Act80 Automated

Back in 1984, a state process was born—and it’s been chugging along ever since, fueled by paper. Lots of paper. Over 3 million pages a year, to be exact. So naturally, when someone asked, “Can we make this digital?” our response was a resounding, “Yes… but how?”

The modern tech landscape is like a buffet: endless choices, shiny features, and an ever-looming risk of picking something that gives you vendor lock-in indigestion. Choose wrong, and suddenly your data is stuck in a cloud-shaped cage that charges you for every sneeze (or API call).

So, when we set out to design the Act80 Automation system, we weren’t just picking tech—we were dodging future regrets. The goal was simple: eliminate data entry, kill the paper, save time, and stay within budget. Easy, right?

Let’s be real—we’re not building the next Mars rover here. But we are creating a system to serve 12 million taxpayers and 500 school districts. So it better work. And it better not require a PhD in “whatever-this-interface-is.”

That’s why the Act80 system uses five different address databases, geolocation services, and OpenAI magic to deliver a scary-good 99.9997% accuracy in figuring out if someone actually lives in the district they claim. Misspelled city? Wrong ZIP code? We built an AI model that shrugs, says “Got this,” and picks the most likely address—all while politely flagging it for human review. This bumped us up from 98.2% accuracy, which was good, to “machine overlord” good.

But no amount of tech matters if people hate using it. The biggest roadblock isn’t code—it’s convincing humans to let go of their beloved binders and spreadsheets. We call this the “unforeseen technical debt” of digital transformation. The cure? Bring users into the process early, listen to their feedback, and let them feel like they helped build the thing (because they did). It might cost more upfront, but it pays off fast when users actually use what you’ve built.

In the end, Act80 isn’t just a tool—it’s proof that even the oldest, paper-loving processes can be dragged into the 21st century with the right mix of tech, teamwork, and a little AI wizardry.  What’s the proof?  The app has currently saved 5 million dollars annually, 26 tons of carbon and over 1 million hours of labor, so yes – we call it a good start!