D4.1 The Services required under this Contract shall consist of the work specified below.
D4.1.1 Perform a comprehensive “end-to-end” review of the development process (“the Review”) to ensure that it is efficient, streamlined and effective; customer focused; clear and transparent; and supports excellence in the built environment.
D4.1.2 The Review will focus on the processing of all types of development and permit applications (i.e., development applications, development permits, building permits, trade permits, and occupancy permits) from prior to application intake to approval and inspection/follow up. The Review will consider interdivisional and cross-departmental dependencies, who is involved, what is done, how it is done, what gaps in process or expertise exist, the expected timing to complete the task, how this information is tracked (accounted for), how information is communicated to the public and applicants, and how to improve timelines.
D4.1.3 The Review should include but not be limited to the following considerations:
(a) Who is circulated on development applications?
(b) How do they review applications?
(c) Are all Divisions/Departments using the same tracking, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and/or reporting system?
(d) Do Service Level Agreements (SLAs) exist? Are the SLA timelines reasonable? Is there enough staff to be able to meet the SLA requirements?
(e) Do Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) exist for all the processes?
(f) What specific improvements are required to meet the intent of the September 26th, 2024 Council motion?
(g) Can there be incentives for staff to review applications and respond before target dates? Can there be certain application types that are accelerated?
(h) Are there consequences when SLA targets are not met? What should the consequences be?
(i) Is there duplication between Divisional reviews?
(j) How to better utilize innovation and technology to improve customer and user centric experiences for development services.
(k) What is the role of external stakeholders, Council, and Provincial legislation in the process?
(l) Do processes align with best practices and/or industry standards being used by other municipalities and, if no, provide recommendations for alignment?
(m) What are the internal and external pain points in the process.
(n) Where are the process bottlenecks, waste, etc (i.e. lean six sigma findings)?
(o) How to simplify and streamline the processes to improve efficiency.
(p) Where to embed customer experience feedback in processes for continuous improvement.
(q) Are there new tools or technology (e.g. data dashboard tools, etc.) that should be implemented to support ongoing continuous improvement of development services (e.g. providing the ability to advance services through actionable insights)?
