VANCOUVER - $1.7 Million Computer System Causes Problems for Construction Tracking

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Title: Computer System Causes Problems for Clark County, Wash., Construction Tracking

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Publication date: 2000-05-19

May 19--Six months after it was installed, a new $1.7 million computer system meant to improve the tracking of construction projects for both Clark County and the city of Vancouver still isn't working properly.

Among other problems, the system can't produce monthly reports on home building activity or commercial construction. Without those, it's almost impossible to accurately measure how fast the county is growing.

City and county officials, who jointly own the computer system, are equally frustrated, and still hope the new software can be made to work. Meanwhile, the balky program is causing trouble for the construction community and the regulators who monitor it.

Without accurate numbers, especially in a rapidly growing area such as Clark County, builders and developers have trouble planning projects and determining what and how much to build, said Trent Matson, tax and housing analyst with the Building Industry Association of Washington.

The problem also translates into delays and higher costs for home builders, Matson said, and makes it difficult to assess labor needs for the industry.

Lack of building information also makes it harder for builders and government officials to plan within the Growth Management Act guidelines.

"How can anyone complain about growth when we don't know what the growth is?" asked Karen Snekvik, executive director of the Clark County Home Builders Association.

City and county staffers also have struggled to provide accurate home building information to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"It's one thing to be off by 5 percent or so, but it's another thing to be wrong by as much as 15 percent," said one staffer.

The Census Bureau has not received reports from Clark County or Vancouver since November, said Maria Roman, a survey statistician in the Bureau's Maryland offices.

"In the absence of information, we use last year's data to make estimates on this year's activity, which is risky in a changing economy, as we're experiencing now."

County and city staffers expect to provide up-to-date information by summer.

"For 10 years, we had somebody who could do these reports blindfolded," said Joe Gall, customer service manager with the Clark County Department of Community Development. "There have been difficulties getting them created and working in the new system. We're into our sixth month of trying."

The computer system, described as similar to an airline reservations system, went online last November, replacing an older system, which was not Y2K compliant. City and county staff collaborated in choosing and starting up the system. The two departments have shared the costs.

The system tracks millions of dollars worth of proposed construction projects Q housing developments, commercial and industrial buildings as they move through government planning, land use and building permit approvals and inspections

Last year, Clark County handled more than 12,000 building permits and oversaw new projects worth some $241 million. Vancouver processed 19,544 permits with total valuation of $221.8 million.

But local technicians, as well as those with Tidemark Computer Systems Inc., the Seattle-based company that designed the software, have yet to work out all the bugs.

"While our basic operations are functioning, we've had problems with reports because some data from the old system may not have been converted accurately," said David Scott, manager of the city's development services division. "We know the system works because other municipalities are using it. It's a matter of working out the bugs."

Other problems prevent desk personnel from efficiently adding information for large housing projects to the system's database and from downloading monthly contractor licensing reports from the state.

Local officials are growing impatient with the situation as the computer problems eat up valuable staff time and as the city and the county move into their budget-planning seasons.

"We've experienced an interruption in our ability to track and report on workload and performances issues within our department," said Rich Carson, county community development director. "Originally we planned to have these (processes) completed and tested before going into production on the system."

Planners are careful to say that the computer glitches are not affecting the ability of either the city or the county to take in and process individual building permits. They just can't evaluate department operations and track permit trends.

And officials speak highly of the potential uses of the new system.

Eventually, builders, developers and the public using the Internet will be able to get updates on permit applications, to obtain permits and make payments. Phone access also is planned.

"In general, the system is more interactive," Scott said.

But tension appears to be growing between local officials and Tidemark.

When contacted by phone, Patrice Molinarolo, project manager with Tidemark, would not comment on the situation, citing client confidentiality agreements.

But Tidemark wants to sign off on the project by the end of this month and collect its final payment.

"If the system is not fully functional, we can either hold back payment until things are fixed or we can take that money and find someone else to do the work," said Carson.

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To see more of The Columbian, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.columbian.com

(c) 2000, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

http://realcities.yellowbrix.com/pages/realcities/Story.nsp?story_id=10725497&site=charlotte&ID=realcities&scategory=Computers%3AY2K

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