Why Avolve Chose Microsoft and Azure AI for Government Plan Review

Since generative AI became available for widespread public use just a few short years ago, it seems we’ve not stopped talking about AI. You can’t open a news feed, join a meeting, or attend a conference without hearing about it. Yet for local governments, the conversation feels both exciting and, probably, a little exhausting. Everyone wants to know: What does AI actually mean for us? 

At Avolve, we’ve been asking that same question.  

Armed with the insights from the more than 350 agencies we work with, we started exploring how AI could meaningfully assist plan reviewers, applicants, and community development teams. Rather than rushing into the latest trend, we focused on building something effective, responsible, secure, and one designed for the realities of government work — which is exactly what led us to parter with Microsoft’s Azure AI.  

Why Microsoft and Azure AI 

For many agencies, Microsoft is already the central nerve of daily operations. From cloud infrastructure to productivity tools, it’s among the best-known and most-trusted technological environments, and — crucially — one that meets strict public-sector compliance standards. 

By choosing Microsoft Azure AI, we’re not asking cities or counties to adopt something unknown or untested but rather building on a foundation that agencies already rely on — one with the security, auditability, and governance they expect. 

AI That’s Accountable by Design 

Microsoft Azure AI gives us transparency into how models work and how data is managed. Too often, “The use of neural network models means AI’s computations are often a black box, unknowable to AI designers and end users alike, which has implications for accountability and transparency when AI is used for decision making,” as write the authors of Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work: A Functional-Identity Perspective published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science. 

In government, ‘black box’ calculations, decisions, and instructions are a non-negotiable no. Systems that handle information about citizens and public goods must be explainable and accountable.  

AI has incredible potential, but in government it also comes with a unique responsibility. Plan reviewers, building officials, and community development professionals need to understand how AI arrives at a conclusion — not just trust that it’s right. 

When it comes to plan review, these aren’t abstract data points but rather buildings, public spaces, and community infrastructure where safety and structural integrity are of the utmost importance. That’s why partnering with Microsoft matters. Its rigorous security and reliability standards give agencies confidence that the AI tools supporting their work operate within a framework designed to uphold safety, compliance, and public trust. 

Microsoft’s Responsible AI Policies 

With well-documented governance policies, enterprise security, and clear data-handling standards, Microsoft supports Avolve’s approach to what we call ‘intentional AI:’ technology that enhances human expertise instead of replacing it.  

Microsoft is built on six responsible AI policies:

1. Fairness: AI systems should treat all stakeholders equitably and should not reinforce undesirable stereotypes and biases. 

2. Reliability: AI systems should be designed to perform safely even in the worst-case scenario. 

3. Transparency: AI systems and their output should be understandable to relevant stakeholders. 
4. Accountability: The people who design and deploy AI systems must be accountable for how their systems operate.
5. Privacy and security: AI systems should protect data from misuse and ensure privacy rights. 
6. Inclusion: AI systems should empower everyone, regardless of ability, and engage people by providing channels for feedback. 

Our goal has always been a human-centric approach to AI — keeping plan reviewers in control while giving them tools that surface the right details at the right time. Rather than replacing judgment, Avolve AI removes bottlenecks and accelerates review cycles, so reviewers can focus on the work that truly requires their expertise. 

Putting Models to the Test 

Before deciding on a partner, our team ran extensive testing across multiple AI models. We looked at how each handled real-world plan review challenges, like multi-page submissions, complex building drawings, and varying prompt types. 

Performance, accuracy, cost, and latency all factored into the decision. In the end, Microsoft Azure AI offered the best balance of precision and reliability for government use. It performed consistently across complex document types while maintaining the standards our customers expect around security and data integrity. 

Starting with What Matters Most 

Our first AI capability, Avolve AI Submit, focuses on a common pain point back-office teams know well — missing or incomplete plan submissions. 

AI Submit automatically checks for missing titles, sheet references, and file-type errors before plans ever reach the reviewer. It also extracts sheet titles, detects drawing scales, and flags common intake issues automatically, catching the 20–30% of first-cycle errors that often delay permit issuance. That early validation saves hours of manual work and eliminates the back-and-forth that slows down projects. 

A Foundation for What’s Ahead 

We’re excited to be debuting the first of our AI features. At the same time, this partnership is creating the groundwork for the future of plan review, with the same secure AI foundation we’ve built with Microsoft and  Azure AI powering the next phase of innovation across our solutions. 

Next up, we’re working on capabilities like plan-sheet comparison, applicant seal validation, change detection in the revision process and AI-assisted code analysis, all of which are aimed at tackling the small but time-intensive steps that add up during the review process. And Avolve is looking at how AI can help our customers beyond the review workflow specifically by providing tools to generate GIS features from as-builts, flagging projects that are at risk for not meeting SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and helping management query and dissect their organizational data.  

We’re thrilled to be able to continue to build on this partnership, and in time, we will gradually weave AI through everything we do, in a way that supports human expertise, not sidelines it. 

Built for Government, Guided by Trust 

For public agencies, trust isn’t optional. Technology has to be transparent, reliable, and accountable to the communities it serves, and that’s exactly why we chose Microsoft Azure AI. 

Built on Microsoft’s Azure AI foundation, Avolve AI inherits the same enterprise-grade security and compliance that’s long been trusted by state and local governments worldwide. It’s a platform that meets agencies where they already are — and one that will evolve alongside them. 

Request a demo to learn more.