"More than ever, government agencies are expected to operate with transparency and efficiency, while making it easier to do business with the public," said Maury Blackman, Accela President and CEO. "Agencies of all sizes will benefit from the new and enhanced capabilities of Accela Automation 7.3 as it provides the key benefits of social, mobile and cloud technologies while enhancing two-way communication between government and the citizens they serve."
COMMUNICATION MANAGER
Accela's communication management features have evolved into a powerful set of capabilities designed to improve communication and promote civic engagement by managing email, SMS text messaging and calendar integration. Accela Communication Manager includes:
- A consolidated Communication Manager console for a comprehensive view of all communications
- Microsoft Outlook integration enabled via Microsoft Exchange Server, which includes sending and receiving email communication to and from Accela Automation, checking availability of users for meetings or events via their Outlook calendars, and displaying scheduled Accela Automation tasks, activities, inspections or other information on a calendar
- The ability to send SMS text messages from an agency's SMS text message provider account
- An agency-level correspondence list to keep track of communications initiated from and received by Accela Automation, including emails, text messages and meeting invitations
- A record-level consolidated communication list containing a summary of emails, SMS text messages, meetings, activities, inspections, documents and workflow history applicable to each record
LOCATION-INTELLIGENT SEARCH CAPABILITIES
Most transactional records have a location component and Accela Automation 7.3 will include new technologies to make search via location more powerful than ever. Location-Intelligent Search will offer an efficient way to search for transaction records (permits, cases and work orders) near a location or within a boundary from the map viewer. Users can quickly search for and find records that are:
- Within the map extent (visible geographic area)
- Within a boundary (polygon)
- Near a selected feature (asset, parcel, GIS object)
Additionally, Soundex Search Support uses phonetic algorithms to account for misspellings, producing better search results when searching for records by contact name or address.
ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT REVIEW (EDR)
Accela Electronic Document Review leverages Adobe® Acrobat® XI Pro to provide extensive markup, commenting, electronic stamping and signature capability of documents in their native PDF format. Users can now select and compare two PDF documents (such as plans) using ComparA, a fully integrated a tool. There are two viewing modes included:
- Side-by-side display to view each selected PDF document, or individual page of a multi-page PDF document, in a synchronized side-by-side display
- Overlay display to view each selected PDF document, or individual page of a multi-page PDF document, in a transparent overlay with differences between documents automatically indicated with user-defined color coding.
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
Accela Automation currently offers functionality to manage meetings and activities using various calendars. These can be used to track hearings, inspections or other events. Accela Automation 7.3 features notable enhancements to calendar functionality that will provide additional tools for managing meetings, assignments and staff availability.
STREAMLINING PROCESSES
Accela Automation 7.3 offers the following updates to existing process functionality:
- Asset Management: For users adding cost items to work orders, auto-populate is now available for: Work Order Task, Type, Quantity, Date Start Time, End Time and All Day Event.
- Reporting: A new Ad hoc Reporting portlet is now available and provides access to the most commonly reported-on fields in the Accela database without needing to know database structures, tables or field names, giving users the ability to create reports and dashboards quickly and easily.
Accela is committed to civic engagement, and with Accela Automation 7.3 is providing agencies of all sizes with the benefits of social, mobile and cloud technologies while offering citizens and businesses access to online services. A more complete list of Accela Automation features may be found at: www.accela.com/platform/automation
About Accela
Accela, Inc. provides the leading civic engagement platform, powering thousands of services and millions of transactions daily for large and small public agencies worldwide. We connect government to people and accelerate and streamline land management, licensing, asset management, and public health and safety processes. Accela's Civic Cloud includes a complete platform, both packaged and tailored solutions and cloud-based, office, mobile and social applications to support government agency, business and citizen needs. Accela is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif., with international offices in Australia and the United Arab Emirates. For more information, visit www.accela.com.
Media Contact: Erica Harvill Accela, Inc. (925) 659-3270 Email Contact