Benefits of ePlan Review in Your Regulatory Program – Two Perspectives Robert Mathias, Building Official, Bend, OR & Orion Goff, Building Official, Salt Lake City, UT Webinar for the FIATECH Jurisdictions Committee, Tom Phillips, Salem, OR, Chairman & Robert Wible, FIATECH January 14, 2010

Benefits of ePlan Review  FIATECH Jurisdictions Committee – Welcome & introduction - Tom Phillips, Salem, OR, Chair  Overview on ePlan Reivew – Robert Wible  Successful Approaches – Two Perspectives –City of Bend, OR - Robert Mathias –Salt Lake City, UT – Orion Goff –How you can apply in your jurisdiction Next Committee Webinar – Improving Client Relations with Building Department

Looking Ahead  FIATECH Presentation at AGC BIMForum  FIATECH ePlan / BIM Project in 2010  ICC SMARTcodes project  Helping jurisdictions identify and obtain Federal grants to fund IT

Overview – Development and Growth of ePlan Review  The Technology Arrives & Grows – Present - Surveys on use with ICC - Development of Guides - Current Status – Demands caused by customers and recession  Looking Ahead – Efforts with ICC, AGC BIMForum - BIM biggest change in 100 yrs.

 Federal Grants to State and Local Governments for Streamlining and Information Technology Robert Wible & Associates/Alliance for Building Regulatory Reform in the Digital Age Available on websites: Potential Federal Grants as Partial Funding Sources

Two Jurisdictions Experiences – Bend, OR & Salt Lake City, UT  Origin of their ePlan review IT program  Stakeholder Support – Internal & External  Working with their elected officials  Acquisition  Implementation  Status of program today  Challenges, opportunities & benefits of ePlan Reviews

City of Bend ePlans

What if the City of Bend…  could save 250 trees per year?  could save our customers $25,000 in annual fuel costs?  could eliminate 2 tons of hydrocarbons from our air? With ePlans, we can!

Our Goal: To provide an easy, efficient way to allow the public to submit plans for review and corrections, while maintaining short turnaround times and improving efficiency of revisions and inter-departmental reviews. City of Bend ePlans

ePlans – What is it? Electronic Plans Submission –Versioning controls built-in –PDF, DWG, DWF, 50+ other formats Electronic Plan Review –Markup tools –Embedded stamps / layers Electronic Workflow for review processes –Departmental Reviews –Tracking / Status

 PDF, DWG, DWF, 50+ other formats –Allows great flexibility from submitters  Versioning controls built-in –Keeps track of timestamp for same filename –Detects if changes are present and marks as a new revision –Prevents over-writing of files –Uploads, views, markups all tracked by login/timestamp Electronic Plans Submission

Electronic Plan Review You can perform a graphical comparison of two file versions. A variety of options are available from the toolbar including overlay differences and side by side view. Deleted geometry displays red, while added geometry is green. Unchanged areas are grey. An alignment tool and transparency slider are available.

Electronic Plan Review Reviewers are easily able to make notes or revision requests with the built-in Markup tools, then send notice to the Submitter to come view their corrections online and upload their own revised drawings.

Review Process Workflow The Permit Tech is the project’s “Owner,” following the Workflow to completion, and can check its status at any time. The Routing Slip can be viewed by any user involved in the workflow. The Workflow view allows the Permit Tech to easily view status, jump to any step, and allows for user changes.

Reviewers from each specified Department have rights to view others’ notes and approval status, but can change only their own. Departmental Reviewers can also attach direct links to their corrections for the Project. The Submitter gets this same form with direct links to the pages needing revision Review Process Workflow

Final Approval Once reviewed, the Plans Examiner “Batch Stamps” the plans and publishes them to the ‘Finals’ folder in the Project. All markups and stamps are embedded in a PDF file for security. When the Project is complete, the Submitter is given access to download and print from the ‘Finals’ folder.

Field Inspections Inspectors can use ePlans to view the approved plan sets if in doubt of field set’s authenticity, or if a given plan sheet is missing or damaged.

ePlans and the Future Upcoming Plans: Planning division Land Use Applications –Live for selected customers NOW PUW Engineering in development (Q1-2010) –Right-of-Way, Fire Flow, Construction Drawings Access to local Public Safety staff –Fire & Rescue, Police emergencies Electronically Archiving prior Paper Plans –Eliminate Off-Site storage

 Interface to current Building Permits database –Currently, a read-only process for our system  Submittal requirements (formats, naming, etc.)  Restructuring paper processes to electronic  Legality of electronic documentation (wet seals)  Copy protection of approved plans  Resistance to electronic process  Providing documentation/support to public users Challenges

 Fast, efficient way to provide plans submittals, reviews, and permit issuance  Reduces/eliminates paper waste (GREEN!)  Ensures authenticity of altered documents  Maintains consistent revision history  Customizable eForms & Workflows  Allows self-serve access to submitters’ own plans while securing others’ access  Archiving Advantages

High Profile Clients  Kohl’s  Olive Garden  Les Schwab Tires - National HQ  Jack in the Box  Toyota Dealership  Bend Memorial Hospital (multiple TI’s)  Upcoming Wal-Mart SuperCenter

Meeting the Challenge:  In 2009, ePlans saved…  1,100 pounds of hydrocarbons from our air,  Our customers $30,000 in fuel costs,  Over 10,000 pounds of Carbon Monoxide from being released,  150 trees from being harvested for paper! * estimates based on actual permit count for 2009

Electronic Plan Review Development Services Department Salt Lake City, Utah FIATECH January, 2010, Salt Lake City UT

Salt Lake City, UT  Goal: centralize the development review process into a single database to support a true One-Stop-Shop for construction and development.  Accomplishments: Accela Automation & ProjectDox Today an applicant can apply for all building permit types from our website pay fees and submit plans for review, from any where in the world.

Salt Lake City - Success Stories -City Creek Project -Macy’s Tenant Improvements  Feedback from a recent customer survey:  “I love the electronic review process; electronic submission and project management are GREAT to be working with as a city. I am now requiring electrical contractors to provide all the submittals as Adobe PDF documents; which has been extremely helpful and streamlined the process of submittal review. The industry is definitely getting more electronic and it’s really helping us in the construction field.” Brian Hicks, RCDD Senior Associate BNA Consulting

Salt Lake City – Where are we going?  We now have the basics covered: Online applications and submissions, Electronic reviews Applicants are becoming familiar with the changes in the process  Next: Planning Workflows

Salt Lake City – Where could we go?  Teaching “old dogs new tricks” We could develop a process which integrates with the IPD processes Would need to develop a IPD or project management team BIM Technology – we are ready for the transition  The Project Dox software system allows for a project management site where all the players in the process could view the same information, communications, and progress.

Summary of Lessons Learned

Questions and Discussion

FIATECH Jurisdictions Committee  Membership open to jurisdictions all sizes with fee based on population ($200-$800)  Monthly webinars/conference calls on topics of immediate concern to local and state building and land use/zoning departments  For registration form and more information visit:  Next Jurisdiction Committee Webinar – Mid- February, 2010 on “Successful Strategies for Preparing your Staff for IT”