A switch to new software in the Spokane Valley planning department has left employees happy but busy as they work to adapt to a program that offers so many more benefits than the old software that it nearly boggles the mind.

“It’s a way bigger deal than we imagined,” said Community Development Director John Hohman. No longer do employees have to maintain multiple databases to try to track permit applications. It’s not just new software but a whole new way of doing business, Hohman said.

Source: Nina Culver The Spokesman-Review [read more here]

By Christopher Dunagan

PORT ORCHARD — To get development permits out the door faster, Kitsap County planners are turning to new computerized tracking systems and systematic procedures.

Customer service is the name of the game for much of his department, says Larry Keeton, director of the Kitsap County Department of Community Development. Keeton says he wants to maintain high standards for building and development, but he wants his staff to be helpful, not a hindrance.

“When you look at the importance of the building industry, we recognize it,” Keeton said. “We cannot be the bottleneck that precludes people from getting jobs.”

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/apr/04/new-systems-could-improve-county-permit/#ixzz1rBSmU8C6

The world is full of containers; desk drawers, pencil cups, cabinets, pockets, houses, you name it. Containers organize, protect, and provide easy access. They make work possible; so to some extent the better your containers the more efficient your work.

Now the best containers don’t force you to use them in any specific way. They’re universal vessels like a drawer. Drawers can hold silverware, socks, or whatever you want to put in them. The guy who invented the drawer never heard of a smartphone but you can still put yours in one. Now that’s a container.

You probably don’t think about containers much but we do. We’re Paladin Data Systems and we built SMARTGov Community, the best permitting, planning, inspection, and code enforcement software available to local government. SMARTGov Community isn’t the best because we thought of every possible need you might have until the end of time. It’s the best because it anticipates the unknown.

Do you want to add a field? Go ahead. Do you want to specify drop-down values for the field? Okay. Do you want to calculate a fee based on the value in the field? No Problem. That’s SMARTGov Community, a place to organize everything no matter what it is.

Query your records by pointing and shooting, save your searches, instantly print them, export them, or plot them on a map. Build Ad Hoc reports; publish your data to the web, and put the whole thing in the Microsoft Windows Azure Cloud for instant access anywhere, any time.

Create as many permit, code enforcement, inspection, fee, workflow, or other tasks as necessary. Arrange them according to your rules and change them when necessary. Attach unlimited categorized annotations and related files like drawings, photos, spreadsheets, documents, or any other file you can imagine. Now that’s a container.

Want to find out what else SMARTGov Community can hold? Check out this website then contact Paladin Data Systems to learn how to have a place for everything, including the things you don’t know about yet.

The foundation you need.

Contractors know the size of the house they’re building before they drive the first nail. You make sure of that in plan review. It makes sense to confirm that the foundation will hold the structure. But what do you do if the structure changes size over time?

With an unpredictable structure the only thing you can do is lay a foundation capable of holding a cabin or a skyscraper. You anticipate the full range of possibilities and prepare your building site accordingly. That’s not something you’re likely to encounter among your permit applications, but it’s what you’re faced with when selecting community development software. Your department isn’t static, it changes and so do your needs.

Most of the alternatives are arranged according to the size of the jurisdiction but this doesn’t reflect reality. Jurisdiction size does not indicate your needs or means. So what’s necessary is a foundation that holds a village or a metropolis. In permitting and code enforcement software that foundation is called SMARTGov Community.

SMARTGov Community changes as you do. It molds itself to your business practices and can be modified by you as needed. It anticipates your true needs by providing unparalleled control and choice over configuration and services. There are no artificial barriers in SMARTGov Community. Permit, code enforcement, planning, and inspection types are unlimited. You can add custom fields and control drop-down lists, or define complicated workflows and manage them in cycles. Notations are unrestricted and contain as many attachments as necessary, and those attachments can be of any file type.

If you grow, SMARTGov Community grows with you. It scales to whatever size you need without affecting performance and can be accessed with nothing more than a web browser from anywhere at any time. And our optional public portal provides a self-service method to citizens checking project status, applying for permits, requesting inspections, uploading submittals, downloading documents and performing a variety of other tasks no longer taking place at your counter or over your phones.
No matter what happens in your department SMARTGov Community is up to the task. That’s a foundation you can build on. Discover more about SMARTGov community on this website or contact Paladin Data Systems today for a demonstration.

Paladin Data Systems is uniquely qualified to help you through the transition

No one knows Black Bear software better than Paladin Data Systems. We’ve made an in-depth study of Black Bear products and data structures. We’ve also welcomed a number of former Black Bear employees into the Paladin family. As a result, we know how to migrate your data and train your users more efficiently and effectively than any other company. In fact, we know Black Bear’s system so well we’ll migrate your Black Bear data to SMARTGov Community® for FREE!

Paladin Data Systems is uniquely qualified to help you through the transitionNo one knows Black Bear software better than Paladin Data Systems. We’ve made an in-depth study of Black Bear products and data structures. We’ve also welcomed a number of former Black Bear employees into the Paladin family. As a result, we know how to migrate your data and train your users more efficiently and effectively than any other company. In fact, we know Black Bear’s system so well we’ll migrate your Black Bear data to SMARTGov Community® for FREE!

Not only does Paladin Data Systems move your Black Bear permitting data into SMARTGov Community easily but we move ALL of your data. Most companies offer to migrate your basic permit and inspection information. But PTWin32 maintained a broad spectrum of data, including configuration details like permit types, custom fields, pull-down lists, inspection types, and fee calculations. In addition, PTWin32 tracked detailed permit information concerning your plan reviews, conditions, time records, etc. We bring ALL your data over, not just some of it, so you don’t lose any of the information you currently have in PTWin32.

Paladin Data Systems has already converted a number of Black Bear customers to our SMARTGov Community software, a program that far exceeds the aged functionality of your PTWin32 product. Our state-of-theart systems represent a quantum leap in usability and reliability, and are affordably priced for jurisdictions both large and small.

If you want to minimize the work required to switch to new community development software, Paladin Data Systems and SMARTGov Community is the way to go. Speak with us today about moving to SMARTGov Community.

Call Paladin Data Systems toll-free today at: 877.367.4572

Display permitting and code enforcement visually.

We’ve seen plenty of parcel legal descriptions that are more than a thousand words so perhaps it’s time to give the old adage a cost-of-living increase. How about, a picture is worth two thousand words? Although when it comes to jurisdictional mapping we suspect the value is much higher.

As a local government official you spend a lot of time explaining things to applicants, citizens, contractors, councilmen, and co-workers. So much so that it sometimes interferes with your other work. It would be great if you could just pull up street maps and aerial photography of your jurisdiction that showed groups of records plotted with color coded bullets representing status, or if you could just draw and annotate maps to be saved and used in presentations.

If you have a GIS system at your jurisdiction this is theoretically possible. But in practice, access, querying, and configuring the proper layers often makes it impractical for ad hoc presentation. What you need is a GIS mapping system integrated into your permitting and code enforcement software that would allow you to quickly create the needed visuals.

SMARTGov Community by Paladin Data Systems is that software. It manages all of your permitting, planning, inspection, and code enforcement needs while providing integrated GIS functionality at no extra cost. The software displays a variety of lists or tables that allow you to easily query specific records according to complex criteria. Once the records you want are displayed in the list, they can be instantly plotted on a map of your jurisdiction with a single click. Each marker on the map contains thumbnail information about that particular project, parcel, and applicant.

SMARTGov Community comes with two GIS layers already built in, street map and aerial, but you can add as many other layers as you like. For example, if you got a shape file of your parcels from another GIS they could be imported to SMARTGov Community’s GIS. Then you could create permits and code enforcement records directly from the map.

Analyze building patterns and high violation areas, then draw on and annotate the map and save it to be used in presentations. Incorporating maps into your day-to-day operations will promote a quicker understanding between all parties and lead to informed decisions. Change the way you look at your jurisdiction. Contact Paladin Data Systems for more information on SMARTGov Community today.

Making Data Reveal Performance
Every Community Development Department has a way of doing things that’s all its own. There are requirements, workflows, reviews, inspections, certifications, and conditions that make up procedures and business rules. Usually compiling performance data is difficult. It’s in many locations, some of them paper, and many of them badly categorized. But this is the essential data required to see how you’re doing and determine your needs.

There are plenty of timekeeping and workflow applications you could use but often they represent double entry and don’t provide the proper instruction at the proper time. There are too many gaps, too many opportunities for human error, and too many problematic situations that could have been avoided. But the only way to avoid them is to incorporate your performance needs into the software you use to manage your permitting and code enforcement.

Enter SMARTGov Community by Paladin Data Systems. This web based permitting and code enforcement software is designed to integrate your business practices into the day-to-day use of the system. Exacting workflows with steps, prerequisites, actions, corrections, and cycles can be defined according to your rules. Separate measurement of processing time for both your department and the applicant’s response give you what you need to determine staffing capacity and meet any mandates required by your jurisdiction.

Sequences of activities are defined along with the permit or code enforcement type so when a record is created the activities are presented in the proper order helping to ensure that steps are not inadvertently skipped. Staff members no longer need to remember what submittals or fees are required. Reviewers no longer work without the results of other reviews, and inspectors don’t waste time determining if the requested inspection has passed its prerequisites.

Simply by using the SMARTGov Community system you will be generating the data necessary to gauge your performance. Additional staffing requests will be backed up by hard data, streamlining of procedures becomes obvious, and problematic situations are brought into the light. If your software doesn’t help you manage your department then it’s time to take a look at SMARTGov Community.