Kentucky’s Boone County implements Oracle Permitting to eliminate inefficient, manual processes and to provide modern, online services for citizens.
“The benefit of a cloud solution with quarterly releases means the investment made to improve processes and experiences for staff and the public won’t grow stale. We won’t stagnate. With regular software updates we can also count on the feedback we give Oracle to result in improvements to the software within a few releases. That’s the kind of relationship we were looking for.”
Jason Gamble, IT Director, Boone County
Business challenges
With a mission to ensure building safety while fostering orderly growth in the community, the Boone County Building Department is responsible for serving some 133,000 citizens that call Kentucky’s fourth-most populous county home.
The department was using a manual, paper-based process to issue permits and conduct inspections. Offering over 30 types of permits, performing 15 types of inspections, and processing around 3,500 permits each year, Boone County needed to modernize in order to continue to deliver quality service to constituents.
Time-consuming, manual, duplicative administrative tasks for inspectors, permit technicians, and plan reviewers slowed down the county’s permitting process. The paper-based system also impacted the county’s ability to collect revenue, stalling fee payments.
The county sought a solution that would eliminate the need for paper application forms, inspection reports, and plan review. It wanted to offer online application and payment capabilities that were intuitive enough for citizens and contractors to use with ease.
Why Boone County chose Oracle
After researching several permitting solutions, Boone County selected Oracle Permitting and Licensing system because of the intuitive online experience the county could provide to the public. Not only would Oracle’s solution eliminate inefficient, manual processes within the agency, but it would also provide permit requesters access to the information they needed without having to contact or visit the office.
Results
Oracle Consulting’s team of industry experts worked with Boone County to understand the manual procedures and guide the county through reengineering and streamlining processes. To ensure a smooth, yet agile implementation, Oracle Consulting and the county worked to build digital applications that staff and permit requestors could easily leverage.
Since adopting Oracle Permitting and Licensing, Boone County automated its once-manual processes. Only a few months after going live, the building department processed over 1,300 permits, representing just under $400,000 in permit fees, more than 875 plan reviews, and 580 inspections. At any point in time, the county can pull real-time updates from the system on key measures to ensure processes and staff remain focused on the most critical activities as their customer’s needs change.
The ability for citizens to apply for permit applications online transformed the role of the permit technicians. Focus shifted from manually entering permits and processing payments to helping customers achieve their permitting objectives. When it comes time for inspection, inspectors use the Oracle Inspector mobile app. This reduces data entry, captures more accurate inspection documentation, and provides instant customer notifications of inspection results.
Citizens also now pay for permits online. Once approved and issued, customers print the permit themselves. They’re also kept informed of permit status with email notifications throughout the process. This significantly reduces the telephone inquiries to staff and gives the public much greater insight into the entire permit process. Residents can easily monitor and quickly react to pending application requirements. Paying online and accessing permitting documents, such as approved plans, permits, and certificates of occupancy, have made the overall process much more efficient.