LIVE DEMOS

How long does the typical implementation of the product being proposed take for an organization of similar size to the City?

We tend to take a departmental approach to implementation, completing high priority departments or processes quickly. Early success helps create a vision for the project and excitement. These initial departments can usually be implemented in 3 or 4 months. Full implementation may take 9 to 12 months. Typically process improvement ideas and new process automation ideas come up after the initial implementation. These are included in the unlimited support.

Does your firm complete the implementations of the product being proposed or is this effort outsourced?

All Citizenserve implementation and support staff are full-time employees of the company. Your implementation staff will also be the support staff you will be working with on a long-term basis. We have found it beneficial to have people familiar with your permitting and licensing processes to be involved with ongoing support. So continuity in who you are working with is a positive aspect of the Citizenserve approach.

What strategic decisions or direction is your firm taking or making related to the permitting and licensing software product being proposed today?

Citizenserve is very focused on the electronic relationship with the citizens, contractors, and businesses. So the citizen portal is where we are doing most feature additions and improvements. Our customers who have pursued an electronic relationship with their constituents are seeing 85% to 90% of the permit and license applications online rather than in paper form.

Describe how your software product can utilize workflow routines to assist in the permitting and inspection process.

An unlimited number of activity types can be setup in Citizenserve. These can all be at the department level or inherited from a higher level department. The permit and license application review activities can be organized into workflow routes. Each activity type, like a review or inspection can have a form consisting of unlimited custom fields and a common comments/common corrections book with categories. The form or comment information can be used easily to generate plan review reports or inspection reports that can be e-mailed or generated in a letter to applicants or contractors. Inspections can also have conditions, so a final inspection cannot be scheduled unless all the other required inspections are complete. Inspections can be done in the field using an iPad, pictures can be added to the file, and inspectors can generate inspection reports in the field. Inspection reports can also send e-mails or trigger other actions, like sending a notice to the electric company to hook up the electricity if an inspection passes.

The status of the reviews and review comments can be made available on the citizen portal for contractors and citizens. Generated documents are also available so your constituents can access inspection reports, plan review reports, building permits and certificates online.