Case Study: City of Plano achieves paperless electronic plan review with Bluebeam Software, Inc.

The City of Plano Pioneers an Electronic Plan Review Process Based on PDF

The City of Plano Building Inspections Department in Plano, Texas, faced a growing storage crisis from thousands of full-scale architectural drawings and rising commercial projects. Beginning in 2001 the department digitized its archives with help from Volunteers in Plano and standardized on PDF to simplify access, distribution and public records requests.

To move plan review paperlessly the city adopted Bluebeam Revu for PDF creation, markup and editing—testing it voluntarily for two years before requiring electronic submissions for commercial projects over 10,000 sq. ft. Reviewers used Revu’s markup tools, Tool Chest, copy/paste and custom stamps to streamline redlining and explain code issues visually. The result: faster, more consistent reviews, better interdepartmental access (police/fire), reduced paper storage and a reclaimed archive space converted into employee meeting/break/library facilities.

City of Plano

Anthony Han

Supervisor, City Plan Review Services