Helpful tips for transitioning permitting softwares?

[permittech2]

We are currently about to make a big change after almost 20 years of using Caselle as our permitting software in our city. We will now be transitioning to Cloud Permit. I am wondering if anyone has any helpful tips for a much smoother transition. We still use the old paper and file method as well, so I am going to have to move everything digitally. I am the only one in my department who will really be spearheading this transition, so I won't really have much help.

 

[johnreynolds]

I'm the founder of a permitting software company and have helped a lot of municipalities transition (even a lot moving away from Caselle). Here's what we've learned works best:

• Take the opportunity to re-assess what you REALLY need to be asking for in your application forms. I've found a lot of cities that have old paper forms, they're asking for a bunch of information that's really not needed. When asked, "why are you asking for the social security number of the applicant for your building permit", they'll say, "because we always have", haha. It's a great opportunity to slim things down.
• Even though you're the only one spearheading the project, do your best to get the new company (Cloud Permit) and the permit techs to talk to each other. Here at Civic Review, any time we do implementation and we aren't able to talk to the permit tech, we almost always end up building forms and workflows out the wrong way. We've since learned not to do implementation unless we can communicate directly with the permit techs. Your username suggests you're the permit tech, and if that's so, then you're good here!
• At Civic Review we build out all the digital forms as part of implementation. Here's a checklist of things we like to receive:
  - The paper form (or pdf)
  - A list of who the reviewers are, and under what circumstances, so we can build out a workflow
  - A list of fees, or a link to the right section from the fee schedule
  - A copy of any kind of certificate you want applicants to print (like a copy of a printable building permit)
  Getting all this up-front helps minimize how many questions we have to go back-and-forth to get the job done.
• If you're setting up a payment integration, get that started early, sometimes the payment companies take a lot of time to get their end set up and it can be a bottleneck you don't want in the last stretch.
• If you're doing a data migration, the earlier you can get a sample of data to the vendor, the better. This gives them time to look out for any gotchas they might need to prepare for.
• Establish clear timelines. Get a timeline from the vendor with milestone dates that you'll both work toward - this helps keep you both accountable to each-other. We average about 6 weeks for implementation to be done, and this is largely due to having an organized implementation timeline.

Good luck!

 

[permittech2]

I'm the founder of a permitting software company and have helped a lot of municipalities transition (even a lot moving away from Caselle). Here's what we've learned works best:

• Take the opportunity to re-assess what you REALLY need to be asking for in your application forms. I've found a lot of cities that have old paper forms, they're asking for a bunch of information that's really not needed. When asked, "why are you asking for the social security number of the applicant for your building permit", they'll say, "because we always have", haha. It's a great opportunity to slim things down.
• Even though you're the only one spearheading the project, do your best to get the new company (Cloud Permit) and the permit techs to talk to each other. Here at Civic Review, any time we do implementation and we aren't able to talk to the permit tech, we almost always end up building forms and workflows out the wrong way. We've since learned not to do implementation unless we can communicate directly with the permit techs. Your username suggests you're the permit tech, and if that's so, then you're good here!
• At Civic Review we build out all the digital forms as part of implementation. Here's a checklist of things we like to receive:
  - The paper form (or pdf)
  - A list of who the reviewers are, and under what circumstances, so we can build out a workflow
  - A list of fees, or a link to the right section from the fee schedule
  - A copy of any kind of certificate you want applicants to print (like a copy of a printable building permit)
  Getting all this up-front helps minimize how many questions we have to go back-and-forth to get the job done.
• If you're setting up a payment integration, get that started early, sometimes the payment companies take a lot of time to get their end set up and it can be a bottleneck you don't want in the last stretch.
• If you're doing a data migration, the earlier you can get a sample of data to the vendor, the better. This gives them time to look out for any gotchas they might need to prepare for.
• Establish clear timelines. Get a timeline from the vendor with milestone dates that you'll both work toward - this helps keep you both accountable to each-other. We average about 6 weeks for implementation to be done, and this is largely due to having an organized implementation timeline.

Good luck!

Thank you for your thoughtful response. I'm particularly grateful that you highlighted the payment aspect. Moving forward, we will handle payments internally, eliminating the need to direct customers to our finance department. This change will significantly streamline our financial processes and resolve many of the complications we've encountered from involving multiple parties but since this portion of our transition is one of the biggest changes, I'm happy you touched on it.

 

[Emily C]

Hi!
As someone who recently went live with new software after being paper/scanner based, I can say it is a LOT to get used to, even with another person on board.

Okay, where do I even start....

TEST. Test every scenario...someone who knows what they're doing, and of course someone who doesn't. Test every permit type you build. Do you *really* need to ask all the things you're asking? Do you want separate file submittals or one packet?

Make how to's for your internal and external customers. Make it easy to comprehend, and have someone who is not familiar with the process go through the steps.

Have a backup plan in case the software decides to not work effectively for a week or more. Communicate with your team and with those waiting on permits.

If I think of more, I'll add more, but coupled with what was said above, I think it's covered.

 

[Debbie R]

I'm really glad I found this thread. This information is very helpful for the difficult process of transitioning from paper to electronic permitting. Thank you to John & Emily for sharing their insight.

 

[Alison Williams]

My City switched to Cloudpermit back in 2024, and for me there were a couple key takeaways from the transition process:

• Like Emily said above, test EVERY scenario you can come up with. For instance, try entering invalid answers in applications to make sure Cloudpermit rejects them as it should; try uploading attachments; try completely going through the review process, and try both passing and failing reviews; try setting up an account with a different email and applying from that account so you can see how the system and process look from the customer's perspective; try adding different fees and make sure they calculate correctly; try entering inspection results, both passing and failing; try requesting inspections. There are so many different parts of the system that need to work, and the more you test, the more issues you'll catch before going live, and the more experience you'll have in navigating the system.
• For Cloudpermit specifically, make sure you spend the time to set up the "Required forms, attachments and review configs" for each application type. Depending on how many types you have, this can take a large amount of time, but if you actually get it all set up how you want it, then the go-live process is so much smoother and the system just handles a lot of things that otherwise you would have to go in and manually add or tweak. In my case, I had to coordinate with the building official to figure out what most of the requirements should be, so it took a while to get it all hammered out, but it was so worth it once we went live.

 

[johnreynolds]

My City switched to Cloudpermit back in 2024, and for me there were a couple key takeaways from the transition process:

• Like Emily said above, test EVERY scenario you can come up with. For instance, try entering invalid answers in applications to make sure Cloudpermit rejects them as it should; try uploading attachments; try completely going through the review process, and try both passing and failing reviews; try setting up an account with a different email and applying from that account so you can see how the system and process look from the customer's perspective; try adding different fees and make sure they calculate correctly; try entering inspection results, both passing and failing; try requesting inspections. There are so many different parts of the system that need to work, and the more you test, the more issues you'll catch before going live, and the more experience you'll have in navigating the system.
• For Cloudpermit specifically, make sure you spend the time to set up the "Required forms, attachments and review configs" for each application type. Depending on how many types you have, this can take a large amount of time, but if you actually get it all set up how you want it, then the go-live process is so much smoother and the system just handles a lot of things that otherwise you would have to go in and manually add or tweak. In my case, I had to coordinate with the building official to figure out what most of the requirements should be, so it took a while to get it all hammered out, but it was so worth it once we went live.

Oh man, if all our customers did this for us, I'd be in heaven!!! I can tell, Alison, that you deserve a raise at wherever you work

 

[chasnr]

All new Permit Platforms should not require any separate forms to be filled out. Everything should be integrated in the portal. It drives me crazy when you have to fill out a separate permit application and have to then upload it to the portal. The only thing that should be required to be uploaded are plans or anything plan related for that specific project (Insurance, Licenses, Surveys, etc...).
In Anne Arundel County MD, they have a great portal where mostly everything is complted thru the portal. But, God For Bid you have a revision. At that point, they make you fill out a a separate permit application that has be be uploaded as a pdf. I guess it will take time for all jurisdictions to get totally integrated with today's technology.

 

[Eric]

Everything should be integrated in the portal. It drives me crazy when you have to fill out a separate permit application and have to then upload it to the portal.

I'm the opposite. I tend to only review the uploaded forms without looking much at the electronic entries (talking about Corps RRS here, not building permitting, but same idea...).

If you audited the amount of info permitting agencies request vs what actually gets used, I imagine you'd find ratios of something like 5:1, or higher, in a lot of cases. Generally speaking, there doesn't seem to be much motivation to streamline this aspect of the process. Info requirements tend to get added, not subtracted.