If your team relies on spreadsheets, email chains, or handwritten notes just to keep permits and licenses moving, you're not alone.

In many municipalities, permitting and licensing live inside a broader enterprise resources planning (ERP) system. ERP software is built for finance and administration, not the complexity and volume of community development work. The result is often a tool that technically covers permitting, but creates friction along the way: clunky processes, manual workarounds, and delays that affect both staff and applicants.

Municipalities typically hit this problem from one of two directions.

Some are actively looking to modernize. They see the inefficiencies firsthand and have an opening to rethink whether an ERP is the right foundation for community development.

Others aren't evaluating anything right now. The ERP works well for other departments, but for community development, it’s less than ideal. Even when the limitations are obvious, making the case for change is hard when leadership wants everything in one system.

Though these are different starting points, they underscore the same basic problem: permitting and licensing don't fit what an ERP is built to do. Unfortunately, this often shows up as slower turnaround times, heavier workloads, and a worse experience for the public.

The next step is being able to name where the system breaks down and make the case for something better. That starts with understanding where ERP-based permitting modules fall short.

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Understanding Where ERP Modules Fall Short

Processes like permitting and licensing don’t fit neatly into the kind of system an ERP is built to support. ERPs are designed for back-office operations like financial management, payroll, and purchasing. These are closely related processes that follow standardized rules and are often managed together in a single system.

ERP vendors in the government space often include a permitting or licensing module as an add-on or bundled feature to record transactions. Because these modules are not the core product, they tend to receive less investment and evolve more slowly than the ERP’s financial and administrative features.

In day-to-day work, limitations with ERP permitting and licensing modules show up in specific and often predictable ways. Processes break down, work moves outside the system, and staff rely on manual steps to keep things moving.

These are some of the most common gaps community development teams run into and how they tend to show up in practice:

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Dedicated community development software is built to manage workflows, complex review processes, inspections, public-facing portals, and GIS integrations. Workflows can be configured to match different permit types and review paths, without pushing staff into workarounds. Applicants get a clearer experience, with guided submissions and real-time visibility into status. Inspections and plan review are treated as core parts of the system, with tools designed for fieldwork and cross-department collaboration. 

Because these platforms are purpose-built for community development, they evolve more quickly and reflect how processes actually work in the field. That focus also carries through to implementation and support, where teams understand permitting and licensing and can configure the system more effectively from the start.

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Common Myths Surrounding ERPs

Two assumptions tend to come up when municipalities consider moving away from an ERP for permitting and licensing: that keeping everything in one system reduces friction, and that the ERP module is the more cost-effective choice.

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Myth #1: “Everything should live in one system to reduce friction”

Fewer systems should mean fewer problems. But when the ERP doesn't fit how permitting actually works, staff start building workarounds. Reviews move to email, data gets re-entered by hand, and the one system that was supposed to simplify things becomes the reason everything takes longer.

Modern community development platforms are designed to work alongside ERPs, allowing financial data to flow where it needs to go without forcing every department into the same system. In fact, many communities already take this approach — using a dedicated platform like GovWell as their system of record for permitting and licensing, while the ERP continues to handle financial and administrative functions.

Rather than creating silos, this approach often results in a more connected and flexible environment where each system supports the work it was built for.

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Myth #2: “The ERP module is the more cost-effective option”

If your municipality already invested in an ERP, paying for another system feels redundant. Sometimes it may seem like the permitting and licensing module is essentially a free add-on to your existing system. 

But the real cost shows up in how your ERP performs once it’s in use. When workflows don’t align, staff fill in the gaps. That often looks like:

• Steps being tracked outside the system in spreadsheets or internal notes
• Communication shifting to email because it’s easier than forcing it through the system
• Manual re-entry of information between tools
• Applicants calling or following up because they can’t easily track status

Individually, these challenges may seem manageable. Taken together, they add time, introduce more risk of error, and pull staff away from higher-value work. This effectively recreates the inefficiencies the ERP was meant to solve.

There’s also a broader impact that’s easy to overlook. When permitting slows down, it doesn’t stay contained within the department. It can lead to:

• Increased friction for contractors and businesses trying to operate in the city
• Longer timelines for construction projects to move forward
• Delays in collecting permit fees and inspection-related revenue
• Slower realization of downstream tax revenue tied to completed projects
• Dissatisfied residents waiting on applications and approvals

Over time, those effects can outweigh the initial savings. By contrast, when the system actually supports how permitting and licensing work, the impact can be immediate. Some communities report significant efficiency gains, including up to a 95% reduction in permit and license processing time. As Wanda Moore, Community Development Director and GovWell customer in Hampton, GA put it: “I told city council that processing time for business licenses went from 10 days to under an hour. Their mouths dropped.”

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What a Dedicated Community Development Solution Looks Like 

A dedicated community development platform isn't just an ERP module with a few extra features — it's a fundamentally different kind of tool. Community development software is purpose-built for how permitting and licensing actually work, not adapted from a system designed for accounting and procurement.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Configurable, no-code workflows tailored to each permit and license type, review path, and department, allowing the system to reflect how your municipality actually operates
• Community-facing portals with guided applications, real-time status updates, and online payments, making it easier for contractors, residents, and businesses to navigate the process
• Mobile inspections with photo capture, checklists, and automated result routing, so fieldwork and system updates stay connected
• Integrated plan review that supports multi-department collaboration, with shared markups, routing, and version tracking in one place
• AI-powered automation that is trained on local codes and requirements, catching errors and keeping applications moving without constant manual follow-up
• Built-in GIS integration that allows local governments to retrieve data, assign conditions to certain parcels (such as floodplain or commercial), and use GIS layers to adjust workflows and add alerts
• Seamless integration with your ERP, ensuring financial data flows where it needs to go while allowing each system to focus on what it does best

For many teams, the shift to a dedicated community development  system is immediately noticeable in how work gets done day to day. As Emily Brewer, a GovWell customer and Senior Planner in Brevard, North Carolina said: “It really feels like a step into the 21st century—into systems that are modern, accessible, and designed for how small municipalities like ours actually work.”

This is the advantage of using community development software as a complement to your ERP, rather than trying to force everything into a single system. A best-of-breed approach — pairing a dedicated ERP with community development software — gives each department the tools it needs while still maintaining a connected, unified system.

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How to Advocate for Your Department

Dedicated permitting software for your department sounds great in theory, but advocating for it is often easier said than done. These decisions are usually made across multiple stakeholders, and the conversation doesn’t always leave room for the nuances of how individual department workflows actually work.

That’s why it helps to be clear and specific about what community development needs and communicate that in a way that resonates beyond your team.

When you’re part of an ERP evaluation or discovery process, here are a few approaches to make your input more productive:

• Be specific about where your current process breaks down. Instead of general frustrations, point to exact moments where applications stall, where staff leave the system to track something manually, or where inspectors have to re-enter information later.
• Explain where a single system may not fully support your workflow. Rather than debating architecture, describe what happens when everything is forced into one system. For example, any community development teams still re-enter data and take manual steps to move information between departments, even on a "unified" platform. The gaps between finance and community development don't disappear just because they share the same ERP.
• Bring in the external experience. Don’t just describe internal workflows. Explain what it’s like for a contractor or resident applying for a permit today, and where confusion or delays tend to happen.
• Tie your points to outcomes the city cares about. Connect your examples to things like revenue, turnaround time, staff capacity, and public experience. This makes the impact easier to evaluate beyond just features. These outcomes are increasingly a priority at the state level, with New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island all pushing for faster permitting and the adoption of technologies like AI.

Ultimately, any decision about implementing an ERP will shape how your department operates for years to come. ERPs are well-suited for standardized processes like finance and accounting, but community development activities involve more variability, coordination, and public interaction than those systems are built to handle.

That’s why your input matters in this process. If your unique experience is not clearly represented, permitting and licensing can easily be evaluated like any other function and the system chosen will reflect that. Being specific about how your team actually works helps ensure the outcome supports your department, not just the broader system.

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Choosing the Right Community Development Platform

For teams navigating this process, GovWell is one example of what a dedicated community development platform looks like.

Built specifically for municipalities and counties, GovWell supports the full permitting lifecycle with AI-powered workflows, AI plan review, mobile inspections, and public-facing portals. Communities across more than 30 states use GovWell as their system of record for permitting and licensing, often alongside an ERP that handles financial and administrative functions. Many report significant efficiency gains, including up to a 95% reduction in permit and license processing time.

If you’re in the middle of an ERP evaluation and want to better understand what a purpose-built approach could look like for your department, it can be helpful to see it in action. Schedule a demo to see how GovWell can support your department’s permitting and licensing workflows alongside your ERP.