Municipal Taxation Reporting Tool
CAPP
CLIENT
CAPP
YEAR
2012 - 2018
The Challenge
CAPP required a centralized, authoritative system for managing and analyzing municipal-level data across Alberta. While members independently gathered pieces of this information through various methods, there was no consistent, structured way to house, compare, or analyze it at scale. Data lived in spreadsheets, reports, and disparate sources, often non-uniform and difficult to reconcile. The immediate objective was to design and build a custom database application that could consolidate known information for Alberta’s 348 Municipal Districts, using the same classification codes and identifiers defined by the Government of Alberta. The system needed to align with provincial data structures to support future data imports, interoperability, and potential migration scenarios. Beyond Phase I, the platform needed to be designed with long-term scalability in mind. Future phases would expand the system across provinces, support collaboration among thousands of CAPP members and staff, incorporate anecdotal data contributions, and generate structured reports that reveal trends and comparisons over time. The challenge was not simply data storage. It was transforming fragmented, incongruent data into a reliable, extensible system capable of supporting analysis, reporting, and long-term institutional use.
Our Solution
Intoria partnered with CAPP to lead the discovery, design, and development of a scalable municipal data platform, beginning with a focused Phase I implementation. We designed a normalized data model aligned with Government of Alberta municipal classifications, codes, and structures, ensuring accuracy and compatibility with provincially available datasets. The application featured an interactive, clickable map interface of Alberta, allowing users to explore municipalities visually and access structured data with ease. Phase I data capture included municipal property tax information across multiple categorized tax types, population statistics, and kilometres of municipally administered roads. Significant effort was devoted to gathering, reconciling, and normalizing disparate data sources into a consistent, reportable format. We built robust reporting tools that enabled structured comparison across municipalities, providing clear snapshots of data that could be analyzed over time. The platform architecture was intentionally designed to support future expansion, including additional provinces, broader member participation, anecdotal data contribution, and longitudinal reporting. Throughout development, emphasis was placed on clarity, adaptability, and simplicity. The result was a system capable of evolving alongside CAPP’s long-term objectives while remaining usable and reliable from its initial launch.
Results
CAPP gained a centralized, easy-to-use municipal reporting platform that replaced fragmented data collection methods with a single authoritative source. Users can now view, compare, and analyze municipal data in a structured, consistent manner, supported by reporting that reveals meaningful differences and trends over time. The system established a scalable foundation for future phases, including cross-provincial expansion and broader collaboration across CAPP’s membership. By aligning closely with provincial data standards, the platform also supports interoperability and long-term flexibility as data sources and requirements evolve. For Intoria, the project demonstrates the ability to design institutional-grade systems that balance governance, data integrity, and usability. It reflects a disciplined approach to complex data problems. Turning disparate inputs into structured insight without over-engineering, and without introducing unnecessary political or operational risk.
"CAPP hired Intoria to develop a web-based municipal reporting tool that will enable a centralized and easy-to-use system to properly house, display, and compare municipal data (property tax, etc.). This project was extremely complex as it required pulling disparate and non-uniform data points into reports that will provide the analytics requisite for understanding the cost of doing business in various municipalities. Intoria was able to achieve this objective through technological expertise, simplicity, and adaptability."
Vicki Ballance
Manager, Regulatory Affairs