Permits
A 12-state workflow engine that moves permits from Draft through Submitted, Under Review, Plan Approved, Inspection Scheduled, Inspection Passed, Payment Pending, and Issued — with branches for Revision Requested, Denied, Expired, and Revoked. Citizens apply through the portal with document uploads. Staff review with configurable approval chains. Inspectors complete checklists on mobile. Fees are calculated dynamically with Decimal.js precision. GIS validates the parcel, and the citizen portal shows real-time status.
Key Capabilities
- 12-state workflow from draft through issuance, denial, or revocation
- Citizen self-service applications via the portal with document upload
- Dynamic fee calculation with per-square-foot and flat-fee support
- GIS parcel validation and contractor pre-qualification checks
- Mobile-friendly inspection checklists with pass/fail/partial results
- Real-time status notifications to applicants at every stage
Why this matters
Permits are usually the first thing a municipality wants to modernize — and the most public failure when legacy software gets in the way. A homeowner waiting six weeks for a deck permit doesn't know the backlog is because three systems don't talk to each other; they just know the city is slow. MuniNow's permit workflow was designed so the citizen-facing portal, staff review queue, inspector mobile view, and fee ledger all read from the same record. When an inspector passes a framing inspection on their phone, the applicant's portal updates instantly. When finance receives the fee payment, the permit advances automatically. The 12 states aren't a rigid track — each municipality configures its own permit types, approval chains, fee schedules, and inspection checklists on top of the same engine. Which means a building department can issue a routine residential permit in days and still enforce the same rigor on a commercial site-plan review.
See Permits in action
Get a personalized demo tailored to your municipality's needs.