PIERCE COUNTY

PLANNING AND LAND SERVICES

Dennis Hanberg, Director


CREATING THE BEST PERMITTING
AGENCY
IN THE STATE (BPA)
PAST FUTURE

PRESENT
FIRST 3 YEARS OF BPA:
INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGY
Convenience E-Payment
Time Saver E-Notify
Online questions
Email responses
Ask a Permit Tech
Building Permits & Land Use
Actions
On-line Submittal
GIS Based About
My Property


RESULTS TO DATE:
25% fewer people coming into the
Development Center. ( 3,500 people)
Average Customer Contact times
reduced from 90 minutes to less
than 20 minutes

TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD

TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
Initial Goals:
Eliminate Duplicate Entry
Not Enough Inspectors (?)
Printers were about to die
Increase efficiencies
Too Many Inspections. . .
Not enough Inspectors. . .


TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
Improvement Goals:
Eliminate Duplicate Entry
Printers were about to die
Increase efficiencies
Too Many Inspections. . .
Not enough Inspectors. . .


TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
Improvement Goals:
Eliminate Duplicate Entry
Printers were about to die
Too many Inspections and not
enough InspectorsAs We Get
Busy

TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
Challenges:
Staff
Average Age: 57
Average Years of Insp. Ex: 20
94% Male
Computer Literacy
2 did not know how to turn off their existing
desktops
5 did not have home computers
4 did not have any personal credit cards
Only 1 (34 yr old) had a smart phone or had
ever touched an IPAD

TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
Approach
Communicate well in advance:
That we were developing a Field
Module
That it will involve a lot of new
technology
Provide the IPADS at least one month in
advance of launch
Give staff a basic tutorial
Give staff games to play




TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD


TAKING TECHNOLOGY TO THE
FIELD
After
One Month
of
Practice
Staff Concluded . .
.

F
i
e
l
d

M
o
d
u
l
e






AFTER TWO DAYS:
Internet
Connection
No printed
Comments
People dont have
Smart phones
Buffering System
Promote E-Notify
(sign up at time of
application)
Left Written
Comments
Concern Solution

THINGS OUR INSPECTORS LIKE:
Easy Photo Hanging straight to
file and emailing to Client
Plans reviewed from I pad

THINGS OUR INSPECTORS LIKE:
Easy Photo Hanging straight to file
and emailing to Client
Plans reviewed from I pad

THINGS OUR INSPECTORS LIKE:
Easy Photo Hanging straight to file
and emailing to Client
Plans reviewed from I pad
Sorting and Mapping your Day


IT SAVES PAPER
171,000 SHEETS PER YEAR

UNPLANNED BENEFITS
Working in Live-time allows for two
inspections on same day
Emailing comments and photos to
customers
A picture is worth 1,000 words
Faster responses to comments

PALS BUILDING OFFICIAL

He is
Everywhere!
ORIGINAL GOAL
Save Time: Single Data Entry. . .
45 minutes per inspector per day
Resulta minimum of 1 more
inspection per inspector per day
Net Gain: 70 more inspections
per week.> 3,500 per year!

RESULTS AFTER 4 MONTHS:
No change in number of
Inspections per inspector.


ON-LINE VIDEO SKYPE
INSPECTIONS

SAVES TIME ON SINGLE TRAVEL

Crystal Mountain! A short 3 Hour Round
Trip

ADVANTAGES:
Convenience for customers
No waiting for inspectors
Small inspections handled
quickly
Convenience to the County in
reduced trip Time


WORD OF CAUTION:
CONCLUSIONS:
Was implementation hard to achieve?

CONCLUSIONS
Would I change anything on how we
implemented?
NO. . . But
Could not have succeeded without:
IT
Proactive Training Plan
GREATalbeit Reluctant Inspectors
AND WHAT DO THE INSPECTORS
SAY?
Its Okay
I like it but I am not sure Bob
does
Its REALLY GREAT..
but dont tell anybody I said that.