| Accela
Signs Deal to Provide Montana Advanced Building e-Permits System
State to host one-stop, Web permitting portal for building
planning, inspection, compliance activities
HELENA, Mont., Dec. 16, 2009 – Accela, Inc., the
leading provider of Web-based software that makes government services
available 24/7, today announced that it has signed an agreement with the
State of Montana to build a state-of-the-art online portal that will deliver
a standardized e-permitting
experience to building professionals operating across the nation’s
fourth-largest state. The Building
Codes Bureau (BCB) within Montana’s Department of Labor &
Industry will implement Accela
Automation® software and additional Accela solutions to standardize
the experience and improve the efficiency of two important groups: customers
seeking permits online; and the BCB’s office and field teams managing
permit applications and inspections. The new portal is expected to launch
in the summer of 2010.
With the Accela-based system, Montana’s BCB will automate the services
it provides the building industry – such as construction plan review;
permit application and approval; inspection scheduling; tracking and reporting;
and professional licensing – and offer users a single “shopping
cart” for their state building permits. Over the longer term, the
system is intended to serve as a central e-permits platform for dozens
of city and county jurisdictions across the state.
“To maintain a competitive economic edge, states today must think
strategically about improving their operations and supporting their local
governments,” said Maury Blackman, CEO and President of Accela.
“The BCB’s phased, visionary approach underscores its commitment
to ensure that Montana remains a great place to live and work for decades
to come.”
Best-of-Breed Technology for State Government Services
Accela technologies provide the backbone that states need in order to
host, share and manage their services on the Web. Accela Automation facilitates
more citizen-centric, performance-based government by automating the most
critical regulatory functions and by connecting disparate systems and
departments to information residing in a central database.
Montana’s BCB will deploy two key modules of Accela Automation:
Accela Land Management™,
which automates the hundreds of steps involved in completing a permit
(such as initial application, plan reviews, fee calculation and collection,
inspections/investigations, and sign-offs); and Accela
Licensing & Case Management™, which automates licensing
and registration programs (including business licenses, simple and complex
registrations, and occupational licensing), based on an agency’s
unique regulations, requirements, and internal procedures. The BCB will
also leverage:
• Accela Citizen Access™
to provide the public with transparent, 24/7 online access to the permitting
process and the status of their applications;
• Accela GIS™ for geographic
representations of all land-use, zoning, and infrastructure information
associated with a parcel, permit, inspection or plan;
• and Accela Wireless™,
a mobile application that allows government staff to perform their jobs
from the field for inspections, code enforcement, work orders,
and service requests.
With these solutions in place, users will be able to apply and pay for
permits, schedule inspections, check the status of their requests, or
print an approved permit from their home or office. Meanwhile, the Accela
system will allow BCB field inspectors to access the same data as back-office
workers, share updates without returning to their office or hotel for
data entry, and optimize their daily routes more effectively.
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