Accela Customer Sign-in and Tracking Program

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2015

The Planning and Development department for Gwinnett County, GA, has heavy walk-in customer traffic – about 50,000 visits a year – since setting up a One Stop Shop approach that puts most permitting, plan reviews and inspections together under one roof. Previously, customers had to make separate visits to various departments in different locations to conduct their business with the County. Our initial solution to the problem of tracking customers was to use paper sign-in sheets, transferred by various staff members to a computerized spreadsheet to make real-time visitor information available throughout the department. But the system often froze up due to high volume and multiple users. In-house IT Systems Architect, John Cross, developed a new Customer Sign-in and Tracking module based on our newly installed Accela 7.3 permitting and inspection software platform. Within three months, we had a new, user-friendly, paperless system that benefits both customers and staff and tracks key metrics automatically for department reporting.