Purpose:
The purpose of this bulletin is to provide information on a current initiative related to the plan review of development and building permit applications. The City of New Braunfels is in the process of integrating
a new electronic plan review (EPR) software that will work with our existing permitting system to achieve improvements in efficiency and communications between staff and customers. The EPR
solution will provide a convenient central hub for development project review groups and applicants to exchange information, plans, and documents throughout the on-line plan review process, from initial
application to final approval of the plan set. Our goal is to leverage improvements in technology to streamline the review process, increase levels of communication and transparency, and improve the
customer experience.
Scope:
The initial roll-out of the EPR solution will only affect commercial building permit submittals and residential new-build permits. These application types will be the first to be brought into the EPR
environment and the target date for that to occur is August 28th, 2023. The remaining permit types that require plan review as well as plat applications will be brought into EPR within six to eight weeks after
this date. The first open forum demonstration workshop for public attendance will occur on August 22nd, 2023, at City Hall. More information on the dates and times of these events will be posted on the
Planning and Development Services website as information becomes available. The anticipated benefits of the transition to the EPR solution from the customer perspective are as follows.
• Increased efficiency in the review process resulting in improved turnaround times for application processing overall.
• Improved communications between customers and staff including push notifications of status changes and resubmittals resulting in a better customer experience.
• Improved file handling capacity and electronic storage of plans resulting in improved permit issuance procedures.
• Improvements to process transparency thru detailed reporting and metrics related to workload volume, turnaround times, and time of possession.
What to Expect:
The EPR software solution is an on-line, “cloud-based,” application with separate storage capacity from the City’s permitting site, so applicants will be required to have a login and password for the EPR site as
well as the login and password already required to access the City’s permitting portal. The new login and password will allow the user to upload all plans and documents to the EPR site and coordinate back
and forth with City staff during the review process. The submittal of plans to the EPR site will be very intuitive, with step-by-step instructions and tutorial videos available to explain the process for every
task. Some adjustments to the submission and review process will be required with this change, such as the necessity for plans to be uploaded in single-sheet format instead of compiled into multi-sheet files.
This allows the software to efficiently compare sheet to sheet at time of resubmittal and helps staff to quickly identify changes that have been made in the design. There will also be a naming convention
implemented on individual files that will be explained in forthcoming user guides.
These more detailed User Guides and Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) memos will be provided as we navigate this transition. There will also be additional training opportunities provided for customers that
are interested after the Go-Live date of August 28th.
Additional Information:
A single page flyer is attached to this bulletin to provide a quick reference on background, benefits, and key dates of the implementation. Questions about the software or the implementation should be
directed to the Planning and Development Services Department, Building Safety Division.