Consider Advance Purchase of ProjectDox (Electronic Plan Review for Building Permits)

The approved Preliminary 2017 General Fund Budget includes a line item for purchase of an electronic plan submittal and review software package to add to the City's current permit administration system. The City currently utilizes a product known as PIMS, which is a software system development by LOGIS, a local IT consortium of local governmental units. PIMS has sub-contracted with Avolve Software to add an optional plug-in known as ProjectDox, which would allow all remaining Building Permits to be processed electronically. Staff believes this to be a positive service to add for our customers, and would create a large improvement in internal administrative processing, especially in terms of data entry and concurrent plan review.

Notification is not required.

Acknowledging that only the Preliminary Levy has been set and is subject to final review (can only be lowered, not raised), Staff did want to have the discussion about timing of implementation if this product is desired. Waiting until January to purchase has two (2) effects to consider:

1. Special Group Rate only guaranteed until December 31
2. Implementation would slide into mid-summer, the peak workload period for primary users of the system

Regarding the Special Group Rate by virtue of the purchase through the LOGIS consortium, while the special rate is not guaranteed, it is hopeful that given the level of discussion thus far that Avolve would still honor that rate. That being said, this rate cannot be guaranteed past December 31.

Regarding the implementation timeframe, this topic is the primary purpose for discussion at this time. Project start up and implementation would be ideal over the summer months, when construction activity is at it lowest levels due to winter conditions. Project start date would push the 'go live' date to June or July, some of the inspection and plan review group's peak workload. It is possible that this overlap would create a noticeable impact to customer service response.

Staff plans a 'soft' rollout of this system, if final approval is granted. Only new single-family and all commercial/industrial projects would be accepted at first. Staff would likely select a few contractors to 'beta test' at first to work out final logistics. Roll out to all remaining permit types would like occur over the subsequent 12 to 24 months. Below are the internal assumptions for implementation.

The Community Development Department is considering implementation of electronic plan review by an added module to PIMS known as ProjectDox by Avolve Software. The purchase has been included in the draft 2017 Budget. This process would supplement our current process of hard copies, not replace this process (at this time).

 Why is Community Development considering electronic plan review?

1. Customer feedback.
2. Allows all permits to be issued online, including payments (currently only a select few residential permits qualify for ePermits).
3. Concurrent plan review (not sequential) to reduce plan review turnaround time.
4. Better tracking of versions.
5. Better coordination and easier distribution of review letters and redlined plans.
6. Centralized repository of current plan set and comments.
7. Reduce chance for human error/loss of plan set/permit.

The tentative plan for implementation would be as follows:

1. New single-family home construction
2. All commercial and industrial construction

Later phases would include the following:

1. All residential permits as an option
2. Land Use Applications (plats, site plans, etc.)

The General Fund, supported by revenue generated from Building Permits, would fund this software. Purchase of the software would obligate the City to annual installments of approximately $30,000 over the next five (5) years. This approach was in lieu of an up front payment of approximately $150,000. Starting on Year 6, the annual installment would drop to approximately $24,000, and could then cancel at any time without further penalty/payment.

Staff is working with the vendor to make the first payment billable in 2017. In the event that a payment is necessary in 2016, the Building Inspections 2016 professional services account would be charged. The breakdown of annual cost is as follows.
 

Avolve Software Lease	$24,642
LOGIS Server Lease	$7,250
Total Annual Cost	$31,892

Staff incorporates findings from the Customer Survey for Building Permits that showed two (2) general trends applicable to this discussion.

1. More online/self-service options
2. Faster plan review turnarounds

With that in mind, along with several other Strategic Plan goals, Staff recommends that the City Council approve the purchase of ProjectDox in advance of final approval of the 2017 General Fund Budget.

Motion to authorize the purchase of ProjectDox in advance of final approval of the 2017 General Fund Budget.