News & Blog
July 28, 2020
The Ontario town transitioned to a fully electronic plan review process while upgrading its CityView technology
The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury in Ontario, Canada recently upgraded its technology to CityView’s browser-based platform, Workspace, while also transitioning to a fully electronic plan review process using CityView Electronic Plans Review.
Prior to adopting CityView’s electronic plan review solution, the Town spent a significant amount of time reviewing plans, as the process was manual and paper-based. For example, applicants were required to submit multiple copies of drawings. Because reviews were performed manually, staff spent time copying notes from one set of drawings to the other and stamping both sets, adding hours to the review cycle. However, now that everything is electronic, the entire submission and review process for the Town has been revolutionized.
CityView Electronic Plans Review offers municipalities an opportunity to streamline their review procedures. It combines the power of CityView and Bluebeam® Revu® for an easy way to circulate, review, mark up and compare documents, increasing the speed and ease of submission while shortening review times.
The builders and contractors that work with the Town have enjoyed having access to clearly marked-up digital drawings; deciphering someone else’s handwriting is no longer an issue! “As a plans examiner, the thing I like best about CityView Electronic Plans Review is that I have my own personalized toolbox at my disposal for markups,” said Barry Gorst, CBCO, Deputy Chief Building Official and Senior Building Inspector for Bradford West Gwillimbury. Bluebeam® Revu® provides customizable, easy-to-use markup tools that can be saved for reuse and improves project coordination by automatically tracking annotations and generating reports.
The move to a paperless review process couldn’t have come at a better time for the Town. Having a solution in place to electronically accept drawings, make edits and return plans enabled Barry’s team to continue functioning at normal efficiency, despite working from home due to province restrictions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “Whether we are marking up drawings from our dining room tables at home or at our desk in the office, the functionality of the software remains the same,” Barry commented. His entire team was able to stay on track and remain productive. “Without CityView, it would easily have taken an additional four to five days to process a permit application,” Barry explains. He would have had to reassign a team member’s workload to manage the input and output of paper drawings and copies.
Now that the Town is also on CityView’s modern browser-based platform, Workspace, all that is needed to enter the system is an internet connection and login credentials. “Since everyone is working remotely, having the ability to go over a file with someone over the phone while still having access to all the same documents has been extremely helpful,” said Barry. BWG migrated its existing CityView software, including Permits & Inspections, from a client-server environment to Workspace. This smooth transition makes it easier for the IT team to manage the department’s technology, since there is nothing to install on individual workstations.
About Bradford West Gwillimbury
Today, the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury offers a return to the small town charm and a sense of community long lost in larger urban centres. It is a vibrant, thriving community of 35,000 who possess a sense of pride and community spirit prevails. The town, affectionately known as “BWG,” is characterized by local initiatives and a commitment to be a complete and healthy community where there are opportunities for everyone to contribute and to benefit.