• Company
• Products
  • Ascend for County Assessors and Treasurers
  • California Property Tax
  • Complimentary Modules
    • Refund Check
    • Warrants
    • Ascend Map
    • Investments
    • Ascend Call Center
    • Ascend for the Web
      • Web Inquiry
      • Statement Server
      • Payment Server
  • CAMA Integration
  • ASIX Consulting Solutions
    • Methodology
    • Technology
    • Partners
    • ASIX People
• Services
  • Ascend User Training
  • Ascend User Group
  • Data Conversion
  • ASIX Consulting Services
    • Planning and Analysis
    • Information Architecture
    • Software Engineering
    • Package Solutions
    • Integration Services
• Partners
• Spotlights

Spotlights

Client: Yakima County, Washington
Project: Assessment & Property Tax Software/Conceptual Design

ASIX Consulting was engaged to conduct business analysis and provide a conceptual design for an integrated property assessment, tax billing & collection software application. Following the delivery of the design document, the County requested ASIX to estimate the cost of system development utilizing current client-server technology. Ultimately, the County contracted with ASIX to complete detailed definition of requirements and to develop and implement this new system, going into production September, 1996. The resulting application, Ascend™, is a fully commercialized product and has been sold and implemented in large county jurisdictions spanning six states.

ASIX’s Role:

ASIX was involved from conception to final implementation on this project, and continues to provide on-going software maintenance and upgrades. Representative project tasks include:

• Project Management
• Requirements Analysis & Definition
• Development of a Client – Server application with over 250 database tables
• Data conversion
• Training, ongoing product support, and maintenance

Application Benefits:

ASIX provided an integrated, state-of-the-art assessment/taxation management system that provided a level of automation our customer had previously not achieved. Ascend™ has had two subsequent major releases built in concert with our original customer, and its implementation has resulted in quantifiable time savings and cost reductions based on the ability to either re-deploy or eliminate staff positions. Taxpayer services have greatly improved due to availability of information not previously possible.

Ascend™’s advanced technology is capable of integrating with computer assisted mass appraisal systems (CAMA) through a shared database structure, and can be interfaced with other mission-critical applications such as finance, GIS, IVR, and imaging systems. Ascend Web Inquiry allows our customers the ability to provide taxpayers and tax service firms the ability to read important property account information via the Internet. Ascend™ provides extraordinary value, promotes seamless collaboration between departments, streamlines workflow, and ensures accuracy and timeliness of critical data.

Methodology:

• Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
• Rapid Application Development

Technology:

• Object-oriented client-server development tools (Generated compiled C++)
• Relational Databases including Oracle, IBM Dynamic Server, SQL Server
• MS Access for reports
• Software version controls (PVCS)
• Various Unix versions, NT, Windows 2000

Partners:

• Sigma Systems Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA)
• Informix Software Corporation
• Microsoft (MS Access)