OpenGov Permitting & Licensing Erfahrungen

Best software implementation I have ever experienced in local government

Kommentare: It has been, hands down, by far the best software implementation that I have experienced in my sixteen years in local government. This product didn't just provide a new permitting platform, it significantly improved our operations and lessened the time necessary to review permits for our customers. It dramatically increased the number of online permit applications we receive, and resulted in a 10x increase in the number of electronic payments.

Vorteile:

The ease of use and obvious care that was put into the user interface and user experience. Both the back end and customer facing portions of this software are very easy to use. Employees were essentially able to train themselves with very minimal direction on how to navigate Viewpoint, and customers were wowed by the use of use that encouraged them to submit applications to us electronically and make electronic payments.

Nachteile:

When we first implemented Viewpoint nearly three years ago the product was young in its maturity and we had to make some compromises because of its somewhat limited functionality. Viewpoint has evolved a lot in the last three years, however, and we have found that the benefits of the overall product far outweigh any remaining issues.

Excellent Software with Ease of Use for All!

Kommentare: This software has allowed us to go completely paperless, has streamlined the permitting process, cut down on foot traffic into the office as well as phone calls checking on the status of permits. Customer Service has been very good, always quick to respond.

Vorteile:

This software is very easy to use and set-up. It has helped streamline our permitting process and has allowed better interaction with our applicants. Contractors love this software due to it's ease of use and that they no longer have to make it to our offices to pull apply for permits, they can now easily do it from their home and/or office.

Nachteile:

Would like to see the attachments revamped to allow for folders to be added or renaming of files easier. When you have a large project sometimes attachments can be confusing to the office and to the applicant. Would also like to see the fees for applicants be connected, so you don't have to go into each application and change the same fee type, this is very time consuming.

Very disappointed with Cloud based system

Kommentare: I was on the team to review new permitting software for the City of Portsmouth about 5 years ago. After reviewing multiple systems and having an onsite demo we all picked Viewpoint as the number 1 choice This was before it was a web based program since one of the requirement in the RFP was in could not be a cloud based program. For some reason the city decided not upgrade at that time. The City then decided to go with Viewpoint Cloud without consulting with the original team. In my opinion the cloud based system was a major step backwards. Also I think there are much better cloud base permitting systems available.

Vorteile:

As a plumbing mechanical inspector I like the fact that we can schedule the inspection in the system and when I leave the job I can record inspection results in my vehicle on tablet. Saves a lot of time on recording manually or returning to office and entering into system. I like the fact that all communication is done in the permit and the results can be shared with other inspectors by using the @.

Nachteile:

The integration with Outlook is terrible. It creates another calendar that cannot be edited to add appointments not related to Viewpoint inspection and you can not customize the amount of time for an inspection. It schedules to 1/2 hr. and some inspections we schedule are for 1hr. Also once an inspection is scheduled you can not schedule another inspection for that permit until you sign of on the scheduled inspection. Some contractors would like to schedule multiple inspection for the same permit at once. The contractor database should be built into the software and not an add on. There is a problem with running reports. I did contact support months ago and was told that it is an issue with the system but it still has not been resolved. Better reporting was one of the main reasons we purchased the system

Excellent Choice

Kommentare: Our implementation went very smoothly, and the interface was both simple and intuitive. The team does a nice job of adding functionality on a regular basis.

Vorteile:

The flexibility of the design allows us to customize our request forms, workflows, and screens to fit our requirements. And it allows us to adapt the process and adjust as new requirements emerge.

Nachteile:

I didn't buy stock in the company from the jump.

Review

Kommentare: I really like the processes with ViewPoint from Plan Review down to Inspections. I like how all pertinent information is captured in the system and I like the look.

Vorteile:

Value and ease of use. The software is intuitive and my staff and most customers like it.

Nachteile:

Lacks obvious functionality when it comes to email addresses. Limiting a permit to only one email address creates a lot of problems for customers and staff. Critical users cannot see their inspection results.

Marc Tate - Westerly RI

Kommentare: We were part of the State of Rhode Island push to have an online E-permitting system. This allowed us to take online submissions and credit card payments. It has cut down our data entry time and provided public access to our information.

Vorteile:

Being a SAAS product is the best feature of the software

Nachteile:

Very limited reporting options - AN EXPORT TO EXCEL IS NOT A REPORT - I had to write a program so that my users were not recreating reports every day. Viewpoint, like every other permitting program I have ever used, should have basic canned reports that could be run as needed.

Town of Wellesley

Kommentare: The overall experience has been positive but there are improvements that Viewpoint should make to improve the system.

Vorteile:

The program is very intuitive . It is easy to customize to how you want it to operate.

Nachteile:

The program needs cancelled/void, expired choices for permits. The program needs to allow multiple people on a permit. The Building Code allows licensed designee's. Viewpoint should do the same. The reporting function needs to be improved. Hard to search all parameters that can arise from the Public and internally.

More Functionality

Kommentare: Mixed. The customer service is responsive which is key. The flow of the permit process is ok but needs streamlining in my opinion.

Vorteile:

Pleasant looking and pretty straight forward

Nachteile:

Too many steps to complete an inspection. I have thousands of inspections that the inspector did not realize had to be "completed" then "completed" again to close out that step, if applicable. Editing our building permit that is printed out has been a nightmare to edit. Cannot resize. User-unfriendly. Have to use code language. Would like sub-folders in attachments., not just one attachment per "box". In other words, if I have more than one set of plans. I would like to put them in a "plans" attachment with sub-folders of the various plans. The syncing to my email calendar does not appear to work either. I would like to schedule inspections around meetings, days off, etc without having to go back and forth from my Outlook calendar and viewpoint "Inspect" tab. We also want to have all property records online in View Point, not just permits. Having the functionality to organize records of all types in with the permits would be great. The inability to link more than one record to another in the Projects option is annoying too. Many of our larger ongoing projects have one overall building permit with multiple sub-permits. For example: a new commercial construction building will have 2 or 3 Building permits with several related permits that I want to link together. For example, there could be two or three electrical, plumbing, sheet metal, gas etc permits that, if linked somehow together would make is so much easier than to try to sort through which permit is with which.

Use and look through the software carefully in demo!!

Kommentare: At first you trust the company. as time goes by you lose faith in the company itself (not reliable and need to do things yourself) I get a feeling I know more of the software than the workers there.

Vorteile:

Able to mess with majority of the important functions on the forms myself without needed to go to support, Record/application is under your control, User Friendly, can store documents (limited to file size though), can access anywhere as long as you have a phone.

Nachteile:

stuff they say is not on product (hence title), expect to write a decent amount of tickets to support, pretty slow on resolving big issues (expect 2+ months), missing simple or fundamental options like giving renew button for applicant (have to go through a campaign, like what?), often document issuing problems, must know a little html language for document creation, "lesson for software" does not help at all (waste of money), expect your difficult questions in a zoom meetings ignored, "Roadmap ideas" take more than a half a year to complete (sometimes partial complete but it says complete), will ask you to be in meetings to say good things and not bad things for sales (basically using you)

Review from City Planner

Kommentare: Overall experience is good. Keeps the building permit approval process moving.

Vorteile:

Easy to use with relatively user friendly interface.

Nachteile:

Mapping functions are often off. Would be better if it was integrated into our GIS. It would also be nice to add pictures and plans directly to our comments. It would also be nice to label attachments and plans separately with the ability to preview documents. I am often having to download 10 plans before I get the one I need from the bulk attachments.

Unhappy in Connecticut

Kommentare: Unfortunately we went from very happy to very unhappy with the latest upgrade. We need someone from ViewPermit Cloud to come to North Haven and work with us - for just a few days - until we can resolve the issues we need.

Vorteile:

The original software our staff liked very much as the features were all customized and helpful and the support was in person and helpful.

Nachteile:

The 'upgrade' hasn't allowed North Haven to access the originally designed features and because it cannot secure in person visits form the software company, we cannot resolve our issues. We would love for someone from ViewPoint Cloud to come and spend a week with us like they did when the software first came out but no one wants to come and spend time with members of our users group.

Dog licensing for Town Govt

Kommentare: Allowed the community to register their dog themselves. And pay via credit card. The problem is that we have had some issues that came out of the blue. We were supposed to start a renewal campaign on 1/1/2020. The system, on it's own, switched the date to 1/2 (on 1/1) and then on 1/2, switched the date again to 1/3. All by itself. Recently, we've had more glitches in the system. Printing formatting changes (from no where). Reporting issues, etc... Not sure what changed.

Vorteile:

It takes credit cards and is available for community to use online

Nachteile:

Many glitches in the system. Because it was built for building permits, requires various work-arounds to make it work for dog licensing. Work-arounds are not technical solutions. For example, when a dog dies, needs to do several steps to stop the record. Also, there needs to more levels of rights for users. Currently, the administrator has to do alot of the work. Need a mid-level rights for users with a little more authority.

Positive Experience, Reporting needs flexibility

Kommentare: My overall experience has been positive. The user interface is simple and easy to understand. My main complaint is the lack of flexibility in the reporting feature.

Vorteile:

The ability to "tag" other employees on a permit and to customize each record type is great.

Nachteile:

The weakest part of this software is the reporting. The pre-defined categories are limiting and it would be more useful if each field of a record type was a reportable field.

Needs work

Vorteile:

I think the program has potential, but it’s not realized yet

Nachteile:

Too many issues with applying for permits which results in my department missing permit activity

Could be better

Vorteile:

I like the various features of maps and the intricate details

Nachteile:

It is not as user friendly as it could be. While some features work on some aspects the same feature may not work on another. Also I wish the maps were more interactive for route options.

Open Gov Citizen Services

Vorteile:

Product is easy to learn and use. Also the public are using it and love it which makes my job better.

Nachteile:

I cant think of anything that I do not like about the software.

ViewPoint Cloud Review

Vorteile:

I like how that you can customize almost everything to fit your needs, at least that I have seen so far. I am still implementing the software and in the set up stage. I like that it is accessible through the internet.

Nachteile:

I do not like that it has to be set up from the ground up essentially as far as the records and things go.

Viewpoint use

Kommentare: Easy to use, easy to teach others to use. One of the easier software packages to learn.

Vorteile:

This product is user friendly and very easy to use.

Nachteile:

Unable to add multiple "other inspections"

Use of ViewPoint Cloud

Kommentare: It is easy to use for our Municipality.

Vorteile:

It is very easy to use and very user friendly.

Nachteile:

Nothing - It is a great product for our town.

Software with Great Potential!

Vorteile:

I like that this software has the capabilities to do many different tasks pertaining to my job. I haven't been trained on all aspects of the software as of yet, but can already tell that it can be a very helpful tool. The screens are easy to navigate and read, which makes using the software that much better.

Nachteile:

Since I am unable to see what our citizens see on their end of the software, it makes it difficult for me to offer explanations of how to set up accounts, etc. Perhaps this has more to do with training in my particular workplace, but I can't seem to figure it out on my own.

?? Not sure how to answer this

Kommentare: Awesome!

Vorteile:

Easy to use, service team has been great to work with, great outward facing appearance.

Nachteile:

It is a bit expensive, but I think that's to be expected. We are getting what we pay for.

OpenGov Review

Vorteile:

Product is easy to use and great for the general pubic.

Nachteile:

Notifications should be add to help our building department deal with those applying for permits.

View Permit

Kommentare: The convenience of on-line permitting for contractors, developers and other customers allows us to provide 24/7 access. Payments are much more effective and timely.
The forms I previously mentioned and the training support have been less than desirable.

Vorteile:

The uniformity it brings to the task of permit issuance.

Nachteile:

Sign offs are clumsy and it does not easily adapt to regulations or requirements for Massachusetts. We have spent inordinate amount of time developing forms in-house.

Code

Kommentare: It is very helpful to write comments and check it later before submitting it.

Vorteile:

It is very helpful to write comments and check it later before submitting it.

Nachteile:

Editing sometimes is not easy. I wish it has grammar check option.

Great Product

Vorteile:

This product made scheduling and inspecting permits much easier than our last product

Nachteile:

It is hard to attach a drawing or picture to inspection permit