Digital Plan Room

Effective Date: 3/9/2020

Category: Plan Review

The Digital Plan Room

The Community Development Department announces the opening of the Digital Plan Room, an upgrade to the online permit and plan review software. Users will notice a few changes to the current process. However, it will result in a more efficient and speedier plan review experience.

Highlights:

• Online submittal of all documents and plans for all permit types.
• Streamlines the plan review process among all County review stops and at the same time.
• Automated digital signature verification of design professionals during the application process. Note: 3rd party signature certification is still required.
• Automated emails that will provide a link to the approved digital plans for printing/viewing. Note: at the current time, contractors will still need to provide a printed copy of the approved plans and documents and make them available at the job site for inspections staff use. Also, the contractor will still need to print the Permit/Inspections Job Card for job site posting.
• Online and personalized training is available to those interested in using the Digital Plan Room.

Training, FAQ and HELP!:

• Video Training Session - click this link:  https://youtu.be/BUr2p88I31k
• "How to" Guide - click this link: Digital Plan Room How to Guide
• FAQ Frequently Asked Questions - click this link: Digital Plan Room FAQ
• ACA Account Registration - click this link: ACA Account Registration How to Guide
• HELP! - Call Tina or Michelle at 941.743.1201 or email CCTechSupport@CharlotteCountyFL.gov during regular business hours. 

Tips:

• Internet Browser: CHROME is the recommended browser. Other browsers may be used but may cause issues for the user at this time.
• All files must be in PDF file format.
• Digital Signatures: The Florida Administrative Code states that design professionals must have their own identity, digital seal and signature validated by a 3rd party Certificate Authority. Local professionals are using DigiCert, Entrust, GlobalSign and IdentTrust most frequently.
  • DigiCert - www.digicert.com/document-signing/
  • Entrust - www.entrust.com/document-signing-certificates/
  • Globalsign - www.globalsign.com/en/digital-signatures/
  • Identrust - http://identrust.com

• Plan Review Cycles Concept: Permit applications made through the Digital Plan Room have “Plan Review Cycles”. This means that plan changes or corrections submitted to satisfy initial rejection comments can only be submitted all at the same time, and not one Review Stop (“Discipline”) at a time. This is because mid-cycle uploads of documents/plans are not permitted by the software. Permit applications made before this date will continue to be processed without this change.

• Plan Sheet Numbers: Sheet numbers on a resubmittal must match exactly the original submittal (e.g. Sheet S-01 cannot be resubmitted as Sheet S 01).

• Arrange plans in landscape view.

• All layers in the PDF need to be flattened, including seals, signatures & notations.