Electronic Plan Review Eliminates Errors and Streamlines Submissions

When it comes to community development services, the plan review process is a crucial step that often becomes a bottleneck. Traditional methods of submission and review have historically been fraught with errors, delays, and frustration — both for local agencies and applicants.  

As city halls across the country focus on enhancing the citizen experience, many are turning to electronic plan review with submission check to better manage these processes and ensure a smooth application process.  

Below, we explore how technology is serving as a safeguard against common errors to streamline the submission process. 

Common Errors in the Submission Process 

The fact that permitting and plan review applications are commonly submitted with errors isn’t so surprising. After all, there are many things that can go wrong. Local agencies routinely receive incomplete submissions, incorrectly named files, password-protected files, incorrectly oriented documents, and the wrong file sizes, just to name a few.  

These errors essentially render an application on hold and can lead to significant delays for staff and applicants. As Tyson Florence, Sr. Solution Architect at Avolve Software, points out, "It can be an extremely frustrating process for the applicant. And for employees, who think, ‘How can nobody get this right?’.”  

Thanks to built-in completeness check, electronic plan review software is designed to catch errors early in the process, before the submission even reaches the local agency's staff. This ensures applicants submit complete, correct applications the first time.  

A robust completeness check for ePLan software includes:  

1. Automated prescreening

While it’s common for jurisdictions to have ‘how-to’ submittal guides, applicants don’t always read through the lengthy documents. Avolve’s ePlan products instantly check for issues like incorrect file formats, missing digital certificates, and incomplete submissions. “We’ve really refined our ability to provide some of those checks upfront and use technology to catch the most common errors,” said Florence. 

2. Real-time feedback

Instead of waiting weeks or months to find out about errors, applicants can receive instant feedback. "The applicant sees the feedback instantly so they can correct issues and ensure a complete application the first time," said Florence. This real-time communication drastically reduces delays and improves the overall efficiency of the process. 

3. Standardized submission requirements

Electronic plan review systems can enforce standardized submission requirements, ensuring that all necessary documents are included and properly formatted before allowing the submission to proceed. 

4. Improved file management

Manually managing submissions and notifying applicants of errors is time-consuming and inefficient. Pre-screening and completeness checks avoid much of this manual work by ensuring applications are complete and correctly formatted before they even hit the desks of plan review staff. 

Applicants and Local Agencies Get a Better Submission Process Thanks to Prescreening and Completeness Checks 

Electronic plan review software, with robust prescreening capabilities, is transforming the submission process for local agencies and applicants alike. By catching errors early on and providing instant feedback, electronic plan review enhances your citizens’ experience.