The first Web services application that Miami-Dade put into service was an application for issuing storm-panel permits, prepared for the building department. This was another speedy development effort, taking slightly more than three months, as Feuer and his developers pushed to get the application online before hurricane season kicked into high gear, which is when the county sees a high demand for these permits.

To get the application into service as quickly as they did, Feuer and his staff used ClientSoft's Service Builder software and worked with a consultant from ClientSoft, following a straightforward process. First, they loaded and configured Service Builder onto the mainframe that housed the legacy database. Next, they created a Web services application using Service Builder's development toolkit. Then, they developed the storm-panel permit application that would consume the Web service. Finally, they developed a front end that tied into XML transaction process data and put that application out through the existing Miami-Dade Web portal. This basic procedure is what Feuer's developers will follow for forthcoming applications.

After the permitting application went live in July, the building department processed 24 contractor permits that month and 20 more in August, generating more than $2,000 in revenue for the department. Those numbers may seem somewhat small for a county the size of Miami-Dade, but Feuer admits that once the hurricanes start rolling, many contractors don't even bother applying for permits. "They just put up panels and hope for the best," he says. Feuer considers the application a success, and credits its rapid availability and ease of use with encouraging contractors to follow procedure and apply for permits before battening down the hatches.

In Line to Go Online

During the next six months, Feuer expects to have up to four applications under development using Web services, possibly including the background integration for a 311 county information call center. It will feature numerous integration points, or connections, between the Web-based front end and the mainframe, says Feuer, as each call must be routed not only to the appropriate agency but also to the appropriate legacy application within that agency.

For example, if a resident wants to contact the county to schedule a bulky waste pickup, he can access a request form, available through Miami-Dade's Web portal. But the scheduling and tracking application for sanitation department vehicles resides on the mainframe. Establishing a reliable, efficient connection between those two points is where Feuer plans to put Web services to work. "We've got a Web-based front end and an old legacy application, so that integration point will be done through Web services," he says.