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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #15 Approval of Development Services Software System center of GOOd 'J <<;.~e. . "I'~ ~ AGENDA ITEM COVER SHEET Meeting Date: April 21, 2009 Item # 15 Contact Name: Contact Number: Craig Shadrix (407) 905-3157 Reviewed By: Department Director: City Manager: ~~ Subject: Workflow management, tracking, and external customer service software for the Development Services Department Background Summary: In 2007, the City Commission approved budget for purchase of software for the Building Division that would streamline work efforts and provide for a more efficient, up-to-date customer service protocol and tracking system. The Development Services Department, in its evaluation of proprietary software options learned of low-cost, innovative software being developed for local governments by the University of Central Florida. Due to high costs associated with providing necessary functionality for a system that manages building permitting, development review, planning and zoning, business tax certification, and all other development services, this option is an excellent choice. There are numerous advantages to hiring the university for this work. First, the software provided will actually result in the City being provided with all of the open-source code. This benefit, which distinguishes the university as a sole source qualifier, will allow the City to make modifications at very low costs versus a proprietary system, which would charge fees for modifications. Additionally, preliminary discussions with university officials have indicated that the City would receive free of charge an agenda management system as well as a solid waste management system, both of which were developed for other local governments, but are easily modified to the City's processes. The software platform has already been evaluated by the City's Information Technology Division and determined to be 100% compatible. The process for implementation of this software is three-fold, and includes documentation/process analysis, system modifications, and testing/go-live. The City anticipates man-hour savings of 40-50% through the process evaluation period, and additional savings with automation of these new processes via the software. With implementation, the City will be the first in Orange County to offer on-line permitting options that are fully transactional. Issue: Should the Honorable Mayor and City Commission authorize staff to negotiate a contract not to exceed $150,000 with the University of Central Florida to create development services software? Recommendations Staff recommends that Honorable Mayor and City Commissioners authorize staff to proceed with negotiating a contract with the University of Central Florida not to exceed $150,000 for creation of a web-based interactive software system that manages all phases of development services. Attachments: Financial Impact: Type of Item: (please mark with an "x'J Public Hearing _ Ordinance First Reading Ordinance Second Reading Resolution Commission Approval Discussion & Direction For Clerk's Deot Use: Consent Agenda Public Hearing Regular Agenda _ Original Document/Contract Attached for Execution by City Clerk Original Document/Contract Held by Department for Execution Reviewed by City Attorney Reviewed by Finance Dept. Reviewed by 0 N/A N/A N/A 2 =r~. ,')'1 it.., S- City of Ocoee - Building Permit Project The University of Central Florida SAGE team has expertise in improving the efficiency of government processes. This process improvement is done through a methodology that was developed at UCF - and follows a set of guidelines that are flexible enough to meet the specific needs of local governments. The overall expectation of this project is that the process of building permits will be (1) more efficient (2) completely accountable (3) transparent to the user The project is completed using the following steps and has the characteristics described. - Stakeholder Analysis - Stakeholder analysis identifies all key players in the system and obtains all information necessary to built a strong and smart system. Standardization - Standardization of processes ensures all processes are done the same way and that all staff know what to do in each situation. This eliminates arbitrary decisions and possible legal action associated with them Best Practices - Best Practices for process improvement are researched, documented, and presented to the city. Decisions towards the implementation of the best practices are made by the city staff with the support of the SAGE team. Software System Development - A software system to improve productivity and efficiency is developed and deployed. Use of our existing software base code makes this process efficient. In general the system will provide: o Functionality: The system will bring to the user accurate information, and the information will be guarded with total security. o Trust-based: The system will provide different level of security access according with the responsible for approve or denied each change on the process. The system will track all the operations and the people who made these operations, according with their level of responsibilities. o Reliability: The portal will be reliable to all the users in order to be easy to access and the user will be able to trust the system knowing that it can be used at any time. o Usability: The portal will be effective and efficient, and will satisfy the user providing the way to solve tasks and problems for a particular situation. High usability means that the system is easy to learn and remember. Our system will be friendly for everyone who does not know much about Internet, programming or other concept linking with the computing science. o Maintainability: The portal will be tested through the control system design for this purpose and any technical problem will be controlled to keep intact or carry on the entire system configuration, in order to not have any faults, preserving and retaining the functionality of the system. o Portability: The portal will be compatible with the most common web system due to the complexity of the users. It will guarantee the access with high-speed Internet connection from different location. Users will have access from anywhere at any time as long there is Internet. o Communication: The success of the entire system focus directly on the users' ability to get the information needed at the time it is needed. - Cost Savings - An overall goal of all systems is to achieve a high level of cost savings. The team documents and predicts potential cost savings in man/hours, and uses metrics to determine how well actual cost savings meet this goal. Reporting - Reporting capability is greatly enhanced through the process allowing decision makers to determine the how well the system and staff are meeting efficiency goals. - Accessibility - The system provides an extremely high level of accessibility, no only to the government but also to the citizen population who have the ability to see where their specific items (permits) are within the approval process at any time through a web interface. Open Source and Extensible - The system is provided to the government with all source code and documentation. There are no locked in contracts, maintenance charges, or fees associated with the software. In addition the government has ability to deploy the results of all other projects for their use - these include comprehensive plan management, agenda management, a full solid waste assessment and billing system - and others under development.