A: Accela employees are directed to follow the best public health practices while ensuring uninterrupted services to Accela customers across the globe, which includes working from home, limiting travel, and practicing social distancing as mandated by regional governments. Accela’s hosting and SaaS environments exist within commercial data centers, each with its own mandatory certifications and required audit cycles. Accela Engineering, including our Cloud Operations, is a global organization with capabilities well beyond our physical Accela offices. We are in-tune with the changing usage patterns, which include increased capacity for at-home workers and a predictable jump in self-serve transactions. We are constantly managing the performance and capacity of the Accela Civic Platform.
A: Accela’s Support, Customer Service, Professional Services, Success, Finance, and Legal operations remain fully staffed and are instructed to prioritize our customer COVID-19 response requests. Accela enjoys a geographically diverse workforce and has conducted exercises in preparation for events such as these.
A: Because every project is different, Accela project managers are best positioned to adjust project plans relative to the availability of city/county/state staffing, Accela Partners, and Accela Professional Services. In-person meetings may be curtailed according to current public health policies and agency-specific guidelines and will be replaced with virtual meetings accordingly.
Accela’s COVID-19 Response Solutions program is designed to help agencies deal with high volumes of needed services during stay-at-home directives for citizens and employees. More specifically, it is a set of packaged solutions designed for the unique challenges in the response to COVID-19. These include:
The COVID-19 Response Solutions program includes:
This program can get you up and running extremely quickly, and not have to worry about budgetary issues in the near term. It is all about helping you provide the maximum value to your citizens and employees in this very difficult time.
A: With Accela’s Civic Platform and Civic Applications, you can continue to offer a range of services that make it possible for people to interact with city government without a physical visit. Businesses and residents can easily conduct dozens of transactions online, from applying for permits, to submitting requests for services. Many jurisdictions are posting signage and generating content instructing its customers to transact online. Below are some examples:
A: The Accela Community is the best place for customers and partners to receive updates and to share recommendations.
The Accela website and blog will also post the latest information for the public.
A: The Accela Spring Release (version 20.1 and associated Civic Application releases) includes feature and usability updates anticipated by many customers. To reflect this shared sense of urgency, the Accela team continues to work diligently to ensure the Spring Release remains predictable and on schedule. All updates will be posted on Community at https://success.accela.com/s/spring-2020-product-release.
