City of Raleigh
The City of Raleigh Achieves a Measurable Return on Investment by Using Iron Data's CAVU Software to Automate Business Licensing Administration


Executive Summary
For the City of Raleigh's Revenue Services Division, replacing its failing legacy licensing system wasn't an option – it was a necessity. After purchasing CAVU, a browser-based licensing and regulatory management solution, the return on investment was measurable in cost savings, time savings and customer convenience.

Agency Overview
The City of Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, and one of the fastest growing areas in the country. A great economy, top educational institutions and outstanding health care facilities are some of the area's attributes. The Revenue Services Division within Raleigh's Finance Department is responsible for business licensing and processing of payments that come into the City, including water and sewer utility payments. The Division also handles the City's accounts receivable and manages mailroom functions.

Business Challenge
Services Division was driven by necessity. The Division's failing legacy system was operating on an outdated platform that was no longer supported. Initially, the Revenue Manager directed the City's IT department to develop a custom licensing system. But when he retired, the new Revenue Manager, Robin Rose, halted that effort. Robin knew there were suitable solutions on the market that would provide more functionality than the City could develop in-house.

When preparing a request-for-proposal (RFP), Robin, who is now the Finance Department's Deputy Chief Financial Officer, outlined the Division's requirements. A highly-configurable solution that didn't require extensive City IT support and could license based on gross receipts, variable rates, or flat fees was paramount. "Businesses in our state are taxed in a variety of ways, with many restrictions and exemptions," she states. "We needed the flexibility to configure a system to meet current business licensing rules and future changes mandated by state law."
Integration with the Division's iNovah cashiering system was also vital. "With our legacy system," Robin explains, "we were entering payments twice: in our business license system to update customer accounts, and on the cashiering side to deposit payments into the bank. We wanted to eliminate that duplicate data entry." Other requirements included electronic image capture and approvals to reduce paper filing and storage, a Web-based interface to extend access to the system beyond the Division and ease-of-use for staff and customers.

Iron Data Solution
After evaluating RFP responses, the Division purchased CAVU, a browser-based licensing and regulatory solution operating on a SQL database. CAVU offered the ideal mix of functionality and configurability. "Most businesses are taxed on gross receipts, but some pay a flat rate and others are taxed on a range, like the number of seats in a café or the number of rooms in a hotel," Robin says. "Although our tax structure is complex, CAVU made it simple to manage."

Extracting the Division's data from the legacy system was no small task. So, while the City's IT department tackled data conversion, Robin's staff focused on the configuration and setup of CAVU. "It didn't take long to configure CAVU, and our Division's functional systems administrator handled the configuration without help from IT," she says. "The CAVU staff was always there to provide assistance. They helped us outline our business processes, set up data mapping and test our configuration. They kept us moving through each stage of the implementation."

Results for the City of Raleigh
In May 2007, the Division went live on CAVU. Processing new business licenses has never been easier. When an application is received, the details are entered in CAVU. The payment is recorded in the iNovah cashiering system, which automatically updates the customer's record in CAVU. And when a license is issued, instead of filing a printed copy, the image is stored electronically for on-demand retrieval and re-printing.

Many of Raleigh's licensees have multiple credentials, such as ice cream, knives and video movies, associated with a single business license. "In our state," Robin explains. "A department store that sells all of these things could end up with separate renewals for each credential." To simplify the renewal process, CAVU created a custom function that groups credentials under a single license. "This saves printing and mailing costs, and is a nice customer convenience because businesses receive just one renewal to pay," Robin states.

Annual business license renewal processing used to overwhelm Division staff. With a back-log of renewals to manually enter and a steady stream of customers waiting to pay renewal fees in person, two summer interns were hired to help. Now, licensees commonly renew by mail. A payment entered in iNovah automatically updates CAVU and generates the customer's license. "With CAVU," Robin states, "renewal season has become a non-event. We no longer hire summer interns, which saves us about $10,000 a year."

In addition to saving the City money and expediting renewal processing, CAVU allows Division staff to spend more time on regulatory functions, like discovery and audit efforts to uncover unlicensed businesses, which ultimately generates more revenue. "We've experienced a significant growth in the number of businesses in our area," Robin states, "and we've been able to handle that growth while reducing our staff resources. The increased efficiency we have realized from CAVU is tremendous. It's the biggest benefit we have received from the system."

CAVU's ease-of-use and process automation translate into better service for the City's businesses. "We recently received a letter from a new licensee praising us for eliminating the red tape and bureaucracy that are typical when dealing with governments," Robin states. "He said it was actually easy to license his business here."

Looking Forward
After the Division's initial successes with CAVU, the staff is looking forward to rolling out additional functionality. Expanding workflow to include fire and other inspections, zoning/occupation permits and police approvals will further improve application processing times. Adding new license types into the system is also on the agenda. Bringing pet tag licensing in-house, for example, will save current outsourcing costs. Adding online self-service is also being considered.

"Our relationship with Iron Data has been outstanding," Robin states. "And whether we measure the value of our CAVU investment in dollar savings, time savings or customer convenience, the return has been tremendous. The City is currently implementing an enterprise wide financial system that offers business licensing functions. Although we looked at that system, it didn't come close to meeting our requirements. CAVU meets and exceeds the licensing needs of local governments and is one of the best systems I have personally used."