Cloud Operations Datasheet

The Smartmuni Cloud is collection of applications built on top of Smartmuni’s multi-tenant cloud-computing platform. It is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform which means never having to install and maintain complex software. The Smartmuni Cloud provides a number of services that support higher-level business capabilities, such as Bond Structuring & Reporting and Special District Administration.

Smartmuni.com is the leading provider of software for the management and administration of PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) Program bond issues. Under the PACE Program, qualified residential property owners can finance a variety of private “green” improvements including solar panels, heating and air conditioning systems, pool filtration equipment, windows and doors, water conservation improvements, fuel cells and other types of energy saving improvements.

Smartmuni.com enforces a consistent process for administering bonds. The system guides administrators through a process of imports, calculations and validation steps, while providing tools to inspect and verify the quality and consistency of the resulting data. Our automated web services API provides fast and secure import and management of bond data. This helps eliminate error and speed up data import.

Data is stored on highly redundant and encrypted disk arrays. This allows Smartmuni to store vast amount of data that can be viewed and analyzed instantly using a simple web browser. Smartmuni.com is capable of managing large amount of data in real time while maintaining historical data for audit and compliance purposes.

Smartmuni.com enforces a strict authentication and authorization model. Every access attempt, successful or not, is logged in the system. Once authorized, any changes to the data are also recorded with user name and timestamp.

The Smartmuni Platform provides a number of services including metadata driven applications, standard domain objects, search, reporting and analytics, bulk data processing (import / export), workflow, rule engine and audit trail. These services support the business capabilities layered on top of the platform.

Metadata lies at the heart of the Smartmuni Platform. The Smartmuni bond and district administration applications are built on a metadata layer, which governs look and feel, object relationships, rule definitions, object behavior, persistence and many other facets of the system.

Smart Search

Smartmuni search uses your recent activity, to determine the items that are relevant to you. It uses this information to personalize your search scope to those items and related records, making the search more focused and faster. Smartmuni search also reorders the results to align them with your areas of interest. If you spend a lot of time working with Bonds and Parcels, they’re likely to show up at the top of your search results, and faster than before.

Reporting & Analytics

Smartmuni provides easy-to-use cloud-based reporting and analytics. A number of standard reports are available and new reports can be developed using a simple authoring tool. Standard reports include reports that track bond and district life-cycles as well as parcel payments and delinquency. Reports are grouped in logical folders to make them easy to find and use. Some of the standard folders include: Bond Maintenance, Contact Management, District Administration, Parcel Payment and Delinquency, and Permit Management. New folders can be created and reports can be added to the folders so they are easier to manage.

Below are some standard reports available in Smartmuni:

Bulk Data Processing

Smartmuni provides the ability to import and export bulk data. Bulk data import and export enables users to easily setup new data in the system or create data files that can be stored outside the system and sent to other organizations.

As new bonds, districts, parcels or other data are added to Smartmuni, users can import the data through a simple web based wizard. Filed can be supplied in multiple formats with CSV (Comma Separated Values) being the most common. Smartmuni will present a list of fields for users to map import file columns to and then submit the import job to a queue to be processed.

Smartmuni will validate the source data from the import file is the correct type and format before importing it into the system. Additionally, Smartmuni will verify the relationships with other objects are correct before data is committed to the system.

Once an import job is submitted, it is usually processed within minutes. Users are notified by email when the job completes and a detailed summary of the job statistics is included in the body of the email. If errors were encountered during the import, Smartmuni will include the row number from the import file and a detailed description of the error. For example, if a required field was missing or not correctly formatted (as with a date), the error report will provide the row number from the import file along with the name of the required or malformed field so users can easily make corrections.

Data can be exported from Smartmuni using a process similar to performing a bulk import, but in reverse. A web based wizard guides users to select an object and it’s relationships to be exported. Object fields are selected for output and mapped to columns in the output file. Data can be output in a number of different file formats with CSV being the most common. Once the desired fields are mapped, users then submit the export job to a queue to be processed.

Once an export job is submitted, it is usually processed within minutes. Users are notified by email when the job completes and a detailed summary of the job statistics is included in the body of the email along with a link to download the exported file. The same data protection is applied to exported files as other data stored within Smartmuni. The exported files are only available to users who initiated the job and users must be logged into Smartmuni to retrieve the file.

Exported files are available to users for download for 24 hours after the job completes. After 24 hours, export files are deleted from Smartmuni and no longer available.

Account Settings and Global Controls

Administrators control the account settings of all Smartmuni users and can easily configure permissions and privileges for the entire organization, a department and / or individual user accounts.

• Configure policies for password strength and resets, failed logins and session duration
• Manage permissions for access, preview, editing, download and sharing
• Password-protect confidential documents and set expiration dates for file access

Smartmuni provides comprehensive audit trails for nearly every action or activity that occurs. Administrators can track account actions, object life-cycles, sharing activity and more.

• All successful and failed login attempts are recorded and saved for 180 days. The login history can be viewed or downloaded to a CSV file.
• Every configuration (Setup) change is logged and archived for 180 days. The Setup Audit Trail shows any change and who made the change. This audit log is especially helpful for organizations with multiple administrators.
• You can select certain standard and custom fields to track the change history. Each time a user modifies one of the tracked fields, an entry is added to the History Related List on the object, showing the time, user, and the change made.

Smartmuni Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Smartmuni has partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to run its infrastructure. As one of the world’s largest “Infrastructure as a Service” providers, AWS provides secure, scalable storage, computing, networking, messaging and monitoring infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of companies around the globe. With years of experience designing, constructing and operating large-scale data centers, Amazon Web Services is responsible for infrastructure from the virtualization layer to the physical data center, which includes physical security, environmental safeguards and general infrastructure availability.