Tidemark upgrades transaction tool

Tidemark Solutions has added three new components and a design tool to its

eConnect software for online transactions.

The upgrade builds on features that enable citizens to apply for, pay

for, comment on and check the status of applications and projects on their

jurisdiction's Web site.

With Version 2.2, permit filers can:

* Automatically receive e-mail notifications about the status of their

application.

* See maps and related geographical information on selected addresses

through a module that ties to Web-enabled geographic information system

databases.

* Attach and receive files with building plans, photos, maps and legal

documents.

For a contractor, one advantage of Tidemark's eAttach module of eConnect

"is that a jurisdiction can mark them up and send them back, which should

save a ton of time," spokesman Mark Parry said.

The licenses for the software modules are purchased separately, but

a government must already use the Seattle-based company's back-end workflow

system, Advantage. The system will automatically route an application to

all appropriate departments and set up an activity sheet for each to follow.

"All of those departments share that information so you remove the silos

of data that typically exists within a jurisdiction," Parry said.

The latest development tool, which is provided as part of the eConnect

maintenance package, allows nontechnical agency staff to reconfigure their

application forms themselves. They can change fields, field color, footer

information and other characteristics regardless of their HTML ability.

Parry said the eConnect price is based on the size of a jurisdiction — roughly determined by the number of internal Advantage users and, more

recently, on population numbers.