4 Things To Consider Before Implementing a Plan Review System

Modernizing a plan review process is one of the most impactful decisions a municipality can make. It affects applicants, reviewers, inspectors, community partners, and, ultimately, the pace at which your community grows and develops.

To ensure your investment yields maximum ROI and staff adoption, consider these four critical factors before implementing an electronic plan review system.

1. Don't outsource technology decisions to third-party vendors

Your agency’s plan review system is central to your operations. It deserves a full, open, competitive selection process that reflects your priorities and not someone else’s product roadmap or business strategy.

However, we’ve recently seen an increase in permitting vendors recommending a specific electronic plan review solution alongside their core solution. Although this might seem convenient, there are three crucial reasons why agencies should choose a plan review system for themselves:

• Budget consolidation often reduces focus on plan review
• Vendor lock-in creates expensive, agency-wide replacement scenarios
• Bundled procurement limits best-of-breed selection

If your permitting vendor is pushing to issue a plan review RFP on your behalf, consider issuing it yourself. This ensures:

• You see the full breadth of available technology
• Vendors compete to meet your requirements
• You retain full ownership of your future roadmap

2. Implement permitting first, then plan review

Implementing a permitting system is a massive undertaking, and so is implementing an electronic plan review solution. Attempting both simultaneously can create the following challenges:

• Overloaded staff: Your team still has day jobs. Forcing them to manage two implementations leads to burnout and errors. 
• Misaligned workflows: Plan review must follow the logic of your permitting workflow. If you implement both at once, you risk inaccurate workflows that require expensive rework down the road.

 

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3. Prioritize integration flexibility over out-of-the-box solutions

In an evolving technology landscape, integration capability matters more than out-of-the-box integrations. If your plan review tool is hardcoded into your permitting platform, should you ever decide to switch platforms, your plan review process and all of its data could be compromised.

By providing an open integration layer with published APIs and web services, e-PlanSoft gives our clients the flexibility to switch platforms or upgrade components without impacting your core operations.

4. Evaluate the long-term roadmap

When you choose a plan review system, you aren’t just choosing a system for today. You’re choosing a partner for potentially the next 10 to 20 years. That’s why it’s important to evaluate their roadmap and see if it aligns with your agency’s long-term vision.

Many permitting platforms acquire smaller plan review tools and as mentioned earlier, bundle their solutions. However, it’s common for them to allocate the majority of their budget to their core permitting product, leaving only a fraction for the plan review tool. This leads to outdated technology that can’t keep up with evolving needs, such as AI-driven pre-plan checks and automated issue detection. 

Our suggestion is to ask your plan review vendor for their 3 or 5-year roadmap. If they can’t articulate a vision for their plan review specifically, it may be likely that they’re treating it as a secondary priority. 

Considering an electronic plan review system?

At e-PlanSoft™, we believe you deserve a partner who respects your agency’s mission and your community’s unique needs. Our modern, browser-based solutions, like e-PlanREVIEW®, empower you to modernize your workflow without being locked into a single vendor's ecosystem. If you’re interested in learning more, let’s schedule a conversation today.