What is Online Dog Licensing?
Online Dog Licensing is a software system and related services for counties, cities and municipalities to enable selling licenses online and effectively manage all aspects of dog licensing.
Who is the audience for Online Dog Licensing?
Counties, cities and munipalities which manage dog licensing.
What are the typical configurations?
The service is available in two forms: Online Agent and Full System. The Online Agent enables the general public to buy licenses online, paying for them by credit credit. The Full System is used to manage all aspect of dog licensing, such as generating and processing renewal applications and managing owner and license data. A Full System often includes the Online Agent piece.
What hardware and software is needed to get started?
The system is accessed over the Internet, so you will need an Internet connection and a web-browser. It is also expected that printers are available for printing receipts, applications and reports, as needed. If using the Full System, barcode scanners can speed up processing; for really high volume, the renewal applications have OCR-readable fields and the system supports batch file processing, so OCR readers are an option.
What kinds of licenses are supported?
The system can manage dog and kennel licenses. As different jurisdictions frequently require different information for a license, the system supports a wide range of fields, and we can often accomodate new ones. Besides licenses, donations and actual goods can be sold and managed by the system.
How are online payments handled?
Orders placed via the Online Agent must be paid with a credit card. Once the order has been processed, the funds are transfered to our account. On a weekly basis, we cut a check and generate a set of reports relating to the online sales of the prior week and send them to you. The check can be in print form or ACH.
Is the data shared with any third-parties?
Data is shared with third parties as is needed for the proper operation of the system. For instance, we transfer to a credit card processor the necessary information for processing a credit card transaction, and no more. In short, our philosophy is to protect all data and share as little as possible. We have never sold owner or license data to any third party, nor ever intend to.
The Full System does support a 'License Database' which may be searchable by the general public and used to look up owner and license information. The feature is quite popular as it speeds up reuniting a dog with its owner. The database is configurable in a number of ways and can be turned off altogether. It is at your discretion to use the database and to determine its configuration.
How long to get started?
Once a proposal has been accepted and an agreement signed, we can usually have the system up and running in four to six weeks. The time is dependent upon delivery to us of all needed data, which can include images, forms, and owner and license files. During the set up time (and on an ongoing basis), we ask that you have for us a point person who is responsible for pulling together all the needed information and for approving copy, print forms, website and the like.