customers are receiving the services agreed upon, and to identify any service provision backlogs (e.g. lack of access to
services, or services offered at levels of service considered too low) to be addressed through either asset or non-asset solutions.
3. Decisions on where infrastructure and community services are to be provided impact on the urban economy and the city’s spatial
structure.

OUTPUTS OF MODULE 4:
1. The adoption of a customer profiling system (which forms part of the city’s asset management system, to be documented in the
city’s strategic asset management plan) and that meets the following criteria:
•It will account for all major customer groups being planned for.
•Key customer attributes, such as income levels and density must be included.
•It will enable the optimal use of existing sources of data (municipal and other).
•The level of data chosen must be sufficient to enable analysis, planning and reporting, but not excessively difficult or expensive
to acquire, process or maintain.
• It must be possible to spatially analyse and present customer profiles.
• It must be possible to spatially depict and analyse population growth and infrastructure capacity to determine built
environment impacts at that point in space.
• The methodology used to profile and spatially segment customers must be repeatable.
2. The adoption of levels and standards of service options, including directives on when, to whom and where these options will
apply, to be documented in the strategic asset management plan, and ideally also in a customer services charter that is available
on the city’s web site.
3. A spatially-based, segmented customer profile that supports built environment planning, inclusive of demand planning, as well
as revenue planning.
4. Profiling of the current state of services provision for all customer types, by level of service per service type, and per spatial entity
or regional segment reporting convention.

KEY RELEVANT NATIONAL REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND STRATEGIES:

1. Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, No. 16 of 2013
2. CSIR Guidelines for the provision of social facilities in South African settlements
3. Sectoral legislation, policies, norms and standards related to service provision.

I
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

CONTENTS
Module 4 Customer and service profiling

4.1 INTRODUCTION 4.1

4.1.1 Purpose and scope of this module 4.1
4.1.2 Scope of municipal infrastructure systems, social amenities and connected green-space systems 4.1
4.1.3 Municipal customers vary: they have different needs, preferences and abilities to pay for municipal services 4.4
4.1.4 Where are our customers and our infrastructure? 4.5
4.1.5 Spatial planning requirements 4.7

4.2 CUSTOMER PROFILING 4.11

4.2.1 Basics of customer profiling 4.12
4.2.2 Criteria for a customer-profiling system 4.21
4.2.3 Customer classification 4.21
4.2.4 Methodology for the spatial profiling of customers 4.24
4.2.5 Examples of outputs of the customer profile 4.30

4.3 SERVICE PROFILING AND DETERMINING CUSTOMER NEEDS 4.35

4.3.1 What are levels and standards of service? 4.35
4.3.2 Proposed levels of service for infrastructure 4.40
4.3.3 Levels of service for social amenities 4.44
4.3.4 Generating customer service profiles 4.52

4.4 SPATIALLY-NUANCED SERVICE PROVISION 4.63

4.5 SUMMARY 4.65

II
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

LIST OF
Figures that appear in this toolkit

FIGURE 4.1: Levels and standards of service: example potable water 4.2
FIGURE 4.2: Spatial structuring elements: examples and descriptions 4.8
FIGURE 4.3: Layout of subsection on customer profiling 4.11
FIGURE 4.4: Example of time series imagery illustrating the pace of urban growth 4.17
FIGURE 4.5: Use of SPOT building-count data to identify customers: Enkanyiswini Shozi Village, eThekwini 4.18
FIGURE 4.6: Methodology for spatial profiling of customers 4.24
FIGURE 4.7: Relational database diagram – customer database inputs 4.25
FIGURE 4.8: Example − capturing structures in informal settlements (Kanana Driefontein − Ekurhuleni) 4.26
FIGURE 4.9: Customer distribution across priority zones 4.31
FIGURE 4.10: Annual household income levels 4.31
FIGURE 4.11: Spatial revenue profiles: net revenue generated per spatial structuring element, Ekurhuleni 4.32
FIGURE 4.12: Location of top 500 customers in relation to spatial structuring elements, Ekurhuleni 4.33
FIGURE 4.13: Municipal revenue coverage and levels of outstanding debt 4.34
FIGURE 4.14: Spatial scales of planning for social amenities 4.46
FIGURE 4.15: Social amenity compatibility matrix 4.47
FIGURE 4.16: Municipal social facilities location preference matrix 4.48
FIGURE 4.17: Customer service access profile: clinics and care centres, Ekurhuleni 4.57
FIGURE 4.18: Customer service access profile: clinics and care centres, Ekurhuleni 4.58
FIGURE 4.19: Consolidated customer profile and costs of addressing service access backlogs – Buffalo City 4.59
FIGURE 4.20: Relative distribution of water access backlog between priority zones expressed in R’ million–Buffalo City 4.61
FIGURE 4.21: Social amenity accessibility index − Ekurhuleni 4.62
FIGURE 4.22: GIS Thiessen polygon technique 4.62
FIGURE 4.23: Urban morphology: process of formation and transformation 4.63
FIGURE 4.24: Nuanced asset life-cycle approach for nodes of various orders and in different stages of urban maturity 4.64

III
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

LIST OF
Tables that appear in this toolkit

TABLE 4.1: Levels of service hierarchy for potable water services 4.2
TABLE 4.2: City size measured in hectares and number of cadastre entities* 4.5
TABLE 4.3: Geographic levels of analysis 4.14
TABLE 4.4: Example of the number of households per dwelling type − City of Johannesburg (2011) 4.16
TABLE 4.5: Example of a household income profile − Nyanga, City of Cape Town (2011) 4.17
TABLE 4.6: Example of land-use data (Ekurhuleni) 4.19
TABLE 4.7: Example of valuation-roll data (Buffalo City) 4.19
TABLE 4.8: Example − meter reading table June 2014, Buffalo City 4.20
TABLE 4.9: City-customer classification system 4.21
TABLE 4.10: Customer classification system: formal residential income categories 4.23
TABLE 4.11: Gross formal residential density categories 4.23
TABLE 4.12: Customer database − data field structure 4.26
TABLE 4.13: Attribute fields: informal/backyard shack or traditional rural residential 4.27
TABLE 4.14: Municipal customer database − data fields 4.29
TABLE 4.15: Example of a spatially-based customer profile aligned to priority areas in the SDF 4.30
TABLE 4.16: LOS for roads (primary, secondary and tertiary roads) 4.35
TABLE 4.17: Converting customer expectations into technical performance measures 4.37
TABLE 4.18: Standards of service for potable water services (illustrative only, not an extensive list) 4.38
TABLE 4.19: Nuanced standards of service: water pipe burst response times 4.39
TABLE 4.20: Electricity LOS 4.40
TABLE 4.21: Roads LOS (primary, secondary and tertiary roads) 4.41
TABLE 4.22: Roads-related infrastructure LOS: bridges, pedestrian facilities and storm water 4.41
TABLE 4.23: Sanitation LOS 4.42
TABLE 4.24: Solid waste LOS 4.43
TABLE 4.25: Water LOS 4.43
TABLE 4.26: Classification of settlement types and catchment sizes 4.45
TABLE 4.27: Method of determining customer access to municipal infrastructure services 4.53
TABLE 4.28: Method of determining customer access to social amenities 4.55
TABLE 4.29: Number of customer units at each LOS for water per priority area – Buffalo City 4.60

IV
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.1 INTRODUC TION

4.1.1 Purpose and scope of this module

This module provides a customer classification system for profiling the different categories of customers in a municipality.
Since infrastructure and community services are offered to customers, it naturally follows that the infrastructure planning
process must start with knowledge of how many customers must be served and where, and understanding of their needs,
preferences and abilities to pay.

The module then offers levels of service hierarchies for the main
infrastructure and community services provided by cities to its
customers. These levels of service hierarchies can be thought
of as a shopping list of “service packages” or “products” offered
to municipal customers. The type or level of service package
will depend on several factors, such as: customer needs
and preferences; ability to pay; the availability of bulk and
distribution infrastructure; municipal affordability; and legal
requirements. A suite of levels of service hierarchies assists the
infrastructure planner to:
• Determine the type or level of services received by customers;
• Engage with customers on the levels of service they desire, and
the costs associated with providing the services they want;
• Establish whether certain customers are underserved or not
receiving services whatsoever, meaning they should receive
higher levels of service − this would be considered a “service
access” backlog; and
• Plan for future customers and the levels of services they
should receive.

4.1.2 Scope of municipal infrastructure systems,

social amenities and connected green-space systems
Cities are organisms. Like all organisms, a city depends on critical support systems to sustain life in it. These systems include,
amongst others, the following engineering infrastructure systems, social amenities and connected green-space systems:

• Energy, whether from electricity or from some energy mix • Social amenities, supporting safe and healthy lifestyles, and
comprising electricity, renewable sources of energy and offering opportunities for recreation, social interaction, a
natural gas; sense of belonging and social integration;
• Potable water and sanitation systems, sustaining life and • Storm-water infrastructure, protecting the city from flooding; and
providing indispensable health and sanitary services; • Public open and connected green space to allow a city
• Roads, bridges and footpaths, enabling physical movement; to breathe; fulfil key ecological functions such as carbon
• Public transportation systems, such as bus services, to move trapping and conversion to oxygen; mitigate the effects of
and connect people; flooding; support biodiversity; contribute to place-making;
boosting land value capture; and allow opportunities for
• Solid waste including the removal, recycling and disposal of
amusement, recreation and education.
solid wastes;

All of the above functions are typically the responsibility of a metropolitan municipality, provided to its citizenry.

4.1
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

FIGURE 4.1: Levels and standards of service: example potable water

4.2
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Following is an example of a level of service hierarchy for potable water services:

LOS OPTIONS DESCRIPTION

0 Natural resources (no infrastructure)

1 Water point more than 200 m distance

2 Communal standpipe less than 200 m distance

3 Yard tap connection (single tap)

4 15−25 mm connection to building (multiple taps)

5 40−100 mm consumer connection

6 100 mm or larger consumer connection

TABLE 4.1: Levels of service hierarchy for potable water services

Typically, unit costs are attached to each level of service. This This module also provides an approach to the segmentation
allows the infrastructure planner to both scope the size of the of the city space to profile customers, services provided, and
service access backlog and of future demand in terms of the to plan and manage future service delivery. Lastly, this module
number of customers to be served, but also to develop cost provides guidance on the location and clustering of social
estimates. amenities. First, though, a more in-depth insight into the need
for these classification systems is provided.

4.3
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.1.3 Municipal customers vary: they have different needs,

preferences and abilities to pay for municipal services

Citizens are people who organise themselves in many different ways, whether naturally or through legal means. The most
common grouping is the residential customer, or household.

• Population. The number of people within a defined

geographic area.
• Households. A household consists of a person, or a group of
persons, who occupy a common dwelling (or part of it) for at
least four days a week and who provide themselves jointly
with food and other essentials for living. In other words,
they live together as an unit. People who occupy the same
dwelling, but who do not share food or other essentials, are
enumerated as separate households. For example, people There are also many other ways for people to organise
who shared a dwelling, but who bought food and ate themselves. They create businesses to conduct trade or to
separately, were counted as separate households (Statistics provide specialised services (business customers), operate
South Africa, 1998). factories that provide the goods for businesses to sell (industrial
customers), and form institutions that provide social support
services (institutional customers). Each customer group has
its own needs and preferences for infrastructure services, and
varying levels of ability to pay for such services. Municipalities
also have different tariff structures for different customer types.

A factory producing soft drinks, for example, requires large

volumes of potable water delivered at high pressure. It also
needs energy in the process of making soft drinks and access
roads that are wide enough and with sufficient carrying capacity
to support the fleet of large trucks that collect the soft drinks
produced for distribution and sales. This factory requires larger
diameter pipes delivering water (LOS 6 as per Table 4.1) than
most other categories of customers, including residential,
business and most institutional customers, but, unlike most
residential customers, it mostly has no real need for a local
neighbourhood park or cemetery. It may, though, like access to
social amenities of the kind desired by residential customers to
provide a more attractive work environment for its employees,
such as crèches in close proximity to the workplace for those
employees who are working mothers. So it is entirely possible
for different types of customers to have high expectations for
some services, and less so for others.

It is therefore necessary to construct a customer classification

system to identify different groups of customers based on their
typical needs and preferences for infrastructure and social
amenities, and their ability to pay. Once a customer profile
has been developed, municipal service planners must then
determine what levels of services are offered to customers, both
spatially and per customer category.

4.4
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.1.4 Where are our customers and our infrastructure?

From the point of view of the municipality a customer is located at some point in physical space. For a residential customer, that
point in space will be the particular address or location where services are provided or to be provided, typically the dwelling
where the customer lives. As we’ve seen, different customers need different levels of services for various infrastructure and
social amenity services. Infrastructure too, is to be found located in physical space. To determine whether customers are
serviced, and at the right levels, we need the following information:

What type of customers How many of them Where are they What, if any,
are they? are there? located specifically infrastructure serves
these locations?

So not only do we need to categorise customers and services, or John Smith) or a legal person (a company, trust or other
we also need information on the location of customers and institution). But a quick glance at the table below will show that
infrastructure. But that level of detail (physical address, or GPS there are many more households than cadastre entities, and
coordinates) is typically too much to deal with from a planning we’ve haven’t even started counting non-residential customers
point of view, because cities are simply too large. Consider the yet. This anomaly largely results from the form of ownership and
following table: South African cities have areas of jurisdiction the intensity of use of the land parcel itself. A block of flats can
ranging between 164 536 to 629 830 hectares. Moreover, the be owned by one person, whether natural or legal, but occupied
land area of a municipality will be divided into multiple cadastre by dozens of households. However, each household within the
entities. A cadastre entity is a land parcel, such as a stand, erf, block of flats is also a municipal customer, entitled to access to
plot, farm portion or farm. Each cadastre entity will be owned by municipal services.
someone, whether a natural person (someone like Joe Modise

SIZE OF MUNICIPAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE NO OF HOUSEHOLDS NO OF CADASTRE

CITY
AREA (HECTARE) (2011) (2011) ENTITIES
Buffalo City 253 616 755 200 223 569 173 271

Nelson Mandela Bay 195 902 1 152 114 324 291 248 635

Mangaung 628 429 747 432 231 921 168 802

Ekurhuleni 197 554 3 178 470 1 015 464 528 549

City of Johannesburg 164 536 4 434 827 1 434 861 618 503

City of Tshwane 629 830 2 921 488 911 532 428 573

EThekwini 229 124 3 442 361 956 706 457 739

City of Cape Town 244 506 3 740 026 1 068 564 682 629

* Measurements as at February 2014

TABLE 4.2: City size measured in hectares and number of cadastre entities*

4.5
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

The large number of different types of customers that require of an infrastructure system, proximity to some elements may
service provision at multiple points in physical space require not automatically mean access to infrastructure services. In fact,
the adoption of a system of spatial analysis, whereby customers the proximity of some types of infrastructure will in all likelihood
are grouped and analysed spatially, to allow both profiling be contested by those members of the community that would
of customers (by type, income level and other relevant have to live in close proximity to it. Think, for example, of sewage
attributes) as well as of the municipal services they receive. This treatment works or landfill sites…no one wants to live close to
requirement also applies to infrastructure and social amenities. them, and property values in the adjacent areas reflect this.
“Infrastructure” is normally defined as stationary components This tendency of not wanting to be in close proximity to certain
of a system, where the whole system provides services to a types of assets, areas, land use or other elements is referred to as
community. Due to the different functions of the components Nimbyism: not in my backyard.

4.6
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.1.5 Spatial planning requirements

In analysing the existing spatial form of the city and deciding on the future spatial structure, planners use structuring and
restructuring elements and tools, the outcomes of which are documented in the municipal spatial development framework
(MSDF). The Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act of 2013 (SPLUMA) establishes the following (among other) as
requirements of a MSDF:

01 CLEARLY DEFINE WHO AND

WHAT ARE BEING PLANNED FOR 03 LINK FUTURE DEVELOPMENT NEEDS
WITH INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS
Prior to SPLUMA, many MSDFs did not clearly specify the • Identify, quantify and provide location requirements of
quantum of who and what are being planned for (e.g. the engineering infrastructure and services provision for existing
number of households, or square metres of a specific type of and future development needs for the next five years.
land use etc.). In addition, few MSDFs included specific time

04
frames of when development is expected to occur. SPLUMA DETERMINE WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE
includes specific requirements to address this: FOR IMPLEMENTING PROPOSALS
• Include a five-year population growth estimate and indicate • Provide the spatial expression of the coordination, alignment
how this growth will translate into a need for housing across and integration of sectoral policies of all municipal
different socioeconomic groups (and where in space this will departments; and
occur); and • Include an implementation plan comprising sectoral
• Include five-year estimates of economic activity and requirements, including budgets, resources for
employment trends and locations in the municipal area. implementation, institutional requirements, targets, dates
and monitoring indicators.

02 SPATIALLY IDENTIFY WHERE AND

WHEN DEVELOPMENT WILL OCCUR
05 SPATIALLY DETERMINE WHERE
MONEY SHOULD BE SPENT
• Identify current and future significant structuring and
restructuring elements of the spatial form of the municipality, • Determine a capital expenditure framework for the
including development corridors, activity spines and municipality’s development programmes, depicted spatially.
economic nodes (See Figure 4.2 for more detail) where public
and private investment will be prioritised and facilitated; and
• Include a written and spatial representation of five-, 10- and
20-year spatial development patterns (in other words where
the quantum of residential and non-residential land uses
identified above will spatially occur over time at specific
locations within the municipality).

4.7
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

FIGURE 4.2: Spatial structuring elements: examples and descriptions

Economic and mixed-use development is concentrated in nodes in specific

locations, and the nodes are usually separated by residential activity.
The spatial form of any city consists of a hierarchy of nodes connected by
corridors (discussed below). This hierarchy is made up of one anchor (or
primary node) in the form of a central business district where activities are
concentrated.
NODES

This, in turn, is supported by secondary nodes and local nodes (such as

local shopping centres). Nodes can also be classified by function (e.g.
industrial node/tourism node/mixed-use node/transport-orientated
development node etc.).

Like cities, nodes are also subject to a life cycle: new node, growing node,
mature node, decaying node etc.

Corridors are areas of street-oriented uses that incorporate a mix of retail,

employment and residential uses, developed at overall greater densities,
located along arterial roads serving as major transit routes. Corridors link
nodes and important areas of activity within a city and are intended to be
key locations for intensification of land uses. In some instances a hierarchy
is also introduced in corridor developments – an activity corridor and an
CORRIDORS

activity spine:
Activity corridor
An area of generally higher intensity urban use or land suitable for
intensification, parallel to and on both sides of an activity spine, and
includes any associated higher-order transportation routes such as
railway lines and through roads.
Activity spine
A public street, incorporating an existing or planned public transport
route, and adjacent land used or intended for mixed-use development.
DEVELOPMENT BOUNDARY

An urban edge is a demarcated line to manage, direct and control the

URBAN EDGE OR URBAN

outer limits of development around an urban area. The intention of an

urban edge is to establish limits beyond which urban development
should as a rule not occur and to promote urban and environmental
efficiency, effectiveness and economies in the interest of all (Department
of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, 2005).

Urban edges are not fixed or permanent, but rather flexible lines that can
be extended over time in an effort to promote compact cities and efficient
infrastructure.

4.8
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

A well-designed, connected urban green-space system is considered

OPEN SPACE SYSTEM OR NETWORK

essential for modern, progressive cities.

A properly designed green-space system will incorporate areas of high

biodiversity value linked together in a viable network of open spaces, and
will also support multiple, complementary land uses. Such green space in
urban environments provides many advantages: formal and informal sport
and recreation, preservation of natural environments, urban storm-water
management and various ecological functions such as carbon
trapping.

Not only does green space allow a city to breathe, it has also been found that
well-designed and maintained green spaces improve land-value capture,
and surrounding properties benefit from increases in property value.

The spaces in between nodes, corridors, and the metropolitan open-

INTERVENTION AREAS

space system and inside the urban edge are sometimes referred to as
intervention areas.

In most of these areas, some action or intervention is required to achieve

a specific aim. The type of intervention can vary. Examples include
interventions around infrastructure and facilities (e.g. provision of a
minimum level of services to ensure the community is a sustainable
human settlement) or interventions around densities (e.g. densification
areas where a certain minimum density is required) etc.

One of the greatest trials facing modern cities is rapid growth. Good urban planning can provide the framework for making
Our world is rapidly becoming more urban. Fast growing cities decisions that are resource efficient and sustainable for all cities.
face additional challenges such as high percentages of people Increasingly, there is evidence that well-managed and thoughtfully
living in informal settlements, inadequate urban basic services, designed cities provide increased well-being for their citizens. The
urban sprawl and poor public transport. If cities are to play decisions on density, land-use and spatial patterns that urban
their role as drivers of economic and social development, these planners make have a major impact on energy consumption, co2
challenges have to be addressed through effective planning production and cost of construction. Integrating urban planning
and governance. Enormous amounts of infrastructure will need and infrastructure provision in the early stages of spatial planning
to be built in urban areas in the coming decades, creating an is essential for getting the infrastructure “right”. Infrastructure
urgency and an opportunity to do things right, to use available investments are long-term decisions and the choices we make
resources efficiently and to address the infrastructure needed to today will lock us into patterns dictating the carbon, land, energy
create well-functioning cities. and water intensity of our future development.

4.9
Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.10
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.2 CUSTOMER PROFILING

This subsection begins with a description of the basics of municipal customer profiling, proceeds to specify criteria for an
effective, robust system of customer profiling and then proposes a customer classification system for adoption by cities. It also
provides a methodology for developing a customer profile and closes with some examples of customer profiles.

BASICS OF CUSTOMER
Section 4.2.1 PROFILING

CRITERIA FOR A CUSTOMER

Section 4.2.2 CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

PROPOSED CUSTOMER
Section 4.2.3 CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

METHODOLOGY FOR SOURCES OF

Section 4.2.4 DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER CUSTOMER DATA
PROFILE

EXAMPLES OF CUSTOMER
Section 4.2.5 PROFILES

FIGURE 4.3: Layout of subsections on customer profiling

4.11
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.2.1 Basics of customer profiling

CUSTOMERS ARE PRIMARILY CATEGORISED ON THE BASIS OF LAND USE

Various functions in a municipality require customers to be categorised and profiled. The budget and treasury office in a municipality
is interested in issuing customer bills (services rendered and, possibly, property rates as well). It generally obtains information on
services rendered from reading water and electricity meters registered to account holders for specific properties, these being
municipal customers. This data is stored in an electronic municipal billing system. How much to charge each customer for services
rendered is specified in the municipality’s tariff policy. This determines the amount to be charged for each unit (e.g. kℓ of water)
consumed per category of customer. The tariff policy categorises different types of customers on the basis of land use classification
(e.g. agricultural, residential or industrial).

Municipal valuers also have an interest in customers. They Permitted land use(s) for each property is(are) stipulated in
prepare, maintain and update municipal property valuation the land use scheme of each municipality. Urban planners
rolls that contain data on all properties in the municipality’s area are greatly concerned with how land is used, and will indicate
of jurisdiction. The data set for each property will include details in spatial development frameworks (SDFs) how land should
of the owner, location of the property, its size, the value of the be used in future. Urban planners will also indicate in SDFs
property, and the property-rates category that applies to that the target densities of development of various areas and the
property. Rates categories are also determined on the basis of development controls to support those targets, such as building
land use. height restrictions. Engineers will interpret spatial development
frameworks, and will plan for engineering services provision on
the basis of land use, development density and other controls.
• Land cover refers to the physical surface of the earth,
including various combinations of vegetation types, soils,
exposed rocks and water bodies as well as anthropogenic
elements, such as agriculture and built environments.
Land cover can also describe “the vegetation and artificial
constructions covering the land surface”.
• Land use means the purpose to which the land cover is
committed, or rather, man’s activities on land, which are
directly related to the land. Certain uses, e.g. agriculture, have
a characteristic land-cover pattern, other land uses, such as
business or commercial, are not readily discriminated by a
characteristic land-cover pattern.
• Zoning is the process of planning for land use by allowing or
restricting certain land uses in a certain geographic area. A
“Zoning” is NOT necessarily restricted to a single land use and
typically includes a number of related land uses. Zoning also
includes restrictions in different zoning areas, such as height
of buildings, density (number of structures in a certain area),
coverage, parking requirements etc. Zonings are managed
by means of a scheme.

The two important points from this discussion are that:

1. Land use is the basis for categorising municipal customers;
and
2. Municipalities maintain vast electronic data systems with a
wealth of data from which customers can be profiled.

4.12
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

SELECTION OF AN APPROPRIATE SPATIAL SYSTEM OF CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION, ANALYSIS AND PLANNING

Due to the large areas and number of customers in a city, planning for infrastructure is normally done on the basis of spatially
defined areas. Each profession or function in a municipality would argue that they already use spatial systems of analysis, and they
do. Consider the following examples of systems in place:

• The ward system, which is a spatially demarcated system

for grouping voters, appointing ward councillors and ward
committees.
• Spatial systems for engineering master planning, e.g. water
distribution zones, traffic impact zones and drainage basins.
• Service-delivery zones, that may be decided on the basis of
the location of depots (e.g. water services’ depots, from where
artisans are dispatched to attend to pipe leaks and bursts, or
to connect new customers), or area-based customer care
centres.
• A system of regions, the basis of which could be either for
administrative management purposes, or as large spatial
entities with particular identities and specified future visions
that require differentiated management focus. A system of
regions may be further segmented into service-delivery
zones.
• A spatial system comprised of spatial structuring elements as
found in a MSDF.

Each of the above spatial systems serve a purpose, but not all
are equally suited for the purposes of strategic spatial planning
or infrastructure asset management. To determine which spatial
segment system to adopt for purposes of infrastructure asset
management planning, it is necessary to consider:
• The availability of data at various spatial scales;
• The requirements of SPLUMA;
• The stability, benefits and challenges of spatial segmentation
systems at various spatial scales and time.

4.13
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

AVAILABILITY OF DATA AT VARIOUS SPATIAL SCALES

Customer data is available at multiple spatial scales, ranging from the building level, which is generally the data set with the finest
grain size, up to provincial- and country-level scales (see Table 4.3 below). Ideally, municipal customer databases should be prepared
at the building level, as this is where customers live or operate from, and where they normally would receive infrastructure services.
However, data on key customer attributes is generally not available at the level of the building.

TABLE 4.3: Geographic levels of analysis

COUNTRY- AND PROVINCIAL-SCALE DATA

Examples of this includes population data (e.g. 51 770 560 people in
South Africa). Typically this grain of data is too coarse for any detailed
planning, although it can be useful to compare municipal data to
provincial averages, for example the population growth rate of
Ekurhuleni is 2.47 per cent per annum compared to the Gauteng growth
rate (from 2001–2011) of 2.7 per cent.

MUNICIPAL-SCALE DATA
Many data sets provide answers at a municipal level (e.g. population
totals, growth totals etc.). This is typically the lowest level of detail at
which growth rates are calculated. It can therefore be useful to provide
a “control total” for planning exercises, but often information is required
at a more detailed level.

ADMINISTRATIVE OR MANAGEMENT-REGION LEVEL

Most cities are geographically divided into administrative or
management regions. Very little primary information is available at this
level – although it is often a requirement to report data at a regional
level. These boundaries can also change (depending on political or
administrative issues.)

WARD LEVEL
Wards are politically demarcated segments of municipalities that
typically elect and are represented by a councillor. Statistical data
generated by Stats SA is available at ward level. Usually community
needs are also expressed at a ward level (as part of the integrated
development plan). Often projects responding to these needs are also
represented at a ward level. However, wards are not service-delivery
units or configurations, and therefore infrastructure capacities and costs
are not easily reflected at the level of the ward.

4.14
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

PROCLAIMED TOWNSHIP
Township-level data is available in billing systems, valuation rolls and
land-use schemes. This is the first geographic level of data that is
consistent across municipal data sets. Note, though, that proclaimed
townships EXCLUDE most informal settlements or traditional villages.
These settlement types mostly occur on farm portions in the rural
parts of the municipality OR on farm portions in between proclaimed
townships.

SUBPLACE AND SMALL AREA

Demographic information from Stats SA is available at subplace and
small-area level. Subplace boundaries resemble community-level
boundaries irrespective of its status as proclaimed or informal. The
small-area boundaries are the lowest level of detail used by Stats SA.
Any subplace will consist of a number of small areas. Small areas can
be used to structure a customer database – from this level it is possible
to aggregate data upwards to any other geographic level, or to assign
customer attributes such as income levels and household size to lower
spatial-scale data.

LAND-PARCEL LEVEL
This is the finest grain at which most municipal data sets are available.
The land use scheme, valuation roll and billing system all provide data at
an individual property level. While this level of data is sufficient for most
purposes it is possible to have more than one customer on a land parcel
(e.g. sectional title properties or properties with multiple storeys). In
addition, informal settlements and traditional villages have mostly never
been surveyed and will therefore not be included at this level of detail.

BUILDING LEVEL
This is the preferred level at which data should be available. From this
detail level, data can be aggregated to any spatial level discussed above.
Building-level data is also useful in informal settlements and traditional
villages as well as in complex central business districts where multiple
customer types can be found in the same building.

4.15
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

The most important national data set of use to cities is the National Census, compiled and released by Statistics South Africa. Key
data sets from the census include:

Demographic indicators such Number of households per For the infrastructure categories
as population, households and dwelling type; and water, sanitation and electricity,
annual household income; the number of households for
each level of service.

Census information is available at the following geographic

levels:
• Country, provincial and municipal totals;
• Ward level;
• Main place and subplace; and
• Small area.

Table 4.4 below provides an example of dwelling type

information for cities, as prepared by Stats SA. This type of data
can be used to derive the formal and informal residential and
backyard shack categories of the customer profile presented in
Section 4.2.3. Note that census data is available in this format
TABLE 4.4: Example of the number of households per dwelling for 1996, 2001 and 2011. The next census will only be conducted
type − City of Johannesburg (2011) in 2021.

TYPE OF DWELLING NO OF HOUSEHOLDS

House or brick/concrete block structure on a separate stand or yard or on a farm 763 977
Traditional dwelling/hut/structure made of traditional materials 5 625
Flat or apartment in a block of flats 144 522
Cluster house in complex 46 224
Townhouse (semidetached house in a complex) 63 297
Semidetached house 33 930
House/flat/room in backyard 95 511
Informal dwelling (shack; in backyard) 124 074
Informal dwelling (shack; not in backyard; e.g. in an informal/squatter settlement or on a farm) 125 745
Room/flatlet on a property or larger dwelling/servants quarters/granny flat 20 436
Caravan/tent 789
Other 10 680
Unspecified 0
Not applicable 0
TOTAL 1 434 810

4.16
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Table 4.5 below shows an example of the income profile for a suburb in Cape Town. The different income categories can be used to
derive the income level of the formal residential customer category.

ANNUAL INCOME CATEGORY NO OF HOUSEHOLDS

No income 2 853
R 1 − R 4800 948
R 4801 − R 9600 1 239
R 9601 − R 19 600 2 928
R 19 601 − R 38 200 3 921
R 38 201 − R 76 400 2 577
R 76 401 − R 153 800 1 035
R 153 801 − R 307 600 348
R 307 601 − R 614 400 120
R 614 001 − R 1 228 800 15
R 1 228 801 − R 2 457 600 9
R 2 457 601 or more 6
Unspecified 0
TOTAL 15 999

TABLE 4.5: Example of a household income profile − Nyanga, City of Cape Town (2011)

Other national spatial data sets include: Mamelodi East 2010 Mamelodi East 2015

01 CADASTRE DATA, AERIAL AND

SATELLITE IMAGERY

Available from the Department of Rural Development and Land

Reform (DRDLR). The Surveyor General (part of DRDLR) is the
official custodian of the National Cadastre, and cadastral data
in GIS format can be obtained from the Surveyor General’s
office at a fee. Title deed information as well as sectional title
information is also available for all surveyed cadastral entities
from this department.

Note that in many instances, the cities themselves have GIS units
maintaining cadastral data. In addition, the National Geo-Spatial
Information (NGI) Branch of the DRDLR are the custodians of
aerial and satellite imagery taken over a number of years that
provide useful information in determining growth between
census years.

FIGURE 4.4: Example of time series imagery illustrating the pace

of urban growth

4.17
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

02 NATIONAL REFERENCE FRAMEWORK 03 SPOT BUILDING COUNTS

Of the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWAS). This Counts from Eskom. ESI-GIS, a section in the divisional
framework provides data on the number of households and technology department of the Eskom Corporate Services
levels of service for water and sanitation, especially helpful Division, uses SPOT satellite images to determine the
in cities with rural areas dotted with villages, as is the case in geographical position of physical structures. For each point
eThekwini and Buffalo City. in the database, attribute information includes the date
when it was captured (valuable in quantifying urban growth)

04 COMMERCIAL DATA VENDORS THAT SUPPLY as well as a rudimentary land-use classification (useful in
DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC INFORMATION deriving customer type). This data set is particularly useful in
at various spatial scales. These data sets can generally be quantifying the number of customers living on land that is not
accessed by paying an annual subscription fee. formally surveyed (such as informal settlements or traditional
villages).

FIGURE 4.5: Use of SPOT building-count data to identify customers: Enkanyiswini Shozi Village, eThekwini

Most, if not all, metropolitan municipalities have access to a centralised GIS Department. These departments maintain, among other,
base GIS data such as cadastral data sets and road-centre lines. The following municipal spatial data sets can be used to derive and
update customer profiles:

4.18
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

05 LAND USE AND ZONING DATA

A list and spatial database of properties together with their
existing land uses and zoning (permissible land uses and
development controls) can be obtained from the town planning
department.

TOWNSHIP STAND NUMBER LAND USE

Kleinfontein 67-ir 382/67-IR Agriculture
Northmead 4880 Church
Benoni x43 22/8481 Cluster complex
Northmead 3444 Dwelling
Northmead 3156 Dwelling
Benoni 2421 Educational
Kleinfontein 67-ir 190/67-IR Filling station
Benoni x16 5681 Flats
Benoni R/6493 Park
Benoni x71 8687 Private road
Kleinfontein 67-ir 190/67-IR Shopping centre
Benoni 4/6493 Sports club
Benoni x17 5168 St complex

TABLE 4.6: Example of land-use data (Ekurhuleni)

06 VALUATION ROLL DATA

All municipalities compile a general valuation roll, generally every
five years, and maintain this annually through a supplementary
valuation roll. The roll consists of property data, the value of the
property, the registered owner and an indication of land use (as
specified in the Municipal Property Rates Act, No. 6 of 2004). The
land use data can be used to derive a customer class for each
individual property.

TOWNSHIP STAND NUMBER RATES CATEGORY PROPERTY VALUE

Beacon Bay 1 Residential R 1 504 000
Beacon Bay 2 Residential R 2 170 000
Beacon Bay 3 Residential R 1 240 000
Beacon Bay 4 Vacant land R 700 000
Beacon Bay 5 Residential R 2 380 000
Beacon Bay 6 Residential R 1 200 000
Beacon Bay 7 Residential R 2 170 000
Beacon Bay 9 Residential R 1 128 000
Beacon Bay 10 Residential R 1 058 000
Beacon Bay 11 Residential R 1 167 000
Beacon Bay 12 Residential R 1 254 000

TABLE 4.7: Example of valuation roll data (Buffalo City)

4.19
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

07 BILLING SYSTEM DATA

All cities use some form of billing system to issue municipal
accounts to their consumers. Billing system data is useful in
establishing a customer database and analyse customers, in the
following ways:
• Billing systems use tariff codes in calculating monthly bills.
These tariff codes can be used to derive customer categories.
Consider the tariff code “EL0100” in the transaction file of
Buffalo City’s billing system − this tariff code describes a
“Residential” consumer.
• Moreover, data from billing systems can be used to quantify
the number of customers per property. In the example below
there are six different consumers, all living on the same
property, who each received an account for water in June
2014.
• Where revenue generation is a key consideration in
infrastructure investment decision making, or the
municipality needs to improve revenue performance, data
from the billing system informs decisions on the revenue-
generating potential of particular areas and customers, as
well as the levels of outstanding debt. TABLE 4.8: Example − meter reading table June 2014, Buffalo City

TOWNSHIP STAND NO. ACCOUNT NO. DATE SERVICE CODE SERVICE BASE TRANSACTION AMOUNT
East London 14554 10054745 201406 WA MW08 R 437
East London 14554 10170007 201406 WA MW08 R 279
East London 14554 10299947 201406 WA MW08 R 109
East London 14554 10349178 201406 WA MW08 R 12
East London 14554 10349177 201406 WA MW08 R 109
East London 14554 10349180 201406 WA MW08 R 61

THE STABILITY, BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF SPATIAL SEGMENTATION SYSTEMS AT VARIOUS SPATIAL SCALES
Many cities at present report spatially at the ward level, and the All cities are actively planning to restructure their cities
main benefit of doing so is to be accountable to voters in the towards economic and social progress. Some of the planning
areas where they live. But reporting at the ward level has several interventions include: implementing strategic projects with
disadvantages as well. The ward system itself is not stable, every city-wide benefits; the strengthening of specific corridors,
few years wards are redemarcated. As a result time-series data nodes and intervention areas; and densification and mixed-
on, say capital investment per ward, presents a skewed picture. use development. These objectives take time to achieve, and
It is also natural for wards to demand capital investment and ideally the spatial segmentation system should focus attention
other resources over other wards and city-level objectives, and on these strategic objectives and should remain fairly stable to
as a result, city-level optimal decisions may not be made, to the measure progress towards achieving city strategic objectives
detriment of the citizenry at large. Conversely, while residents over time. Whereas a city does not control the demarcation of
in a particular ward may demand investment, they may oppose wards, it is able to control the spatial segmentation of the city in
much needed development, such as intensification in land use, terms of priority management areas.
corridor development or infrastructure such as sewerage plants.

4.20
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.2.2 Criteria for a customer-profiling system

An effective, robust municipal customer-profiling system will meet the following criteria:
1. It will account for all major customer groups being planned for.
2. Key customer attributes, such as income levels and density must be included.
3. It will enable the optimal use of existing sources of data (municipal and other).
4. The level of data chosen must be sufficient to enable analysis, planning and reporting, but not excessively difficult or expensive
to acquire, process or maintain.
5. It must be possible to spatially analyse and present customer profiles.
6. It must be possible to spatially depict and analyse population growth and infrastructure capacity to determine built environment
impacts at that point in space.
7. The methodology used to profile and spatially segment customers must be repeatable.

4.2.3 Customer classification

It is proposed that cities adopt as a minimum the customer classification system presented in Table 4.9 that meets the criteria
for such a system as defined in Section 4.2.2. Accordingly, customers are classified primarily as residential or non-residential.

Residential customers are further segmented based on settlement type and status, income levels and density. Non-residential
customers are segmented into economic land uses such as agriculture, mining, manufacturing, business, public service infrastructure,
major transport facilities and institutional land uses.

CLASSIFICATION CUSTOMER CATEGORY DESCRIPTION

All customers of a residential nature who are settled on proclaimed,

Formal surveyed stands (single or multiple residential), or residential customers
residential living on farms. Formal domestic is further categorised on the basis of (a)
income levels and (b) density.

Areas where groups of housing units have been constructed on land that
Informal the occupants have no legal claim to, or occupy illegally; or unplanned
residential settlements and areas where housing is not in compliance with current
planning and building regulations (unauthorised housing).
Residential

Traditional rural This category of customer refers to villages or settlements under the
residential administration of tribal or traditional authorities.

Backyard Backyard residential (shacks) are additional informal units on a plot of land
residential that are rented out by the land owner as a significant income to the main
(shacks) householder.

4.21
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

CLASSIFICATION CUSTOMER CATEGORY DESCRIPTION

Agriculture, This customer category is dedicated to the practice of farming (including

forestry & cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals or
fisheries fish to provide food, wool, and other products) as well as forestry.

The term in this instance is used to describe both a retail as well as an office-
Business
related land use.

Commercial and
Factories, storage, manufacturing etc.
industrial

A customer category devoted to the promotion of a particular cause or

programme of a public, educational, or charitable character (schools, clinics,
Non-residential Institutional
community halls etc.). Note that institutional also includes sports facilities
such as sport stadiums.

Mining includes not only the extraction of valuable minerals or other

Mining geological materials from the earth, but also the beneficiation of extracted
materials or substances (e.g. smelters and refineries).

Airports and ports are defined as tracts of land or water with facilities for the
Ports and arrival, departure, shelter, supply, and repair of aircraft and marine vehicles
airports used for receiving or discharging passengers and cargo. This category
includes ports, airports and airfields that are municipally owned.

Public service This category of customer consists of roads, storm-water, water, sewer, power
industries (PSI) or electricity and railway infrastructure under public or parastatal control.

TABLE 4.9: City-customer classification system

4.22
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Customers in the “formal residential” category are further categorised based on income levels and density, as follows:

TABLE 4.10: Customer classification system: formal residential income categories

INCOME CATEGORY ANNUAL HOUSEHOLD INCOME THRESHOLD

Poor R 0 − R 76 400
Low income R 76 401 − R 153 800
Medium income R 153 801 − R 307 600
High income R 307 601 +

TABLE 4.11: Gross formal residential density categories

DENSITY CATEGORY NUMBER OF UNITS PER HECTARE

Very low 0-9 units/ha
Low 10-19 units/ha
Medium 20-49 units/ha
High 50-99 units/ha
Very high 100 units/ha or higher

4.23
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.2.4 Methodology for the spatial profiling of customers

Section 4.2.1 described available sources of data for the spatial profiling of customers, and Section 4.2.3 provided the basic
customer profiling classification system. In order to prepare customer profiles, cities require a methodology as well as the
following:

1. Capable geographic information system (GIS) practitioners,

preferably GISc professionals registered with the South
African Geometrics Council (SAGC)
2. GIS software (e.g. Esri GIS, Quantum GIS, etc.)
3. Relational database management system software (e.g.
Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle etc.)
4. Note that software such as Microsoft Access does not have
sufficient capacity to deal with the large volumes of data
required to compile a customer database and profile
5. Computers and storage adequate to deal with large data
sets (e.g. cadastral GIS data sets).

STEP 1 STEP 5
Prepare land parcel base data Perform 1st level segmentation

STEP 2 STEP 6
Capture informal settlements Quantify number of customers
and backyard shacks per point

STEP 3 STEP 7
Combine formal and informal Add demographic and density
datasets detail

STEP 4
STEP 8
Prepare demographic
Prepare customer database
information

FIGURE 4.6: Methodology for spatial profiling of customers

4.24
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

STEP 1: PREPARE LAND PARCEL BASE DATA

The process commences with preparing all data necessary to
describe a customer on a formally proclaimed land parcel (e.g.
erf, holding or farm portion). Data requirements for this stage
include:
• Updated cadastre
• Municipal zoning scheme (available as table or spatial file)
• Municipal land use data (available as table or spatial file)
• Municipal valuation roll
• Billing system data:
• master file (indicating property description and land use);
• meter file (water and electricity meters); and
• transaction file for one financial year (all transactions per
account)
• Recent aerial photography

Once the above data sets have been obtained, the process of matching attribute data to the cadastre begins. Attribute (tabular) data
collected must now be related to the cadastral information through the use of GIS. Cities should conform to the Surveyor General
convention of using a 21-digit code to describe each property in the municipality (some cities use an amended version of this code
comprising more digits). The figure below serves as a rudimentary database diagram indicating how all the attribute files should
relate to the cadastre.

LAND USE SCHEME

SG21 identifier
Existing land use
Existing zoning

CADASTRE VALUATION ROLL

SG21 identifier SG21 identifier
Town/farm name Registered owner
Stand no. Rates category
Extent Total value BILLING DATA: METER FILE
Account no
BILLING DATA: MASTER FILE Meter type
SG21 identifier
Account no BILLING DATA: TRANSACTION FILE
Property category Account no
Owner name Service
Tariff code
Transaction amount

FIGURE 4.7: Relational database diagram – customer database inputs Units consumed

4.25
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

After all the attribute data has been “related” or “joined” with the cadastre, some analysis is necessary to populate the
following fields:

ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION / SOURCE

SG21 identifier A unique identifier (note that in some cases this can comprise more than 21 digits) used by the
Surveyor General to uniquely identify cadastral entities.
Town/farm name The name of the town (from a general plan) or the farm (in the case of a farm, including the farm
number and registration division).
Stand number The parcel number (including subdivision or remainder). In the case of farm portions, the farm
number and subdivision or remainder.
Extent The geographic extent of the property, measured in square metres (m2).
Existing land use The existing land use should ideally originate from the land use data that informed the municipal
land use scheme. This can be updated by “rates category” from the valuation roll or the “property
category” and “tariff code” from the billing-system data.
Owner name Name of the registered owner.
Number of water meters From the billing system – and specifically the meter table, the number of all “active” water meters
on a property. This can be an important indicator of the number of customers.
Number of electricity meters From the billing system – and specifically the meter table, the number of all “active” electricity
meters on a property. This can be an important indicator of the number of customers.

TABLE 4.12: Customer database − data field structure

STEP 2: CAPTURE INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS AND BACKYARD SHACKS

Step 1 in the customer-profiling process accounts for customers
located on formally surveyed land parcels. Step 2 incorporates
Updated structures 2015
customers residing in informal settlements, backyard shacks
and traditional villages into the customer database. While a Spot building count
number of cities do have GIS data available on the location and
extent of informal settlements, backyard shacks and traditional
villages, there are additional data sets that can assist cities:
• Department of Human Settlements (housing demand
database);
• Stats SA – South African Dwelling Frame;
• Eskom – SPOT building count; and
• Commercial data sets available from data vendors (e.g.
GeoTerraImage).

The above data sets can be used as starting point and updated
by means of capturing structures using the latest satellite
imagery or aerial photography. In the example, the yellow dots
represent data obtained from Eskom (the SPOT building count,
2011). Additional structures representing growth from 2011 to
2015 were captured using the latest aerial photos (in this case
from Google Earth) as backdrop – these structures are shown FIGURE 4.8: Example − capturing structures in informal settlements
as red points. (Kanana Driefontein − Ekurhuleni)

4.26
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Typically each point (housing structure) captured in an informal settlement or traditional village, or backyard shack represents one
customer. The next step in the process is to add the necessary attribute fields in the database:

ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION/SOURCE
SG21 identifier Cities can compile their own identifier, depending on data available from their own GIS. The only
requirement is that the identifier should be unique.
Town/farm name In this case, the name of the settlement or village can be used (or formal town in the case of
backyard shacks).
Stand number The structure number (if available).
Existing land use Use “traditional rural residential” or “informal residential” or “backyard shack”.
Number of customers In most instances, the number of customers per structure will be one. Possible exceptions are
multi-household structures.
Data source List as appropriate e.g. field verification

TABLE 4.13: Attribute fields: informal/backyard shack or traditional rural residential

STEP 3: COMBINE FORMAL AND INFORMAL DATA

This step combines the formal and informal spatial and attribute
data from the previous two steps into one data set. To do this,
it would first be necessary to convert the formal cadastre to
centroids (or points) that are then combined (or merged) with
the informal data set’s points.

STEP 4: PREPARE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

This step relies on the latest census information from Stats SA.
The following data is extracted at the lowest level of
geographic detail (the small-area layer):
• Number of households per small area; and
• Annual household income per small area.

Using the above data, calculate the gross density (number of

households divided by the geographic extent of the subplace in
hectares). In addition to the above, calculate the average annual
household income for that subplace.

STEP 5: PERFORM FIRST LEVEL SEGMENTATION

This step involves reworking the existing land use data for each
point into one of the customer categories defined in Table 4.9.
The customer category is added as an additional data field to
the customer database.

4.27
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

STEP 6: QUANTIFY THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS PER POINT

Now that a specific customer category has been assigned to One of the best sources of data to use in this exercise is the
each spatial point, the number of customers at that spatial number of water or electricity meters per point (calculated in
location needs to be calculated. In most instances the number Step 1). Take note of the following common issues associated
of customers per land parcel (or structure) will equal one but with this step:
for the following exceptions:
• In some instances, a single customer can be spatially located
• Sectional title schemes, where multiple households (or on a number of properties, care should be taken to quantify
businesses) can be located on one property or in one this as one customer, instead of counting the number of
building; or stands;
• Multistorey buildings (for example the central business • In some cities, prepaid electricity meters are installed making
districts of cities) where more than one customer can be it more difficult to use electricity meters as an indicator of the
situated in a single building. number of customers; and
• The cadastre may be outdated; customers should always be
visually verified making use of aerial photography or satellite
imagery.

4.28
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

STEP 7: ADD DEMOGRAPHIC AND DENSITY INDICATORS

Once customers have been classified and quantified, all that remains is to further segment all formal residential, informal residential,
traditional rural residential and backyard shack customers by adding density and income indicators calculated earlier to the customer
database. This is done by using the income and density categories defined in Table 4.10 (income) and Table 4.11 (density).

STEP 8: PREPARE MUNICIPAL CUSTOMER DATABASE

If all the previous steps were followed, the final customer database should contain the following data fields (not that additional fields
cannot be accommodated):

ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTION/SOURCE
A unique identifier (note that in some cases this can comprise more than 21 digits) used by the Surveyor
SG21 identifier
General to uniquely identify cadastral entities.
The name of the town (from a general plan) or the farm (in the case of the farm, including the farm number
Town/farm name
and registration division).
The parcel number (including subdivision or remainder). In the case of farm portions, the farm number and
Stand number
subdivision or remainder.
Extent The geographic extent of the property, measured in square metres (m2).
The existing land use should ideally originate from the land use data that informed the municipal land-use
Existing land use scheme. This can be updated by “rates category” from the valuation roll or the “property category” and
“tariff code” from the billing system data.
Owner name Name of the registered owner.
From the land use field above, derive the customer category, in line with the customer classification system
Customer category
presented in Table 4.9.
Number of Use the number of water and electricity meters to calculate the number of customers per property (any
customers other available information e.g. sectional title data etc. can be used to quantify the number of customers).
Average annual
Poor, low, medium or high income − calculated using the annual household income category from Stats SA.
income category
Low, medium or high density − calculated by dividing the number of households per small area (from Stats
Gross residential
SA) by the geographic extent (in hectares) of the small area applied for residential purposes plus local roads
density category
and local communal uses such as parks, schools and other amenities.
TABLE 4.14: Municipal customer database − data fields

4.29
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.2.5 Examples of outputs of the customer profile

Once the customer database has been prepared following the eight-step process described above, it is now possible
to generate a customer profile. The following are examples of the customer profiles that can be made from the customer
database – note that some additional attributes were added to the customer databases for Buffalo City and Ekurhuleni.

Buffalo City segmented its area of jurisdiction into five areas of

intervention, each requiring nuanced spatial attention, levels
of service and capital investment. The customer profile has
been prepared in accordance with this spatial segmentation
system as well as the customer classification system proposed
in this toolkit. Table 4.15 presents the customer profile of
Buffalo City: all customers per category have been quantified
and allocated to each of the priority zones adopted in the
spatial development framework of the city.

Figure 4.9 presents the distribution and clustering of customers

across the municipal space and within the demarcated priority
zones. Figure 4.10 presents income distribution of households
across the municipal space.

PRIORITY PRIORITY PRIORITY PRIORITY

CUSTOMER CUSTOMER CUSTOMER DENSITY
ZONE 1 − ZONE 2 – ZONE 3A − ZONE 3B − RURAL TOTAL
CATEGORY GROUP TYPE CATEGORY
CENTRAL WEST BANK BERLIN QUENNERA
High 754 26 75 229 14 1 097
High
Medium 448 48 136 803 29 1 464
income
Low 6 442 766 2 341 3 240 1 169 13 959
High 4 492 47 178 176 38 1 931
Medium
Medium 580 76 191 631 49 1 527
income
Formal Low 7 500 941 3 048 1 816 1 402 14 707
residential High 1 756 46 198 91 43 2 133
Residential Low
Medium 761 97 305 417 78 1 659
income
Low 8 854 794 3 318 1 132 1 993 16 090
High 4 772 73 529 138 562 6 074
Poor Medium 3 890 227 1 113 631 892 6 753
Low 55 238 3 255 17 488 4 680 34 027 114 687
Informal residential 25 969 3 111 1 840 4 406 7 547 42 872
Backyard shacks 5 789 467 1 295 1 392 2 391 11 334
Business 2 085 64 551 169 54 2 923

Non- Commercial and industrial 607 172 161 45 115 1 100

residential Institutional 703 94 225 61 173 1 256
Public sector infrastructure 2 380 151 512 416 251 3 710
TOTAL 130 020 10 455 33 500 20 473 50 828 245 277

TABLE 4.15: Example of a spatially-based customer profile aligned to priority areas in the SDF

4.30
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

FIGURE 4.9: Customer distribution across priority zones

LEGEND
1 Dot = 25.0005261
Customers
Priority Zone 1 - Central
Priority Zone 2 - West Bank
Priority Zone 3a - Berlin
Priority Zone 3b - Quennera
Rural

FIGURE 4.10: Annual household income levels

LEGEND

Ave. Annual household income

Poor (0-76 400)
Low (76 401-153 800)
Medium (153 801-307 600)
High (307 601 - 738 629)

4.31
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

The following figures have been compiled from the customer database of Ekurhuleni. They provide an essential layer in the spatially-
based capital investment framework of a city, as required by SPLUMA, where revenue generation is deemed a strategic priority for
the city.

FIGURE 4.11: Spatial revenue profiles: net revenue generated per spatial structuring element, Ekurhuleni

LEGEND

Net Revenue from Trading Services + Property rates

R-285 902 533,84 - R-100 000 000,00
R-99 999 999,99 - R0,00
R0,01 - R50 000 000,00
R50 000 000,01 - R150 000 000,00
R150 000 000,01 - R200 000 000,00
R200 000 000,01 - R425 000 000,00

4.32
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

FIGURE 4.12: Location of top 500 customers in relation to spatial structuring elements, Ekurhuleni

LEGEND

Top 500 Customers (Average Monthly Bill)

R156 537,46 - R750 000,00
R750 000,01 - R2 000 000,00
R2 000 000,01 - R5 000 000,00
R5000 000,01 - R10 000 000,00
R10 000 000,01 - R23 017 421,10

MSDF structuring elements

Core node
Primary nodes (CBD)
Secondary nodes
Densification corridors (IRPTN)
Passenger rail stations
Industrial areas

4.33
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

Profiles as presented in Figure 4.11 and Figure 4.12 have Municipal capital investment needs often seem unaffordable.
multiple applications, some of which include: Data generated from the customer database can be used to
expand the revenue base of the city, and to increase revenue
• They provide valuable information on the strength of nodes,
streams. Consider Figure 4.13. The traditional approach to
corridors and other spatial structuring elements, and the
revenue enhancement is to track and recover outstanding debt.
revenue yield of the city compared to municipal investments
The customer database allows this, and more. Note, for example,
made in these areas. Information of this nature can also be
the large shopping centre for which no account exists in the
used to rank and, where appropriate, rationalise the number
billing system of the municipality in question, even though at
of spatial structuring elements and priority investment areas.
the time of compiling this profile the centre has been operating
• Information on top customers is useful in many ways,
for some eight months. All other properties not covered by
including decisions on differentiated standards of service for
some colour where the building structure is visible is another
various areas to retain key clients and attract more investment,
potential municipal customer without an account, not paying
consideration of specially designated development zones
for municipal rates and services.
(e.g. industrial parks), and the design of public transportation
systems.

LARGE SHOPPING
CENTRE NOT RECEIVING
A MUNICIPAL BILL

LEGEND

Total Outstanding Amount

< R1000
R1000 - R10 000
R10 000 - R50 000
R50 000 - R100 000
R100 000 - R250 000
R250 000 - R500 000
R500 000 - R1 000 000

FIGURE 4.13: Municipal revenue coverage and levels of outstanding debt

4.34
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.3 SERVICE PROFILING AND

DE TERMINING CUSTOMER NEEDS
4.3.1 What are levels and standards of service?

LEVELS OF SERVICE
Levels of service (LOS) are statements of the range of service outputs that the municipality offers to its diverse portfolio
of customers. The emphasis is on outputs, not outcomes. “Outputs” refers to the actual physical service or infrastructure
provided, whereas “outcomes” refers to how the customers experience this new infrastructure – in other words, how it affects
the customer. To understand this concept further, consider the following LOS for roads provision:

LOS PRIMARY ROAD LOS SECONDARY ROAD LOS TERTIARY ROAD

OPTIONS PAVEMENT OPTIONS PAVEMENT OPTIONS PAVEMENT
0 None 0 None 0 None
Tracks (in-situ material, Tracks (in-situ material, Tracks (in-situ material,
1 compaction/grading to 1 compaction/grading to 1 compaction/grading to
make passable) make passable) make passable)
Improved tracks non- Improved tracks non- Improved tracks non-
2 2 2
engineered, with gravel) engineered, with gravel) engineered, with gravel)
3 Gravel 3 Gravel 3 Gravel
4 Paved 4 Paved 4 Paved
5 Paved heavy capacity 5 Paved heavy capacity 5 Paved heavy capacity

TABLE 4.16: LOS for roads (primary, secondary and tertiary roads)

4.35
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

This roads LOS hierarchy refers to the types of road on offer to customers. Road type in this context refers to class of road, pavement
type (e.g. gravel or paved), carrying capacity and road width. Defined levels of service allow a city to:

Inform and consult with Establish level of service Measure performance against
customers on available targets for present and future stated levels of service, and to
service packages, as well as customers, and for particular determine backlogs in service
the costs attached to each spatial locations and spatial provision (the number of
level of service. These allow structuring elements. customers served at levels of
customers to make informed service lower than the target
decisions on the levels of level(s) of service), that will
service they desire. inform asset management
strategies and plans to address
backlogs.

Well-defined level of service hierarchies will meet the

following criteria:
• They will include the full range of infrastructure (or social
amenity) options that the city offers to its customers.
• Each level of service has a defined life-cycle and end-user
cost associated with it, to allow customers to make informed
decisions on what they require or are paying for, and to
enable cities to cost the provision of levels of service to its
customers.
• The hierarchy should also include a LOS 0: none; to allow the
identification of customers not receiving or having access to
any service.

4.36
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

STANDARDS OF SERVICE
Customers are, however, likely to require more than just the
actual roads infrastructure provided (or any other type of
infrastructure). They are also likely to be concerned about
outcomes such as the following:
• A safe driving experience that includes both on-road safety
as well as safety at intersections.
• Smooth travel experience without undue delays.
• A convenient, surprise-free navigation experience.

Customers generally do not have the engineering insight

into how to achieve these outcomes. This necessitates
giving customer performance measures in statements they
understand, and technical performance measures that are
criteria according to which municipalities ensure that customers
receive the services they need.

CUSTOMER PERFORMANCE MEASURES TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES

• Total no of accidents per year

• % compliance with skid resistance standards
• Minimum illumination level (x) lux
• Replacement of existing poles with frangible columns on major roads and
accident hotspots
A safe on-road driving experience
• Installation of speed cameras at accident hotspots
• No of traffic-related incidents attributable to aquaplaning as a result of
backed-up storm-water inlets
• No of traffic-related incidents related to road-surface condition (e.g.
potholes)
• No fixed structures serving as visual obstructions at major intersections and
traffic lights
Safety at intersections – from hijacking and
• Well-lit major intersections
“smash-and-grab” incidents
• Grass verges not to exceed (xx) mm in height
• CCTV cameras at all major intersections

• Travel time or intersection delays

A smooth travel experience without undue • Synchronised system of traffic lights
delays • Response times to attend to non-functioning robots measured in (x) no of
hours of being reported

• Visible road markings

A convenient, surprise-free navigation
• % of road signs that are in reasonable condition, providing regulatory (e.g.
experience
speed limit) and general information (e.g. directions)

TABLE 4.17: Converting customer expectations into technical performance measures

4.37
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

Customer performance requirements or measures are multifaceted. They are concerned with both tangible measures (e.g. the
condition of the road) as well as with intangible measures such as the attitude of municipal staff receiving complaints, and how well
the city reacts when dealing with complaints such as faulty robots, overgrown verges, potholes or blocked storm-water inlets. The
following are some of the typical service requirements valued by customers:

Reliability Quality Affordability Health and Responsiveness

or value for safety
money

Consider the following example of potable water services:

SERVICE ATTRIBUTE STANDARD OF SERVICE/PERFORMANCE MEASURE

Reliability No of service disruptions per annum
Service disruptions not to exceed (x) no of hours per event
Quality and safety % tests in accordance with SANS 241
Affordability or value for money % of registered indigents receiving 6 kℓ of potable water
% of unaccounted-for water not to exceed 20%
Water tariffs compare favourably with other cities
Frequency of meter readings
% useable meter readings
Health and safety No of incidents of waterborne diseases e.g. cholera or E. Coli 0157:H7
No of people injured
No of properties damaged (e.g. due to pipe bursts)
Responsiveness Applications for new water connections are processed within (x) no of days
New connections are installed in (x) period
Account queries responded to in (x) no of days
Prior notice given in the event of planned interruptions

TABLE 4.18: Standards of service for potable water services (illustrative only, not an extensive list)

4.38
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Standards of service such as those presented for water above will likely be further refined according to area, customer type and the
nature of the infrastructure involved. A city will probably adopt nuanced response times to pipe bursts, as follows:

SERVICE DESCRIPTION COMMITTED RESPONSE TIMES RESPONSE CONDITIONS

Urgent water pipe bursts 2 hours None

Not applicable between the hours of
Larger water pipe bursts − major losses 6 hours 22:00 to 06:00, subject to the incident
being reported
Not applicable between the hours of
Larger water pipe bursts − minor losses 24 hours 22:00 to 06:00, subject to the incident
being reported
Not applicable between the hours of
Small water pipe bursts − major losses 12 hours 22:00 to 06:00, subject to the incident
being reported
Not applicable between the hours of
Small water pipe bursts − minor losses 48 hours 22:00 to 06:00, subject to the incident
being reported

TABLE 4.19: Nuanced standards of service: water pipe burst response times

Service criteria should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time based. Also take care not to formulate criteria,
standards or targets, which are dependent on factors outside the control of the municipality.

4.39
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.3.2 Proposed levels of service for infrastructure

This toolkit’s LOS hierarchies are intended to characterise the infrastructure provision associated with the existing levels of
service that may be found in practice as well as target levels of service adopted by the cities. The numbering is not intended
to suggest that any one level of service is preferable to another – indeed, a city will need to adopt different levels of service for
different types of customers. This would be based on need, affordability, density, location and proximity to bulk infrastructure.

The core approach of forecasting infrastructure needs desired spatial structure, using norms-based levels of service can sometimes
lead to unrealistically high budget requirements. Innovative, practical and non-asset solutions need to be explored, particularly in
areas of low density (for example rural areas). More guidance on this is provided in Module 5: Future Demand.

Following are LOS hierarchies for infrastructure services:

LOS DESCRIPTION
0 No electricity service: basic energy sources such as open fires paraffin/coal stoves, gas, wood and candles
1 No grid electricity service: natural and alternative energy sources such as solar (photovoltaic energy for lighting), gas
or coal
2 Domestic low: grid electricity service − connected and metered (conventional and prepaid), single phase. 230 V with
first 50 kWh for free with second 50 kWh lifeline for indigent and pensioners and further electricity usage charged per
kWh supplied
3 Domestic high: grid electricity service − connected and metered (conventional or prepaid), single phase. 230 V
4 Commercial prepaid: grid electricity service − prepaid meters, connections to small commercial power users (<80kVA)
5 Commercial conventional: grid electricity service − conventional metered connection to small commercial power users
6 Industrial low 400 V: grid electricity service − connected and metered (conventional and prepaid). Conventional: 80
kVA and above at nominal voltage of 400V. Prepaid 50 kVA up to 150 kVA
7 Industrial high 11 kVA: grid electricity service − conventional metered connection (1MVA and <10MVA)
8 Very large power users: 11 kV and higher voltages with > 10 MVA Supply − grid electricity service − conventional
metered connection

TABLE 4.20: Electricity LOS

4.40
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Note that for roads, grades (1 to 3) on the LOS of different roads and storm-water infrastructure elements are meant to be read
independently. Access to primary and secondary roads would be coupled to the longest distance from customers.

LOS PRIMARY ROAD LOS SECONDARY ROAD LOS TERTIARY ROAD

OPTIONS PAVEMENT OPTIONS PAVEMENT OPTIONS PAVEMENT
0 None 0 None 0 None
Tracks (in-situ material, Tracks (in-situ material, Tracks (in-situ material,
1 compaction/grading to 1 compaction/grading to 1 compaction/grading to
make passable) make passable) make passable)
Improved tracks non- Improved tracks non- Improved tracks non-
2 2 2
engineered, with gravel) engineered, with gravel) engineered, with gravel)
3 Gravel 3 Gravel 3 Gravel
4 Paved 4 Paved 4 Paved
5 Paved heavy capacity 5 Paved heavy capacity 5 Paved heavy capacity

TABLE 4.21: Roads LOS (primary, secondary and tertiary roads)

LOS LOS PEDESTRIAN LOS LOS

BRIDGES CYCLE TRACKS STORM WATER
OPTION OPTION FACILITIES OPTION OPTION
0 No service 0 None 0 None 0 None
Nominal narrow,
low, and/or Isolated
Rudimentary
1 limited load 1 footpaths and 1 On road 1
open systems
capacity) bridges islands
to all roads
Full specification
bridges to Footpaths and
Combination of
primary and pedestrian
Mix off-on closed and open
secondary roads, islands in main
2 2 2 and off-road 2 lined and
nominal areas of
cycle lanes unlined
specification pedestrian
conduits
bridges to access movement
roads
Footpaths in
Full specification main areas of
Off-road
3 bridges to all 3 movement and 3 3 Closed conduits
cycle lanes
roads footbridges over
primary roads
TABLE 4.22: Roads-related infrastructure LOS: bridges, pedestrian facilities and storm water

4.41
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

LOS OPTIONS DESCRIPTION

0 No formal service (no infrastructure)

1 Bucket system

2 Unventilated pit latrines and soakaways

3 Urine diversion sanitation

4 Ventilated improved pit (VIP) per stand

5 Dry composting toilet per stand

6 Communal chemical toilet per stand

7 Flushing communal toilet stand

8 Septic or conservancy tank

9 Package plant

10 Waterborne sewerage to each stand 110 mm connection (no toilet structure)

11 Waterborne sewerage to each stand 110 mm connection, with toilet structure

12 Waterborne sewer available, max connection size 150 mm or larger

13 Waterborne sewerage, discharge load is above normal limits

TABLE 4.23: Sanitation LOS

4.42
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

LOS SOLID WASTE LOS SOLID WASTE LOS SOLID WASTE LOS CLEANSING
OPTION COLLECTION OPTION SEPARATION OPTION DISPOSAL OPTION PUBLIC AREAS

0 None 0 None 0 None 0 None

Disposal of
Cleaning public
Communal waste Voluntary nonhazardous
1 1 1 1 areas and refuse
collection point separation waste at
bins
refuse site
Disposal of
Weekly kerbside
Enforced nonhazardous
2 waste removal 2 2
separation waste at
(bags)
landfill site
Higher frequency
Disposal of
than weekly
3 3 hazardous waste
waste removal
at landfill site
from site (bags)
Weekly kerbside
5 waste removal
(trolleys)
Weekly waste
6 removal from site
(trolleys)
Higher frequency
than weekly
7
waste removal
from site (trolleys) TABLE 4.24: Solid waste LOS

LOS OPTIONS DESCRIPTION

0 Natural resources (no infrastructure)
1 Water point more than 200 m distance
2 Communal standpipe less than 200 m distance
3 Yard tap connection (single tap)
4 15 − 25 mm connection to building (multiple taps)
5 40 − 100 mm consumer connection
6 150 mm or larger consumer connection

TABLE 4.25: Water LOS

4.43
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.3.3 Levels of service for social amenities

NORMS AND STANDARDS

The following publications provide norms and standards for municipal social amenities – full publication details are provided
under the References’ section of this module:
• CSIR Building and Construction Technology. First Ed: August Certain facilities and social services are of sufficient importance
2012. CSIR Guidelines for the Provision of Social Facilities in to warrant the establishment of national standards. The
South African Settlements. provision of fire stations and response times in case of fire, for
• Norms and Standards for Sports and Recreation Infrastructure example, are regulated by the SANS 10090:2003 Standard for
Provision and Management (Department: Sport and Community Protection against Fire.
Recreation South Africa)
• Primary Healthcare Facilities, Proposal V.2 (Department:
Health, South Africa)
• Project Report for Costing the South African Public Library
and Information Services Bill (Department: Arts and Culture).

KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN DECIDING LEVELS OF SERVICE FOR SOCIAL AMENITIES

Deciding the types and levels of service for social amenities has become a complex and exciting activity. Multiple factors and
considerations inform these decisions, including:

Accessibility Settlement type Scale of Locational

and population planning preference
threshold

Each of these considerations are discussed in the following subsections.

4.44
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

01 ACCESSIBILITY
For social amenities to be of value to communities, they should
be accessible. Accessibility can be measured in either time
or distance, time generally being the preferred metric. The
following are possible means of determining access, and the
means will be determined by considering both the customer
and the nature of the service or facility:
• Walking time
• Drive time using own vehicle
• Drive time using public transport
• Response times by emergency vehicles e.g. fire engines

Guidance on which method to use when determining access to

social amenities is provided in Table 4.28.

02 SETTLEMENT TYPE, POPULATION THRESHOLD

AND SCALE OF PLANNING
Larger settlements with greater populations typically have a
greater economy of scale and the financial capacity to justify
more types of social amenities, more of each type of facility
and greater sophistication in each type of facility offered. For
example, an international sports complex requires a population
threshold of more than 750 000 people to be viable, and will
therefore typically only be found in metropolitan municipalities
and some secondary cities.

The CSIR differentiates between eight different settlement types (CSIR Built Environment, 2012) as follows:

HIERARCHY OF SETTLEMENTS CATCHMENT SIZE (NO OF PEOPLE) EXAMPLES OF SETTLEMENT TYPES

Metropolitan cities/regions > 1 000 000 Johannesburg, eThekwini, Cape Town

Large cities/small metros 350 000 − 1 000 000 Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein

Large towns/regional service

100 000 − 350 000 Nelspruit, Witbank, Krugersdorp
centres
Small-to-medium towns/regional
60 000 − 100 000 Ermelo, Harrismith, Mossel Bay
service centres
Small towns/isolated regional
25 000 − 60 000 Mount Fletcher, Delareyville, Beaufort West
service centres

Dense dispersed settlements 10 000 − 100 000 Ingwavuma, Jozini, Acornhoek

Villages 5 000 − 25 000 Merweville, Stella

Remote villages 500 − 5 000 Prieska, Pofadder, Loxton, Keiskammahoek

TABLE 4.26: Classification of settlement types and catchment sizes

4.45
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

Higher-order settlements such as cities dictate that a range of levels of service is adopted per social amenity type to satisfy the needs
of customers at various spatial scales. This concept is demonstrated in Figure 4.14 by considering the provision of parks in the City
of Johannesburg. Three types of parks would likely be offered in a city of this size, these being:

NEIGHBOURHOOD PARKS DISTRICT PARKS STRATEGIC PARKS

These are local amenities These serve a greater These are metropolitan-level
within neighbourhood population, and are sized parks that will include the
walking distance. The size between 12 to 20 hectares, full array of hard and soft
of neighbourhood parks is depending on the availability landscaping elements, and
typically limited to around of land. These should possibly other on-site facilities
0.5 to 0.7 hectare. These include the same elements such as kiosks, information
parks should feature a basic as neighbourhood parks, centres, restaurants and
configuration of hard and soft but should additionally also facilities to host functions.
elements including treescaping, provide parking facilities, paved
some playground equipment, walkways, lighting, irrigation
perimeter protection, ablution and possibly braai facilities.
facilities and some park
furniture.

03 LOCATIONAL PREFERENCE AND SPATIAL

OPTIMISATION
The spatial clustering of social amenities holds many benefits
and is generally considered the preferred approach, provided
that the facilities to be grouped together are complementary
in nature, also considering the extent of land required for some
facilities. National Government promotes the sharing and
clustering of facilities in the form of Thusong Centres. The Urban
Networks Strategy likewise advocates the spatial clustering
of facilities in identified nodes to attract people and intensify
activity in identified nodes to make them economically and
socially viable. Putting facilities together also allows for them to
be used in many ways and resources such as a facility caretaker
and security can be shared. If well-planned, this should result
in land savings and trip reductions. Note that not all amenities
are compatible. For obvious reasons it would be insensitive to
locate an old-age home adjacent to a cemetery. The following
social amenity compatibility matrix, adapted from the CSIR’s
Red Book for city-type amenities, illustrate which facilities are
compatible with each other.
FIGURE 4.14: Spatial scales of
planning for social amenities

4.46
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

FIGURE 4.15: Social amenity compatibility matrix

Structured semi-hard open space

Camping sites/caravan parks

Nature parks/hiking trails
Promenades/esplanades

Administrative facilities
Crèche/nursery school

Adult learning centres

Places of amusement
Educational facilities

Recreation facilities

Information centres
Community centres
Beachfront facilities
Secondary school

Magistrates court
Cultural facilities

Religious centres

Municipal offices
Tertiary facilities

Children’s home
Sports stadiums
Health facilities
Primary school

Old-age home
Public squares

Police stations
Mobile clinics

Playgrounds
Sports fields

Fire stations
Petting zoo
Golf course

Post offices
Cemeteries
Aquariums
Hospitals

Libraries
Clinics

Educational facilities
Crèche/nursery school
Primary school
Secondary school
Tertiary facilities
Adult learning centres
Health facilities
Mobile clinics
Clinics
Hospitals
Structured semi-hard open space
Public squares
Promenades/esplanades
Recreation facilities
Playgrounds
Sports fields
Sports stadiums
Golf course
Nature parks/hiking trails
Camping sites/caravan parks
Places of amusement
Beachfront facilities
Aquariums
Petting Zoo
Cultural facilities
Libraries
Community centres
Religious centres
Cemeteries
Administrative facilities
Magistrates court
Municipal offices
Neutral Post offices
Police stations
KEY Fire stations
Compatible Old-age home
Neutral Children’s home
Incompatible Information centres

Source: CSIR Building and Construction Technology. 2000. Guidelines for Human Settlement Planning. Volume 1. Reprint
2005. Table 5.5.2: Adapted to reflect additional facilities typically found in metropolitan cities.

4.47
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

The following matrix views each community facility in terms of its location preference. The aim is to make spatial-structuring
choices that achieve a balance between liveable neighbourhoods and dense, vibrant nodes and higher-order movement networks,
and to optimise the use of land. Location preference is expressed as a spatial-structuring element or zone found in a city’s spatial
development framework.

FIGURE 4.16: Municipal social facilities location preference matrix

SPATIAL-STRUCTURING ELEMENTS AND ZONES

MOVEMENT
KEY NODES ZONES
NETWORKS
Compatible

Arterials/collectors/activity corridors
Neutral

Special function nodes/precincts

Freeways/mass transit corridors

General urban (transition) zone

Incompatible

Neighbourhood/local nodes
INDICATIVE
FACILITY TYPE SIZE CBD/anchor node

Secondary node

Suburban zone
Primary node

Natural zone
Urban zone
Local street
High street

Rural zone
Cemeteries
Local basic cemetery 0.30 ha
Local high level cemetery 3.00 ha
Regional cemetery 15.00 − 17.20 ha
0.15/1 000 head of
Memorial park population
Clinics
Mobile clinic n/a
Basic/intermediate urban clinic 700 − 1 500 m2
Community health centre 5 000 m2
Community halls and centres
Neighbourhood community hall or centre 0.20 ha
Regional community hall or centre 0.50 ha
International convention centre n/a
Designed public open space (not parks)
Complete street n/a
Promenade n/a
Public square n/a
Emergency services
Fire and ambulance station n/a
Indoor sport and recreation facility
Multipurpose sport hall (2 courts) 450 − 600 m2
Multipurpose sport hall (4 courts) 900 m2
Sport complex (9 − 12 courts) 1 200 m2
Large sports complex/high performance sports 2 500 m2
complex

4.48
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

SPATIAL-STRUCTURING ELEMENTS AND ZONES

MOVEMENT
KEY NODES NETWORKS ZONES
Compatible
Neutral
Incompatible

Arterials/collectors/activity corridors
Special function nodes/precincts

Freeways/mass transit corridors

General urban (transition) zone

INDICATIVE

Neighbourhood/local nodes
FACILITY TYPE SIZE

CBD/anchor node

Secondary node

Suburban zone
Primary node

Natural zone
Urban zone
Local street
High street

Rural zone
Libraries
Mobile n/a
Community book units 35 m2
Container library 55 m2
Basic public library 225 m2
Branch public library 500 m2
Central public library 850 m2
Regional public library 1 200 m2
Municipal administrative services
Building plan offices n/a
Information centre/pay point n/a
Municipal administrative offices n/a
Vehicle testing and licensing centres n/a
Parks
Open space with basic improvements n/a
Local neighbourhood park 0.90 − 1.50 ha
Community park 0.30 ha
District park 2.00 ha
Strategic park n/a
Public transport facilities
Airport n/a
BRT station n/a
Bicycle parking and public cycle hiring facility n/a
Dedicated bicycle lanes n/a
Parking facilities, not covered n/a
Parking facilities, covered n/a
Taxi rank n/a

4.49
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

SPATIAL-STRUCTURING ELEMENTS AND ZONES

MOVEMENT
KEY NODES NETWORKS ZONES
Compatible
Neutral
Incompatible

Arterials/collectors/activity corridors
Special function nodes/precincts

Freeways/mass transit corridors

General urban (transition) zone

INDICATIVE

Neighbourhood/local nodes
FACILITY TYPE SIZE

CBD/anchor node

Secondary node

Suburban zone
Primary node

Natural zone
Urban zone
Local street
High street

Rural zone
Recreational and tourism facilities
Amusement park (e.g. a water world) n/a
Aquarium n/a
Beachfront facilities n/a
Camping site/caravan park n/a
Golf course − 18 hole 60.00 − 90.00 ha
Nature park/hiking trail n/a
Skateboard facilities n/a
Urban jungle gyms n/a
Social care facilities
Crèche/nursery school
Old-age home
Outdoor sports and recreation facilities: fields and
stadiums
Grassed field n/a
Combi-court surfaces 1.60 ha
Sport complex n/a
Regional sport stadium 3.00 ha
International sport complex n/a
Outdoor sports and recreation facilities: swimming
pools
District swimming pool 0.18 ha
Neighbourhood pool n/a
Regional swimming pool n/a
Competition pool n/a

4.50
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Note the following about the social facilities compatibility

matrix:
• Strategic and regional social amenities associated with high-
intensity land use are better suited for higher-order nodes
and movement networks, provided that they do not take up
too much space.
• Strategic and regional social amenities requiring large tracts
of land, such as cemeteries, are not preferred in nodes, but
should be located close to major freeways or arterial roads
to facilitate wide access to such facilities. There are however
some exceptions. An international airport such as the OR
Tambo airport, located in Ekurhuleni, itself functions as a
primary node. Coupled with an extensive road network
connecting the airport and complementary land uses around
the airport, the node itself becomes an aerotropolis and is
thus ranked as a primary node.
• Inner-city environments should be fitted with sports and
recreation facilities to ensure an active, healthy citizenry
and to encourage full social participation and integration.
However, due to limited space in inner city environments,
such amenities are typically a combination of indoor facilities
and outdoor facilities with a limited footprint.
• Due to low densities in rural areas it may be appropriate to
employ mobile solutions such as mobile clinics or libraries.

LEVELS OF SERVICE FOR SOCIAL AMENITIES

Levels of service for the following social amenities are

provided in Appendix 4.A:
• Beachfront facilities
• Building plan offices
• Cemeteries
• Fire stations
• Halls, theatres and centres
• Indoor sport facilities
• Libraries
• Outdoor sport facilities
• Parks
• Pay/enquiry points

4.51
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.3.4 Generating customer service profiles

Generating customer profiles requires accessibility analysis on GIS using the asset register, the customer database and the
levels of service adopted by a city. In the case of accessibility to fire services, it will additionally be necessary also to consider
land use and the spatial structure as different response times to fires are stipulated for various risk categories.

PREDICTABLE PRACTICE (LEVEL 4 PREDICTABLE

PROCESS, CONSIDERED APPROPRIATE PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE)
The means of accessing municipal services, assumed travel times
and speed as well as customer metrics (e.g. individual person or
residential customer) per facility type is described in Table 4.27
and Table 4.28. Any reference to a residential customer means
a household, whether formal residential or informal residential.
Note the difference between “residential customer unit” and
“people”.

The general convention is to determine access per customer

unit, as defined in Table 4.9. This approach applies to all
infrastructure services. In the case of social amenities, the
majority of facilities benefit residential customers (as opposed
to all customer groups). In some instances, though, accessibility
is determined not in terms of households, but in terms of
people. This is necessary to determine capacity requirements
for social facilities such as clinics. As a general rule, whenever
a facility size requirements is expressed as size allocation (m2
or hectare)/1 000 people, use people for the customer metric.
Also note that beachfront facilities are not subjected to spatial
accessibility analysis. Such facilities are associated with beaches
that are spatially fixed by nature. The fact that a customer may
live a lengthy distance away from a beach does not constitute
a backlog.

4.52
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

SERVICE METHOD TO DETERMINE ACCESS STANDARD CUSTOMER METRIC

Use the census “source of water” and “piped water”
• Use the latest census year as base and categories for the following
determine the predominant level of levels of service:
service per census small-area layer Number of residential customer units
• Natural resources (no infrastructure)
• Produce maps indicating level of within a particular level of service
• Water point more than 200m distance
service • Communal standpipe less than 200m distance
• Update level of service to current year • Yard tap connection (single tap)
• Spatially intersect customer base with
level of service layer Number of residential and
Water supply For multiple house connections as well as larger
• Match municipal billing system with nonresidential customer units, with a
water consumers (40 – 150 mm connections),
customer database to determine specific tariff code indicating the size
use applicable tariff code from billing system as
certain levels of service of the connection and therefore the
indicator of level of service
level of service

Use the latest census year as base and Use the census “toilet facilities” categories for the
determine the predominant level of following levels of service:
service per census small-area layer • No formal service (no infrastructure) Number of residential customer units
• Produce maps indicating level of • Bucket system within a particular level of service
service • Ventilated improved pit (VIP)
• Update level of service to current year • Septic or conservancy tank
• Spatially intersect customer base with
Number of residential and
Sanitation level of service layer
For the remainder of service levels – use nonresidential customer units, with a
• Match municipal billing system with
applicable tariff code-billing system as indicator of specific tariff code indicating the size
customer database to determine
level of service of the connection and therefore the
certain levels of service
level of service
Spatial accessibility analysis to
determine the number of customers For tertiary roads − assume that all customer units
within a certain distance of each type within 30−60 m have access to that road
Number of residential and
of road (determined by the function of • For secondary roads – assume all customer units
nonresidential customer units with
the road as well as the road surface). within 500 m have access to that specific road
Roads access to a specific type of road
Classify each type of road by function • For primary roads, assume all customers within 2
and surface – assign the road type to km have access to that specific road
the closet customer unit
Use the census “energy used for lighting
purposes” categories for the following
• Use the latest census year as a base levels of service:
and determine the predominant level • No electricity service − basic energy
of service per census small area layer Number of residential customer units
• sources such as open fires paraffin/coal stoves,
• Produce maps indicating level of within a particular level of service
gas, wood and candles
service • No grid electricity service − natural and
• Update level of service to current year alternative energy sources such as solar, gas or
• Spatially intersect customer base with coal
Electricity level of service layer
• Match municipal billing system with Number of residential and
customer database to determine For the remainder of service levels – use applicable nonresidential customer units, with a
certain levels of service tariff code billing system as indicator of level of specific tariff code indicating the size
service of the connection and therefore the
level of service
Use the latest census year as a base and
determine the predominant level of
service per census small-area layer
• Produce maps indicating level of
Use the census “refuse disposal” categories,
service Number of residential and
applicable tariff codes from billing system as well
• Update level of service to current year nonresidential customer units within
as municipal counts to populate the specific levels
• Spatially intersect customer base with a particular level of service
Solid waste of service
level of service layer.
• Match municipal billing system with
customer database to determine
certain levels of service

TABLE 4.27: Method of determining customer access to municipal infrastructure services

4.53
Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

4.54
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

SERVICE METHOD TO DETERMINE ACCESS STANDARD CUSTOMER METRIC

Assume the following model speeds: Number of residential and business

Driving time analysis (using private Minor road = 30 km/hr customer units within a specified
Building-plan transport) Major road = 50 km/hr distance
offices National road = 110 km/hr of the facility

Assume the following model speeds:

Driving time analysis (using private Minor road = 30 km/hr Number of people within a
transport) Major road = 50 km/hr specified distance of the facility
Cemeteries National road = 110 km/hr

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

Number of people within a specified
Walking time analysis along or across national roads and railway lines is not
distance of the facility
Clinics and care included in the modelling
centres

SANS 10090:2003. Assume average speed of 50 km/hr on

all roads. Risk categories as defined in the standard:
A – CBDs and extensive commercial and industrial areas;
B − Limited central business districts, smaller commercial
Driving time analysis (using Number of customer units per risk
or industrial areas;
emergency services vehicle) category
C − Residential areas of conventional construction;
Fire stations D − Rural areas of limited buildings and remote from urban
areas; and
E − Special risk areas

Assume the following model speeds:

Driving time analysis (using private Minor road = 30 km/hr Number of people within a specified
transport) Major road = 50 km/hr distance of the facility
Halls, theatres National road = 110 km/hr
and centres

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

Number of people within a specified
Walking time analysis along or across national roads and railway lines is not
distance of the facility
Indoor sports included in the modelling

4.55
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

SERVICE METHOD TO DETERMINE ACCESS STANDARD CUSTOMER METRIC

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

along or across national roads and railway lines is not
included in the modelling. Assume the following model
Walking time as well as driving time Number of people within a specified
driving speeds:
analysis depending on library type distance of the facility
Minor road = 30 km/hr
Libraries Major road = 50 km/hr
National road = 110 km/hr

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

Number of people within a specified
Walking time analysis along or across national roads and railway lines is not
distance of the facility
included in the modelling
Outdoor sport

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

along or across national roads and railway lines is not
included in the modelling. Assume the following model
Walking time as well as driving time Number of people a within a
driving speeds:
Outdoor sport analysis depending on pool type specified distance of the facility
Minor road = 30 km/hr
and recreation
Major road = 50 km/hr
swimming pools
National road = 110 km/hr

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking Number of residential customer
Walking time analysis along or across national roads and railway lines is not units within a specified distance of
included in the modelling the facility
Parks

Assume walking speed of 4.2 km/hr. Note that walking

Number of customer units within a
Walking time analysis along or across national roads and railway lines is not
specified distance of the facility
Pay/enquiry included in the modelling
points

Assume the following model speeds:

Driving time analysis (using private Minor road = 30 km/hr Number of customer units within a
Testing stations transport) Major road = 50 km/hr specified distance of the facility
/ Driver’s licence National road = 110 km/hr

TABLE 4.28: Method of determining customer access to social amenities

4.56
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

Having applied the methodology presented above, asset management planners are now able to profile customer service provision.
Following are some examples of customer service profiles.

FIGURE 4.17: Customer service access profile: clinics and care centres, Ekurhuleni
LEGEND

Urban edge
National roads
Major roads
Existing clinics

Levels of service - clinics / care centres 2011

Primary health care facility (or clinic) within 1.5km
Community health clinic (or day centre) within 2km
Health care facility within 3.5km
Mobile clinics weekly / No service infrastructure

LEVEL OF SERVICE DESCRIPTION OF SERVICE EXISTING RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS

0 None No service infrastructure
149 612
1 Substandard Mobile clinic weekly
2 Standard Primary health-care facility (or clinic) within 1.5 km
386 216
3 Basic Health post or satellite clinic within 1.5 km
4 Intermediate Community health clinic (or day centre) within 2 km 174 300
5 High Health-care facility within 3.5 km 160 810
TOTAL NUMBER OF RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS 870 938

4.57
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

In this case the spatial accessibility analysis pointed out that 149 612 customers do not have adequate access to clinic services. This
constitutes a backlog in service access to be addressed in the asset management plan.

Another benefit of spatial accessibility analysis is that it is now possible not only to determine the backlog at each level of service
expressed in number of customer units or people, but also to locate on a rational basis how many additional facilities should be
constructed, and where.

LEGEND

Urban edge
National roads
Major roads
Existing clinics

Levels of service - clinics / care centres 2011

Primary health care facility (or clinic) within 1.5km
Community health clinic (or day centre) within 2km
Health care facility within 3.5km
Mobile clinics weekly / No service infrastructure

FIGURE 4.18: Spatial identification of additional clinics and care centres required, Ekurhuleni

4.58
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

A first round of customer profiling using spatial accessibility analysis very often reveals backlogs of a magnitude unaffordable to
cities. In such a case, the following process is proposed:
1. Carefully analyse the results, and in particular investigate the • Consider land use trends and the spatial plans of the
following: city. There may, for example, be areas that are changing
• Do all areas where there is inadequate service provision in function from, say, residential to business or light
have the necessary minimum population threshold to industrial, and such a shift has been anticipated and
justify new facility establishment? Where there are not supported in the SDF.
enough people to justify the expense, consider alternative 2. Discuss the outcomes of the spatial accessibility analysis
levels of service. An example is rather to provide trolley or with spatial planning officials and other decision makers
container library services than to construct new libraries. or at relevant committees, and obtain further guidance on
• Are all areas where backlogs have been identified the approach to facility establishment. Urban planners may
areas earmarked for formal development? Some areas require greater levels of clustering, or may wish to prioritise
experiencing backlogs may be informal settlements not certain areas for new facility establishment (e.g. in primary
suitable for in-situ upgrading, and plans may be in place nodes, key corridors or other intervention areas).
to relocate such communities. In such cases it would be 3. Revisit levels of service, inclusive of norms such as
inappropriate to construct new facilities in those locations. accessibility (distance or time travelled) and density or
• Consider the demographics of the area. The minimum minimum catchment sizes, and for different areas and spatial
population threshold may exist to justify the construction structuring elements, and cost the revised targets. This may
of, say, sports and recreation facilities. Closer inspection of be a reiterative process, and will likely involve a series of
the demographic profile may indicate that the majority of consultations.
the local community may be elderly people, who have no 4. Once achievable and sustainable targets have been agreed
need for outdoor sport facilities such as combi-courts or upon, update the asset management policy and strategy
soccer fields. accordingly.

Having profiled the state of access to all municipal services and having estimated the costs of addressing backlogs, the city should
be able to generate a profile such as the following – this can be narrowed down per spatial priority area or per customer type:

FIGURE 4.19: Consolidated customer profile and costs of addressing service access backlogs – Buffalo City (R’ million)

4.59
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

CONSUMER UNITS COST TO ERADICATE

ASSET GROUPS ASSET PORTFOLIOS
ADEQUATE ACCESS ACCESS BACKLOG % BACKLOG ACCESS BACKLOGS
Beachfronts 109 431 126 856 0% -
Community halls/ 166 194 71 627 29 % 220
centres
Indoor sports and 187 339 50 402 21 % 388
recreation facilities
Libraries 222 116 15 428 6% 67
Parks 5 153 231 135 98 % 613
Outdoor sports and 197 313 40 231 16 % 80
Social recreation facilities
amenities Outdoor sports and 157 772 78 516 33 % 5
recreation facilities –
Swimming pools
Building-plan offices 178 775 60 436 25 % 5
Cemeteries 54 455 181 833 91 % 658
Fire/ambulance 243 360 1 917 1% 4
stations
Pay/enquiry points 212 018 33 259 14 % 30
Vehicle-testing stations 244 049 1 228 0,5 % 1
Electricity 197 463 47 792 19 % 974
Roads 171 531 73 745 30 % 1 875

Engineering Sanitation 152 550 92 727 38 % 1 391

infrastructure Solid waste 205 661 39 615 16 % 41
Storm water 167 844 77 432 32% 269
Water 119 769 125 508 51% 679
Municipal offices N/A N/A N/A 300
Municipal Stores N/A N/A N/A N/A
operational
Workshops N/A N/A N/A N/A
facilities
Yards N/A N/A N/A N/A
TOTAL 7 599

More detailed customer profile views can be generated such as the number of customers per level of service or the costs of addressing
service access backlogs per spatial priority area.

WATER LEVEL OF SERVICE LOS <2 LOS 2 LOS 3 LOS 4 LOS 5 LOS 6

Priority Zone 1 − Central 496 19 516 7 574 93 422 3 236 3 395

Priority Zone 2 − Westbank 690 2 943 0 6 147 195 330

Priority Zone 3a − Berlin 262 1 732 5 744 23 739 574 937

Priority Zone 3b − Quennera 735 3 590 881 12 737 1 839 275

Rural 7 435 25 484 9 244 7 986 86 342

TOTAL 9 619 53 265 23 443 144 031 5 930 5 279

TABLE 4.29: Number of customer units at each LOS for water per priority area – Buffalo City

4.60
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

FIGURE 4.20: Relative distribution of water access backlog

between priority zones expressed in R’ million– Buffalo City

LEGEND

2015/16 municipal boundary

BCMM boundary
Priority Zones
Main roads
National roads
Urban edge
Water backlog (Rm)
0-50
51-80
81-100
101-150
>150

OPTIMISING PRACTICE (LEVEL 5 OPTIMISING PRACTICE)

It is possible that a particular neighbourhood, suburb or township is well served by one type of social amenity, but not others. If
some areas are poorly served compared to others, this unequal service may need specific attention. Instances of this nature can be
difficult to identify by performing spatial accessibility analysis on an individual amenity basis. To address this matter, it may be useful
to construct a combined social amenity accessibility index across the city.

An example of such an index, prepared for Ekurhuleni, is shown areas to the south of Vosloorus and Tokoza (an area known as
in Figure 4.20. Areas enjoying high access to amenities are Palm Ridge) rate on the “medium-to-low” end of the accessibility
coloured yellow. Low access to amenities are indicated in blue. scale – meaning that residents have to travel significant distances
The index clearly indicates the “cost” of continuous residential to reach amenities. The process for preparing a spatial social
development around the periphery of the town. Residential amenity accessibility index is as follows:

01 PERFORM ACCESSIBILITY
ANALYSIS PER AMENITY TYPE 02 SPATIAL OVERLAY OF
ACCESSIBILITY SURFACES 03 REDEFINITION
The first step in the process is to perform During this step of the process, each of The final step in the process is to
an accessibility analysis for each of the accessibility surfaces is overlaid with “redefine” the legend of the combination
the amenities using the methodology each other, a process known as “union”. map to read as an index ranked from low
described earlier in this module. The accessibility to high accessibility.
result for each should be an adjoining
geographic “surface” that depicts access to
each of the amenities in the specific class.

4.61
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

FIGURE 4.21: Social amenity

accessibility index − Ekurhuleni

LEGEND

Accessibility index
High accessibility
High - medium
Medium accessibility
Medium to low
Low accessibility

The Department of Sport and Recreation requires that each

residential customer has access to at least three sport and
recreation amenities within a radius of 3.5 km. A residential
customer should therefore have access to, say a municipal
swimming pool, a park and outdoor sports facilities such as
combi-courts or tennis courts, within the stipulated radius.
This requirement necessitates more advanced spatial analysis
in order to determine the catchment area of each facility. Most
commercial geographic information system software have the
built-in capability to construct Thiessen polygons around points.
Using this software enables the GIS operator to demarcate a
catchment area for each facility based on the mid-point between
each facility and its adjoining neighbour (see Figure 4.22).

When embarking on Thiessen analysis, first ensure that only the

types of facilities to be considered are included. In the case of
the requirement for sport and recreation facilities, for example,
only such facilities should be analysed. If it is the intention to
model all types of social amenities, be sure to exclude municipal
operational facilities such as administrative buildings, depots,
workshops, stores and yards. FIGURE 4.22: GIS Thiessen polygon technique

4.62
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.4 SPATIALLY-NUANCED SERVICE PROVISION

It is often assumed that all customers and areas in a city should receive high levels and standards of service. However,
subspaces in cities go through cycles of investment and disinvestment (see figure below). This is a natural process, part of the
urban economic cycle.

FIGURE 4.23: Urban morphology: process of formation and transformation

4.63
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

In most cities, governments do not have sufficient funding to halt the decline of all areas in the city all the time. As noted in Module
1, given limited fiscal and financial capacity, cities need to adopt an approach of spatial prioritisation, and focus their resources in
areas and spatial-structuring elements to benefit the whole city. As a result, the asset management strategy of a city should mirror
its spatial strategy, and adapt levels and standards of service based on the status of, and objectives for, each node or area.

FIGURE 4.24: Nuanced asset life-cycle approach for nodes of various orders and in different stages of urban maturity

New, upgrading
Maintain at and maintain to
minimum high SOS
acceptable SOS

New and
CBD Urban upgrading, high
renewal: renewal, SOS
reconfiguration,
new, upgrade and
maintenance to
highest affordable Formalise
standard and retrofit,
reasonable SOS

New, upgrading
and maintain to
high SOS Maintain to high
SOS

Growth node with Planned | emerging

Urban CBD | Primary Stable mature Declining node | Informal
potential to become node | precinct | park
edge anchor node node node | suburb suburb | town settlement
primarynode | estate

This approach is visually presented in Figure 4.24. Accordingly, capital investment for new asset creation, upgrading and renewal
is typically prioritised for the CBD, primary nodes, emerging nodes of importance to the city, and for the upgrading of informal
settlements. In stable, mature nodes and declining areas the emphasis is mostly on maintenance, with limited capital investment.

4.64
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

4.5 SUMMARY

This module presented conventions and methodologies for segmenting, quantifying and spatially profiling customers. It offers level
of service hierarchies to assist in profiling the services that customers receive, to determine service access backlogs, and to plan for
the upgrading of services to meet customer or legal requirements for higher levels of service.

Civil and electrical infrastructure provide the backbone of society as we know it. Increasingly though, the value of social amenities is
playing a bigger part in well-functioning, productive and socially integrated cities. The placement and clustering of social amenities
are key levers in the spatial structuring or restructuring of cities, and can be used to great effect in driving urban renewal or to
strengthen nodes or corridors.

This module introduced several innovations, some of which include:

• A spatially-based customer classification drawing on available data sets
• A methodology for developing spatially-based customer profiles
• Levels of service hierarchies for municipal infrastructure and social amenities
• Methodologies and conventions in spatially-based customer service profiling

The development and agreement on levels and standards of service naturally requires consultation and public participation.
Guidance on public participation is extensively dealt with in a number of publication such as the IDP Guide Pack published by the
Department of Cooperative Governance, and hence is not dealt with in this toolkit. This toolkit, however, provides the necessary
profiles, service level options and cost implications to support informed participation.

Future versions of this toolkit will likely increasingly focus on standards of service and relating these to city-level strategic objectives,
the production of customer service charters, and using standards of service as a sales tool to attract fixed capital investment and
support economic growth. Additionally, levels and standards of service for municipal operational facilities such administration
buildings, depots, stores and yards will likely also be addressed.

4.65
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

REFERENCES

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Building Republic of South Africa. 1999. The Statistics Act 6 of 1999. Cape
and Construction Technology. 2000. Guidelines for human Town: Government Gazette.
settlement planning and design. Pretoria: CSIR Building and
Construction Technology.Council for Scientific and Industrial Republic of South Africa. 2000. Local Government: Municipal
Research (CSIR). 2005. Guidelines for Human Settlement Systems Act No. 32. Cape Town: Government Gazette.
Planning and Design, Reprint. Capture Press. Pretoria.
Shramm, C. 2013. It's Time For City Planners To Adapt A New
CSIR Built Environment. 2012. CSIR Guidelines for the provision Model. Retrieved from Forbes. Available at: http://www.forbes.
of social facilities in South African Settlements. Pretoria: CSIR. com/sites/carlschramm/2013/05/14/its-time-for-city-planners-
to-adapt-a-new-model/ (accessed on 6 May 2014).
Department of Arts and Culture. 2013. Project Report for Costing
the South African Public Library and Information Services Bill. Statistics South Africa. 1998. Methodology Reports. Retrieved
Pretoria, South Africa: Government Printer. from Definitions: Statistics South Africa. Available at: http://
www.statssa.gov.za/census01/census96/html/metadata/Docs/
Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Dfntns.html.
Planning. 2005. Provincial Urban Edge Guideline. Cape Town:
Government Printer. Todes, A. 2008. Rethinking Spatial Planning. Retrieved from
World Bank. Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/
Department of Health. 2014. Primary Healthcare Facilities, INTSOUTHAFRICA/Resources/Todes_bladgereedSSno_532008_
Proposal V.2, 1 July 2014; Gazetted, 30 June 2014. Infrastructure revised3.pdf.
Unit Support Systems (IUSS) Project N and S Task Group A:11.
UN-Habitat. 2013. Urban Planning for City Leaders. Kenya:
Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. 2013. Siemens.
Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act No. 16. Pretoria:
Government Gazette.

Department of Sport and Recreation. 2010. Norms and

Standards for Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Provision and
Management, Volume 1 − Operators and Management. Pretoria:
Government Printer.

Financial and Fiscal Commission. 2013. Chapter 4: Sustainable

Development of South Africa's Built Environment. Retrieved
from The Financial and Fiscal Commission. Available at: ww.ffc.
co.za/index.php/reports/other-reports.

Huddleston, J.R. 2005. The Intersection Between Planning and

the Municipal Budget. Wisconsin: Lincoln Institute of Land
Policy.

Klein, G., Klug, N. & Todes, A. 2012. Spatial planning, infrastructure

and implementation: Implications for planning school curricula.
Retrieved from African Journals Online. Available at: http://
www.ajol.info/index.php/trp/article/view/88075.

O'Sullivan, A. 2009. Urban Economics. New York: McGraw Hill/

Irwin.

4.66
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

APPENDIX 4.A: LE VEL OF SERVICE

HIER ARCHIES FOR SOCIAL AMENITIES

BEACHFRONT FACILITIES
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
Natural
Not • Beaches not developable − inaccessible for human needs because of rocks and steep slopes
00 inaccessible
developable • Ecologically open beaches
beaches
• Beaches identified as admiralty reserves
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Beach predominantly used for angling Mostly only some safety signage (e.g.
Not
Basic 0 • Beach predominantly used for snorkel no swimming, presence of sharks,
developed N/A
diving demarcation of
• Beach used for walking or jogging conservation areas)
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Beach predominantly used by • Access road
Basic public swimmers • Parking facilities
Intermediate 1 improved • Beach predominantly used by families • Walkway to beach
beaches N/A with small children • Ablution facilities
• Beach used for outdoor leisure (e.g. • Some beach furniture (e.g. fixed
ball playing, surfing, bogey boarding, dustbin, some benches)
sun bathing, kite flying, board surfing) • Basic signage
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Access road
• Parking facilities
• Walkway to beach
• Ablution facilities
• Beach furniture
Blue flag
High 2 Beach used for a wide variety of • External lighting
beaches N/A
outdoor sport and leasure activities • Kiosk
• Lifeguard shelter
• Braai areas
• General signage and specifically
safety signage
• Landscaping as appropriate

BUILDING-PLAN OFFICES
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
No FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
None 0 infrastructure
-
service
Office in FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
municipal Scope of services required (service
Basic 1
management 200m2 package) include:
region • Record keeping of building plan
• Waiting room area
approvals
• Building- plan office attendants
• Receiving building plans, check and
behind counter
120m2 advise
• Providing up-to-date building
specifications

4.67
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

CEMETERIES
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Have little or no amenities that do not meet requirements for a basic local cemetery
Substandard 1 Places of burial • Generally open land earmarked or used for burial purposes
• Graves typically not numbered
• Formal burial register mostly absent
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• Access road
Local cemetery • Internal distributor roads
− Basic (capacity • Security fencing
2a(1) Provide burial capacity for a suburb,
constrained or 0.3 ha (MIG) • Parking
township or town
consumed) • Public toilets
• Security gate
• Shower for workers (where applicable)

Local cemetery FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

2a(2) − Basic (sufficient Provide burial capacity for a suburb,
capacity) 0.3 ha (MIG) As for 2a(1)
township or town
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
Basic
• 6 m-wide paved access road, 100m
long
• 4 m gravelled internal distributor
• Security fencing
• Administrative building
Local cemetery Add the following sections to the
• Drinking fountains
− High (capacity facility:
2b(1) • Storage space for equipment
constrained or 3 ha (MIG) • Lawn section
• Shelters
consumed) • Berm section
• Wall of remembrance
• Monument section
• Landscaping
• Caretakers’ house/shelter
• Parking area
• Security gate
• Shower for workers (where applicable)

Local cemetery FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

2b(2) − High (sufficient
3 ha (MIG) As for 2b(1) As for 2b(1)
capacity)
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
Regional cemetery
15 (MIG) − 17.2 ha • Similar to local cemetery but serve
(capacity
3(1) (CSIR) but it might more than one community
constrained or As for 2b(1)
be distributed in • May need to meet diverse needs of
consumed)
the last instance various communities
Intermediate
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
Regional cemetery 15 (MIG) − 17.2 ha • Similar to local cemetery but serve
3(2) (sufficient (CSIR) but it might more than one community
As for 2b(1)
capacity) be distributed in • May need to meet diverse needs of
the last instance various communities
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• Highly specialised
0.15 ha per 1 000
High 4 Memorial park • Cater for every need and desire
head of average As for 2b(1)
• Memorial park should have a park-like
population (MIG)
atmosphere and tranquil ambience

4.68
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

FIRE STATIONS
Refer to SANS 10090:2003 Standard for Community Protection against Fire.

HALLS, THEATERS AND CENTRES

LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
No FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
None 0 infrastructure
-
service
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• Perimeter protection
Community hall • Typically serves local community
• Parking
Basic 1 −medium/smal 0.2 ha (CSIR) site • Utilised for mass meetings
• Outside bollard-type lighting
l (fringe areas) size • Occasional hiring for private functions
• Ablution facilities
• Use as voting stations
• Some kitchen installations

FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• Access road
• Perimeter protection
Community hall
• Paved parking
High 2 − large 0.5 ha (CSIR) site • Occasional hiring for private functions
• Outside bollard-type lighting
(regional) size • Use as voting stations
• Ablution facilities
• Public address and sound system
• Kitchen/catering installations
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• Access road
• Perimeter protection
• Paved parking
• Outside bollard-type lighting
• Utilised for productions
• Change rooms
3a Theatre • Occasional hiring for private functions
N/A • Ablution facilities
• May be used for some limited art
• Public address and sound system
exhibition
• Internal catering installations
• Kitchen installation
• Bar facilities
• Audio- and video-recording facilities
Very high
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• Access road
• Perimeter protection
• Paved parking
• Utilised for conferences and seminars • Outside bollard-type lighting
Convention • Utilised for private functions (i.e. year- • Speaker preparation rooms
3b
Centre end functions) • Ablution facilities
• Utilised for meetings • Public address and sound system
• Utilised for exhibitions • Internal catering installations
• Kitchen installation
• Bar facilities
• Audio- and video-recording facilities

4.69
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

INDOOR SPORTS FACILITIES

LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
No infrastructure
None 0
service -
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• 450 – 600m2 (at least • A hall of 30 m x 15 m – 20 m

18 m long, 17 m wide • An area for spectators, bags and
Multipurpose
and 7.6m clear ceiling clothing
Basic 1 sport hall (2 Likely basketball/ volleyball/
height − SRSA) • Ablution facilities
court) badminton/ squash
• Seating capacity of • Good air circulation
appr. 1 200 − 2 500 • Fire-fighting equipment
spectators • Parking

FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• A hall
• Probably 2 basketball or 2 • An area for spectators, bags and
• 900 m2 (33 m long, 18
Multipurpose volleyball or 2 badminton or 2 clothing
m wide and 8 m clear
2 sport hall (4 squash • Change rooms
ceiling height − SRSA)
court) • Would accommodate some • Ablution facilities
• Seating capacity > 2
sporting, recreational, commercial • Parking
500 spectators
and entertainment activities • Air conditioning
• Fire-fighting equipment
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• A hall
• An area for spectators, bags and
Intermediate clothing
• Change rooms
• Ablution facilities
• 1 377 − 1 863m2 (51 –
• Outside bollard-type lighting
54 m long, 27 − 34.5 • Probably basketball or volleyball
Sport complex • Parking
m wide and 9.1 m or badminton or squash
3 with 9 − 12 • Security
clear ceiling height − • Would accommodate a variety of
court sport hall • Access control
SRSA) sporting, recreational, commercial
• Public address and sound system
• Seating capacity > and entertainment activities
• Electronic scoreboard
5 000 spectators
• Air conditioning
• Kiosk
• Emergency treatment room
• Fire-fighting equipment and
sprinklers
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• Ticket sales office
• A hall
• An area for spectators, bags and
clothing
• Change rooms
• Ablution facilities
• Outside bollard-type lighting
• Probably basketball or volleyball
• Parking
Sport complex • 2 500 m +2
or badminton or squash
High 4 • Security
(medium / large) • Seating capacity > • Would accommodate a variety of
• Biometric access control
5 000 spectators sporting, recreational, commercial
• Public address and sound system
and entertainment activities
• Electronic scoreboard
• Air conditioning
• Kiosk
• Emergency treatment room
• Fire-fighting equipment and
sprinklers
• Administrative office(s)

4.70
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

LIBRARIES
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
No
None 0 infrastructure -
service
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

Community • Large cabinet mounted on castor

1b book units • Also known as wheelie wagons wheels
35 m2
(CBU) • Can hold up to 2 500 books • Lockable doors that can be opened
and closed with ease

FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• A cost-effective way to test the demand
for library services in remote rural
communities
Container • Dual-purpose libraries serving a school
1c and the local community • Single or double containers OR
library 55 m2
• In dolomitic areas where no permanent • Prefabricated building
structures are permitted
• In densely populated informal
settlements where land is not available
• Can hold up to 3 500 books
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Services include book lending service,
• Municipal building or other
Facilities for Basic public access to computers and internet
2 multipurpose centres OR
urban areas library 225 m2 services, and photocopying services
• Dedicated stand-alone facility
• Limited space for reading or studying
• Internet access
• Can hold up to 5 700 books
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
Branch public • Provides core library services to large
3
library 500 m2 local communities As for 2b(1)
• Can hold up to 8 450 books
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
• Access control
• Air-conditioning
• Fire-fighting equipment and
sprinklers
• Audible and visual emergency
Intermediate Central public warning alarms
library • Provides a comprehensive library service • HVAC system suitable for human
4 1 library for • Cataloguing and distributing books to comfort and preservation of books
850 m2
every 150 000 smaller libraries in its area • Fenestration and illumination design
people • Can hold up to 13 800 books appropriate for reading comfort and
preservation of books
• Signage, inside and outside the facility
• Separate store/book-sorting facility
• Internet access
• Audio-visual equipment
• Ablution facilities
Regional public FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
library
• Comprehensive range of library services
High 5 1 library for
1 200 m2 • At least one specialised reference service As for central public libraries
every 400 000
• Can hold up to 18 865 books
people

4.71
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

OUTDOOR SPORTS
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
No
None 0 infrastructure -
service
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
Very little
Informal 1 infrastructure • Might have soccer goal posts
services • Might have rugby uprights

FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

• Perimeter protection
• Parking
0.56 ha per 1
2a Grassed field Would accommodate basic sporting and • Change rooms
000 people
recreational activities • Ablution facilities
(SRSA)
Basic • Some steel stands
• Irrigation

Combi court FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE

surfaces (1 cricket
2b Would accommodate basic sporting and
oval, 1 baseball, 2 1.6 ha (CSIR) As for LOS 2a
softball fields) recreational activities
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
As for LOS 2a plus:
Sport complex
See table • Access road
(grouping of fields Would accommodate a variety of sporting,
Intermediate 3 below for sizes • Dedicated area for spectators, bags
and/or sport recreational, commercial and
of fields and and clothing
complexes) entertainment activities
courts • Change rooms
• Floodlights
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
As for LOS 3 plus:
• Air-conditioned change rooms
• Access control
• Security
• Ticket sales office
• PA and sound system
Would accommodate a variety of sporting,
• Electronic scoreboards
Regional sport recreational, commercial and
4 • Permanent stands
stadium 3ha (CSIR) entertainment activities at a standard
• Medical room (equipped with
meeting requirements as established by
emergency equipment for spinal,
sporting bodies
head and bone injuries)
• Administration office(s)
• Kiosk facilities
• Entertainment or banquet hall with
kitchen or catering facilities
• Groundskeeper facilities
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE (MIG)
As for LOS 4 plus:
Would accommodate a variety of sporting,
• Standby generator
recreational, commercial and
• Permanent stands with main pavilion
N/A entertainment activities at a standard
• Media room with attendant
meeting requirements as established by
communications infrastructure
sporting bodies
• Commentators booth

4.72
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling

SIZES OF FIELDS AND COURTS

FIELD/COURT LENGTH (M) WIDTH (M)
Baseball diamond / basketball 28.00 15.00
Bowling green 40.00 40.00
Cricket oval 137.16 59.16
Korfball 40.00 20.00
Netball 30.50 15.25
Rugby 100.00 70.00
Soccer 105.00 65.00
Tennis 23.77 8.23
Volleyball 18.00 9.00

PARKS – DEFINED AS (DEPARTMENT OF SPORT AND RECREATION, 2010):

“Any land, square, river, including any portion hereof any facility or apparatus therein or thereon but excluding any public road or
street or any building, structure, hall, room or office including any part thereof and any facility or apparatus therein which is the
property of or is possessed, controlled or leased by a municipal council and to which the general public has access, whether on
payment of admission fees or not.”

LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
• Land not developable
Natural open
Open space 1 • Generally inaccessible for human needs
space
• Ecological open space
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
Open space
• Treescaping
Rudimentary 2 with basic
Discretionary • Some playground equipment
improvements
• Perimeter protection (palisade)
FACILITY SIZE INFRASTRUCTURE
As for LOS 2 plus:
Local
• Lawn area
Basic 3 neighbourhood 0.5 ha − 0.7 ha
Functions will depend on the • Some playground equipment
park (SRSA)
characteristics and intrinsic value of • Ablution facilities
the green space, and on local needs • Some park furniture
FACILITY SIZE assessment INFRASTRUCTURE
As for LOS 3 plus:
Ideally, parks should provide multiple • Walkways
Community 0.3 ha (CSIR) per functions, including: • Signage of educational nature as
4
park 1 000 people • Ecological functions such as appropriate
served stormwater and carbon trapping • Parking
• Protection of flora, and where • Irrigation
Intermediate appropriate, fauna • Bollard-type lighting
FACILITY SIZE • Recreation INFRASTRUCTURE
• Leasure
As for LOS 4 plus:
• Opportunities for education, learning
2 ha (BCMM) • Access road, where appropriate
5 District park and social integration
(12 ha – 20 ha • Braai areas
(CSIR)) • Sophisticated landscaping featuring a
range of hard and soft elements
FACILITY SIZE INFRASTRUCTURE
High 6 Strategic park
Discretionary As for LOS 5

4.73
 Levels of service and customer profiling MODULE 4

PAY/ENQUIRY POINTS
LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Access control
Municipal • Serves as a rates hall • Hall or customer serving area
Basic 1 precinct pay • Safekeeping of cash received • Security and cash-handling facilities
point 500 m2
• Serves as enquiry point • Serving counters
• Serves as a referral system • Terminals
• Office space
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Access control
Local offices • Serves as a rates hall • Hall or customer serving area
High 2 pay point in • Safekeeping of cash received • Security and cash-handling facilities
150 m2
town • Serves as enquiry point • Serving counters
• Serves as a referral system • Terminals
• Office space

TESTING STATIONS AND LICENSING CENTRES

LOS LOS
REFERENCE LOS CRITERIA (FOR THE FACILITY)
LEVEL DESCRIPTOR
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
• Depending on the scope of services
offered:
• Access control
Generally at least one of the following • Hall or customer serving area
• Security and cash-handling facilities
services: • Serving counters
Basic 1 N/A
500 m2 • Theoretical examinations • Terminals
• Licence renewal • Office space
• Enquiries • Theoretical examination centre
• Referrals for vehicles, heavy vehicles and
motorcycles
• Ablution facilities
• Kitchen
FACILITY SIZE FUNCTION INFRASTRUCTURE
As for LOS 1 plus:
• Access road
• Driver’s licence renewals
• Perimeter protection and access
• Learner’s licence tests
control
• Driver’s licence tests
• Parking facilities
• PDP applications and renewals
High 2 N/A • Practical licence testing course
150 m2 • Motor vehicle roadworthy tests
for vehicles, heavy vehicles and
• Police clearance
motorcycles, inclusive of ramps
• Conversion of foreign driver’s licences
• Vehicle lifts
• Application and issue of instructors
• Inspection/oil/grease pit
certificates to driving school instructors
• Other mechanical test equipment (e.g.
to test shock absorbers)

4.74
MODULE 4 Levels of service and customer profiling