City planning officials briefed the Dallas City Planning Commission Thursday on Dallas Now, a cloud‑based land‑management platform the Planning and Development Department says will replace the legacy Posse system and integrate permitting, zoning, inspections and project documents.

Planning manager Jorge Poole and assistant director Megan Weimer said Dallas Now is scheduled to go live on May 5 following a planned data migration and testing window. Poole told the commission the system was developed to “integrate 15 different systems, including project docs and GIS, into 1 seamless powerful platform” and to offer a public-facing portal that allows searches by address, parcel ID and contractor and sends automated email notifications to applicants.

The department will implement an integration and downtime period April 25 through May 4 during which online functions will be limited; inspections, emergency releases and consultations will continue, staff said. Poole said staff plans extended in‑office hours and on‑site support April 14–24 to help customers register and prepare for migration, and that staff training and practice environments are already in use. “Dallas Now is fully digital, which means everything happens in a secure online environment. No more paper submittals or manual handoffs,” Poole told commissioners.

Commissioners asked about access and training. Weimer said commissioners and other board members will log in through the public customer portal; the portal is designed to provide broad visibility to case status, documents and schedules. She said staff will ensure departments have view‑only back‑end access where needed. Weimer also said the system will include standardized submittal checklists so the city can streamline which plans are required for routine requests such as same‑use certificates of occupancy.

Several commissioners asked about operational details: whether code‑enforcement officers and field staff will be able to see suite‑level addresses, how the platform will treat “same UCO” (same use certificate of occupancy) submittals and whether standard exceptions will remain for in‑person filings. Poole and Weimer said the portal will be visible to users and that departments are working to grant appropriate view privileges; in some cases staff will scan paper submissions into the system so those records are centralized.

Staff plans training workshops, demos and an open house after launch. Officials said tutorials and practice videos will be posted to dallas.gov/dallasnow and that they will host hourly demonstrations and account‑registration assistance during the initial rollout. Poole urged commissioners and frequent applicants to use the practice environment before May 5 to reduce disruption.