Leslie Wright - The Technology Selection Process

Summary

In the interview, Leslie Wright discusses the technology selection process for municipal projects. Initially, they examined other municipalities' practices but found that technology was too nascent and non-sharing friendly. The breakthrough came when they partnered with a Finnish company, Cloud Permit, which had established a successful e-permitting system. This collaboration aimed to create a system applicable not just for Windsor but for other regions in Ontario, leveraging the standardized approach that had succeeded in Finland. The collaborative efforts of Windsor's business unit, Cloud Permit, and Windsor's IT department facilitated this efficient system transition.

Highlights

• Leslie Wright discusses technology selection challenges in municipal projects. 🔧
• Many municipalities embarked on unique tech paths, creating isolated systems. 🌍
• Windsor formed a key partnership with Cloud Permit from Finland. 🇫🇮
• The Finnish e-permitting system served as a robust model for Ontario. 🏗️
• Collaboration between Windsor’s business units and IT enhanced the project. 🤝

Key Takeaways

• Municipalities often look to their neighbors when choosing technology. 🌐
• A unique, non-shareable tech landscape can be challenging for cities. 🤔
• Partnerships with established companies can streamline tech adoption. 🤝
• Cloud Permit's system in Finland provided a strong model for Windsor. 🇫🇮
• Collaborative efforts between business units and IT departments are crucial. 💼

Overview

Leslie Wright delves into the complexities of selecting technology for municipal projects. Initially, they sought guidance from neighboring municipalities but quickly recognized that the technology landscape was fragmented and non-collaborative. The challenge was finding a solution that wasn't just a one-off use but could serve multiple regions effectively.

The turning point was the serendipitous encounter with Cloud Permit, a Finnish company that had successfully implemented a cohesive e-permitting system across Finland. This model, tested and proven in Europe, provided the foundation for Windsor to create a similar system adapted for Ontario's needs. The idea was to create a scalable and adaptable platform for various municipalities to use, breaking away from isolated tech solutions.

Collaboration was at the heart of this initiative, with Windsor's business unit, Cloud Permit, and the city's IT department working in sync. They aimed to bridge Windsor's unique municipal requirements with a global standard, ensuring the technology could communicate effectively with other city systems. This partnership not only benefited Windsor but set a precedent for other cities to follow.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Selecting Technology In the chapter titled 'Introduction to Selecting Technology', the focus is on the decision-making process involved in choosing the appropriate technology for a project. It highlights the common practice among municipalities of observing and learning from the technology choices of neighboring regions. The discussion suggests that evaluating the technology decisions of other large municipalities was a key part of their process.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Research and Consultation with Other Municipalities The chapter discusses the approach of researching and consulting with other municipalities regarding new technology. It reveals that the technology was so novel that no one had a clear understanding of how to handle it. As a result, the recommended approach was to tackle one issue at a time: focus on a specific area, improve it, and then proceed to the next.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Challenges of Using New Technology The chapter discusses the challenges faced by municipalities when adopting new technologies. It highlights the frustrations of dealing with software that was not readily available as an off-the-shelf product. Each municipality had to create something unique, which was not shareable with others. This realization led to a re-evaluation of the approach.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Internal Solutions and Their Limitations The technology department explored internal solutions that led to small achievements. However, these efforts were insufficient to impact the overall program or achieve the desired goals. The chapter mentions a fortunate encounter with a company based in Finland, suggesting potential external collaboration.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Discovery of Cloud Permit The chapter discusses the introduction of an e-permitting software, originally developed in Finland around 11 years ago. It highlights that 80-90% of Finland's population is using this software. Upon reviewing their achievements with this technology, there was a realization and understanding of its potential applications and impacts.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Adopting a Universal Solution The chapter titled 'Adopting a Universal Solution' discusses a comprehensive approach to project management. It covers various stages including pre-consultation, acquiring necessary permits, progressing through construction, and final inspections leading to project completion. Emphasis is placed on collaboration with city leadership, the council, and the mayor to ensure a smooth process.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Leveraging Existing Solutions for Cost Efficiency The chapter discusses leveraging existing solutions for cost efficiency. Windsor collaborated with Cloud Permit to develop a system not only for their city but also for Ontario. The focus was on returning to basics, moving away from uniquely Windsor-specific methods, and creating something compliant with the broader building code. This system is designed to be effective not only for Windsor but also adaptable for other regions.
• 05:30 - 06:30: Universal Building Processes The chapter discusses a cooperative approach to building processes, highlighting efforts to find solutions beneficial not just locally, but in partnership with neighboring regions and entities such as Cloud Permit. By aligning with established standards, particularly those from Finland, the organization has successfully implemented processes that have proven effective both for themselves and their partners.
• 06:30 - 07:30: Collaboration Model in Windsor The chapter "Collaboration Model in Windsor" discusses the benefits of leveraging others' development and research efforts. It highlights that many organizations start projects from scratch, but it's often beneficial to learn from others to save time and resources.

Leslie Wright - The Technology Selection Process Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 can you talk though i want to talk about the technology for uh for a minute or two uh about how you selected the technology that you would use for the project so part of our process to select the technology we went through um like other municipalities do they kind of look at what their neighbors do and so we looked at what other large
• 00:30 - 01:00 municipalities were doing and and talked to the people involved in it um we we discovered that technology was so new in this area that no one no one really had a handle of what to do with it that um the approach that they found they had to take was a piece at a time you know we'll focus on this area improve this and then we'll move on to the next area
• 01:00 - 01:30 the frustrations on that is that it was a never-ending project to them um that it wasn't a a software you could buy off the shelf it wasn't uh everybody was creating something unique for their municipality that wasn't even shareable between other municipalities we started realizing that everybody went down that road we then started looking at okay with our
• 01:30 - 02:00 technology department what can we do internally and we could make some small achievements but it wasn't enough to really impact uh the the overall program and it wasn't a big enough impact to uh achieve our goals i was fortunate enough to run into a company that was based out of finland
• 02:00 - 02:30 and they started this uh e-permitting software in finland about seven years well now it's probably a lot about 11 years ago and 80 to 90 percent of their country all uses the same software and what they had achieved in those years we looked at and we said we get what where you're going with this and we and
• 02:30 - 03:00 and the approach you're taking and it was everything from you know pre-consultation to to on a project going in from permit right through to um occupancy and it you know completion of the project through construction and inspections so [Music] with you know guidance from city leadership and the council mayor we entered into uh into a relationship with
• 03:00 - 03:30 cloud permit is our is our supplier to to develop something for not only for windsor but for ontario um that windsor was willing to get back to our basics [Music] not not hang on to things that were uniquely windsor and and work around the the code that we deal with the building code and develop a system that not only would work for windsor but for other
• 03:30 - 04:00 municipalities so that's really where we trying to find a solution that not only worked for us but our neighbors and anybody else that cloud permit wanted to work with was was our goal because they had basically already set a standard in finland that we could build off of so and it's it's worked well for us um and uh and worked well for cloud permit as well
• 04:00 - 04:30 absolutely and and so uh you know your efforts meant that you were able to take advantage of other people's development and research on the product and you know but there are a lot of organizations that start from scratch on things like this and many other things too and uh i think usually it's wise to have a look and see what others have done and you know whether there's something there that is going to save you the time and the resources
• 04:30 - 05:00 and i think what was really effective for us is that although there was small differences between how building departments operate in finland versus ontario worldwide it really is still the same concept you you have a you have a consultant that that produces a design you have a group that reviews it you have construction that goes on there's inspections and then they occupy
• 05:00 - 05:30 a building that really those basic steps are are worldwide even as much as you know i can't talk to counterparts around the world and they say well ours is different well when you start boiling it down yeah there's some minor differences and but really we're all in the you know it's the same basic structure so i it working with a company that uh understood the basics of
• 05:30 - 06:00 uh construction in the in the municipal role on that is moved us well ahead so in windsor it was a model of of three teams working together we had i was part of the business unit and led the business unit we had cloud permit was the software supplier and then we had our infra information technologies that uh from the city of windsor that uh coordinated and brought uh linked
• 06:00 - 06:30 our efforts off to the the legacy systems in the system in the city so that we could communicate to other departments as well important