Press Release Date: 20th March 2008

Electronic Consultation Explained

Electronic Consultation - What Does It Really Mean?

What is Electronic Consultation?

Technology is now playing a major part in modernising the consultation arena. Using technology to consult on Building Control and Planning applications is often referred to as Electronic or E-Consultation.

For those with little awareness of E-consultation it could be seen as simply being the publication of information about the consultation on the Internet. However there is much more to it, as specifically designed software solutions are required for e-consultation to be successful.

With the increasing amount of electronic files generated from online applications and scanned paper applications Local Authorities can now easily extend the use of this data. E-consultation provides Local Authorities with the missing piece in the jigsaw to complete electronic working bringing with it additional service benefits and financial saving.

What Does Electronic Consultation Achieve?

Electronic Consultation methods achieve the same results as traditional consultation techniques, but with the use of less resources and time spent by both the facilitators and the users. Printing costs, like paper and ink, and the cost of postage are all saved. Electronic consultation also speeds up the consultation process as administration time is reduced and physical postage is no longer required.

As expects in electronic applications Resolution understands that just viewing a drawing is not enough to enable successful consultation as measuring, redlining and commenting are just are few of the functions that are also required. In order to enable successful electronic consultation Resolution provides a electronic consultation solution called Consult On-line, a product which is already in use at Local Authorities throughout England and Wales.

Consult On-line

Consult On-line is a web based solution that enables Local Authorities to consult on Building Control and Planning applications electronically over the internet with consultees and partner authorities.

Applications received from the Submit-a-Plan National Portal, Planning Portal or any other method including scanned paper applications can be published to Consult On-line ready for consultation. Local Authorities using Consult On-line can invite individual or groups of consultees to review and comment on applications facilitating a shared consultation environment. Consultees simply receive an e-mail notification which links them to the application in Consult On-line.

Viewing and Commenting

The document viewing tools support 250+ file formats enabling fast and simple viewing of the native file formats without complex file translation and its inherent problems.

As well as viewing textual documents, specific functionality is provided to deal with plans such as calibration, measuring and printing to scale.

Comments can be created as annotations, notes and even as uploaded documents. Other consultees comments can be viewed but not edited enabling an incremental iterative approach to consultations, resolving conflicting views between consultees as part of a dynamic consultation process.

Inviting Consultees

Consultees are setup once and can then be selected and automatically invited to consult on an application but only invited consultees are able to access an application. Once a comment is made the Local Authority is notified and directed to the relevant comment.

Scanned and Electronic Applications

Consult On-line extends the usage of electronic data into the consultation environment helping justify the cost of scanning paper applications by removing the cost of creating multiple paper copies and the costs of manual paper distribution.

Applications already scanned to enable public consultation and applications received electronically through Submit-a-Plan and Planning Portal can now be provided to statutory consultees without the high costs of document printing and paper distribution.

DataSpace Consult On-line provides a secure, feature rich, dynamic consultation environment incorporating consultees into the electronic approval process.

 

Consult On-line Key Benefits

Consult On-line Key Features

To discuss this further or arrange a demonstration of DataSpace Consult On-line please Contact Resolution Data Management.