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DBI advances permit‑tracking tests and defends Fifth‑Floor over‑the‑counter plan check practice
Summary
Seema Nikanti updated commissioners on Round 2 user testing of a new permit‑tracking system and mobile inspections rollout; Deputy Ed Sweeney described Fifth‑Floor intake and the one‑hour over‑the‑counter rule and provided plan‑check throughput metrics and backlog figures.
Seema Nikanti, IS Project Director, told the Building Inspection Commission on June 19 that DBI is planning a substantial Round 2 of user acceptance testing for its new permit‑tracking system. The round will span about three weeks and include nearly all DBI functional groups and multiple inter‑agency scenarios with Planning, DPW, PUC and Fire. Nikanti said configuration, automation, reporting and fees are being tested and that the department is procuring about 55 mobile Note II devices to support mobile inspections.
Commissioners asked for demonstrations and inter‑agency testing to be visible to the commission; Nikanti agreed to schedule a demo and noted that mobile devices and a new app will be installed when the new devices arrive.
Deputy Director Ed Sweeney described how customers obtain permits at DBI: intake at the First Floor generates a routing slip that determines whether an application goes to the Fifth‑Floor over‑the‑counter plan check or to CPB for larger jobs. Sweeney said plan checkers use a practical rule — if comments or approvals can be handled within roughly an hour the job may be resolved at the counter; otherwise, it is routed for a fuller review. He reported May 2013 throughput numbers showing about $1.5 billion in approved projects and said DBI has approximately 230 active projects under review with only about 24 exceeding the department’s three‑week target.
Commissioners raised concerns that the one‑hour criterion can appear subjective and urged DBI to publish data and clearer standards so customers know what to expect; Sweeney and other DBI managers said that experienced plan checkers can usually determine over the counter eligibility quickly and that DBI is collecting data to monitor outcomes and backlogs.
