3 Ways Planners Can Help Build a More Future-Focused Community

In an ever-changing world, it's easy to feel like you're playing catchup due to outdated or cumbersome planning processes that cause delays in issuing permits. Planning professionals should stay on the lookout for solutions that empower them to focus on the work that improves their communities.

Digital solutions streamline and empower communities

By leveraging digital government solutions, there are three ways governments can build more connected, future-focused communities.

1. Create Efficient Workflows

Permitting and planning workflows of the past could be arduous, both before and after approval. Residents and contractors had to travel to town offices to file paper forms, which took time to review and approve and took up valuable storage space. Additionally, employees in the field had to keep track of forms in the field and make return trips to the office between visits to job sites.

Using a digital solution can streamline workflows with tools such as mobile applications and online portals for residents, resulting in both time savings and a positive environmental impact from paperless forms and fewer trips to the town office. By alleviating cumbersome, paper-based processes and office visits, local governments can work towards measurable goals, like having 15% of all homes to be affordable for low, moderate-, and middle-income households by 2035.

With efficient and scalable workflows, planning professionals can be better prepared for future community growth without having to change processes on the fly or rapidly bring on additional workers.

2. Increase Transparency in the Planning Process

Planning processes in the pre-digital era tended to be opaque to both citizens and officials due to their paper-based nature. Documents would be locked away in offices with limited accessibility and required travel to a specific location to view records.

Cloud-based solutions offer unparalleled access, breaking down geographic barriers by eliminating trips to the planning office and giving users a greater sense of agency and ownership in the planning process. A self-service portal can offer residents easy access to applications, inspection requests, payments, and more. The paperless workflow of a modern permitting and licensing solution optimizes data flow through the planning process and provides improved oversight via digital documents. All these factors combined to reduce the administrative workload for a Texas town, which saw a 25% decrease in call volume after implementing an online portal for citizens to track requests for permits.

A central hub for data and communication can help alleviate the opacity of the planning process with real-time updates and easier access to data. This increased transparency fosters a greater sense of engagement in the community and empowers citizens, making them feel like true stakeholders. Having user-friendly digital processes prepares communities for a younger generation, who may prefer to do business online instead of in person or over the phone.

3. Prepare for Extreme Circumstances

A large part of being future-focused is being prepared for all possibilities. Whereas paper systems or physical servers can be damaged or destroyed, a cloud-based solution provides security and reliability in the event of a catastrophe.

A cloud-based permitting and licensing solution provides local governments with the ability to meet community planning and development demands more seamlessly because it meets its customers where they are — online.

A cloud-based solution, which receives regular updates, keeps municipalities ahead of the technological curve with ever-increasing software capabilities, ensuring communities will be ready for any future challenge that comes their way.

The Right Solution for a Bright Future

With the right planning solution, any community can be prepared for the future with scalable software that increases efficiency and transparency. By streamlining processes, the administrative workload is lightened, and citizens gain ownership of the plan review process.

ABOUT THE CONTENT AUTHOR AND SPONSOR: Tyler Technologies

Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) provides integrated software and technology services to the public sector. Tyler's end-to-end solutions empower local, state, and federal government entities to operate more efficiently and connect more transparently with their constituents and with each other. By connecting data and processes across disparate systems, Tyler's solutions are transforming how clients gain actionable insights that solve problems in their communities. Tyler Technologies' client base includes more than 15,000 local government offices in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia, and other international locations.