PORTAGE – Manatron, which provides integrated property tax and records management software for state and local governments, Tuesday announced that the City of Cape Town, South Africa, is now using the company’s software to help figure out property values, the first customer for Manatron in Africa.

Manatron GRM customCAMA is a comprehensive property appraisal software product and is completely customizable, offering multiple tailored solutions for local government property appraisers.

“The City of Cape Town has been a great partner during this project,” said 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.”

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.

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