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Disaster recovery is the critical phase after immediate threats to human life have passed, when communities begin the long process of rebuilding. It’s not a scenario anyone relishes thinking about. But a comprehensive disaster recovery plan ensures that the right systems are in place to support residents as they rebuild their homes, their businesses—and their lives.
Including a permitting software solution into your disaster preparedness plan helps keep your team from getting overwhelmed by the inevitable spike in permits for repairs to buildings and infrastructure.
But choosing and implementing a permitting solution takes months, if not years. Scrambling to adopt a system in the middle of a crisis often leads to rushed decisions and inefficiencies when quick action is needed most. Having a solution in place before disaster hits ensures your team can immediately focus on recovery efforts without being slowed down by technical or logistical challenges.
Think back to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since most communities hadn’t known to prepare for a pandemic, many used simple, free tools like Google Forms to track infections and vaccine data. However, these tools lacked crucial functionality like workflows, case tracking, data reporting, and visualization.
You don’t want to face the same problems in the face of a devastating situation in your community. That means the time to choose and implement a permitting solution isn’t after a disaster has struck, but before.
In this article, you will learn:
- What’s at stake when disaster recovery is done with or without a permitting software solution.
- How to choose a disaster-ready permitting software.
- How to train your team to use permitting software effectively in a disaster recovery situation.
The Stakes: Disaster Recovery with and without a Permitting Software Solution
What’s at stake for your agency and community? Let’s compare what happens when disaster recovery efforts rely on manual permitting processes versus an efficient permitting software solution.
Using Manual Permitting Processes in Disaster Recovery
Manual permitting processes often involve fillable PDFs, massive spreadsheets, and emails sent back and forth between contractors, agency staff, and residents. For smaller communities, this may work okay during times of stability.
But rebuilding from a disaster magnifies the problems under the surface:
- Poor communication
- Working in silos
- Data entry errors
- Longer response times
Overwhelmed by an influx of permits, processing times drag out. This leaves citizens displaced longer and increases the emotional and financial strain on affected families. Economic recovery stutters. The slow, disorganized recovery efforts frustrate the community, resulting in resentment toward government agencies and eroding trust in their ability to respond effectively.
Closer to home, your office gets bogged down by phone calls and emails from people who want to know the status of their permits. The administrative burden on your team skyrockets as you struggle to keep up with the workload while managing other critical disaster relief tasks, leading to exhaustion and burnout.
The Benefits of a Permitting Solution in a Disaster
On the other hand, a permitting system helps you quickly process the sudden rise in construction permits after a disaster.
You’ll have:
- Automated workflows
- Less data entry
- Fewer manual tasks
- Automated reminders to help you stay on track
- Seamless coordination between agencies
Reconstruction begins sooner, and citizens return to their homes, offices, and lives faster.
With a centralized, accessible database, teams can address citizen concerns promptly and provide better information to relieve confusion and anxiety. Citizens and contractors can track the status of their permits within the system, reducing phone calls to your agency. The community learns that their government agencies help them even in the most stressful circumstances.
Permitting software enables coordination between agencies, contractors, and relief organizations, allowing for a more unified recovery effort. You’re able to uphold safety and compliance despite high demand.
Data analytics and reporting also help you visualize permit and reconstruction data. This means you can understand patterns, track progress, and make informed decisions to prioritize areas in greatest need.
There’s no world in which a disaster doesn’t mean more work for building department staff. But with the right permitting software in place, you can rise to the occasion.
Choosing a Disaster-Ready Permitting Software
When selecting your permitting software, consider how it will perform in a disaster situation. Some key features to consider include:
Low-Code/No-Code Configuration
As much as we may want to, it’s not possible to prepare for every scenario that could possibly arise. So choose a low-code/no-code software that allows teams to quickly create or modify workflows. GovBuilt’s no-code, user-friendly workflow interface provides flexibility in emergencies where processes may need to change rapidly.
Comprehensive Data Analytics and Visualization
In a disaster, you’ll need tools for tracking reconstruction progress, identifying bottlenecks, and prioritizing resources effectively. This feature is vital for making informed decisions and monitoring recovery.
Ease of Use
A disaster situation may mean bringing on temporary staff who aren’t familiar with your software. Confirm that the user interface is intuitive, reducing the learning curve for staff and field workers.
Integration with Existing Systems
Check that the solution is compatible with existing software, such as geographic information systems (GIS), to minimize disruptions. GovBuilt is built on an open-API architecture so that it integrates easily with other systems. Read more about GovBuilt integrations.
Secure Cloud Storage
Ensures continuity and accessibility and prevents data loss in disaster zones, even if on-site servers are compromised. GovBuilt is hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud so authorized personnel can access data remotely.
Mobile Compatibility
Enables field workers to submit and access permits directly from disaster zones, reducing delays in processing and accelerating reconstruction. GovBuilt’s mobile app is designed for maximum convenience from the field. Inspectors can work in offline mode if cell service is not available—no need to wait around for a better signal.
Preparing Your Team for Disaster
Once you’ve selected your permitting software and trained on it for everyday use, it’s time to set up processes specific to disaster recovery.
Disaster Recovery Templates
In a disaster situation, your workflows may change. Create templates within your permitting software specific to different disaster situations. For instance, you may need a workflow that involves the fire department in the aftermath of a wildfire. Having these templates designed in advance will save vital time in the disaster recovery phase.
Continuous Training
Regular training sessions help staff become familiar with disaster protocols. This ensures your team can deploy disaster-specific workflows quickly when the time comes. Multiple people on your team should also be able to create or modify no-code workflows in case a situation arises that you didn’t explicitly plan for.
Cross-Agency Collaboration
Foster collaboration between different government departments and relief organizations by holding joint training sessions. This aligns everyone on the common goals of recovery and reconstruction.
Now is the Time to Prepare
Incorporating a permitting solution into your disaster recovery plan helps your community recover faster and with less disruption. Streamlined workflows and comprehensive data analysis ensure that permits are processed swiftly, minimizing delays in reconstruction and reducing the time citizens spend displaced from their homes.
If your building permit process isn’t disaster-ready today, don’t panic—but don’t wait around, either! Schedule a demo of GovBuilt today to see how it can help your agency strengthen your disaster recovery plan and better serve your community.