How to Clone a Permitting System with Community Templates

Ever admired another agency’s permit system and wished you could somehow clone it for your own department? Maybe the thought hasn’t crossed your mind until now, but we built Community Templates so you could do just that. Because why start from scratch when you can replicate a permitting system that already works?

What is Community Templates?

As the name suggests, Clariti’s Community Templates feature is a collection of best-practice templates built by Clariti Launch and Guide customers that you can access from a digital library, and replicate within your system with just a few clicks. Think of it as having access to a recipe book full of other organizations’ proven methods for permitting success.

Within the library, you can find thousands of cloneable permit types, rules, steps, and workflows built by other organizations, as well as dozens of Clariti-built starter templates designed to jump-start your implementation.

How does it work?

Finding, cloning, and modifying a template is simple.

Step 1. Search and filter templates

To find a template, go to the Community Templates Library and either type something into the search bar or select from available filters such as region, population size, or type. 

Step 2. Click to view a template’s details

Once you’ve found a template, click it to view: 

• The jurisdiction it belongs to
• How many times it’s been cloned
• When it was last updated
• Any feature dependencies
• What else will be imported

Step 3. Preview configurations

Before cloning a template, you can view its submission workflows, rules, and steps to ensure they match your needs.

Step 4. Clone and customize

If you’re happy with the configuration, select Clone. You’ll then be given the option to:

• Include or exclude specific submission types
• Map the template's workflow steps to match existing processes in your system or create new ones
• Update data fields to integrate with your existing frameworks

Step 5. Go Live

After you’ve finalized the setup, click Confirm and Clone, and voila — your new template is ready to use!  It will appear along with the rest of your clone history so it’s easy to find.

That’s it. You’ve done it. You’ve completed a process that often takes months in a matter of minutes.

Use Cases for Community Templates

You can find a Community Template for just about any permitting or licensing use case. For example:

• Permitting: Clone everything from building permits to cannabis permits, solar permits, and land use permits.
• Code Enforcement: Clone various different case types and violation submission types.
• Planning: Clone planning permits, development applications, plat applications, and more.
• Licensing: Easily replicate business licensing workflows, liquor license submission types, license renewals, and more.
  
  

The benefits of Community Templates

# 1. Go live at least 25% faster than if you were starting from scratch

One of the biggest objections to adopting new permit software is the amount of staff time required for a successful implementation. But with Community Templates, you can clone dozens of Clariti-built starter templates and thousands of other organizations’ proven workflows to get a jump start.

#2. Provide a consistent customer experience across your region

With Community Templates, you can team up with your neighbors to create a consistent customer experience for contractors and business owners who operate across multiple jurisdictions. All you have to do is align on what workflows and processes are needed, build them out once (or clone them if they already exist), and then replicate them within each system. And even if your processes differ slightly from your neighbor’s, Clariti’s public-facing portal will look and work the same, so no matter where applicants do business, it will be a consistent experience.

#3. Get time back for high-value tasks

Staff can spend less time building out workflows and permit types, and more time on important work.

#4. Find inspiration

Browse the Community Templates Library to see how others in similar demographic or regulatory environments have configured their solution. You might find a quick fix or a better way of doing something that you hadn’t thought of.

#5. Get the most out of your Clariti solution

By exploring how other jurisdictions use Clariti, you might learn about features or functionality you could be using to maximize the value of your system. 

Want a more detailed explanation of how it works? Ask us for a demo!