Case Studies

Huntington Beach, CA
The City of Huntington Beach set out to eliminate paper-based processes and purchase an enterprise software solution that would work seamlessly with IVR (Interactive Voice Recognition) systems. IVR is an automated telephone-based system that allows anyone to call in from any telephone and follow menu selections in order to accomplish a task like scheduling a building permit inspection for example. 

The city selected CityView for its capability, flexibility and value. According to Beverly Braden, Principal Administration Analyst, “the customized design meant that CityView could be whatever we wanted it to be. Our new system did not have to be driven by an ‘off-the-shelf’ shell system.” Braden says that “we were also impressed with how easily forms and reports can be created ‘on-the-fly’ in CityView.”

It was these features and the fact that CityView could be used with Huntington Beach’s IVR system that made CityView the right software for the city. Now, data contained in Huntington Beach’s CityView system can be accessed and modified by their IVR system as required. So when a citizen dials in and selects option 1, for example, in order to pay a building permit invoice, the data is accessed and updated accordingly. 

Huntington Beach has quickly realized the benefits of CityView. According to Braden, CityView and the city’s new IVR system will handle 70,000 calls per year, “The major benefit has been the elimination of staff time on the telephone, which allows staff members to spend time with customers at the counter.” Now callers follow essentially the same business process that is used by front counter personnel, thereby eliminating time-consuming data entry tasks for the city’s staff.

New Jersey Meadowlands Commission
Since 2001, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) has used CityView to automate Land Use Management functions, overseeing application reviews for planning, zoning and building code. Automation of standard procedures, such as Violation Notices for Code Enforcement being automatically populated with text, fines, and citations, has helped streamline and simplify permitting processes. Since their initial purchase, the NJMC has developed several of their own forms and workflow automation to meet their exact needs. 

The NJMC GIS department uses CityView to track mapping requests and to automate the generation of data distribution agreements, documents that legally restrict external use of NJMC GIS data.  Thanks to CityView, the GIS Department has accurate records of inter-departmental requests as well as external agency and company requests.  Since records also calculate time spent on projects, the GIS Department can substantiate the need for funding for additional hardware, software and staff to accommodate documented workloads. 

Hydrology Engineers at the NJMC use CityView forms to log and track public telephone calls, letters and applications pertaining to flood incidents in the District.  The CityView forms are a direct replica of standard flood incident templates.  Reports are automatically generated that provide data on flood incidents, incidents requiring inspections, and public requests for pamphlets on FEMA flood insurance.

In addition, the information logged into CityView forms is set to export out as GIS shapefiles.  Using location analysis along with CityView’s flood incident data, Hydrology Engineers can analyze patterns of flood characteristics.  For example, numerous flood incidents pertaining to basement flooding on a particular street may not be as apparent when looking at an on-screen form.  However, when layered on a map, engineers can see patterns that were not initially obvious.

The NJMC’s use of CityView is a perfect example of how the flexibility of the complete CityView solution allows a municipality to be flexible in its internal processes and evolve over time. 

For more information, visit http://onlinepermits.njmeadowlands.gov/.

Village of Glenview, IL
The Village of Glenview chose CityView to replace an old legacy system that forced inspectors to complete five-part carbon forms out in the field and then return to the office to enter the same data again into a computer.  Now, thanks to CityView, pen tablet computers and portable printers, inspectors can do most of their ‘paperwork’ from their vehicles, saving driving time to and from the office and eliminating duplication of data entry.    

After using the paper-based system for almost 15 years, the Village of Glenview knew it had outgrown it. The village wanted better reporting capabilities and software that would support a Geographical Information System (GIS).  They found what they were looking for in CityView, including:  
the ability to integrate easily with other applications, especially financial and GIS,

• ease of use,
• the ability to customize without vendor involvement,
• the necessary functionality to improve efficiency, and
• the ability to automate all inspections from building to engineering, health to 
• code enforcement.

Today, each inspector’s pen tablet contains a replica of the village’s main permit database. In the morning, when the field inspectors pick up their pen tablets and set out on their rounds, every tablet contains a copy of the database with the exact same information.  During the day the inspectors make changes to the database on their individual pen tablets out in the field and then at the end of the day they return to the office and re-synchronize their database with the central database. 

CityView allows the Village of Glenview to run more efficiently. Since installing it they have been able to eliminate more than 25 different permit and inspection forms and use one form for almost everything.