Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah, has adopted an online business offering by Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 to encourage business growth and reduce power consumption.
Microsoft has said that Salt Lake City has reduced time to gain permit approval by up to 50% by moving its building permit process to the Web.
Salt Lake City has a metropolitan-area population of 1.1 million. The city employs about 3,000 people.
After the dip in construction and business development in Salt Lake City during recession, the city’s complex, manual system was discouraging to new business growth and expansion of existing operations in the city, said Microsoft.
Salt Lake City took its system online by building an integrated database on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.
The city began offering a Web-based interface that could be accessed by staff members, elected officials, business developers and the public.
The online system is expected to help Salt Lake City employees and customers drive an estimated 360,000 fewer miles, print 512,000 fewer pounds of paper and release 2,300 fewer pounds of hydrocarbons into the air each year, said the company.
Avolve Software also worked with the city and the permitting software provider to create a seamless integration and automated workflow process.
Salt Lake City director of Building Services Orion Goff said the city had to modernise its process to boost business development.
Goff added, "We decided to move the whole system online to integrate departments, make the permit process easier and help reduce our carbon footprint."
