LA County Environmental Health brings financial processing in-house in final stages of $5.7M technology project

LOS ANGELES, July 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles County, Division of Environmental Health is now taking payments over the counter for plan checks, temporary events, and other miscellaneous fees, as part of a ground-breaking environmental health software implementation project.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140722/129615  

In 2012, the Los Angeles Public Health Department's Environmental Health Division (LACOEH) selected Decade Software Company to deliver a multi-department environmental health software system powered by Decade's EnvisionConnect Software Suite. Since and before the project began, LACOEH's finances were mostly managed by the County Treasurer-Tax Collector, with Environmental Health relying on multi-part paper forms to schedule new facility fees, authorize adjustments, and modify program information. Now, LA County has brought that process in-house to be managed directly by Division staff. The Tax Collector will instead act as one of the County's payment processors, producing payment files to be easily imported into EnvisionConnect using Decade's Batch Payment Import feature.

Inspectors can now directly view the financial status of their regulated programs, staff has greater control over the invoicing process, and each of LACOEH's 16 satellite offices can accept payments, all of which leads directly to better customer service and improved internal operations.

LA County is now using a consolidated data management system to manage environmental health services (inspections, permitting, etc.) for their retail food, swimming pool, and housing programs, along with several smaller programs such as theaters, pet stores, and self-service laundry facilities. All of the County's 16 district offices and several of LA County's many specialty programs utilize EnvisionConnect Remote, Decade's mobile inspection application, to inspect restaurants, public pools, and apartment buildings. EnvisionConnect Remote allows the agency to automatically record inspection data on a tablet computer and provide printed inspection reports in the field.  

"Integrating our program and inspection data with our financial data is a big step that will help us improve customer service, streamline our business processes, and provide greater statistical and financial information clarity to our management." stated Stu Rekart, LA County's Project Manager.

In the coming weeks, after an initial mass permit-billing for over 73,000 regulated programs, Los Angeles County will launch an online payment portal that will enable consumers to submit credit and PIN-less debit card payments online for services and fees. 

"We are extremely excited to have successfully reached this phase in our partnership with LA County Environmental Health within budget, having started a year ago with no staff, procedures, or budgets dedicated to financial activities and now being fully functional today." commented Darryl Booth, President of Decade Software Company. "The Division continues to prove to us their dedication to operating at the most technologically-advanced and efficient levels, and meeting their commitments in full. I greatly look forward to continuing and completing our implementation with LACOEH and celebrating what they will accomplish next." 

About Decade Software Company
Decade Software Company is a preeminent provider of services and software solutions for regulatory agencies. For 28 years, Decade Software Company has been recognized as the leader in implementation, configuration, support, and data management. Decade provides a breadth of integrated products that are the most comprehensive in the industry including EnvisionConnect, EnvisionConnect Remote for the mobile inspector, along with other specialized applications. Decade Software Company is a partner of the National Environmental Health Association.

Contact:

Darryl Booth
President
Phone:  800.233.9847 x702
Fax:  559.222.1365
E-mail:  [email protected]

SOURCE Decade Software Company