By web-enabling its new contractors license status inquiry system, the contractors state license board of California (CSLB) has made it virtually impossible for fraudulent building contractors to continue working.
The new system, made possible by Software AG`s EntireX Broker and iXpress solutions, continues to grow in popularity, as evidenced by over 200 000 hits per month.
"We love it," says Jim Siemers, building inspector for the city of Lodi. "We have always wanted this kind of access."
Debbie Phelps, staff programmer analyst Supervisor for CSLB, is delighted: "We`re getting a lot of people saying more state offices should do this because it`s saving a lot of time, hours or even days in some cases."
Phelps says new applications are in the works. "We recently made it possible to check contractors by individual name, in addition to license name and business name. In the future, we hope to provide order forms through the system.
"We also want to offer an on-line home improvement certification exam by the year end. Once the validity of the application is determined, the exam will be given over the Internet and the information will be recorded into our database.
"We foresee significant savings, having over 200 000 licensees, all of whom need to take the test at one time or another. If they do so over the Internet, we won`t have to mail out the booklet and form, wait to receive it, hand-grade it and send back the results in the mail. As you can imagine, all these functions help us lower our operating costs and reduce time delays for applicants."
Phelps appreciates the ease of using Software AG products: "It`s good to work with Software AG because we can still use our Natural programs to access the data. We didn`t have to learn a new programming language, eliminating training requirements for programmers and allowing us to protect our existing investment. We had the pilot up and running in a matter of days."
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