Prior to COVID, Pleasanton used an inefficient paper-based ‘system’ for plan review. After reviewers marked up plans, staff had to manually type up comments in separate word documents and then email applicants with the requests for changes.

Not only was this a disjointed process that required duplicate work, but it also created the potential for error and wasn’t a clear way of communicating.

“We’d have to bring architects and engineers in for physical meetings because we couldn’t explain by email or over the phone which area on the plan we were talking about,” said Robert Queirolo, Chief Building Officer of Pleasanton, CA.

When offices closed due to the pandemic, the City of Pleasanton needed an electronic plan review solution fast. To bridge the gap before they could go through procurement, Pleasanton utilized a patchwork solution using a PDF reader for markups and a file-sharing platform. “It was rough,” said Queirolo. “It worked as a stopgap measure, but it was never what we intended to use long-term.”

DigEplan Wins Out for Ease of Use, Comment Features, and Accela Integration

As Pleasanton reviewed electronic plan review solutions, DigEplan emerged as the clear winner. The City liked its user-friendly interface, comment functionality, and integration capability.

”We found it intuitive and knew it would be user-friendly, which was important to us because we have multiple departments that use it,” Queirolo said.

Pleasanton had faced challenges communicating comments, so it’s no wonder they prioritized this functionality when searching for a solution. “We really liked DigEplan’s comments feature,” Queirolo said.

After struggling with disjointed processes and siloed information with their previous approach to plan review, Pleasanton wanted to ensure a perfect fit between their ePlan review and their permitting system, Accela, and DigEplan’s tight integration with Accela was crucial in helping DigEplan win the deal.

“We loved that DigEplan seamlessly integrates with Accela, and our solution provider noted that it would be the tightest integration,” said Queirolo.

DigEplan Cuts Plan Review Time in Half

Since implementing DigEplan and using it alongside Accela’s Citizen Access (ACA) platform, Pleasanton has realized impressive time and cost savings. “A plan check that might have taken 6 hours the old-fashioned way now takes 3 hours,” said Queirolo. “It’s saving half the time.”

This increased efficiency has yielded hearty cost savings for the City of Pleasanton, which used to contract out a significant amount of its plan review work.

“With DigEplan, we’re more efficient. Our plan reviewers can now process almost 100 plan checks a month, compared to 25-30 previously,” Queirolo said.

Relying less on third-party services means the building department can return that budget to the City’s general fund. Of a $1.2 million budget for third-party contracting services, Queirolo only used $800,000 last year, a portion of which he attributed to increased efficiency due to DigEplan.

Together, Accela and DigEplan Enhance Visibility and Improve Communication

Thanks to DigEplan and Accela, Pleasanton has benefited from better communication and increased visibility with internal and external stakeholders.

DigEplan’s comment functionally, in particular, has been a favorite feature. “The final revision report breaks everything out — architectural comments, electrical comments, plumbing comments, mechanical comments,” said Queirolo.

“Our plan checkers aren’t typing those comments separately; they’re just going into DigEplan on the plan sheet, marking up with arrows in their comment box, and typing their comments in the box,” he added.

Customers can then log into their Accela Citizen Access account and easily access comments. “It’s super streamlined,” said Queirolo.

“A plan check that might have taken 6 hours the old-fashioned way now takes a few hours, thanks to DigEplan. It saves approximately half the time.” Chief Building Official, Robert Queirolo

Pleasanton: Beyond Pleased with DigEplan and Accela

The City of Pleasanton has been so pleased with DigEplan and Accela that they’ve recommended the solution pair to surrounding towns, and a neighboring city now uses DigEplan and ACA, too.

Thrilled with the partnership between the two software solutions, Pleasanton is thrilled to keep working with Accela and DigEplan.

“We just signed a 7-year agreement with Accela for the cloud-based software. And since DigEplan pairs and integrates so well with Accela, I see us using the DigEplan-Accela system for at least the next seven years.