Helping Chicago Go Paperless

Challenge
The Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) engaged EKI in January 2006 to implement its Public Vehicles Advertising (PVA) system — a secure Web portal for public vehicle owners (e.g., taxis) who wanted to advertise to consumers/riders. The goal was to build a fully automated, paperless system that would give public vehicle owners a way to apply for advertising permits online and provide a highly organized, efficient workflow process for the BACP staff members who process the applications.

EKI Solution
On February 9, 2006 the Chicago City council passed an ordinance allowing cab companies to advertise in their vehicles to their customers/riders. Effective within 30 days from the passage of this ordinance, the City had to have in place a mechanism for reviewing applications and issuing approval or denial letters within 30 days of the acceptance of an application.

Results
By using a SOA and BPM standards-based design approach to create and integrate existing IT infrastructure, EKI was able to deliver, on time and within budget, a solution capable of rapidly responding to changing business needs. Through the SOA design approach, PVA integrates with several citywide enterprise systems like the Integrated Revenue Information System, Payment Engine, User Management Services and Customer Service Request. The PVA system is a fully automated system offering the following capabilities and benefits:

Capabilities

• Secure registration and account management
• Secure fee payment via merchant account
• Fully paperless application and approval process
• Reporting, such as advertising revenue reports and site statistics
• Ability for users to access and view application status
• Automated e-mail notifications of application status changes
• Role-based access workflow queues to review and process applications

Benefits

• Reduced processing time
• Increased efficiency and productivity through an integrated process
• Increased advertising revenue