Leslie Wright - The Process Improvement Project

Summary

Leslie Wright discusses the digital transformation undertaken with the e-permitting platform in Windsor. Historically, municipalities lagged in adopting digital technologies, continuing with paper processes despite advances in other sectors. COVID-19 accelerated the shift towards digital platforms, encouraging municipalities to catch up by replicating paper processes digitally and improving efficiency. The transition aimed to streamline operations, reduce redundant tasks, and enhance communication within the municipal team and with the public. The approach emphasized considering both municipal and applicant perspectives, creating a comprehensive solution to benefit all stakeholders involved in process improvements.

Highlights

• Municipalities lagged behind in digital adoption, sticking to paper formats 📜
• COVID-19 accelerated digital transformation efforts 📈
• The e-permitting platform was created to streamline and reduce busywork 💻
• The new system improved internal communication and efficiency 📧
• Balancing the needs of both municipal and applicant perspectives was key ⚖️

Key Takeaways

• COVID-19 boosted the digital transition across municipalities 🦠
• Adopting e-permitting eliminated busywork 🔄
• Improved communication within and outside the municipality 🗣️
• Transformative digital platforms benefit both municipalities and applicants 🌐
• Understanding both sides of the process is crucial for effective transformation 🔍

Overview

In this fascinating exploration of digital transformation within municipalities, Leslie Wright unveils the strides made in Windsor with the e-permitting platform. For years, paper processes dominated despite technological advances elsewhere. However, the pandemic served as a catalyst, pushing municipalities to embrace digital solutions at an unprecedented pace.

The shift from paper to digital isn't just about changing formats—it's about enhancing efficiency and reducing redundant tasks. By redesigning the permit process, municipalities like Windsor are not only adapting to modern times but are also rethinking their workflows to eliminate unnecessary steps and improve overall productivity.

A crucial insight that Leslie shares is the importance of considering both sides of the user spectrum: the municipal internal processes and the applicant's experience. This dual focus ensures that the transition benefits everyone involved, from internal users handling the bureaucracy, to applicants who interact with municipal systems, thus creating a well-rounded, efficient process.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Digital Transformation The chapter introduces the concept of digital transformation, focusing on a specific case study of the e-permitting platform. It highlights the speaker's involvement in this digital transformation activity over the past few years, emphasizing that Windsor's experience with digital transformation is similar to that of other municipalities in Ontario, Canada, North America, and globally.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Challenges Faced by Municipalities This chapter discusses the challenges faced by municipalities in transitioning from paper-based systems to digital formats. Despite advancements in technology, municipalities were slow to adopt CAD (Computer-Aided Design) systems that consultants had been using for about 20 years prior. Consultants would produce their designs using digital tools and would then have to print the final results to hand over paper copies to municipalities, highlighting the delay in digital transformation at the municipal level.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Adoption The chapter discusses how COVID-19 has accelerated digital adoption across industries, particularly in North America. The pandemic has forced many sectors to adopt digital platforms more rapidly than they would have otherwise. This acceleration allows municipalities and other organizations to catch up with technological advancements more quickly. However, there is a belief that this process of digital adoption and transformation is still ongoing and is not yet complete.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Transition from Paper to Digital The chapter titled 'Transition from Paper to Digital' discusses the process of evolving and adapting traditional paper-based methods to digital formats. The focus is on updating the permit issuance, inspection, and reception systems to keep pace with industry advancements. The transition aims to align more closely with industry standards by adopting digital solutions, reflecting a broader movement towards digitalization in operations.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Improving Processes in Digital Environments The chapter discusses the evolution of processes in digital environments, emphasizing the need to adapt traditional methods to modern technology. It highlights the inefficiencies of old practices, such as passing paper documents through departments, and suggests they are obsolete in a digital context. The focus is on re-engineering processes to fit new digital capabilities, enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in operations.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Enhancing Communication and Collaboration The chapter discusses the importance of improving processes to enhance communication and collaboration. It highlights the inefficiencies caused by manual 'busy work' and the need for automation to increase effectiveness. The focus is on the role of code consultants who excel in their expertise when not burdened by unnecessary administrative tasks.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Benefits of Digital Transformation Chapter Title: Benefits of Digital Transformation Summary: This chapter discusses the shift away from 'busy work' and highlights improvements in communication and efficiency brought on by digital transformation. In the past, notes and communications were often handled through paper or basic computer entry, but now, digital tools allow for streamlined communication, such as follow-up emails and public messaging. This shift facilitates better information flow and reduces manual inefficiencies.
• 05:00 - 06:30: Designing for Both Applicants and Municipality The chapter discusses the integration of work environments to enhance efficiency. It explains how consolidating information into a shared environment allows team members to access each other's notes and project data, even when someone is unavailable due to circumstances like vacations. This integration avoids work delays, enabling communication and project management to continue seamlessly without waiting for specific individuals to return.

Leslie Wright - The Process Improvement Project Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 can you talk about the digital transformation activity that you've been involved in uh specifically the e-permitting platform that i think you've focused a fair bit of your timeline over the past few years right uh windsor isn't any different than any other municipality really in ontario canada or north america really the world
• 00:30 - 01:00 um municipalities um really didn't move very quickly out of the paper format so the you know consultants over the years and you know they're about 20 years ahead of municipalities they would they all transferred over to uh cad systems and would produce their designs and then the last step would be print it and hand the paper copy over to municipalities
• 01:00 - 01:30 so we really we're seeing now uh kovitz helped the industry because it's forced us to accelerate this otherwise it would be a slower process but in the last two years we've seen in north america huge jumps in in the digital platforms to allow municipalities to catch up and we're not i don't think we're done yet i think this is going to
• 01:30 - 02:00 evolve over the next decade at least to try and catch up to the industry side in that um so really our our process was to take what we did in in the paper days and reapply in a digital means to uh to issue permits do inspections and receive permits from the
• 02:00 - 02:30 the applicant side we also took it you know to the next step on this is that we said if we're going to do this then we're going to look at our processes and really adapt them to the new environment so you know passing a piece of paper from one part of the department to the other now we don't necessarily have to do that hand off in digital world so to
• 02:30 - 03:00 to maybe envision this in a more effective way not to duplicate what we did in paper but to to improve our processes and i looked at it as how much busy work could i get out of our lives um we're cult we're code consultants we know our building code inside note and that's that's where we do our best job not shuffling paper from one person to another um and so
• 03:00 - 03:30 in the new environment we've tried to get away from that busy work the other things we incorporate incorporated into the environment was messaging and communications to the public you know if somebody called in we'd follow up with an email in the old days or you know or it was paper notes that from one person to another it didn't you know if i took notes and even if i took it in the computer it
• 03:30 - 04:00 wasn't necessarily available to my peers if i was on vacation so we've moved that all into the same environment to speed up our work so that if one of my co-workers is off next week for for a vacation and somebody calls on their project i i have all their notes i see everything i can then communicate with efficiency and says say sorry you gotta wait two weeks until they get back um so that was a lot of our efforts was to
• 04:00 - 04:30 provide a platform not just for our use but it was for our customer interaction to improve uh improve the process for them as well so the benefits came to the city they also came to external users and those were things like that work that was uh repetitive boring not taking advantage of the skills that people had
• 04:30 - 05:00 that you were able to reduce that work and at the same time improve the quality and the the way the work was done and the experience of the user uh as part of the process too so so those basically were the main benefits would that be right yeah definitely um that uh when you look at uh transforming a process into a digital
• 05:00 - 05:30 world you've got to look at how it affects all users um that it's not um it's not just geared towards one you know in our site in in our case we have two sides we have the the applicant side and the municipal side um and so coming for me coming from the design world i knew their pains from from applying
• 05:30 - 06:00 but then being in the municipal world i understood now the pains in the in the municipal side so when we designed this we looked at both sides all the time because if if you only look at one side you've only achieved half your goal really and you were in uh you know a perfect position to be able to drive this project from both a customer and a user point of view uh or an
• 06:00 - 06:30 internal user if you like point of view which uh you know is to some degree uh rare or are not as common uh as a a project being run by people who may simply just specialize in the technology