The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) is the second agency in the district to implement Accela Automation. The Department of Health is currently using Accela Automation as its inspection and permitting solution for enforcing community health and safety standards.
With Accela Automation, the DCRA will streamline procedures supporting its mission to protect the health, safety, economic interests, and quality of life for residents, businesses, and visitors in the district by issuing licenses and permits, conducting inspections, enforcing building, housing, and safety codes, regulating land use and development, and providing consumer education and advocacy services.
It is anticipated that DCRA staff in multiple divisions including accounting, building, community development, zoning, licensing, GIS, IT/IS, permitting, and the clerk/treasurer’s office will benefit from the web-based system.
Three additional Accela solutions will also support DCRA’s mission. The first of these, Accela GIS, seamlessly integrates with Accela Automation to provide real-time visual analysis to enhance land-use, zoning, and infrastructure data. It allows creation of multiple map layers, automated map analysis, parcel and asset inventory management, direct editing of GIS data or files, and auto-distribution of information to mailing lists. It is built on the ArcIMS platform by ESRI.
Secondly, Accela Citizen Access provides real-time, direct access via the internet to the agency’s permit and land management activities. Online permit applications can be configured to allow citizens and businesses access to apply and pay for permits, schedule inspections, check the status of a permit or inspection, or print an approved permit directly from the internet, 24/7.
The third addition, Accela Wireless, is a mobile government software application that allows government staff to perform their jobs from the field for inspections, code enforcement, work orders, and service requests. Optimized for Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, Accela Wireless is compatible with PDAs, laptops, and tablet PCs running on the Microsoft Pocket PC, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating systems.
Accela Automation replaces a legacy system from Hansen Information Technologies that had previously been selected by the DCRA.
