Plan Review is a crucial step in permitting and zoning applications handled through GovWell. During this stage, submitted plans (e.g. building designs or site layouts) are carefully reviewed by various departments to ensure they comply with local codes, regulations, and safety standards. The goal of this step is to verify that the proposed development meets all zoning laws, building codes, and environmental requirements.
Understanding the need to optimize this process to become more streamlined and efficient for reviewers, GovWell offers a solution that reduces typical blockers and difficulties associated with this step. In this document we'll do an overview of the process and which features you have at your disposal to efficiently take care of your review tasks.
💡 Starting a Plan Review
Once you have completed all the steps leading up to the 'Plan Review' stage, the first task will be for the owner of this step to assign the reviewers responsible for reviewing the plans.
👥 Assigning reviewers to the record:
By default, your organization should have a designated representative who manages the assignment of plan review tasks to reviewers. This person is listed directly beneath the 'Route for plan review' button on your Workflow list. If needed, you can reassign this task to someone else by clicking the pencil icon next to their name.
Click the 'Route for plan review' button to open the assignment menu. From here, you can assign reviewers to this application and set due dates for each reviewer to complete their tasks. Once you've made all your selections, click the 'Assign reviewers' button to get started!
👀 As a Reviewer
Once you're assigned as a reviewer for an application, you'll receive an email notification informing you that a task has been assigned to you.
In addition, you'll also find any Plan Review tasks in the 'Tasks' section on the left side of the screen. Click '🔽 More' and then 'Go to task' to be directed to your task page!
🔎 Your Plan Review Page
On this landing page (which can be accessed by following the instructions above or through the 'Files' tab in the application), you'll find various information to help you complete the tasks related to the plan review assigned to you.
Plan Set Version: The files uploaded by the applicant in the application are collectively packaged into a Plan Set. Each time you or another reviewer asks the applicant to revise their plans or upload new files, a new Plan Set will need to be created, starting a new review cycle with the updated documents. This option allows you to access previous Plan Sets in case you need to consult older files.
More & View Plans: The '🔽 More' button lets you perform actions on the current Plan Set, such as downloading the plan files or triggering the creation of a new Plan Set. The 'View' button allows you to view the documents and begin the plan review process.
Add Reviewers and Review Plans: You can use the '+ Add reviewers' button to assign additional reviewers if they were not selected during the initial plan routing. The 'Review plans' button works similarly to the 'View' button: it lets you start the plan review process.
Reviews: A table displaying reviews, sorted by reviewers and their respective review statuses. The '🔽 More' button provides additional options to manage the reviewers and their reviews.
Files: These are the files uploaded or generated during the application process. They are generally organized as follows:
a. Plan Files: These are the files you are tasked with reviewing and must be approved by all reviewers before proceeding.
b. Files Not in Plan Set: Supporting files that are not subject to review but may still be helpful in the overall process.
c. Generated Documents: Documents generated as a result of the application (e.g., certification, permit documents) will be available for download here.
d. Email Attachments: Files sent to the applicant via email as a result of actions in the plan review process (e.g., permits and invoices).
📝 The Plan Viewer and the Review Process
This page allows you to preview the plans and complete your review tasks. Various tools are available to assist you with this, so let's dive in and explore their functions!
1. Editing Tools
These tools allow you to add markups, highlight sections, set measurements, and leave comments directly on the plans for the applicant to see. The drawing and measuring tools also offer various shapes and areas to further enhance communication with the applicant.
2. Download Files
This button allows you to download the files from the currently selected Plan Set. You can download packets containing the plan files, either with or without markups, as well as a corrections report once the respective Plan Set has been reviewed.
3. Deny Plans/Request Updates
You can request updates or revisions, or deny the Plan Set. Selecting any of these options will send the review packet back to the applicant, requiring them to acknowledge any new comments and upload revised plans in a new Plan Set.
4. Approve Plans/Partial Pass
You can approve the plans or partially approve them. If you include comments in your approvals or partial approvals, you can require the applicant to read and acknowledge your comments before moving to the next step.
5. Version selector
Navigate between the current and previous Plan Sets created during the Plan Review stage.
6. File Navigation
Select the files from this Plan Set that you want to view.
7. Plan Comments
On the right side of your Plan Review screen, you can view comments added to the files across all Plan Sets.
To view the available options for each comment, click the three dots on the right side of the comment.
To respond to existing comments, click on the comment to open the comment box
👍 Completing the Plan Review and Other Features
After reviewing all the plans in accordance with your local laws, regulations, and safety standards, it's time to make a decision! Depending on whether you pass or fail the plans, there are a few factors to consider.
Once you pass or fail a Plan Set, a Corrections Report will be generated and sent to the applicant. The Corrections Report serves as a summary of the comments and markups made to the file during the respective plan review.
The Corrections Report can be accessed and downloaded by both reviewers and applicants at any time after it is issued.
If you pass the plan review with comments, deny it, or request revisions, the applicant will be notified and required to respond or upload updated documents to initiate a new review process. Applicants will see the following notice:
⚠️ Applicants will only be able to see the comments and results of the plan review after all reviewers have completed their reviews ⚠️
If you've been assigned a plan to review but need to decline it, you can do so by clicking the '🔽 More' dropdown menu and selecting 'Decline to review'.
If you're an admin and need to remove someone from the reviewer list, you can click the dropdown '🔽 More' button and click the 'Remove Reviewer' option.
📵 Offline Plan Reviews
In some cases, plan reviews are conducted offline and need to be reflected in the GovWell environment. GovWell offers a convenient feature that allows reviewers to complete this step with ease!
Whenever you conduct a review offline and need to complete it and share the results with the applicant, you can select the 'Upload offline review' option right under the '🔽 More' option next to your name on the reviewer list.
This will open a window where you can upload your offline plan review, along with the results and any additional comments.
If the results of the offline review require further action from the applicant, they must download the offline review file before proceeding with the application.
Lastly, if you left any comments with your offline review file, they will appear in a dropdown menu under your name.
And that's how you Plan Review using GovWell!