Using Click4Action
Click4Action is located online at milwaukee.gov/click4action.
You can also always get to Click4Action using the Click4Action link that appears in the upper right-hand corner of City of Milwaukee webpages as well.
What Is Click4Action?
Using Click4Action on a Desktop Computer or Laptop
Using Click4Action in a Mobile Browser
If You Need More Help Using Click4Action
What Is Click4Action?
Click4Action is an app provided to the public via the City of Milwaukee’s website used to enter requests for service or information, so that requests are logged and routed, accountably and quickly, to the City divisions which will provide the requested services or information.
The Information Technology Management Division (ITMD) of the Department of Administration (DOA) of the City of Milwaukee, of which the Unified Call Center (UCC) is a section, manages Click4Action.
UCC staff do not close out submitted requests or mark requests as complete – this function is performed by the staff at the City divisions who receive these requests and complete the requested work, such as the Street Maintenance and Electrical Services divisions the Department of Public Works (DPW), for example.
Using Click4Action on a Desktop Computer or Laptop
- Launch a web browser and navigate to https://city.milwaukee.gov/. In our example below, we are using Chrome, on a desktop PC. Chrome works best for Click4Action, although Microsoft Edge and Firefox users have had positive experiences using Click4Action in those browsers as well.
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Click on “Click4Action” in the upper right-hand corner of the screen…
...or simply navigate directly to milwaukee.gov/click4action.
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Click4Action will now be displayed in your browser tab, as shown below.
Creating a Click4Action Account
- Click the "Sign Up" button in the top right corner of the screen, as shown below.
NOTE: If you have created an account in the MKE Mobile Action app, you can use the same email address and password to log into Click4Action in any browser.
- A registration dialogue window will appear, as shown below.
- You are not required to do so, but you are permitted to use FaceBook to sign in, if you wish to do so, by clicking the "Sign Up With Facebook" button shown below.
- As an alternative, you may create a username, enter your email address, and set a password to sign up with Click4Action by completing the Username, Email and Password fields as shown below. Simply click "Sign Up" when you have completed the username, email address and password fields, and a Click4Action account will be created for you.
- After you have created your account, you should be logged into Click4Action and ready to go.
Important: Click4Action will send you email messages confirming your account and notifying you about requests you submit, and these will come from the email addresses [email protected] and [email protected].
Please make certain you have added the email addresses [email protected] and [email protected] to your email application's contacts.
If you do not know how to add a contact to your email account, use an internet search engine to search for instructions on how to add a contact to your email account.
If you have added the email addresses [email protected] and [email protected] to your email application's contacts, but you do not see email messages confirming your Click4Action account in your inbox within a few minutes, please check your email application's junk mail, spam, and/or clutter folders to make sure you don't miss receiving these messages.
To begin entering your first Click4Action service request as a registered user, click here to proceed to the section below called "Searching for a Request Type to Enter."
Logging Into Click4Action
- In order to log into Click4Action, you must first create a Click4Action account.
If you are not already a registered user, please click here to return to the section above called "Creating a Click4Action Account" and follow the steps in that section first.
If you have created an account in the MKE Mobile Action app, you can use the same email address and password to log into Click4Action in any browser.
- At milwaukee.gov/click4action, which will take you to a page that looks like the one pictured below, click the "Log In" button in the the upper right corner, as shown below.
- A log-in box will appear, as shown below.
- You are not required to do so, but if you wish to do so, you are permitted to log into your Click4Action account with Facebook by clicking the "Log In with Facebook" button as shown below.
- Alternatively, you can enter your Click4Action account email address and password in the Email and Password fields and then click the Log In button as shown below.
If You Forget Your Click4Action Password
- If you cannot remember your password, click the "Forgot your password?" link as shown below.
- A window will appear in which you will enter the email address you have registered to use Click4Action and then click the "Reset My Password" button.
- Click4Action will send an email message to the email address you have entered containing instructions for resetting your Click4Action password.
- Important: This email message will come from the email address [email protected].
- Please make certain you have added the email address [email protected] to your email application's contacts.
- If you do not know how to add a contact to your email account, use an internet search engine to search for instructions on how to add a contact to your email account.
- If you do not see the password-reset email message appear in your email inbox within a few minutes, please check your email application's junk mail, spam, and/or clutter folders to make sure you don't miss receiving it.
Searching for a Request Type to Enter
Searching for Request Types to Enter Using the Search Box
- Find the service request type search box on the upper left side of the Click4Action page, as shown below.
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Text that you type in this box will bring up a list of request types containing that text in the name of each request type.
Let’s search for “pothole.” Type the word “pothole” into the box.
Note that as soon as you finish typing just the “pothol” portion of “pothole,” Click4Action has already narrowed down the matches and supplied you with the choice that fits: a Pothole request.
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To enter a Pothole service request, click on the Pothole choice as shown above, then click here to proceed to the section below named "Entering Service Requests."
Searching for a Request Type to Enter By Category
Another way to find the request type which might best fit the issue you wish to report is by using the list of categories which is located immediately below the Service Request Type Search Box, as shown below. You can scroll through the list to view all the different categories, and you can click on categories to scroll through the list of service requests listed in each category.
Let's look for a request type using the categories list.
- Click on the Sanitation Services category, as shown below.
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When the Sanitation Services category listing is clicked, a list of Sanitation Services request types appear. Brief descriptions accompany each service type, so that you can be certain you are selecting an appropriate request type. Scroll through the various Sanitation Services request types to view them, as shown below.
Entering Service Requests
Example 1: Pothole Request
We will begin by entering one of the City’s most popular service request types: a request to fill a pothole.
For the sake of example, let’s imagine you want to report a pothole in the street outside City Hall on Water Street.
- Returning to the Service Request Type Search box in the upper left portion of the page, as shown below, begin typing the word “pothole."
If you need help finding the Service Request Type Search Box, click here to return to the section called "Searching for Request Types to Enter Using the Search Box."
- Click on the Pothole service request type. The screen below will appear:
- Enter the nearest property address to the location of the pothole in the Address field, as shown below.
Press ENTER on your computer keyboard once you finish typing the address, and the City's address database will complete the rest of the address for you.
You can also use the map on the right side of the page to identify the location - zoom into an area, click the location of the pothole, click in the Address field, and press ENTER on your computer keyboard to cause the City's address database to populate this field with the nearest match.
For our example below, we are typing in the address of City Hall, which is 200 E Wells St.
We have typed "200 E Wells St" and pressed ENTER. The City's address database has filled in the city, state and Zip code as you can see below.
- Read the information in the blue boxes - this information is here to help you enter service requests correctly, concisely, and completely.
- If we want to add more information about the pothole we are reporting in this service request, we can type that information into the Description field.
Text typed into this field must not exceed 600 characters in length, including spaces and special characters. 600 characters is approximately 80 words.
If you type more than 600 characters into this field, the service request will become "stuck" in DPW's system and will require additional work to fix and transmit to the appropriate division of DPW for servicing.
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If you do not want your identity publicly associated with a request, or if you do not want your request to be visible to other resident Click4Action or MKE Mobile App users, you can change the privacy of a request from Public to Private. The location of the Public/Private toggle switch is shown below.
Private requests will only be visible to you (if you sign up for a profile and log in) and to internal City staff.
Some service request types are set as Private by default and cannot be changed to Public. If the Public/Private toggle switch is gray on both sides, as shown below, it is set by default to be Private and cannot be changed to Public.
If the Public/Private toggle switch is half-white, as shown below, you can click on it to switch the request from Public to Private or from Private to Public.
You can also change this after the request is submitted, under certain circumstances.
If you designate the request as Private upon submittal, you must be registered with an email address as a Click4Action registered user in order to be able to see this request again in the future, and to be able to change its privacy designation.
If you designate the request as Public upon submittal, you can change it to Private after submittal, but if you wish to be able to view the request after you submit it, you must be sure to submit the request while you are logged in as a registered Click4Action user.
Click here to view instructions on how to become a registered Click4Action user.
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You can easily add a photo of the issue by clicking the "Add a Photo" button.
At the time that you submit the request, you can attach one photo.
If you have multiple photos to attach, you can attach more photos after you submit the request, as long as you have registered a Click4Action account. Click here to view instructions on how to add a photo to an already-submitted request.
If you submit a Private request, and you are not logged in as a registered user when you submit the request, you will not be able to add additional photos to the request or view the request after you submit it.
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Clicking the “Add a photo” button opens a file browser (for example, Windows Explorer in the Windows operating system, or Finder in MacOS), allowing you to navigate to and select the photo which you wish to upload.
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Once the photo uploads and you are satisfied with your request, you can scroll down to and click the “Submit" button to submit your service request.
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If you are not already signed in to use Click4Action, a sign-in dialogue window will appear, as shown below.
For certain request types, requests cannot be submitted without contact information being provided.
However, pothole requests do not require you to submit contact information, so you can, if you wish, click the “Skip” link to submit the request anonymously, as shown below.
You can also use FaceBook to sign in, if you wish to do so, by clicking the "Sign Up With Facebook" button shown below.
You can also create a username, enter your email address, and set a password to sign up with Click4Action by completing the Username, Email and Password fields as shown below.
Registered users can simply sign in via the "Log In" link at the bottom of the window, as shown below.
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Once you either create an account, sign in, or skip to submit anonymously, Click4Action will present you with a "Success" box to let you know that your service request was submitted successfully, as shown below.
The box will contain the service request number.
Read the text in the box carefully, as there may be important information contained there relating to how the service request may be handled by the City.
For example, for Pothole service requests, there is a reminder about how multiple pothole requests may be batched together for a mass repair operation, and their individual service requests may be marked as "Completed" by DPW-Street Maintenance staff when the individual potholes are moved to the mass repair program for scheduling, as shown below.
If you wish to close the "Success" box and initiate a new service request, click the small grey letter "x" in the upper right corner of the box to close it.
Example 2: Scattered Litter and Debris on Private Property
- We can begin a fresh request by clicking the "Create new issue" button in the upper left, as shown below.
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This time, for the sake of our example, instead of searching for the request in the Search box, let’s find it in the Categories List.
Scroll down to DNS - Department of Neighborhood Services Requests and select this category by clicking on it or on the right-pointing arrow next to the category listing, as shown below.
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Now let us scroll down through the DNS request types to the sub-category Debris, Litter, or Mess on Private Property.
It seems likely that we will find a request for Scattered Litter and Debris on Private Property in this sub-category.
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Click this sub-category to reveal its request types, then scroll down to and click Scattered Litter and Debris on Private Property, as shown below.
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Note how much information about this request type is provided to you to help you decide between similar-sounding request types.
You can now complete and submit the request, just as you did for the example Pothole Request above.
Click here to return to the steps for completing and submitting a service request.
Viewing Previously-Entered Service Requests
View Requests On a Map
- On the main page of Click4Action, the right side of the page shows previously-entered requests. The default view is the map view, as shown below.
The Map display is intuitive and self-explanatory. Explore zooming into the map and changing from the graphic view to the satellite view.
An easy-to-understand legend at the bottom of the map distinguishes between the different colors of map pins and their meanings.
The map displays the 35 most-recent requests by default, and can display 35 requests at a time. As a user zooms into an area of the City, the 35 most-recent requests for that zoomed-in area are displayed.
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The filter buttons shown below allow you to filter the requests so that you can narrow them down to just the requests you have submitted while logged into Click4Action, requests on which you have commented while logged into Click4Action, and requests you have followed while logged into Click4Action.
Some users will check to see if a request has already been submitted for an issue, and will follow requests that have already been submitted to observe progress on resolving an issue. It is helpful to the whole community to avoid submitting duplicate requests for a problem that has already been reported; submitting duplicate requests wastes valuable City resources when City staff must allocate additional time and labor for resolving complaints that have already been scheduled for repair or resolution.
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Click on a pin on the map to view the details of the request associated with that pin's location on the map. The details of the request will appear in the left side of the screen as shown below. You can scroll down in the left details pane to view all of the details of the request.
View Requests In a List
- On the top left side of the right-hand section of the Click4Action page, you can toggle the view of already-submitted requests from the Map View to the List View by clicking the List button as shown in the image below. By default, when you first access the List view, you will see a list of all requests that have been submitted that are publicly-viewable (requests which have not been designated as Private by the requests' submitters).
- The filter buttons shown below allow you to filter the requests so that you can narrow them down to just the requests you have submitted while logged into Click4Action, requests on which you have commented while logged into Click4Action, and requests you have followed while logged into Click4Action.
- Click on a request in the list to view the details of the request. The details of the request will appear in the left side of the screen as shown below. You can scroll down in the left details pane to view all of the details of the request.
Searching for Previously-Entered Service Requests
Searching By Request Number
If you know the identification number of either a request that you have submitted or a publicly-available request that another user has submitted in Click4Action, you can locate that request in Click4Action and view its details.
- You may hear or read about Click4Action request ID numbers being referred to as a "confirmation number," "complaint number," or "work order number."
- Click4Action request numbers have the following characteristics:
- They are seven (7) or eight (8) digits in length.
- They begin with 9, 10, 11, or 12 as the digits beginning the number (the digits all the way to the left in the number).
- For example, 9456789, 10452663, 11789456, and 12012345 are all Click4Action request numbers.
- If you have been provided a request number that is seven (7) digits in length and begins with a 1, 2, 3, or 4, such as 4810352, that is a number for a different application used by the City of Milwaukee called DPW-Work Orders.
- If you have been provided with a case number that begins with three alphabetical characters followed by hyphens and numbers, such as PWCF-21-05223, that is a case number which may refer to a Code Enforcement case. You will not be able to look up that number in Click4Action.
If the number you have is indeed a Click4Action request number, you can look it up by following these steps in Click4Action.
- In the right pane of the Click4Action page, if the List view is not visible, click the List button so that it is visible as shown below.
- Click in the Keyword search field visible in the upper right area of the Click4Action screen as shown below.
- Type or paste the seven (7) or eight (8) digit request number in the Keyword field.
As you type, the requests shown in the list will filter out until only the request corresponding to the request number you have entered remains, as shown below, as long as the request is publicly-visible (not designated as Private by the request's submitter), or as long as you are logged in and the request was submitted by you.
As with any search in List view, you can click on the result of the search to view its details in the left side of the page, as shown below.
Searching By Address
- In the right pane of the Click4Action page, if the List view is not visible, click the List button so that it is visible as shown below.
- Click in the Keyword search field visible in the upper right area of the Click4Action screen as shown below.
- Type an address. Include only the building number, the abbreviation for the direction (N for North, S for South, E for East, W for West), the street name, and a two-letter abbreviation for the street type (ST for street, AV for avenue, BL for boulevard, CR for circle, CT for court, WA for way, PL for place, and so on) as shown in the example below. There is no need to include the city, state or Zip code.
As you type, the requests in the list will filter down until only those which are publicly-visible and have an address matching what you have typed are visible.
Click on a request to view its details in the left side of the page as shown below. Scroll down to view all of its details.
Other Request Searches
In Click4Action, clicking the downward-pointing arrow at the right edge of the Keyword field reveals more options for searching for submitted requests.
You can search by service request type ("Issue type"), status (Submitted, Received, or Completed are statuses the City uses), date range, and requests with photos attached.
Note: Only service requests which are publicly-viewable (not designated as Private by the requestor) will be accessible via this search. This search will not return a complete and total report of all requests matching the search criteria. Some requests are private, and others may be entered directly into DPW's workflow by internal DPW staff without the request passing through this portal. To obtain complete reports, please use the Open Data Portal at data.milwaukee.gov or submit an Open Records Request to the City department for which the report is desired.
Updating A Request You Have Submitted Already
- Use the instructions in the above sections to find the request you submitted.
- You can add additional photos by scrolling to the bottom of the request details, clicking the photo icon at the right of the "Add a comment" field, selecting a photo to upload from your device, and uploading each photo.
- If the request you have submitted is one that will be serviced by a division of DPW - for example, requests relating to garbage or recycling collection, tree trimming, sewer drains or other public works functions - the DPW division servicing your request may not receive comments or photos added after you submit your request.
- DPW divisions receive requests submitted through Click4Action via a separate, City-developed application called DPW-Work Orders, and the systems only communicate at the beginning and end of the life cycle of the service request, when it is submitted and when it is closed.
- To make changes to or add photos to requests you have already submitted, if you are not certain what City division will service the request, please click here to email [email protected] and ask for your request to be updated. Please include the request number if you have it, or the location and content of the request if you do not have the request number.