June 25, 2004Community PortalsNew software for Community Portals in Florida Innoprise Software, Inc.� Introduces Community Development Kissimmee, Florida, First to Deploy New Solution Innoprise Software, Inc. today announced the launch of Innoprise Community Development, a software package that automates the creation, issuance and tracking of public sector community development activities. The software encompasses the end-to-end business processes required to support city and county planning, zoning, permitting, land development, building plan review, building inspections, licensing and code enforcement. The company also announces that the city of Kissimmee, Florida, is the first customer to deploy the software, replacing a legacy system that was no longer meeting its evolving business needs. Innoprise Community Development is the first such solution based on the Java� 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE�) service-oriented architecture and a multi-tiered Internet-native platform. As a result, the unique software architecture provides anyone involved with the community development process immediate access to the data necessary to meet the needs of everyone from individual homeowners to large developers, thus streamlining the process from start to finish. Developed based on 30 years of experience in the local government market and heavy involvement by a core group of Innoprise local government customers, the software includes built-in workflow automation features that track each step of the complex land management process, from planning to permitting to code enforcement. The software is integrated with the company�s Innoprise Customer Information System software, announced earlier in May and based on the the culmination of two years of intense effort to build the next generation standard in platform-neutral, cross-functional Web-based enterprise technology. Innoprise Community Development provides government personnel, as well as the citizens of the community, with a consistent, up-to-date view of the various phases and steps of the land development process, ensuring that all critical data associated with each property or customer is immediately available via the software�s Web services architecture. This provides a single, consistent view of all relevant information, enabling a wide variety of applications across the full spectrum of community development interaction to access the same data set. The departments, information and applications involved with land development are therefore unified, dramatically enhancing coordination among departments, personnel productivity and the ability to respond rapidly to citizen requests. Other benefits include a lower cost of operation, operating system and hardware independence, increased scalability, greater flexibility and the ability to easily add enhancements without paying for costly custom programming. With Microsoft� Office integration and one-touch reporting, users across the enterprise can easily exchange data with desktop applications and extract information to create even the most complex ad hoc reports, charts and spreadsheets. Kissimmee, Florida, has purchased the new software to replace a legacy system that had been in place since 1988. �Innoprise Community Development is a dramatic change for the better,� commented Mike Steigerwald, Development Services Director for the city. �Instead of having to open and sort through numerous computer screens to find various pieces of information about a particular property, we can now quickly find anything we want through one intuitive user interface.� Kissimmee is initially deploying the software to 40 employees in five departments throughout the city. �From a management perspective, the biggest benefits we�ve seen so far as a result of the new technology are the way in which it easily integrates with standard Microsoft Office tools like Excel and Word, the ability to quickly generate a wide variety of standard and ad hoc reports with no need for any programming help from our IT staff. Reports that previously took more than two days to create are now created in just a few minutes. With the new technology, our software is easily ported to multiple touch points. Mobile workers can now use low-cost devices like PDAs that provide them with instant access to the information they need in the field instead of using rugged laptops,� said Steigerwald. �For example, building permit and occupational license inspection schedules can be viewed in the field using a PDA wireless connection,� Steigerwald continued, �and inspection results and comments can then be entered on-site rather than waiting until the next visit to the office. Thus information is captured once, efficiently and immediately, and available for any other person or application that needs it. Using PDA devices, we are able to offer the same functionality provided through ruggedized laptops, but at one-fourth of the capital cost.� Next month Kissimmee plans to deploy the software on a public kiosk at City Hall providing ready access to building and zoning information offering on-line payment of fees. �The goal is to reduce our existing level of walk-in traffic, from 10,000 people per year to a more manageable level, thus freeing our staff from repetitive inquires. We�re even looking at installing kiosks at Home Depot,� said Steigerwald, �to make life easier for our community�s homeowners and developers.� About Innoprise Software Tina Metter ([email protected]) |