With Clariti’s Launch permitting software, the Township has improved permit application quality, reduced customer follow-up, and easily kept up with changes by making system updates in-house.

Tredyffrin Township, located just west of Philadelphia, is a primarily residential suburban community of around 32,000 people. Permitting is managed by a small team of five staff, with extra help from third-party plan reviewers and inspectors to keep up with demand.

Before Clariti

The township’s on-premise legacy system was only accessible through a VPN, which made it difficult for reviewers to collaborate or access up-to-date information while in the field. Staff also couldn’t make basic edits to the system without vendor support. “If we needed to make a simple change, we couldn’t do it,” said Erin McPherson, Director of Planning and Zoning. Every IT ticket was costing time and money.

The system didn’t support customers through the application process either, so staff were frequently following up with applicants for missing documents or to correct information. “Permit clerks were spending a lot of time chasing down applicants,” said Erin.

Background on Tredyffrin and their previous permitting system

The Solution

Tredyffrin’s implementation of Clariti Launch focused on residential and commercial permits, stormwater and grading, and built-in inspection scheduling. The system included the Clariti Guide, which walks applicants through a dynamic intake process that's specific to their project scope and requirements.

Erin walking through the Clariti Guide

With cloud-based access, staff no longer need to be in the office or on a VPN to work on applications. They can review, update, or assign tasks in real time – even from the field. And making updates to workflows is easier too. Staff don’t need to rely on a vendor for support.

Tredyffrin's back office

That kind of self-service configurability was a key factor in Tredyffrin’s choice of software. They wanted something that gave them more control over their own system, so they could continuously improve workflows and adjust to community needs in real time.

Erin editing a workflow in a few clicks

Results

Since going live with Clariti Launch, staff have seen an immediate improvement in submission quality. Rather than trying to figure it out on their own, applicants are now led through the exact steps they need to take upfront with the Guide, so it’s actually hard to make a mistake. Both parties can also see what’s been submitted and what’s still needed, so applicants don’t need to contact staff to check on the status of their application. It also gives a single source of truth to work from, so everyone stays on the same page.

Inspectors can also now work from tablets in the field, residents can track their applications without contacting staff, and contractors can make payments online – a simple change that they say has significantly sped up the process.

Time savings for contractors and third-party inspectors

Staff have also been doing less repetitive admin work. Templates for letters and messages have helped them respond more quickly and consistently, and the activity log makes it easy to see who sent what and when.

Being able to make updates right when they need to has been a huge benefit. And it’s even faster using Clariti’s cloning feature, Community Templates, which includes a library of thousands of other organizations’ pre-built workflows, permit types, rules, and steps they can replicate with a few clicks. They recently used it to create a new code violation form, made a few quick edits, and had it go live a couple of days later.

Tredyffin using Community Templates

Want to see how Tredyffrin configured their system? Watch this live product demo for a behind-the-scenes look, and see how you can use Community Templates to launch faster by copying their workflows.