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The Mobile Enforcement Buyer’s Guide The curated guide to what you need to know and ask before selecting a citation management provider.
Table of Contents Introduction
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Chapter 1: Requirements
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Chapter 2: Features
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Chapter 3: Payment
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Chapter 4: Reporting
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Chapter 5: Integrations
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Chapter 6: Hardware Options
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Chapter 7: Platform Management
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Chapter 8: Pricing
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Getting Started
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So, you’re ready to make the switch to a cloud-based citation management platform. A mobile, cloud-based software platform can help you improve efficiency, increase revenue and gain better insights into your operations. The beginning stages of the buying process can be overwhelming – we get it. Making the transition from handwriting tickets or using offline handheld devices to a mobile solution can feel like a big operational shift. But this doesn’t mean it needs to be stressful for you. That’s why we’ve created the official Citation Management Buyer’s Guide. We’ve broken down everything you need to know in order to evaluate a potential partner. Whether you are issuing a formal request for proposal or not, the Citation Management Buyer’s Guide will provide you with the tools to make an informed decision so your new platform is successful. More importantly, you’ll recognize which partner’s goals are most closely aligned with your own.
Let’s get started...
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Chapter 1: REQUIREMENTS
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Security
It should be no surprise that security is the first item on our list. Ensuring the security of your citation management solution is essential and these are the items you should be checking off your list for any potential partner.
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PCI DSS Level 1 Security Certification A PCI DSS Service Level 1 compliant provider has proven their ability to not only process credit cards in large volume, but also maintain the highest level of security while doing so. But keep in mind, this should be a requirement whether the partner processes credit card payments or not. Don’t take a chance on partners without the proper certification – you will be opening yourself up to a heightened exposure of risk.
SSAE 16 Compliant SSAE 16 compliant partners have the necessary processes in place to remain compliant in day-to-day activities. This additional certification ensures that the provider has the proper gates and processes in place around human resources and business activities.
Cybersecurity Insurance Policy This policy will protect you and the provider in one of the worst case scenarios - if there is a security breach of your platform. This one is extremely important.
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Secure Socket Layer SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private.
Bonus: Routine System Testing If a partner conducts routine system testing, this is an added bonus for your operations. Certified analysts search for any and all security flaws in order to catch anything before it becomes a threat. If anything is found it can be addressed immediately.
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Chapter 2: FEATURES
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Issuance Next, it’s important for your agency to examine each of the features available in various citation management platforms – specifically, in regards to citation issuance and payment. When transitioning to a mobile issuance solution, it can be tough to know which features are out in the marketplace, how to see the best results, and what to expect. But no matter what kind of parking environment you operate in, there are key features to look out for to ensure maximum return on your investment.
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Real-time Citation Issuance Now that you’re utilizing a mobile citation management solution, you need to operate in real-time. By implementing this new platform, your operations should become more transparent than ever before with real-time capabilities. Real-time issuance means that as soon as a violation is issued out in the field, the information is immediately available in your back end system for data reporting and analytical purposes. Gone are the days of docking handhelds or experiencing lag times in your system (which we’ll touch on in the next section). Ensure your citation management platform enhances your operations by utilizing the cloud to provide important information as soon as it’s available.
Real-time Picture Uploads The ability to take and upload pictures (preferably at least three) along with a violation is crucial. Now, your parking enforcement officers will have evidence when the time comes to adjudicate violations that may be protested. With these images available along with the violation in real-time, violators can view these images for reference before deciding to appeal their citation.
“Officers are able to take pictures of the violation [with our new mobile citation platform]. Now, we have proof when people try to argue with us.” Randy Hall, Campus Safety Director, Wofford College
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System Flexibility
50 State DMV Lookup
When evaluating mobile citation management providers, it’s also important to assess the configurability of the steps in the partner’s citation issuance process. Since every parking environment is different, it’s important that these steps in the issuance process (such as distinguishing and selecting violation types) are simple and most importantly, make the most sense for your operations. This way, officers can quickly and efficiently issue citations without error.
Nationwide DMV lookup capabilities provide parking enforcement officials with access to vehicle license plate information for all fifty states, as well as the District of Columbia. Access to this data provides greater intelligence into each violator’s history and also ensures that enforcement officers can correctly issue citations to the appropriate party.
Offline Capabilities Citation management platforms with offline capabilities mitigate the risk associated with losing Internet connection in the field. By offering an “offline mode,” citations can be issued normally and then uploaded all at once when the parking enforcement officer regains connectivity.
As you can imagine, it’s important that a partner offers DMV lookup for all fifty states so that this data is available in all of your parking locations. Inquire about a provider’s partnership with interstate justice and public safety networks like Nlets, to learn more about their capabilities.
Offline capabilities ensure that officers will not be limited by cell service when enforcing parking regulations and that productivity in the field will not suffer.
PLEASANTVILLE, USA PLEASANTVILLE, USA
FIRST IN FRIENDSHIP
FIRST IN FRIENDSHIP
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Chapter 3: PAYMENT
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Real-time Citation Payment Mobile payment software significantly increases the likelihood that violators will pay their citations. Allowing violators to immediately pay their citations online makes the payment process convenient and simple. With the addition of RMC Pay, Passport’s customer citation payment portal, clients have seen 20% of tickets paid faster, and in turn, 10% more earned revenue. Real-time violation payment is key to increased payment compliance and revenue.
BONUS: In-app citation payment is a great addition to your agency’s payment options. In-app citation payment allows violators to pay citations from your agency’s mobile pay parking app. This further increases citation payment compliance. For example, the City of Omaha, who utilizes Passport’s in-app citation payment platform in the Park Omaha app, saw in-app payments approach 10% of total payments made in just the first 90 days after launch. Furthermore, in these same 90 days, the City saw 25% of payments made either the day of or day after a ticket was issued.
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Escalation of Unpaid Citations Automatic escalation fees of unpaid citations, paired with a letter campaign, is an easy way to encourage timely payment of violations and a way to streamline your revenue collection process.
Recover Delinquent Revenue Outdated unpaid citations don’t have to be a lost cause with the right partner. Software to generate a letter campaign to recover unpaid citations, year by year, can ensure these unpaid fines do not go unnoticed. For example, Passport can pull accurate registered owner addresses from unpaid citations using 50 state DMV lookups and can then generate and mail a notification of delinquency to the violators at their current address.
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Chapter 4: REPORTING
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Intel
One of the main benefits of a mobile citation management platform is greater visiblity and control over your operations – which is where reporting comes in. Accurate reporting can increase efficiency and improve your bottom line, giving you incredible insight into your operations. But it’s important to know which reports will be most valuable to you.
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Ticket Density Ticket density reports visually show a heatmap of your operation’s enforcement activity. In a quick glance, you can see where violations concentrate and get a snapshot of your operations. Based on this information, enforcement beats can be tailored to deal with demand. This is important because you will be able to evaluate parking policies and cost structures, as well as properly staff and assign enforcement beats accordingly. Here’s an example of Passport’s Ticket Density report:
“Passport’s heatmap feature is a great tool to use when looking to get an overview of the enforcement environment. I can see areas that are “hot spots” and areas that are not getting much activity. When pairing with the Officer Route Report and Officer Tracking, I have what I need to adjust officer beats to more efficient routes.” Former Deputy Director, City of New Haven, CT
http://ospman.passportinc.com
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Officer Route Tracking Live officer tracking allows you to better manage and oversee your enforcement officers’ day-to-day activities.
http://ospman.passportinc.com
Monitoring an officer’s actions out in the field can uncover issues in daily routes. Ask whether you will have the option to view an officer’s live route via GPS tracking, as well as a report of the day’s activities. This administrative tool is important because it ensures that everyone on the team is staying on track and officer beats are planned efficiently. Furthermore, officer safety is enhanced as system administrators will always know where their officers are.
“The real-time tracking of the live feed is an incredible resource for back end management. Where previously the office might radio the entire team asking who is closest to a reported issue, we can now immediately pinpoint the best officer to respond directly.” Ray Willis, Parking Enforcement Supervisor, City of New Haven, CT
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Violation Type Reporting
Custom Reports
Being able to deep dive into specific areas of your operations will help uncover important patterns and trends in your agency’s operations. See which violations are issued most frequently so you can better quantify operational decisions.
Tailoring reports to your needs is crucial. The reports we’ve listed will give you a detailed view into your operations, but with any citation management solution, your agency should have the ability to build custom reports as you see fit.
Audit Trail Reporting
Ask whether a provider has the capability to create custom reports and if your agency will be able to build out any reports for internal business purposes.
Audit trail reporting gives your agency the ability to view each citation’s audit trail, letting you see every action taken on a citation from the time of issuance to final disposition.
Financial Reports Determine the extent of a provider’s financial reporting capabilities. Reporting on the appropriate items will be important for streamlining your operations – daily total revenue, transactions, and summary by location reports are a few of the top ones to inquire about.
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Chapter 5: INTEGRATIONS
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Seamless Integrations
A mobile citation solution is only the newest addition to the many existing pieces of your operation – most likely you’ve already invested in various hardware and technology over the years. So, how will this latest piece of technology tie in with everything else? Seamlessly – or at least it will be, with the right partner.
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Open API “Open API” is the key phrase to look for when it comes to a partner’s software and hardware integrations. An open API (Application Programming Interface) makes the integration process simple by pushing and pulling information to and from other providers. This includes hardware like parking meters, as well as other software providers.
Because of this, partners with an open API make integrating easier with various providers. So, if you were to switch hardware and/or any software providers in the future, it would be no issue. A partner with an open API leaves the door open for a future-proof parking enforcement operation.
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License Plate Recognition License Plate Recognition technology allows parking enforcement officers to quickly scan license plates and gather all pertinent information associated with that license plate number while surveying in their vehicles. The license plate number collected from the vehicle will then be searched against the citation management partner’s data for more efficient enforcement. Agencies can even utilize electronic chalking with this technology.
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License Plate Recognition is becoming more and more important in the parking enforcement landscape, so finding a partner that integrates with these providers will be an important step in creating a seamless enforcement process. Genetec’s AutoVu is a great example of industry-leading LPR technology.
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Chapter 6: HARDWARE OPTIONS
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Your Tools Implementing a mobile citation management platform is a low-cost, flexible solution for your operations. With just a smartphone and a lightweight Bluetooth printer, enforcement officers can issue citations with ease. With a mobile platform, you have the flexibility to choose your device as well as your printers. These are our recommendations for the devices we’ve seen to be most successful.
With just a smartphone and a lightweight Bluetooth printer, enforcement officers can issue citations with ease. 24
Samsung Galaxy S7 Reasons We Recommend: • Cost effective • High performance • Latest Android version • Operates in cold weather environments • Expanded batteries available • Rugged case options • Large screen • Availability for large orders
Zebra ZQ320 Printer Reasons We Recommend: • Cost effective • Lightweight • Modern features • Very durable • Excellent customer support available • Availability for large orders • Accessories like shoulder straps, cases, and charging stations available
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N5Scan* and N5Print The N5 is an all-in-one handheld. They are Android phones in a custom case with a printer attached and the option for a scanner. Reasons We Recommend: • Ability to scan * • Rugged Case • Weather-proof • Integrated 3” thermal printer
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Chapter 7: PLATFORM MANAGEMENT
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Self-Management To answer the question of whether a partner’s software is configurable, you need to ask yourself: will I have the ability to self-manage? This is important for a few reasons: 1. You will not have to rely on your provider to make time sensitive changes For example, if you’d like to report on a new metric or add a new violation type, it is much easier when you can go into the backend and add this yourself. This way, updates can be made automatically as soon as you need them. 2. Your employees see exactly what they need to A great question to ask a provider is whether you will have the ability to create roles and permissions for each member of your team.
This is important because each user will only have access to the information they should – for example, your parking enforcement officers will have different permissions than your finance team. Not only should these permissions and roles be available to you, but as the customer, you should be able to easily make these updates when needed. 3. The power is in your hands A real-time mobile platform will help guide you to the path of greater success. Flexibility in your digital citation management system will make day-today operations easier, more efficient, and most importantly, beneficial to your own parking enforcement operations.
Flexibility in your mobile citation management system will make day-to-day operations easier...
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Chapter 8: PRICING
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Your Cost
As you approach pricing for mobile citation management platforms, you should be looking for a pricing model that aligns the partner’s goals with your own. You want your provider to have a vested interest in the success of your solution so that they will grow with you and truly want to see you succeed. There are typically two types of pricing models for mobile citation management platforms that you’ll see: price per citation issued and bundled pricing. Let’s take a look at each:
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Price Per Citation Issued This pricing model is exactly what it sounds like. For every citation issued, the agency will pay a convenience fee that the partner collects. This pricing model creates shared success for you and the partner and is very typical of SaaS (software as a service) providers. If this pricing structure does not work best for your parking environment, inquire as to whether a provider has other options available. For example, price per citation paid online. It’s all about what works best according to your operations.
Bundled Pricing Bundled pricing is more common when covering the costs of expensive devices as opposed to a SaaS platform. However, it is still asked about by various agencies. Bundled pricing can be done for mobile citation management platforms, but because of the structure of the solution, it may not make the most sense for the long term success of your operations.
This bundled pricing model creates shared success for you and your citation management platform provider. 31
Getting Started Getting started with your citation management solution should be the easiest part of the process. The new platform should be intuitive enough so that your team can be up and running right away. The right partner will take the time to answer any questions you and your team may have to ensure you are confident in utilizing this new solution. Be sure they give you the knowledge and tools you need in order to train the rest of your team. Remember, your success is their success.
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Now you’re ready to conquer the buying process! Want to learn more about mobile citation management services? Visit passportinc.com or contact us at sales@passportinc.com