City of Billings, MT Applies CARES Act Funding to Move to Remote Collaboration and Paperless Plan Reviews - e-PlanSoft

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IRVINE, Calif.—March 29, 2021: e-PlanSoft™, a leading developer and provider of cloud-based electronic plan review solutions, today announced that the City of Billings, Montana has gone live with e-PlanREVIEW^® (EPR) to manage its end-to-end plan review processes.

EPR and e-PlanSoft’s goPost™ Public Portal were selected and implemented for primary use by the City’s Building and Planning Departments. The City was granted CARES Act funding to apply toward a solution that would allow it to move to a paperless mode of plan review and also eliminate the need for face-to-face interactions.

Before the move to EPR, the City performed all plan reviews and intake through a traditional paper process, including courier deliveries.  It was intent on adopting a cloud-based electronic plan review solution as part of its commitment to provide top-level service to constituents. With the onset of the COVID pandemic, the cloud-based solution became a critical need to comply with distancing mandates. EPR and goPost Public Portal facilitate paperless plan intake and reviews and allow all participants to work remotely, in real-time.

High on its list of criteria for a new plan review solution was the ability to allow role-based permissions and project access to all appropriate participants, whether internal or external, and providing the participants with automatic notifications and emails to alert them of project status and actions. It found EPR with the goPost Public Portal to accommodate each requirement, including a user-friendly interface, scalability, and an easy and robust intake portal, all of which will translate to significant time savings and improved efficiency. EPR’s flexible viewing options and version control allow for functionality that the City will utilize in virtually all plan review projects.

“The adoption of e-PlanREVIEW and goPost Public Portal has been a great success,” stated Jessica Iverson, Building Official at The City of Billings. “We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response from our customers and internal project participants alike. And the quick implementation ensured that we were up and running with the new mode of plan reviews in a very timely manner, allowing us to improve the plan review process for our customers even sooner.”

“We are happy to provide a solution that directly aligns with the City’s needs and initiatives,” stated Esther Byrd, Regional Sales Manager at e-PlanSoft. “The City will not only have the ability to complete plan reviews much faster, but it will also be able to accommodate the need for remote collaboration. This has been a game-changer for countless agencies, and even more so in the wake of the current pandemic.”

About Billings, MT:

Billings is the largest city in the state of Montana. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County. Billings was nicknamed the “Magic City” because of the rapid growth from its founding as a railroad town in March 1882.  The city is experiencing rapid growth and a strong economy; it has had and is continuing to have the largest growth of any city in Montana.  https://ci.billings.mt.us/

About e-PlanSoft:
e-PlanSoft™ develops industry-leading cloud-based electronic document review software that assists governmental agencies, construction and manufacturing industries, developers, and owners with their plan review, design review, product review, construction, and asset review management in real-time.
www.eplansoft.com