Board of Review Digital Appeals Processing System (DAPS)

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The Cook County Board of Review (BOR) is the largest real estate assessment appeal board in the United States, playing a vital role in calculating the $13 billion collected from Chicago and Cook County taxpayers. Prior to 2015, the BOR processed appeals through a paper-based system. Every appeal was manually analyzed and managed. Previously, the BOR stored more than 10 million paper pages. The paper system was slow, inefficient, and lacked transparency. The volume of appeals processed by BOR has dramatically risen 350% over the last decade. If BOR was going to maintain a fair and timely review of appeals while responding to this growing volume, new technology and business processes were necessary. Through a 4-year process with a 15-month implementation, BOR transformed its paper-based system to a Digital Appeals Processing System (DAPS). DAPS is an enterprise content management system, which created an online portal for constituents and an internal digital workflow for analysis. Taxpayers can now file appeals, upload evidence, and view results online. The system's new digital workflow allows staff to review and decide appeals electronically. DAPS allows management to establish metrics and base decisions on a data-driven work process. The DAPS project finished under budget and on time. In year one, the BOR reviewed 476,000 appeals-the most ever. BOR would not have completed its review on time without DAPS. DAPS eliminated over 2 million pieces of paper, reducing space needs and saving storage costs. DAPS shortened the wait times for taxpayers requesting hearings. Even with a record number of appeals, DAPS allowed BOR to keep its headcount and budget static. DAPS has allowed the BOR to shift from managing the transportation and storage of paper to our primary responsibility: adjudicating appeals.