Problem:
The Parking Authority within the City of Omaha was using legacy software to track revenue from its monthly parking customers. The revenue collection software was not integrated with the City’s Finance department nor was it integrated to the City’s meter hooding or parking passes. There was considerable manual effort in disabling parking passes from delinquent parkers. Parking collections were manually sent over to City Finance. Additionally, meter hooding required an application be sent in, manually approved and then a manual invoice was sent to the customer for the hooding fees.
Solution:
Omaha City IT decided to take a novel approach to automating collections from their parking customers: replace their legacy software with a horizontal ERP platform with a native eCommerce front-end, exposing customer accounts and providing shopping cart functionality for customers to pay bills online.
ERP Advisors Group helped City of Omaha Parking to implement this new solution. 10,000 parkers began receiving invoices automatically out of the ERP; payments were made through the Parking Division’s new eCommerce site and automatically recorded into the new accounting software.
Some strategic integrations made their new platform even more robust by automating the flow of revenue collections to City Finance’s ERP; automatic deactivation of parking passes for delinquent customers; and processing of meter hooding applications, invoicing and collection of meter hooding fees.
The shopping cart and customer account functionality of the eCommerce platform was extended to other City departments for tax collections, permit applications workflow and collection of fees, replacing manual processes for staff and providing increased service and speed to applicants and business owners.
Visit their website: City of Omaha Parking Division
