A demonstration of how Citizenserve can help you offer instant, over-the-counter licenses to your constituents.
Instant, Express, On Demand, or Over the Counter Licenses describe a Licence that does not require review by the issuing agency. Citizenserve can configure your citizen portal to allow your constituents to apply and pay for an instant license online, then receive their licence in an email, or download it from the portal.
Citizenserve can help you deliver express permits or licenses to your constituents. Contractors can fill out a simple online form, pay online, and download their permit.
Citizenserve also supports remote inspections. Jurisdictions can accept contractor or homeowner created video recordings, uploaded photographs, or can perform the remote inspection using conferencing software such as Skype. Contact us to see how we can help you implement remote inspections, express permits, or other online solutions to support your municipality.
The following questions were included in a formal Permitting and Land Management System Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read our responses below for general technical information about Citizenserve's e-government software solution.
2.1.1. Describe your software licensing model.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is only offered on a subscription basis.
2.2.9. Provide details on what browsers, browser versions are supported and what Windows operating systems are supported.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is device and browser independent and can be used on any modern browser.
2.3 Servers and Databases
2.3.1. Describe the server environment required for your solution.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required.
2.3.2. Describe the server minimum specifications (e.g., OS, RAM) needed for each of the required servers.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required.
2.3.3. Describe the database versions, and patch levels supported as of January 2020. Include a sequence of preferred databases supported by the vendor based on the most stable and best performing platform for the solution.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required. End users can use any device and any browser to access the software.
2.3.4. Describe any database CPU and memory resource requirements. Include an architectural diagram that illustrates the database architecture.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is only offered as a Software-as-a-Service solution; the City will not require additional hardware or databases. We do not share diagrams of our database architecture for security reasons.
2.3.5. What are the file standards for database server files?
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required.
2.3.7. Please provide any installation documentation or standard operating procedures.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is provided as a Software-as-a-Service solution; the Citizenserve staff maintain and support the application and database.
2.4 Integration and Service-Oriented Architecture
2.4.1. Describe the solution’s ability to support single sign-on using an on premise and cloud Active Directory to authenticate employees/users.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve supports the use of Active Directory for authentication and will provide integration to the City’s Active Directory for an additional fee.
2.4.2. Describe the solution’s import/export feature capability at the application level (above the database layer) and through the application interface.
Citizenserve Response: All reports can be exported to a CSV or PDF file format. Imports are usually accomplished through SQL scripts and need to be customized based on requirements.
2.5 Software as a Service
2.5.1. Please describe in detail the company’s policy for handling the customer’s intellectual property.
Citizenserve Response: We only work with State and Local Government jurisdictions. Customers own their data in all cases.
2.5.3. Describe the availability of metrics for the City of Redmond to measure consumption of services, such as bandwidth.
Citizenserve Response: The Citizenserve subscription includes unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited processing and unlimited support. We can provide reports on data size or setup monitoring on the City IP address, but we do not use the information for billing purposes.
2.5.5. Describe the options available for exporting data from the SaaS solution for external interfaces.
Citizenserve Response: The City can request and obtain a copy of its data at any time and there is no charge to get a copy. The copy is provided in Microsoft SQL Server format.
2.6.6. Provide the SLAs for system availability.
Citizenserve Response: From inception Citizenserve has been a pay-as-you-go subscription and a 99.99+% up-time has been maintained for 17 years. Any customer recourse for unacceptable service is subscription cancellation. We have never had a customer cancel a subscription based on system availability or performance. Our customers are not locked in to multi-year contracts.
The following questions were included in a formal Permitting and Land Management System Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read our responses below for more information about some of the Web Service features included in Citizenserve's e-government software solution.
1.11 Web Services
1.11.1. Describe the capability to provide web-based self-services, including the ability to allow customers to submit, track, and pay for services (inspections/permit information for example) and access their respective information (i.e., permits, plan review, inspection) online.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve provides a configurable and customizable online portal that allows citizens, contractors, and businesses to participate electronically in the processes of permitting, code enforcement, inspections, licensing, and requests. The portal can be configured as a link off of the City’s website.
One critical feature in Citizenserve is the ability to set User Notifications and Assignments for each permit, license, and case type so staff and departments are notified when citizens, contractors, and businesses take action on the portal. For example, if a staff member requests a revised plan document, the notification matrix will let the staff member know when the document is uploaded.
1.11.2. Does the solution allow custom branding (City of Redmond logo, for example)?
Citizenserve Response: Yes.
1.11.3. Describe the ability to generate online permits for simple projects that meet defined criteria including data validation.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve supports flexible workflows that incorporate data validation; we can easily configure a workflow for simple permits that generates the permit online based on specific data validation. If the City elects, the online portal can be configured to enable the contractor to download and print the permit.
1.11.5. Describe the integration into the solution including the ability to process multiple payments or partial payments for both permits and invoices.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve can collect a single payment and apply it across multiple permits and/or invoices. Partial payments can be configured as part of the payment process; for example, requiring plan check fees to be paid up front. Multiple payments can be applied and tracked, with custom reporting available to show detailed historical payment information at the invoice level, permit level, or both.
1.11.6. Does the payment solution allow for guest checkout options?
Citizenserve Response: This depends on the payment processor that the City decides to go with. Most payment providers provide for a checkout process that does not require “registration” or an account with the specific payment provider.