We are very pleased to announce the first release candidate of CRMunicipal as available to municipalities. Development was completed and the candidate tested extensively during the last week of May. Several tweaks were made to the code following that testing, and the release candidate is now ready for introduction to the municipal market.

The strategic alliance of KISS Computing, Inc. and Clarisoft Technologies, LLC, has turned out a wonderful product that provides valuable tools for municipalities. Among the list of features included in the RC are:

* A global calendar, and the ability to generate individual department calendars with “Copy To Other Calendars” capabilities with a single entry/single click dynamic.

* Secure internal messaging in real time to any system user.

* Project and Task management through a simple, intuitive interface designed for the novice computer user but feature-rich enough to make the experienced computer user happy.

* File sharing features that let users edit and add to documents such as budgets and town reports as they are passed from department to department.

The system administrator for the municipalities has the ability to determine who can do what within the system by the granting of permissions which include either the “View” and/or the “Edit” abilities, whether that pertains to calendar entries/updates, the entry/deletion of projects and tasks, and the adding/sharing/deleting of files and documents.

The unique feature of the system, though, is its Complaint Tracking System. When a constituent lodges a complaint with the municipality, whether by letter, phone call or personal visit, the complaint is entered into the tracking system and assigned to the appropriate department for resolution. The Tracking System then logs by minutes, hours and days, the resolution of the complaint by the department head or staff member to whom it had been assigned, and when resolved, the matter is passed back up the chain of command.

In addition, the Complaint Tracking System can be integrated into a municipality’s existing web site so that town residents will have the ability to file complaints on line. The complaint is automatically entered into the system and the system administrator is prompted to assign it for resolution.

The system is web-based and can be accessed from any computer, thus allowing its users to work from home to check on the status of projects, tasks, messages, citizen complaints, and files. It is not necessary for system users to be at any particular work station or computer as a result. The CRMunicipal system is not geography-specific, and will work well no matter the municipality’s jurisdiction or state, too.

Marketing is about to begin to local municipalities in Massachusetts, where are offices are located. The system is closed at the moment to further development while it is rolled out for the first towns to use it. We will begin the development of new features and another version in approximately four months.

A new feature has been added to the CRMunicipal private beta release that will be of great benefit to municipalities.  One of the elements of the system that sets it apart from any other Project Management or CRM system is the Citizen Complaint Tracker.  The Tracker monitors all progress made in resolving a citizen complaint once the complaint has been entered into the system, and gives a Town Manager or Administrator the ability to track the assignment to the appropriate department and back again as it is investigated and resolved.  The Tracker gives a constant status of all outstanding complaints as notes are passed down the chain of command and back up again.  A log is maintained of all actions taken within the system, and at-a-glance status is always available.

We’ve now made it even easier for constituents to file complaints.  With the simple creation of a page to be added to a Town’s own website, a citizen will be able to file a complaint online.  That clogged catch basin or broken street light, suspected illegal dumping or tree removal, or even just a simple question, can all be brought to the Manager’s attention online through the Town’s existing web site and entered automatically in CRMunicipal’s Citizen Complaint Tracker.  When the Complaint form on the Town’s web site is completed and submitted, it is emailed to a private address.  CRMunicipal will check that mailbox throughout the day for complaints and enter them automatically into the CRMunicipal system and ready them for assignment by the Town Manager or System Administrator.

We’re very excited about this feature, and see it as another example of why CRMunicipal will be the most feature-rich system of its kind for municipalities.  Accountability and responsibility is important in a well-managed Town Hall, and CRMunicipal is the perfect tool to measure and maintain.  The private beta remains in testing, and public beta release is anticipated in the very near future.

Our booth at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Trade Show in January generated a lot of interest in the CRMunicipal system, and follow-ups since then have not diminished that enthusiasm for a system designed and built specifically for municipal entities.  We’ve met with a number of towns in Massachusetts to review their present citizen complaint resolution process, and as a result there have been a few tweaks and adjustments in the CRMunicipal system.  We think these actions will improve greatly the effectiveness of the system and make it a more attractive addition to a town’s operation and management.

We also expanded the shared calendar capability in the system so that individual departments within a town’s government will be able to maintain their own in addition to its integration into the global calendar feature.  The Permissions a town’s Manager will be able to extend to department heads and departments, generally, have been expanded as a result.  The shared file component makes it easier, too, for everyone within the system to have access to everything – - budgets, planning documents, town meeting warrant articles, or just about every document a town might develop in a shared arrangement.

Deployment of the CRMunicipal system has already begun to the permanent hosting environment from the development platform.  We’ll be posting more progress as that process continues.  We are still expecting a demo system to be available for review in late April, and then we will be able to show interested towns what this system will be able to do for them and how it can be used to enhance accountability, improve productivity, and save money in the process.

CRMunicipal, currently under development by KISS Computing, Inc., for Business Team Solutions LTD, has been designed and developed by a former Massachusetts Town Selectman and a current CPA firm who specializes in municipal audits. Recognizing the need for tracking and accountability for town management of constituent relationships, and a system that could be used by all municipal departments for shared planning purposes, CRMunicipal is a perfect tool for any city or town in any state.

One main component of CRMunicipal will be the tracking of and accountability for resolution of constituent compaints. Let’s say a complaint about a pothole in the road, or a broken street light, or a drainage issue on a clogged catch basin, comes into the Town Manager’s office, either by phone or by letter. The phone call would be logged into CRMunicipal, or the letter would be scanned and uploaded to CRMunicipal shared document storage feature, and the Town Manager’s office would assign the Task to the appropriate Department Head, along with the phone call log or the scanned document. The system would begin monitoring that Task, the Department Head would record the action steps taken to resolve the complaint, including the Department Staff Member to whom that resolution task was assigned. The Staff Member does his thing, enters the steps taken in the Task Manager, and passes it back up to his or her Department Head. The Department Head, in turn, passes it back to the Town Manager’s Office, reports it as completed, and the record is archived (as opposed to purged).

Each CRMunicipal account will have an Administrative Control Panel, overseen, most likely, by the Town Manager. Permission levels can be assigned throughout the list of users of the account in the form of Read Only, Read and Write, and Delete. This would ensure that as a Task was passed down the chain of command, each level on the way down would have ever more restrictive permissions. A Staff Member, for instance, would be able to read a task passed down, but perhaps not be permitted to Edit (Write Permission) it, and could only pass it back up the chain with notes but without having the ability to Delete it. These System Protections would enhance accountability for Task Completions, and make Process Auditing that much easier for municipalities.

As CRMunicipal gets closer to Public Beta, some time in January, more features will be discussed and screen shots will be included in these postings. Please check back often for progress on development. Business Team Solutions will be hosting a booth at the January Massachusetts Municipal Trade Show in Boston, and will have both a slide show of CRMunicipal to present and a sign up opportunity to become a Beta tester of the system when it becomes available.