Greene County Goes Mobile With iasWorld

• Industry: County Government
• Location: Springfield, Mo.
• Population: 284,000
• Tyler Client Since: 1999
• Properties on 2014 Assessment Roll: 120,657
• Tyler Products Used: iasWorld^®, Eden™

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The Facts

Spanning an area of 678 square miles and nearly 284,000 people, Greene County, Missouri, is located in the southwestern portion of the state and showcases numerous parks, historical sites, performing arts venues and museums. It is home to Springfield, Missouri, the county seat, birthplace of Route 66 and third largest city in the state.

Key Challenges

• Prepping for fieldwork required appraisers to print out property data record cards, physically map out work routes and manually create a list of daily tasks, consuming an extensive amount of time.
• Transcribing handwritten notes taken in the field into the county’s iasWorld® Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) software was a highly manual process that often resulted in human error.
• Relying on lengthy and inefficient manual processes forced the county to consume high volumes of resources, including gas, time and money

Benefits of Going Mobile

• Taking tablets into the field allowed appraisers to work directly in iasWorld while standing on the property they were reviewing. This cut the appraisal process by two-thirds and reduced data entry errors by eliminating manual processes.
• Preloading dynamic maps and property data to the tablets directly from iasWorld eradicated a significant amount of field prep work, reduced paper, money and gas consumption and allowed the appraisers to complete more work in less time.
• Establishing workflows with iasWorld Activity Center provided appraisers with first-glance knowledge of past due and upcoming tasks, created workload accountability and improved managers’ ability to track performance.

The Challenge

The Greene County Assessor’s Office relied on lengthy, complicated and manual appraisal processes that fostered human error, expended valuable resources and lacked an efficient way to manage the day-to-day activities of appraisal staff.

Field prep work required an extensive amount of time covering items, such as:

• Looking up what parcels were ready to be valued
• Creating a task list
• Printing property data and images for each parcel
• Mapping out a route for data collection
• Gathering a camera, paper and writing tools to take images and notes and draw sketches
• Organizing all of the paper and keeping it organized in the field

After completing prep work, appraisers gathered parcel data. Once appraisers’ field work was complete, they returned to the office and manually entered their written notes and information into iasWorld. This process proved to be time-consuming, error-prone and inefficient.

Partnering with Tyler to Go Mobile

After extensive review, iasWorld proved to have the right combination of advanced features to meet the county’s needs. The combination included Field Mobile, a tablet application that allows assessors to work directly in iasWorld while in the field, and Activity Center, the workflow management tool that automates processes and tasks. This advanced solution brought the efficiency, mobility and performance that Greene County needed to improve processes. Because Field Mobile is customizable, the first step in implementation was to work with Tyler to perform a complete analysis of the office’s current processes and needs to determine which functions would be the most effective in the field. This eliminated disconnect between development and the end user and reduced technical problems.

In addition to customizing Field Mobile, the county also had to determine which tablet would meet all of their needs. After considering tablet options, testing commenced with the Microsoft® Surface™ Pro 3. The Surface Pro 3’s larger, intuitive touch screen and ergonomics allowed for easy field data entry and use, its lightweight design made using it in the field a breeze and the fact that it can be a full desktop replacement lowered overhead costs.

Once the tablets arrived, assessors were provided with training and encouraged to take advantage of the technology in their daily tasks. Field Mobile brought property data and images to the field on one small, lightweight device. Activity Center provided a daily task list and workflow chart that told assessors what parcels needed to be assessed and automatically mapped out the most efficient routes.

Stacks of paper, notepads, pencils, pens and maps were no longer needed in the field. Instead of focusing on organizing property record cards and worrying about mapping and planning the next task, assessors could now solely focus on ensuring the accuracy of property data by verifying and editing it in iasWorld as they stood on the property. Field Mobile placed the power of iasWorld in the palm of appraisers’ hands while Activity Center made task assignments and workflow a non-event. Appraisers were able to get more work done in two-thirds less time and with fewer errors. The new solution has benefited the appraiser’s office, as well as the citizens of Greene County by increasing the accuracy of property data — making iasWorld Field Mobile and Activity Center a winning solution for all.

Why Tyler?

• Tyler has more than 75 years of experience in the appraisal and tax software and services industry.
• Tyler provides tremendous flexibility and guidance during implementation of all its software and services, and will work with database connectivity challenges and other vendors to assure a smooth-running integrated system.
• Tyler provides a large array of ongoing support options. Clients consistently give us high marks in customer satisfaction. A recent survey ranked iasWorld support as superior with 100 percent of those surveyed reporting they’d recommend Tyler Support.

About Tyler Appraisal & Tax Solutions

For more than 75 years, Tyler has been the trusted provider of integrated appraisal software and services to more than 1,300 jurisdictions in the U.S. and Canada. Given our deep public domain experience, we understand that when it comes to serving your jurisdiction, you need the right blend of innovative functionality and reliable performance in one integrated system.

iasWorld is the most complete appraisal and tax administration software package available. With its advanced features, robust integrations, mobile technology and automated workflow capabilities, iasWorld makes it possible for jurisdictions to address their unique assessment, valuation, tax collection and tax administration challenges — anywhere, anytime and on any device. Discover how portable and user-friendly tax assessment can be.