Whitby, ON - CSDC is pleased to announce that the Town of Whitby (population: 118,000) has started the roll-out of their upgrade to the web-based AMANDA 5. On November 23^rd, the town’s Building and By-Law Services division began using AMANDA 5 for the Town’s Permit and By-law Enforcement processes, followed this week by Fire Prevention.

“Our organization has undergone a lot of changes in the last year, all designed to improve the way we serve our citizens,” says Manager of Building and By-Law Services Brent Rice. “The move to AMANDA 5 gives us a framework on which to build and allows us to leverage the latest AMANDA features and functionality to deliver leading services to the citizens of the Town of Whitby.”

The AMANDA 5 upgrade in Building and By-Law Services was the first step in a phased, organization wide upgrade to AMANDA 5. The Town, a CSDC customer since 1999, originally implemented AMANDA to help Building and Planning deal with their rapid housing development. In 2004, the Town moved to automate their entire Development Process Review, bringing the Planning, Public Works and Treasury divisions on to AMANDA. In the coming months, the Town will upgrade to AMANDA 5 for Planning, Engineering, Operations, Treasury, Clerk’s Office and Community Services.

Prior to starting the upgrade process, Whitby staff worked with CSDC Consultants to conduct a readiness review. “The review allowed us to prioritize the areas for the roll-out, identify potential issues in advance, and ensure a training program was in place to make the upgrade as seamless as possible,” said Application Development Analyst Nanthini Kailainathan.  The Town saw the ability to take a phased approach to an upgrade as highly beneficial as it was less disruptive than a traditional approach. Because AMANDA 5 is backwards compatible with AMANDA 4, Whitby has been able to stagger the deployment of AMANDA 5, with departments being moved to AMANDA 5 when they are ready and as resources permit.

The Town is currently assessing hardware options so Inspectors and By-Law Officers can use AMANDA 5 in the field and is considering the use of AMANDA Public Portal to offer a range of online services to citizens and businesses in the community.

Whitby is part of a growing list of CSDC clients who have made the upgrade to AMANDA 5, others include: Arlington, Texas; Waterloo, Ontario; and Voluisa County, Florida.