Searching for the Right Technology Solution
The information contained in this article is not intended as legal advice and may no longer be accurate due to changes in the law. Consult NHMA's legal services or your municipal attorney.
As Town Administrator for Hooksett, Dean Shankle knows there are several areas in which new or improved technology can help contain costs and improve services. One area that Hooksett is currently focusing on is software that will enable and streamline workflow improvements in the Community Development Department, which includes planning, zoning and code enforcement.
The Town of Hooksett is currently going through a deliberate and comprehensive process to locate the right software match for the town, knowing that whatever program is chosen, it will be the installed platform for a long period of time. To date, Hooksett’s staff has explored four products: GovQA; MainStreet GIS; ViewPoint; and Point Software. Start up and annual costs vary from under $5,000 to over $20,000 for these software products intended to manage staff time more efficiently and create better systems for staff to perform their work. In some communities, the time burden of the permitting process was reduced up to 80% with this type of software program in place.
For example, the Town of Amherst is using GovQA, one of the four platforms on the Town of Hooksett’s radar. After Hooksett staff viewed an online demonstration of this software, they conducted a field trip to the Town of Amherst to see how the program actually performed and met with local community development officials, Sarah Marchant and Pam Crook. Both were amazingly knowledgeable
and helpful.
Katie Rosengren, Hooksett’s Project Coordinator, prepared this report summarizing Amherst’s experience with GovQA. “GovQA is a web-based community development program that addresses both planning and zoning needs. It is a parcel-based system that is linked to Amherst’s assessing data. Amherst took a gradual approach when implementing GovQA to ensure staff became comfortable with the software and to create minimal disruption to daily processes and procedures. Today the program has been fully implemented and is utilized in their daily operations.”
Amherst’s demonstration revealed that GovQA is an intuitive program that streamlines many of their community development department’s processes. For example, applicants can submit permits online, and during the permit review process, email notifications are sent to staff alerting them to log into the system to review a new permit. Staff has the capability of scanning and uploading all supporting documents to the system, which are linked with corresponding permits and parcels. Fees are calculated and tracked and there is even capability within the software to allow applicants to pay online.
Hooksett Town Planner, Jo Ann Duffy, saw some clear benefits: “I found the most useful aspect of the software was the increase in communications between all of the pertinent departments. Additional notes could be added by the various users so they could be read by all. Yet it did allow certain fields to be locked, so that they could not be edited. The software included approximately ten various violation letter templates. This would result in fewer mistakes in quoting the code, as well as a faster response time when sending violation notices. Everything in the system is searchable so researching becomes less cumbersome. Creating monthly reports would become a very easy and quick task. Overall, an automated department becomes a much more efficient department.”
Hooksett Assistant Planner, Carolyn Cronin, also saw value with this type of software and provided this report. “Amherst’s building software helps with inter-department communication and helps organize and assign tasks efficiently. Because the system communicates to so many different departments (building, planning, fire, sewer, etc.), fewer details are missed in the extensive process of building permits and approvals. In Hooksett, we have communication issues. There is no shared central database, so we have to rely on e-mail and phone calls for everything from answering simple questions to providing pertinent information. With the software, departments that work together on the building process are able to see all the information at a glance and communicate in a more direct and organized way. This tremendously decreases the margin of error. There are fewer missed e-mails, missed approvals, and details don’t slip through the cracks. Seeing how this software improved Amherst’s organization and efficiency proved that even small towns can benefit from community development software. You don’t have to be a Manchester or a Nashua to invest in this type of system. All municipalities interested in increasing efficiency should look into it.”
Hooksett’s Code Enforcement Officer, Matthew Lavoie, stated specific goals for a system. “I think the main goal with purchasing such software is to help eliminate the paper shuffle. GovQA does a good job of not only doing that but also integrating all town departments that are required to communicate to issue permits. By tasking items instead of doing our protocol of scanning documents and emailing them out to departments, the software will task these items out, automatically saving valuable time. It also will
provide detailed reports for all aspects of the building process.”
As noted above, GovQA is only one of the software programs that the Town of Hooksett is exploring at this time. As with any technology product or service, each will have their own strengths and weaknesses. The fit between any technology solution and any municipality will largely depend on the existing capabilities of staff, present administrative infrastructure, expectations of staff, officials and the public and, of course, budget constraints.
NHLoGIN has helped government officials and employees from all over New Hampshire collaborate with each other for over 13 years. Representatives of NHLoGIN have served on numerous state IT projects as stakeholders and sponsored many technology-focused presentations at NHMA’S conference and general membership meetings.