Forging an online path

GTA local governments adopt software to better serve communities together

A standardized and online building permit and planning application process between many neighbouring governments encourages collaboration, improved shared services, and stronger customer service.

The Township of Uxbridge, the Township of Scugog, and the Township of Brock realized these benefits when they decided on a community development software together. They have since become leaders in the Greater Toronto Area.

Strength in Numbers

The three municipalities established similar expectations by:

• prioritizing efficiency, user experience, implementation speed, and cost;
• conducting extensive market analysis; and
• engaging key users and stakeholders early in their continued collaborative relationship.

We’ve taken on many projects together over the years because we are all so small that we weren’t able to do it on our own,” shared Brock CAO Ingrid Svelnis.

Each township shared their CAO’s expertise and their building department’s research. This made their collective decision easier to make.

Our Building Services staff looked at a variety of options over the last two years to modernize processes and Cloudpermit consistently came out on top,” continued Svelnis. “It was effective for us to collaborate to find what solution met our expectations and would help us serve our communities better.”

Standardization Leads to Improved Shared Services

Each township took advantage of Ontario’s Municipal Modernization Fund and had the support of their respective councils to implement an online system to benefit staff and the public.

We can share resources, open doors for future opportunities to streamline our processes, reduce training and onboarding time, and improve efficiency by using the same solution,” said Uxbridge CAO Kristi Honey. “We are all excited to enhance our user experience and improve visibility for our staff, builders, and applicants. It’s also a benefit to us that we can help each other when needed.”

Become More Efficient Through Consistency

It can be difficult for builders to keep up with many systems and paper-based processes when they work in multiple areas.

We can share resources, open doors for future opportunities to streamline our processes, reduce training and onboarding time, and improve efficiency by using the same solution,” said Uxbridge CAO Kristi Honey. “We are all excited to enhance our user experience and improve visibility for our staff, builders, and applicants. It’s also a benefit to us that we can help each other when needed.”

All of us had shared a building permit, staff, or building inspector at some point. So by using the same user-friendly software, we aim to streamline the process for our customers and staff,” explained Scugog CAO Ken Nix. “Many builders work in all three of our communities, so we are looking forward to giving them a consistent and seamless experience.”

Svelnis, Honey, and Nix shared that their staff is looking forward to the online change and Nix summed it up well:

My staff is bouncing off the walls with excitement like they never have before to implement this software.”

This article was originally published in Municipal World and can be viewed here.