City of Cape Town Becomes First Jurisdiction in Africa to Utilize Manatron GRM Software

PORTAGE, Mich., Nov. 16, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Manatron, Inc., a global leader in providing integrated property tax and records management software for state and local governments, today announced that the City of Cape Town, South Africa is now utilizing the company's GRM customCAMA software to assist with the process of assessing property value.

Manatron GRM customCAMA is a comprehensive property appraisal software product and is the only completely customizable CAMA solution on today's market, offering multiple tailored solutions for local government property appraisers.  This combination of power and flexibility makes the customCAMA software a popular choice for large and complex jurisdictions.

"The City of Cape Town has been a great partner during this project," stated Ruel Williamson, Manatron vice president corporate strategy.  "Working with the Cape Town staff has been a rewarding experience that will ultimately make Manatron a stronger software provider."

"We are proud to be the most technically advanced jurisdiction in Africa when it comes to IT infrastructure, and we continue this tradition through the adoption of this highly functional, user-friendly software," said Christopher Gavor, director of valuation for the City of Cape Town.  "GRM's intuitive design helps remove security risks, and incorporates key performance indicators allowing us to manage results.  We could not be happier with the installation process and are very pleased to have Manatron as our partner in this process."  

The City of Cape Town's appraisal staff, consisting of 150 employees across four departments, worked together with the Manatron team to implement the GRM customCAMA software.  The project began in late 2008 and marked the city's first partnership with a government software provider.  Manatron was chosen based on knowledge of the South African Property Rates Act, a compatible IT infrastructure and consistent goals with the City of Cape Town.  

"Despite occasional differences in terminology and culture, Manatron was able to minimize disruption, while also maintaining historical processes," said Bill McKinzie, Manatron president and CEO.  "The new software will add functionality as well as improve efficiency for the City of Cape Town. We look forward to a lasting partnership."  

As South Africa's second-largest jurisdiction, the City of Cape Town serves a constituency of approximately four million people and its government offices are responsible for the assessment of more than 800,000 parcels.  During the GRM installation process, the City additionally performed a jurisdiction-wide revaluation of each of these properties.

The GRM customCAMA software also incorporates oblique aerial image access, which uses multiple cameras that combine images, for property appraisal accuracy.  This comprehensive approach has improved efficiency by allowing employees to take measurements and 3D images of buildings for recording purposes, ultimately resulting in a ten-fold increase in productivity.  

About Manatron, Inc.: Manatron, a privately-held company and an investment of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, LLC, provides software and services for state and local governments to completely, fairly and efficiently assess real and personal property, and to bill and collect the related property taxes in their jurisdictions. Manatron's software manages the entire property life cycle, which includes deed recording, land records, CAMA, GIS (Geographic Information System) integration, valuation, assessment administration, personal property, business licenses, cashiering, tax billing and collection, delinquents and tax sales and e-government. Professional services consist of backfile conversion and redaction, disaster preparedness, data conversions, installation, training, project management, hardware maintenance, forms processing and printing, and consulting. Manatron is headquartered in Portage, Michigan and has offices throughout the United States. Manatron currently serves over 1,500 customers and manages approximately 40 million parcels. Most importantly, over the last forty years, our software has helped government jurisdictions collect over one trillion dollars in revenue.

More information about Manatron, Inc. is available at the Company's website www.manatron.com. In addition, learn more about Manatron on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Manatron, Inc.