SUCCESS STORY | City of Vaughan, ON
The City of Vaughan’s award-winning approach to permits and licensing
OVERVIEW
The City of Vaughan reimagined how it interacts with the public by making government technology the backbone of its service delivery strategy. By integrating Grancius Permitting, Compliance, & Licensing (PCL) Enterprise (AMANDA) with platforms like ProjectDox and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the city replaced fragmented, manual processes with a seamless digital permitting pipeline that quickly automates submissions, reviews, and communication. At the same time, real-time data established a more connected operating model that improves decision-making and performance. Together, these advancements created a future-ready foundation that supports continued innovation in digital services and enhances the overall citizen experience.
SITUATION
As Vaughan, Ontario, grew, its permitting and service delivery processes became increasingly fragmented. Departments relied on disconnected systems and workflows, requiring staff to download and upload files, manage folders, rename documents, and coordinate access across teams.
Intake and review timelines for building permits were often weeks-long (and sometimes error-filled) endeavors due to manual handling and a lack of system integration. These gaps between systems — such as the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) platform — led to inconsistent data and reporting challenges.
The city sought to transition from siloed operations to a customer-focused service model that would deliver greater transparency to the public in hopes of reducing long wait times, infrequent communications, and frustration for all involved. “Our end goal is customer excellency; we want to make sure that all of our citizens are happy,” said Anthony Duong, system analyst and project leader for the City of Vaughan.
SOLUTION
he City of Vaughan positioned PCL Enterprise as its main platform and extended its capabilities through deep integrations and workflow automation. “It’s our core system,” explained Dan Cornei, program manager, AMANDA and analytics for the City of Vaughan Building Standards department. “It’s where our data and workflows are — all the other solutions simply integrate with it.”
At the heart of this transformation was the integration of ProjectDox, which revolutionized permitting by replacing multi-system processes with a seamless digital workflow. Drawing submissions, markup reviews, deficiency comments, and resubmissions now flow automatically between systems, eliminating redundant steps and ensuring all stakeholders work from synchronized, accurate information.
Vaughan also integrated the MAT platform using PCL Enterprise’s Web Services and Enterprise Application Interface (EAI). This ensures records are automatically created, linked, and maintained across systems — avoiding data gaps and time-consuming reporting errors.
Once live, the system equipped the city to reengineer workflows to maximize efficiency:
“Within two months, we were online with the system integration. You usually don’t see that,” highlighted Cornei, attributing much of the impressive timeline to a strong collaboration between IT and business teams.
RESULTS
The City of Vaughan’s integrated digital approach delivered significant improvements across both operations and customer experience. Most notably, initial permit intake commencement times dropped dramatically from approximately 10 days to as little as two days. Residents and businesses benefit from a more transparent and intuitive experience, with the ability to submit applications, track progress, and respond to comments online.
Integrations across systems enhance data integrity by eliminating discrepancies like orphan records — meaning the city can now use KPI tracking and statistical reporting to identify opportunities for improvement. A key achievement is the integration of GIS, which enables spatial data visualization and mapping for permits and applications. Staff and residents now have accurate location-based insights, which improves transparency in planning and development processes. Internally, automation caused a 75% reduction in staff time to process permit resubmission.
PCL Enterprise has become a reliable resource across the city, now supporting more than 120 services in more than 20 departments and more than 600 users. “The program just took off,” said Cornei. “It had such a wide adoption at the City of Vaughan — so many departments use it because they understand the benefit of the system.”
Ultimately, the City of Vaughan redefined what award-winning service can look like when teams use a future-ready model that drives measurable impact. “We’re not just delivering efficiencies within the business; these projects are beneficial because they deliver efficiencies for citizens,” explained Cornei. “In the end, our solutions for citizens make their lives easier because they get their services faster.”
This story highlights the hard work and innovation that earned City of Vaughan recognition as a winner in the 15th Annual Granicus Digital Government Awards, honoring exceptional achievements in digital government.
