{"id":1402,"date":"2016-01-13T05:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/industry\/blog\/uncategorized\/rhode-island-epermitting-initiative\/"},"modified":"2023-07-03T11:48:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-03T18:48:16","slug":"rhode-island-epermitting-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/government\/2016\/01\/13\/rhode-island-epermitting-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhode Island leads the nation with statewide ePermitting initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Rhode Island may be our smallest state\u2014but it\u2019s leading the country in a big way.<\/p>\n
Microsoft CityNext<\/a> is proud of our partner ViewPoint Government Solutions<\/a> for implementing the nation\u2019s first single statewide online permitting initiative. According to Alex Pajusi, ViewPoint\u2019s chief technology officer, Rhode Island \u201csaw that ePermitting could be best achieved when an entire state bands together.\u201d The result is the Azure-powered ViewPoint Cloud<\/a>, which puts permitting and licensing online, making it accessible anywhere, anytime, from any device.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last July, ViewPoint and Rhode Island signed a contract and began configuring ViewPoint Cloud to meet the needs of 10 pilot municipalities (Cranston, Pawtucket, Newport, Warwick, North Kingstown, West Warwick, North Providence, Westerly, North Smithfield and Woonsocket) as well as the office of the State Fire Marshal and State Building Code Commissioner. \u201cWe were able to go from contract signing to first go-live in just six months,\u201d Alex said, adding that Phase One is scheduled to roll out Feb. 1 and will focus primarily on trades permits (building, fire, electrical, mechanical, plumbing).<\/p>\n Alex credited Rhode Island\u2019s ePermitting innovation and success thus far to \u201cstatewide leadership and competent project management,\u201d specifically acknowledging Rhode Island Chief Digital Officer Thom Guertin and the Municipal Advisory Council on Statewide Permitting. \u201cePermitting is a new idea\u2014only about a quarter of municipalities in the country offer any kind of ePermitting,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis is the first time that a state has built a single online permitting platform, with the goal of streamlining the permitting process across all communities.\u201d Mayor Donald Grebien of Pawtucket, chairman of the Municipal Advisory Council on Statewide Permitting, noted: “We are creating a more business-friendly atmosphere in Rhode Island, which will ensure that high-value construction projects are protected from the needless and excessive building permit process.\u201d<\/p>\n Another unique aspect of Rhode Island\u2019s implementation: looking at every step of the permitting process to see how it can be improved. \u201c(Rhode Island is) examining every aspect of that workflow to ensure they\u2019re applying best practices,\u201d he said. \u201cThis serves as a real model initiative for the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhode Island\u2019s new ePermitting system will transform today\u2019s manual, paper-based process. \u201cThe goal is to provide a citizen access portal\u2014a website\u2014where constituents in Rhode Island can go online and apply for, pay for and track trades permits from beginning to end,\u201d Alex said. The ViewPoint Cloud platform also can extend to encompass everything from online licensing to vital records (birth and death certificates). \u201cAll of these citizen services at city hall can be automated with our platform,\u201d he said, adding that Providence, an enthusiastic early adopter of the project, is working to automate licenses and vital records in the first half of 2016.<\/p>\n The ViewPoint platform is built on the \u201cbest-in-class security and reliability\u201d of Microsoft Azure, Alex said. \u201cI want to emphasize how important the Azure platform plays into (ViewPoint Cloud). Azure allowed us to quickly move from an on premise\u00a0application to the cloud. Enough can\u2019t be said about how important Azure played into this strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During the month of February, ViewPoint will take an incremental approach to implementing the new ePermitting system in the 10 pilot municipalities and two state agencies. While the roll out is one of the fastest of its size, Alex reinforced \u201cwe\u2019ll make sure each municipality becomes successful.\u201d<\/p>\n After that, the rest of Rhode Island\u2019s cities and towns will have their own timing to move off legacy systems and onto the statewide ePermitting platform. \u201cWe\u2019ve had several meetings with representatives of every municipality in the state; they\u2019re incredibly excited about this,\u201d Alex said. As is ViewPoint Government Solutions: \u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to bringing ViewPoint Cloud to more and more communities around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff Friedman is Microsoft\u2019s eGovernment Director in the State and Local Government Solutions Group. He was most recently the Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Mayor\u2019s Office of New Urban Mechanics for Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. Previously, Friedman was the Manager of Civic Innovation & Participation in the Mayor\u2019s Office. He led various initiatives to make city government (and urban governance generally) more open, participatory, transparent, entrepreneurial, and innovative. Previously, Friedman was Chief of Staff to the Chief Technology Officer in the Division of Technology, and before that he was Deputy Director of Performance Management\/Implementation Manager for Philly311 in the Managing Director\u2019s Office. Prior to joining city government, Friedman consulted to state, local, and county governments across the nation at Public Financial Management, a national consultancy. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Temple University.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Jeff Friedman, eGovernment Director, Microsoft<\/h3>\n