In an increasingly digital world, AEC firms are challenged to eliminate costly and time-consuming paper-based processes. Requirements for “wet” signatures and seals interruptelectronic workflows and compel even the most digitally integrated teams and processes to fallback to paper, delaying project delivery and limiting the industry’s potential efficiency.
The end-to-end adoption of a digital signatures and seals–based process can eliminate that digital interruption and significantly improve industry productivity.
In current practice, AEC documents morph from digital format to print over the course of projects. Documents are created electronically, but are then printed for review or approval, wet signed, scanned back to electronic form, and printed again for field work or for records storage in physical archives.
The scanning strips away intelligent data, compromises quality and makes those documents less valuable for everyone.
As more AEC firms turn to electronic document and content management solutions, field-friendly mobile applications, cloud-based collaboration and electronic workflows, it is time we also complete the transformation to the digital workflow with the implementation of digital approval processes.
In 2010, the Fiatech Regulatory Streamlining Committee identified the need to address the barriers blocking the greater use of digital signatures and seals by AEC firms and regulatory agencies. The committee embarked on three projects to speed the adoption in the industry: