Paris allows local authorities the ability to continue using the same Revenue and Benefits, Housing, Planning, and other applications the same way they do today, but offer citizens the ability to receive communications electronically
Printed communications are still prevalent, although this is in decline. The modern way of consuming documental content expands across multiple hardware devices (tablets, smartphones, laptops) and across multiple mediums (email, SMS, web). Electronic delivery meets the demands of an expanding document delivery choice, where end user customers want to determine how they would like to receive their documents, and also provides a significant cost benefit when compared to traditional document production and delivery mechanisms. Local authorities are not immune to the ways they are expected to change as citizens want more flexibility and options in the way they receive their communications.
XLPrint Software’s PARIS suite is a powerful platform for delivering on these increasing demands. PARIS allows local authorities the ability to continue using the same Revenue and Benefits, Housing, Planning, and other applications the same way they do today, but offer citizens the ability to receive communications electronically instead of, or in addition to, a printed copy. Whether a citizen requests the communication via email, self-service portal, or other repository (EDM) system, PARIS will allow an authority to offer some or all of these electronic delivery methods in a simple-to-use, automated solution.
The process is simple – council communications (such as council tax bills, housing and development letters) are created the exact same way as they are today. Either annually or on an ad-hoc basis, documents will be produced from the host application – e.g. Civica, Northgate, or Capita. However, instead of printing each and every copy, PARIS will determine (via existing embedded data triggers or referencing an external database) how each document should be sent to a recipient. In the case of a self-service portal, PARIS can send a notification, with a link, to the recipient that their annual council tax bill is available. The citizen can then login, view their bill and utilise any of the self-service features available –such as paying the bill online. In the case of email, the citizen will received their council tax bill as a PDF attached to the email, which will look identical to the printed copy they previously received.
The benefit is that citizens receive clear communications the way they prefer, and authorities get a significantly better result in collecting and processing the associated tax and realize the significant financial benefits attached to a more cost effective delivery channel.
