VivaCitadel

Two weeks ago, the engineering team at Vivacity Technologies released our second platform update for VivaCitadel in the City of Kelowna. Update one saw the release of the VivaCitadel dashboard and some form adjustments to reduce user error and streamline processes for our users. Update two showcases a host of new additions to the process as well! In update two, requesters now have the option to upload a signed document in place of our digital signature process. Our digital signature process was brought in to combat the need for acquiring physical signatures from 2+ parties on the old PDF application. However, we heard from our users that some parties found the digital signature option inaccessible or they just didn’t want to use it. This update adds back in a bit of flexibility for the various authorizers to make the process as easy as possible. In addition, some adjustments have been made to the emails our requestors receive throughout the Property Information Request (PIR) process. Requestors now receive a detailed confirmation email after the successful submission of a request which includes some key details. This email now includes the fee and tax breakdown for the transaction, allowing real estate brokerages to better record the transactions from a PIR. In addition, more detailed next steps are included in this email to provide additional clarification to requesters on the required steps before processing. The same has been done to the email sent to the signatories for a PIR so they have a more clear understanding of why their signature is needed and how to submit it. This aims to clarify and streamline the PIR process for all involved parties on the requestor side of the process. With each update, there are also a number of small bug fixes going on in the background. While not as visible as other additions, ensuring we're continually maintaining best practices, patching issues, and improving the security posture of the system is critical for the long-term success of VivaCitadel. So far, our users have adopted the new features and adjustments in both updates with enthusiasm. We’ve continued to hear from city clerks that the dashboard feature is a major quality of life improvement as it speeds up their search process, helps ensure any necessary follow ups are completed, and allows for rapid resolutions to support calls. We’ve also seen from the most recent PIRs processed through VivaCitadel that the signature upload feature has been used in 50% of new requests. This shows us that this new adjustment has allowed us to better meet the needs of our users in allowing a seamless request process. In the spirit of continual improvement, VivaCitadel will continue to evolve over time. Stay tuned for the next platform update!

We’re back with another installment of the Vivacity Mini Podcast Season 2! In Episode 3, we talk about the roots of VivaCitadel: what problems do municipal workers face providing a Property Information Request service, and why is this process often a cost center for cities? Furthermore, how are requestors, like citizens and realtors, affected by these issues? We explore these questions and how they help us guide the ongoing development of our solution, VivaCitadel, in Episode 3!

On Tuesday, we were joined by our Design Partners, the City of Kelowna, the City of Kamloops, the City of Prince George, and special guest the City of Mission for our first Design Partners session of 2025. In this session, the Vivacity Technologies team talked through our deployment of VivaCitadel with the City of Kelowna, sharing the response from both city staff and the public, as well as sharing how we have taken feedback and learnings from our deployment to further improve the platform. Our session attendees had a very thought provoking conversation around how new digital initiatives are brought to their municipalities, how they take feedback from internal users and the public to shape their processes, and how they manage the change with external users. We were thrilled to see our members spark ideas for other municipalities and make some connections for additional knowledge sharing opportunities. If you would like to join our Design Partner Program and join our next session, send an email to [email protected].

It’s time for Vivacity Technologies first session of our VivaCitadel Design Partners Program for 2025! In 2024, we were thrilled to host a number of sessions with our design partners, receive some valuable feedback, and facilitate knowledge sharing among some very forward thinking municipalities here in BC. To start off our 2025 on the right foot, we want to jump right in, engaging with our design partners and a few special guests to talk about our progress, platform adjustments, and our product roadmap. This session will delve into our Property Information Request (PIR) process and platform updates, our deployment with the City of Kelowna and what we’ve learned throughout the process, and delve deeper into potential future use cases for the platform. Through this, we hope to facilitate discussions around current processes and pain points with the current PIR processes across cities, and how cities are working to overcome barriers in their digital transformations. On February 18th at 10 am, we will be meeting with a group of our design partners (City of Kelowna, City of Kamloops, City of Vernon, BC, Canada, District of Sechelt, City of Prince George, and City of Campbell River) and some guest municipalities to kick off 2025 on the right foot! We would like to extend the invitation out to other municipalities who may be interested in the program, but want to learn a bit more about the work we are doing and the program before joining. If you would like to attend our Design Partner session on the 18th, email [email protected] for more details.

Last week, we released our first major update to VivaCitadel since it’s deployment with the City of Kelowna. In our update, we added several new features including a pop-up warning when the same email address has been entered for the owner and requestor, the ability to add multiple recipients for the property files, and most excitingly, a user dashboard for clerks! Our new dashboard allows users to view all Property Information Requests (PIRs) in one place! It also provides users with the ability to filter based on PIR status, search for PIRs based on number, address, or requestor name, and reduces the need to rely on tracking emails to manage requests. In addition, implementing the pop-up warning for matching email addresses and allowing for including multiple file recipients has reduced the admin work required to deliver these requests even further for both the city clerks and end recipients. By having users verify that they did intend to enter the same email address for both the owner and requestor, we are removing any guess work for city clerks as they can be certain the owner is the one requesting this information and it was not user error. Likewise, having the ability to add multiple file recipients has removed the manual work from the requestor side to ensure the property files make their way to all relevant parties, saving valuable time for users. Based on user feedback and in the spirit of continually improving our processes and the quality of our product for the community, these new features have led to several quality of life improvements for our users. We’ve heard from several clerks at the City of Kelowna that the dashboard has made it much easier for them to navigate through PIRs in the system, making it easy to tell at a glance what is ready to be worked on and helping ensure no necessary follow-ups have been missed. Likewise, the email address confirmation has made it much easier to identify and address any concerns they may have. As we continue to learn more from the folks in the City of Kelowna and deploy in other municipalities, we plan to continue making improvements to our platform to provide the best user experience possible. Stay tuned for more exciting updates to come!

Now that we are a few days into our public launch of VivaCitadel with the City of Kelowna, we wanted to share a bit about our first few Property Information Requests (PIRs) through the platform. To date, we have helped the City of Kelowna process 8 requests from the public, all completed digitally through simpler and more streamlined forms, online payments and signatures, and a record response portal. In the completion of these first few PIRs, we have noticed that our realtor users seem to be overall happier with the process, and have been very engaged with the Vivacity Technologies team to help further improve the process. Some have submitted multiple requests and are very pleased with the speed of VivaCitadel and how easy it is to use. City staff have also been very receptive to the platform, bringing us important questions and contributing new ideas as they arise. Overall, we’ve been super happy with the response we have seen from our municipal and public users so far! They have been very diligent with reporting any issues with the platform, and we are happy to say all support issues have been resolved rapidly. We are looking forward to seeing a larger pool of realtors and other public users engaging with the platform soon!

Today marks a massive milestone for VivaCitadel and the Vivacity Technologies team as our first deployment with VivaCitadel goes live to the public. The engineering team at Vivacity has been hard at work developing VivaCitadel, and after many months of development, we are live! We are so proud to see VivaCitadel available for public use and to have this opportunity to make life easier for city staff and citizens alike. This would not have been possible without the dedication of our team and the support of the amazing team over at the City of Kelowna.

Last week we hosted our third VivaCitadel Design Partner session, and were grateful to be joined by representatives from the City of Kamloops, City of Kelowna, District of Sechelt, and City of Vernon, BC, Canada. In this session, we shared a bit about our limited user testing with the City of Kelowna, and took some time to introduce our partners to our next use case for the platform. While we find these sessions very helpful to collect consumer feedback and gain more insights into the pain points and challenges that surround these processes for municipalities, there is another reason we host these sessions. Municipalities by nature are very collaborative. They love to share information and improvements they’ve made to help lift each other up. That’s exactly what we try to help foster with these sessions. In session 3, we were thrilled to see our design partners sharing their experiences with managing change and implementing new technologies and processes in their municipalities. Our partners were very open to sharing some of the harder lessons learned, and how those lessons have impacted and improved their service delivery to their municipality. We at Vivacity Technologies love having the opportunity to help create spaces for these meaningful and important conversations, and we thank our Design Partners for their attendance, vulnerability, and desire to help their counterparts.

This week, we are hosting our third session of the VivaCitadel Design Partners Program! Since our last session, we are thrilled to have added two new Design Partners to the program: The District of Sechelt and the City of Vernon, BC, Canada! In this session, members of our team will walk through some of the challenges and wins we have encountered in our process of deploying VivaCitadel with the City of Kelowna. Now in our testing phase, we are able to bring a host of new insights into the process, and have some exciting new updates to share! In addition, our Design Partners will be getting a sneak peak into a potential new use case for our platform and will have the opportunity to provide their input into how we can continue to meet municipal needs in new areas. We are always accepting new municipal Design Partners into our program which is free to join. Our goal is to help solve challenges and pains in municipal service delivery and improve processes for staff and citizens alike. If you are interested in joining our Design Partners program, email [email protected].

Vivacity Technologies takes home the FIT Financial Business of the Year Award and the Community Futures Thompson Country Emerging Business of the Year Award at the 38th Annual Kamloops & District Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards. Read more in our press release below: