City of Cape Town Becomes First Jurisdiction in Africa to Utilize Manatron GRM Software
By Manatron Inc., PRNEMonday, November 15, 2010
PORTAGE, Michigan, November 16, 2010 - Manatron, Inc., a global leader in providing integrated property tax and
records management software for state and local governments, today announced
that the City of Cape Town, South Africa is now utilizing the company's GRM
customCAMA software to assist with the process of assessing property value.
Manatron GRM customCAMA is a comprehensive property appraisal software
product and is the only completely customizable CAMA solution on today's
market, offering multiple tailored solutions for local government property
appraisers. This combination of power and flexibility makes the customCAMA
software a popular choice for large and complex jurisdictions.
"The City of Cape Town has been a great partner during this project,"
stated Ruel Williamson, Manatron vice president corporate strategy. "Working
with the Cape Town staff has been a rewarding experience that will ultimately
make Manatron a stronger software provider."
"We are proud to be the most technically advanced jurisdiction in Africa
when it comes to IT infrastructure, and we continue this tradition through
the adoption of this highly functional, user-friendly software," said
Christopher Gavor, director of valuation for the City of Cape Town. "GRM's
intuitive design helps remove security risks, and incorporates key
performance indicators allowing us to manage results. We could not be happier
with the installation process and are very pleased to have Manatron as our
partner in this process."
The City of Cape Town's appraisal staff, consisting of 150 employees
across four departments, worked together with the Manatron team to implement
the GRM customCAMA software. The project began in late 2008 and marked the
city's first partnership with a government software provider. Manatron was
chosen based on knowledge of the South African Property Rates Act, a
compatible IT infrastructure and consistent goals with the City of Cape Town.
"Despite occasional differences in terminology and culture, Manatron was
able to minimize disruption, while also maintaining historical processes,"
said Bill McKinzie, Manatron president and CEO. "The new software will add
functionality as well as improve efficiency for the City of Cape Town. We
look forward to a lasting partnership."
As South Africa's second-largest jurisdiction, the City of Cape Town
serves a constituency of approximately four million people and its government
offices are responsible for the assessment of more than 800,000 parcels.
During the GRM installation process, the City additionally performed a
jurisdiction-wide revaluation of each of these properties.
The GRM customCAMA software also incorporates oblique aerial image
access, which uses multiple cameras that combine images, for property
appraisal accuracy. This comprehensive approach has improved efficiency by
allowing employees to take measurements and 3D images of buildings for
recording purposes, ultimately resulting in a ten-fold increase in
productivity.
About Manatron, Inc.: Manatron, a privately-held company and an
investment of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC, provides software and
services for state and local governments to completely, fairly and
efficiently assess real and personal property, and to bill and collect the
related property taxes in their jurisdictions. Manatron's software manages
the entire property life cycle, which includes deed recording, land records,
CAMA, GIS (Geographic Information System) integration, valuation, assessment
administration, personal property, business licenses, cashiering, tax billing
and collection, delinquents and tax sales and e-government. Professional
services consist of backfile conversion and redaction, disaster preparedness,
data conversions, installation, training, project management, hardware
maintenance, forms processing and printing, and consulting. Manatron is
headquartered in Portage, Michigan and has offices throughout the United
States. Manatron currently serves over 1,500 customers and manages
approximately 40 million parcels. Most importantly, over the last forty
years, our software has helped government jurisdictions collect over one
trillion dollars in revenue.
More information about Manatron, Inc. is available at the Company's
website www.manatron.com. In addition, learn more about Manatron on
Facebook (www.facebook.com/ManatronInc) and Twitter (
twitter.com/manatron).
Rachel Bryant, Director of Marketing, Manatron, Inc., +1-269-567-2900, rachel.bryant at manatron.com
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