SALINAS PERMIT SERVICES CENTER | CALIFORNIA

“We had microfiche, paper, and existing digital documents that we wanted digitized and easily retrievable from a central repository. BMI offered the full solution, including scanning and the hosted application.”

– Kristy Parker | Permit Center Coordinator

OVERVIEW

The Salinas Permit Services Division preserves public safety by ensuring that both residential and commercial building projects are built according to applicable building codes, city ordinances and state laws. The Permit Services Division is comprised of permit clerks, plan check staff and building inspectors that seek to provide timely intake, review and inspection of all private development projects to help stimulate community development and growth.

The Division was heavily reliant on microfiche, paper and unstructured digital files as a means to archive and store permit plans and other information. Permit Services had a desire to digitally convert these assets and centrally store them but it took a few years to generate the required budget.

Kristy Parker, Permit Services Coordinator, states “We met with BMI prior to any funds becoming available. We kept in touch and were impressed with BMI’s comprehensive offering to scan microfiche, paper and existing digital records into a single, hosted repository.”

CHALLENGES

  • Single microfiche copy offered no disaster recovery solution
  • Inability to easily retrieve permit plans, structural calculations and inspection results across microfiche; digital files stored on zip drives; paper archives

BMI PRODUCTS & SERVICES

  • 50,000 microfiche and paper permit records converted at BMI facility
  • Existing digital records migrated into Digital ReeL application
  • All records hosted at BMI’s secure data center and replicated off-site
  • Digital ReeL Web-based app offers central repository for all information

BENEFITS

  • Disaster recovery requirements met with multiple record copies stored in Sunnyvale and Sacramento
  • Fast search and retrieval from the web enables staff to provide timely service to citizen requests