Case Study: Howard County achieves a paperless plan review process with Avolve Software ProjectDox

ThePlanning and Zoning Department becomes one of the nation’s fi rst to go digital with ProjectDox®

Howard County, Maryland, faced significant inefficiencies in its paper-based Site Development Plan (SDP) review process for land development. The manual system, involving hundreds of multi-sheet plan sets reviewed by multiple agencies, demanded extraordinary resources and staff time to manage. The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) sought a digital solution to streamline operations, improve communication, and reduce paper. They partnered with vendor Avolve Software and selected their ProjectDox ePlan review technology to retool the process.

Avolve Software's ProjectDox provided a comprehensive digital platform that automated the complex SDP workflow. The implemented solution featured nearly 2,000 data entry fields, 43 eforms, and 10 unique workflows, drastically improving efficiency and inter-agency collaboration. The results were transformative, setting the department on a fully digital course. A measurable impact was a projected annual conservation of 1.5 million sheets of paper, alongside reductions in gasoline consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, highlighting the environmental benefits of the solution from Avolve Software.

Howard County

Jeff Bronow

DPZ Chief of Research