This discussion of Citizenserve e-Government Development Services is our response to a formal Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read on for more information about some of the Development Services features included in our e-government software solution. 1.3.1. Provide a simple diagram or outline of the permitting system process. The diagram should depict the end-to-end range of a permit lifecycle from the pre-application process, permit fees, plan review, building permit fees, issuing permits, inspections, through the final approval and certificate of occupancy. Our Response: Citizenserve Permits, licenses, case types, and file types are highly configurable. This flexibility is necessary as hundreds of jurisdictions…
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Online Zoning Software Q&A
Citizenserve offers Online Zoning Software as just one part of our cloud-based community development software. The following questions were included in a formal Permitting and Land Management System Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read our responses below for more information about some of the Zoning features included in Citizenserve's e-government software solution. 1.6 Zoning 1.6.1. Describe the solution’s capabilities to process citizen’s applications, track zoning, and land use processes. Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve planning and zoning software completely automates the process of application, review, routing, resubmittals, and public notification. Applicants can submit applications, attach plan documents, pay application fees, and view the status…
Electronic Plan Review Q&A
The following questions were included in a formal Permitting and Land Management System Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read our responses below for more information about Electronic Plan Review features included in Citizenserve's e-government software solution. And to see this feature in action, check out our Document Markup Tool on a PC video. 1.5 Electronic Plan Review 1.5.1. Describe your solution’s EPR capabilities. Please include how payments are made, the ability to automatically screen and route plans to the appropriate examiner, version management, archiving, and document recovery. Citizenserve Response: Contractors can submit documents on the online portal. Fees can be charged in…
Community Development Software Infrastructure
Learn more about Citizenserve's Community Development Software Infrastructure. The following questions were included in a formal Permitting and Land Management System Request for Information from a city of about 62,500 residents. Read our responses below for more information about the infrastructure behind Citizenserve's e-government software solution.
2.2 Infrastructure (Citizenserve is only offered as a Software as a Service solution)
2.2.1. Describe the infrastructure architecture for the network, end user devices (PC / Laptops), server, storage, and operating systems that comprise the solution. Include architectural diagrams.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required. End users can use any device and any browser to access the software.
2.2.2. Describe the data centers supporting the solution for the City of Redmond. Include location and the redundancy and high availability architecture design.
Citizenserve Response: The main data center is Iron Mountain in Phoenix. Data and application servers are replicated to an Iron Mountain facility in Edison, New Jersey. Data and application servers are replicated locally in the primary data center, so we don’t have to move to the secondary facility if there is a hardware failure.
If a server fails, we have a backup server. If the facility fails, we have a geographically diverse backup data center. If our data center provider fails, we have a standby facility capable of restoring operations in less than an hour.
2.2.3. Describe any WAN bandwidth requirements for connectivity between the City of Redmond’s network and the vendor.
Citizenserve Response: Any contemporary internet connection will work.
2.2.4. Describe any unique network requirements (LAN or WAN) for optimal operation of this solution.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a 100% browser-based software application and can be accessed from any desktop or mobile device.
2.2.5. Describe the network design requirements to ensure there are no latency issues.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a 100% browser-based software. Any contemporary data plan is sufficient to use the software. Performance is continually monitored regarding the software bandwidth and resource requirements to identify areas of improvement or bottlenecks.
2.2.6. Describe your solution’s backup protocol.
Citizenserve Response: Incremental backups or logs are made every 15 minutes and the logs are kept indefinitely so data can be restored to any point in time. Full backups are performed twice weekly and whenever a new version is released. Full backups are always test restored in read-only recovery mode to allow for logs to be restored if necessary to the backup copy. Database consistency checks are performed regularly with offline copies. At least one full copy is maintained per month for historical archiving.
The main data center is Iron Mountain in Phoenix. Data and application servers are replicated to an Iron Mountain facility in Edison, New Jersey. Data and application servers are replicated locally in the primary data center, so we don’t have to move to the secondary facility if there is a hardware failure.
If a server fails, we have a backup server. If the facility fails, we have a geographically diverse backup data center. If our data center provider fails, we have a standby facility capable of restoring operations in less than an hour.
2.2.7. Describe the RTO/RPO’s for restores.
Citizenserve Response: System Recovery Time Objective (RTO) on production servers for minor failures such as a server failure is less than one hour. RTO on production servers for major failures such as a data center failure is four hours. System Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is 15 minutes on application servers and database servers.
2.2.8. Provide an application and web services diagram illustrating the different components and functions of the solution. Include details on firewall requirements, servers, security, database integration, and software.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is a multi-tenant cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solution. No server hardware or software is required. End users can use any device and any browser to access the software.
2.2.9. Provide details on what browsers, browser versions are supported and what Windows operating systems are supported.
Citizenserve Response: Citizenserve is device and browser independent and can be used on any modern browser.
We offer integrated cloud-basedpermitting , licensing, development, code enforcement, and request tracking solutions. Your subscription also includes an online citizen portal. Keep exploring our site to find pricing information, to request your live demo, or to see how we can support your community development needs.
Visit Customer Profiles to see how our customers are putting our permitting software for governments to work for their communities.
Visit Yavapai County Community Development Innovates their Online Services to see how one Arizona County implemented citizenserve. And we hope you've learned more about Citizenserve's Community Development Software Infrastructure.