Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

Having already developed a track record to reduce the turnaround period on delivery of public services in big countries, a workflow automation system, developed by the Canada-based CSDC Systems Inc, is being adopted by two parish council bodies here to speed up the processing of development applications.

After some delay, the Applications Management and Data Automation (AMANDA) system was activated on November 30 at the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation and the Manchester Parish Council, four years after it was first introduced at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) in 2005.

US$100,000 software

The introduction of the system was tied to a mandate to reduce the waiting time for development permit approvals. The intent was to open the system to all agencies required to sign off on plan approvals. That typically includes water authorities, road agencies, the councils, and others, but instead, AMANDA's deployment has been confined to the local planning authorities in Mandeville and the capital because of the cost involved.

Others may follow later, however, once resources are identified.

The software was bought for US$100,000 and has been been used to manage workflow for environmental permits, environmental licences, beach licences, air-quality licences, planning applications and subdivision applications.

The basic system bought has had to be coded by local information-technology engineers to suit specific local needs.

Public education and community outreach officer with NEPA, George Davis, said that while entities such as NEPA and parish councils are guided by the 90-day timeline for the approval process, even with the help of the new software, not all applications are being processed within the three-month period.

"Some will be done under 90 days and some beyond the 90-day timeline, depending on the complexity, such as those which require an environmental impact assessment," he said.

But he maintained that the system remained an effective workflow-management tool, which enables the identification and tracking of all steps in the process.

"It serves as a management tool to track what is happening with each application and to identify areas in the process that may be creating a backlog."

Land development

According to information posted on the website of the developers of the technology, the AMANDA platform is already in use in Orange County, Florida, for the automation and streamlining of land-development reviews, the granting of permits, building-code enforcements and licensing.

In the state of Ohio, public-health inspection and certification is being made more efficient through the use of the product.

NEPA is reporting that since the system's Jamaican introduction four years ago, it has helped to streamline applications for development projects in every sector of the economy, with more than 8,000 applications processed since then.

Now that the Government has given a commitment to reducing the waiting time for project approvals to not more than 90 days, rolling out the system in the parish councils under the guidance of NEPA appears targeted to help achieve this undertaking.

The timeline for the roll-out in other parishes has not yet been determined by the Government, according to NEPA officials.

Applications for environment permits and environment, beach and air-quality licences are submitted directly to NEPA, while planning and subdivision applications are submitted to local authorities or parish councils, which then refer them to NEPA for the advice of the government town planner or the Town and Country Planning Authority.

The AMANDA system will now be used to fast-track applications through parish councils for permits, licences, as well as planning and subdivision decisions pertaining to housing, manufacturing, the construction of cellular towers, and specific commercial activities, such as gas-station operations.

The software also facilitates online tracking of applications.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com