My Take on SmartGov by Dude Solutions for Permitting Software

[jar546]

Cumbersome. That is the word most heard coming from my mouth when I talk to people about it. I think it can be a great program but it lacks one property, intuitiveness. SmartGov does some great things but lacks in many areas. Here is a little breakdown based on my personal experience.

First and foremost it is a very powerful program that can do a lot more than most departments need it to. Because you can customize it, SmartGov can be used from the smallest to the largest department. You can do anything you want in training mode before you go live whether in the back office or the customer-online portal.
You have the ability to accept online applications and submittal documents along with payments. You can set notifications for staff and assign specific permits to people or groups. It has a very powerful statuses system, workflow and even integrates with Bluebeam for plan review. It tracks contractor licensing, expiration dates, and much more. There is an app that can be used by the inspectors in the field to result inspection and even look up previous inspection history that works in real-time.

From a service standpoint, they have 4 girls that are absolutely fantastic to deal with. They are all knowledgeable, helpful, professional and easily accessible by phone or email. Overall it is a good program, but like all software, it has its problems.

What needs to change with SmartGov:

1. Anyone can apply online for a permit which generates the next permit number in sequence even if they fill out the minimum information and don't upload documents. Permit applications should be in a queue until they are vetted by the permit techs and once they are technically complete, they should be assigned a permit number then and only then. We had one contractor who was not so savvy with technology create 4 new permit applications for the same job. That used up 3 additional permit numbers that screws up our reporting system with actual permits issued. In one week I had to cancel 7 permit applications that were duplicates. I would not choose SmartGov for this reason alone.
2. Here comes the cumbersome word. There is a lot of work required when receiving online submittals by the front office. You have to check the submittal. Well, first you have to know that someone uploaded it. If you choose an option to get notified, you get an email and if you have 20 permit holders upload 6 documents each, that is 120 emails you will get. This is unnecessary but if you don't, you have no idea that someone uploaded documents. Anyway, by the time you review an application, mark it at accepted, then go back and approve the application itself (not approving the permit, just the application) along with all of the other required documents such as sub-contractor permits, NOC's, contracts, etc., you are inside their submittals tab a long time.
3. Plan Review. You actually do plan review from within the submittals tab of the permit and have to open up the submitted documents. Once you reject and create a deficiency report and send it out you have to create a new version or the applicant cannot upload any more documents. Keeping track of open issues does not exist with SmartGov as the different deficiencies disappear with each new version you are forced to create so they can upload their changes. The system really needs a complete and total revision in this area.

This is not an all encompassing list, just the top 3 for me. I can keep going with my issues with SmartGov. Now if you are receiving paper applications and not scanning & uploading or receiving online applications, it works a little better but that is really not the point of software that allows you to go paperless, is it?

What has your experience been?

 

[Sifu]

I experience all three of those issues with our software, I am interested that Smartgov has the same weaknesses. I can't think of ways to fix them, so much of it may be inherent in the electronic submittal world, and be common to all similar systems. I have found that in the electronic application and submittal process, the applicant can apply for and upload anything they want. (we once got some dirty pictures by accident at my last job) That leaves the department with the need for an EXTREMELY ROBUST vetting process. We do not have anything close to that and it is a train-wreck. I think other users of our same software have a better intake process and personnel, and have a much better experience. I also think our system was built by people who did not really understand the needs of a building department, and built a system based on reporting rather than permitting.