IF YOU’VE EVER BUILT an addition to your house, you know that the process of obtaining a building permit from your local government is tedious and frustrating at best. In Silicon Valley, this process has been known to be downright excruciating.Early last year, when their permits took weeks (sometimes even months) to obtain, some people had had enough. Enter Joint Venture, a San Jose, Calif.-based nonprofit organization created to champion e-issues. With donations from local high-tech businesses and grant money from a handful of local governments, organization members set out to unify disparate building codes throughout Silicon Valley and move the application process online.“The plan was geared as much toward the construction industry as it was toward us in government,” says Lisa Bruner, a Joint Venture administrative assistant, who was on hand to launch the endeavor. “Instead of having contractors go down to city hall, stand in line, hand in their plans and wait a few weeks to get an answer, we decided it would be nice if we could enable them to do it all at once.”Although the program is still technically a pilot, city officials and contractors say permits can be obtained overnight, making Joint Venture’s efforts in streamlining the permit process the first successful effort of its kind. Even the civil employees are happier. “All of a sudden, we have something that took these people 30 days to process taking two hours,” says Michael Garvey, city manager for San Carlos, which is located about 25 miles south of San Francisco. “In terms of employee morale here, that’s just as good as it is for residents to be able to get a complicated permit without stepping foot in city hall.”Joint Venture’s plans don’t stop with building permits. Already, Bruner says efforts are under way to add park permits to the sites’ capabilities. Also in the works is an application that would enable city planners to approve CAD-based blueprints online. Related content brandpost Sponsored by SAP What goes well with Viña Concha y Toro wines? Meat, fish, poultry, and SAP Viña Concha y Toro, a wine producer that distributes to more than 140 countries worldwide, paired its operation with the SAP Business Technology Platform to enhance its operation and product. By Tom Caldecott, SAP Contributor Dec 04, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation brandpost Sponsored by Azul How to maximize ROI by choosing the right Java partner for your organization Choosing the right Java provider is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your organization’s success. By asking the right questions and considering the total cost of ownership, you can ensure that you choose the best Java p By Scott Sellers Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Application Management brandpost Sponsored by DataStax Ask yourself: How can genAI put your content to work? Generative AI applications can readily be built against the documents, emails, meeting transcripts, and other content that knowledge workers produce as a matter of course. By Bryan Kirschner Dec 04, 2023 5 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence feature The CIO’s new role: Orchestrator-in-chief CIOs have unique insight into everything that happens in a company. Some are using that insight to take on a more strategic role. By Minda Zetlin Dec 04, 2023 12 mins CIO C-Suite Business IT Alignment Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe