With the release of LEED v.3 came an upgraded version of LEED Online, a tool teams use to manage project registration and certification. Although it is still early in the process, initial experiences with the new online tools have been mixed.

“The new system will be easier to navigate, once you get use to it,” says Jason Kliwinski, director of sustainable design, The Spiezle Group, Trenton, N.J.. “The interfaces are a little different but it certainly helps folks understand the process better.”

But the system can be slow. “I have used it in terms of setting up the online teams and the credits and started to collect any submitted documentation,” Kliwinski explains. “Every time you assign a credit it has to reload the page, which is annoying. It can take up to an hour to just setup the credits.”

Andy Hathaway, director of sustainability consulting, Steven Winter Associates, Norwalk, Conn., is also experiencing problems. “The framework and the structure are there for a really fantastic tool but there are a lot of bugs.”