Empowering a Connected Government
The City of San Antonio
The BuildSA project aimed to fulfill the Development Services Department’s (DSD) commitment to enhance operational efficiency for customers seeking to build, develop, or improve property in the City of San Antonio and surrounding areas.
BuildSA Civic Platform Modernization
I joined Voyatek (formerly GCOM) as a technical writer in Phase 2 of the BuildSA project, where I documented the successful implementation of the Accela Citizen Portal, enabling the City of San Antonio to modernize its civic operations. By creating clear documentation for a new self-service portal, we empowered residents and businesses, eliminated bottlenecks, and replaced an inefficient legacy system with a streamlined, transparent alternative.
Challenge
The Development Services Department relied on outdated, legacy systems for licensing and permitting. These disconnected workflows created significant bottlenecks, limited visibility, and prevented residents and businesses from independently managing requests, requiring in-person visits.
Project Goals
Citizen Portal: Users need the ability to apply for permits and licenses, submit service requests, make payments, and interact with the city and partnering agencies’ staff online.
Staff Interface: Agency employees require the ability to review, process, approve, and effectively provide those services to the public.
Mobile Clients: Field workers need the ability to perform the following:
1. Plan and schedule their Day
2. Perform Inspections or activities
3. Receive and capture data in the field
4. Manage checklists throughout the day.
Project Team
DSD
Project Manager
Product Owners
Subject Matter Experts
Data Managers
Voyatek
Engagement Manager
Project Manager
Lead Architect
Business Analyst
Software Developers
Timeline
January 2019 – May 2021
My Responsibilities
Technical Writer
Document Planning
Content Strategy
Quality Assurance / Editor
Document Design
Methods
Agile Documentation Lifecycle Management
Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
Information Design
Project Team
COSA/DSD
Project Manager
Product Owners
Subject Matter Experts
Data Managers
Voyatek
Engagement Manager
Project Manager
Lead Architect
Business Analyst
Software Developers
Responsibilities
Technical Writer
Content Planning / Strategy
Quality Assurance / Editor
Timeline
January 2019 – May 2021
My Approach and Process
I implemented a documentation framework, which ran in parallel with the agile development lifecycle (SDLC). The process involved gathering requirements from project teams, managing content review cycles, and securing approvals that produced user-centric technical and non-technical content. feedback
I collaborated with developers, product owners, project managers, Quality Assurance (QA) engineers, testers, and specialists, including subject matter experts and business analysts, to document the DSD Accela Citizen Portal implementation. I managed content development for project delivery plans, produced iterative system specifications and user training manuals, and directly supported the successful product rollout and user adoption.
Key Deliverables
Software Documentation
System Requirements
Information Design
Test Plans
User Documentation
User Training Manuals
Installation Manuals
Quick-start Guides
Developer Documentation
Functional Requirements
Administration Guides
Configuration Guides
Outcomes
The BuildSA project improved the City of San Antonio’s civic operations. By supporting the documentation efforts, ACA's featured predefined workflows, intuitive citizen-facing interfaces, integrated dashboards, automated fee processing, and an extensible architecture, the implementation eliminated bottlenecks, replacing outdated systems with a streamlined alternative. Implementing the self-service Citizen Portal, the project successfully moved key functions of the Development Services Department (DSD) online. This empowered residents and businesses to independently manage tasks, including submitting building and fire permit requests, completing contractor license applications, and renewing licenses.
A full suite of documentation, including admin guides, functional requirements, and API, was delivered in lockstep with the evolving project, resulting in increased team productivity, reduced errors, and improved code quality.
The City of San Antonio’s legacy licensing and permitting systems operated through disconnected workflows with limited visibility and inefficient service delivery. These issues created delays, reduced transparency, and hindered residents and contractors from managing transactions independently through self-service options.
Solution
Accela Citizen Access (ACA), an industry-standard for government cloud services, was selected as the best-fit SaaS solution. I adapted traditional methods to align with the hybrid Agile Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and produce structured, comprehensive documentation alongside rapid, user-centric feature delivery.
Key Deliverables
Software Documentation
System Requirements
Information Design
Test Plans
User Documentation
User Training Manuals
Installation Manuals
Quick-start Guides
Developer Documentation
Functional Requirements
Administrator Guides
Configuration Guides
Tools and Tech
Jira / Confluence
Microsoft Word / Excel
Adobe InDesign / Lucidchart