The Business Need
In tough economic time the onus is on local government to do more with less, maximising investments and increasing efficiency. Time consuming processes like planning applications generate excessive paperwork and take up a disproportionate amount of time.

The Solution
Ergo devised an Online Planning Submission System based on Microsoft SharePoint 2010. Deployed in weeks, it provides an end-to-end, automated solution that takes the pain out of the process, for citizens and council.

The Benefits
Applications are dealt with faster and more efficiently, relieving the council workload while improving the citizen experience. Once in the self-service system, documents are easily searched and retrieved. Subsequent queries and applications are followed up on email, taking postal costs out of the process.

The Business Need
Cork County Council has always recognised that its web site is an online entry-point for citizen interaction, helping it to achieve its public service obligations. When the right solutions are skilfully deployed on the site, they can significantly improve transactions, taking paperwork out of processes and increasing efficiencies for the benefit of citizen and council.

Planning and public consultations around local development are an administrative pain point suffered by every council in Ireland and Cork was no exception. When plans and consultation documents are uploaded to the web site, citizens are invited to review and submit a response as part of the public consultation process. Submissions are usually in the form of written letters or email. The number of responses can range from a handful to thousands of documents, depending on the project and the level of public interest.

The bulk of correspondence is usually delivered close to deadline, increasing the risk of bottlenecks, putting pressure on administrators. Email boxes can fill up and submissions bounce back. Written submissions run the risk of being misplaced or even lost.

This process was putting undue strain on Cork County Council’s Project Planning Unit.

The Solution
Ergo Software Solutions has come up with an affordable, easy-to-use solution that can be rolled out in weeks. The good news for Cork county Council is that Ergo built it using Microsoft SharePoint 2010, the document management and web portal software that it already owned under its Microsoft licensing agreement. Administration staff simply log in and use the system according to access controls that can be managed on a case-by-case basis.

At the other end of the process, on the council web site, members of the public simply click on the submissions panel. A drop-down menu will help them identify the consultation process that they want to address. They summarise their submission in a text box and attach up to five documents, including maps and photographs, to a maximum of 20MB. The form filling process is made easier with floating help boxes that explain what’s required.

At the backend, the council’s Project Planning Unit runs the self-service solution. For each consultation they choose fields from a pre-selected master list that is embedded in the software template. They configure the forms using static lists, setting a start and end date before uploading it to the web site.

After submitting the form and documents electronically, citizens receive an email confirmation from the council with a unique reference number for subsequent correspondence. Hard copy submissions can still be made and are entered into the system by council staff.

When the deadline has passed, the system automatically ensures that no more submissions are made, improving the control of the consultation process. All forms and documents are automatically fed through to the planning unit where they are collated and updated.

User roles are managed to ensure only relevant members of the Project Planning Unit have access to submissions. Extra fields, including a summary text box, let authorised staff adapt or paraphrase submissions while retaining original content. At the end of the process, submissions are locked to prevent further alterations.

Self-service is an important aspect of the system. Administrators can create new submission forms in minutes using the templates, adding and removing fields quickly and easily.

Submissions can subsequently be searched and retrieved using a number of criteria, including name and unique reference number. Content can be used to generate reports, exported to spreadsheets or inserted in documents. Because it is built on Microsoft SharePoint, the interface is familiar and intuitive, and integrates easily with other office applications.

Cork’s Online Planning Submission System is a proven solution that addresses all these problems and brings new benefits to enhance the planning/consultation process.