Making (government) life easier
Last week CityGrows launched a cloning process feature, letting governments easily and quickly see and leverage the work of other agencies. When a process is cloned, the entire template is copied into the logged in user’s account (you must be logged in to see the feature). The cloned process can be edited, updated and changed just like any other custom made template in CityGrows.
Cloning is important because it eliminates the inefficiency in reinventing the wheel. New regulation brings with it the challenge of implementation (a great example are the laws popping up around regulating home shares). Government agencies have to figure out what laws to pass to regulate economic activity (whether it’s about licensing a dog, registering a new business or securing a film permit). It’s much easier to just copy what another municipality is doing versus developing a whole new ordinance and set of enforcement policies from scratch.
CityGrows already has 15 (and counting) pre-built templates for some of the most common government processes; however, we can’t make templates for every single use case, and this is where the cloning feature is vital. Staff in specialized fields like planning and municipal finance can find and copy (or study) the processes of other agencies facing the same challenges.
When I worked in local government, I’d often struggle to implement a new policy or figure out how to do something better and more efficiently. I learned that nothing was more helpful than calling around to nearby cities and finding the analyst with a similar set of responsibilities. Because governments are not competing for market share or against other entities, they were more than happy to share what they knew, send over documents and talk at length about their personal experiences. The thing is, sometimes it took weeks of phone tag and follow up emails for me to get the information that I needed.
At CityGrows we’re committed to increasing transparency and the efficiency of government. This cloning feature is another way that we’re trying to anticipate and respond to the needs of the governments we serve. We’re already working on next steps to share information and best practices, and we’d welcome your input.
