A new record type called Code Authorization is now available for all jurisdictions using the Code Compliance module. You may start using the record type anytime! It was developed so that jurisdictions who manage certain authorizations through Code Compliance can record fees and payments, issue an authorization to the applicant, and track inspections. For example, Klamath County authorizes camping on personal property for 21 days. This record type allows the county to manage and track camping authorizations. The record type was designed to be very flexible across all jurisdictions by modifying the Authorization Type dropdown. Other possible use cases are authorizing garage sales, lemonade stands, or even short term rentals through Code Compliance. Please contact the ePermitting Team to modify the Authorization Type dropdown by emailing [email protected].
Here are more helpful details about the Code Authorization record type:
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You can now customize the invoice report to include payment directions. Here is an example: If you're interested in customizing your agency's invoice report, submit a help desk ticket to [email protected].
In our continuous efforts to improve security, we will be enhancing Accela user security, which includes: Requiring more complex passwords as well as standardization for password timeout and account disable time frames.
Password Requirements Beginning September 1st, new password requirements will go into effect. Passwords will now require:
*These changes will apply to ACA users as well Six failed login attempts within 24 hours will result in your account being locked. In addition to the password requirement changes listed above, we will be standardizing the password timeout (password required to be changed based on the last date it was changed) and account disable timeout (based on the user’s last login date when logging directly into an agency) time frames. The Kayako knowledgebase article about "How to manually reset a password before it expires," can be found here: https://orepermittinghelp.kayako.com/article/224-manually-resetting-password. Account Disable Timeout Account disable timeout is the time period from the user’s last login date (when logging directly into the agency). The user’s last login date is not updated when a user delegates into an agency or when a user logs into the Oregon Inspector App (though we are working with our app developer to see if they might be able to change this setting). As of September 1st, we will be setting the Account Disable Timeout to 365 days for all users with the exception of system users (these are users that are not actually logged into by an individual but are used for integrations such as the apps). If a user has not logged directly into any agencies where they have a user account within 365 days of the last time they logged directly into that agency, their account will become disabled. If you are a DELEGATE USER (you log into OREGON and use the delegate dropdown to navigate to other cities and/or counties) or an inspector that generally only uses the Oregon Inspector App, please be aware, that in order to prevent your account from becoming disabled, you need to log directly into each of your agencies (must log into back office) at least once every 365 days. Password Timeout Password timeout timeframes will be set to 180 days for all users with the exception of system users (these are users that are not actually logged into by an individual but are used for integrations such as the apps). After Sept. 1, you will be prompted to change your password every 180 days (unless you’ve changed it sooner). If it’s been more than 180 days since your last password change as of September 1st, you will be prompted to change it before logging in. If you are a DELEGATE USER, please be aware that passwords are set at the individual agency level (including OREGON) and you will need to log into each of your agencies directly to change the password, if you wish to use the same password in all of your agencies. If you update your OREGON password and then use the agency dropdown to switch to one of your delegate agencies, you will not be able to use the same password that you used for OREGON. You will need to log out of OREGON and log directly into the other agency(ies). It is our recommendation that DELEGATE USERS and app users log directly into each of their agencies when updating their password(s), this will effectively also update the last login date for that agency so that their account will not become disabled. *If you need help with your password or a disabled account, submit a ticket to [email protected] You can now generate a single invoice across multiple records through a Set – see steps below! The invoice will show the total outstanding balance for the entire Set, including a break down by record and by fee item. It will ignore records in the Set that have a zero outstanding balance. You also have the ability to email the invoice to your customers. Steps:
3. Navigate to the Set Member tab > place a check next to one record > hover over Reports > click Comprehensive Invoices for Set. 4. The Invoice is ready to view/print/email.
Converge/Elavon – the credit card processing agent your jurisdiction uses for online (and potentially back office) ePermitting transactions – has recently made us aware of a very important change process they require.
When and if the “Authorized Signer” – or person responsible for this account (Finance Manager or Director typically )– changes for any participating agency – there is change process required by Converge/Elavon. ePermitting provides the information and instructions from Converge/Elavon, when a Finance Management Change Request form is filled out. This form is required because ePermitting has to make some updates and then we can also help ensure that your agency has the necessary information from Converge/Elavon. Please be aware of this new requirement and process, failure to submit these changes with Converge/Elavon in particular, and in a timely manner, could potentially result in suspension of your agency’s credit card processing account. The Financial Management Change Request form is available through the Kayako Knowledgebase at: https://orepermittinghelp.kayako.com/article/221-finance-management-change-request. For jurisdictions using the Public Works module - a new service area for tracking Stormwater is now available, as of May 8, 2024!
Purpose: Development brings with it more impervious surfaces that result in additional stormwater runoff that may require a permit be obtained from a local jurisdiction to comply with local post-construction quantity and/or quality treatment standards. The new Stormwater service area will allow jurisdictions to standardize their approach to regulating stormwater and more easily track those permits that don’t quite fit within the existing three service areas. Changes you will see:
What we need from you: Please submit a Kayako ticket by emailing [email protected] if you would like either of the following modified, based on the new Stormwater service area:
Beginning Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, the following additional checks became effective and now prevents the C of O from being issued through workflow until resolved:
The DEQ Surcharge fee is increasing from $100 to $117, effective Aug. 1, 2024. The ePermitting team is working closely with DEQ on this timeline and will be proactively creating a new Onsite fee schedule version that will automatically go into effect Aug. 1, 2024 that will include the new surcharge amount. This only applies to jurisdictions who are using the ePermitting Onsite module. There is no need for each county to submit a ticket requesting the surcharge increase – we are taking care of it for you! No other fees will be touched during this update. Please feel free reach out with any questions by sending an email to the ePermitting Team at [email protected] or Corby Eden at DEQ at [email protected]. Please note that the surcharge increase will not be officially approved by the Environmental Quality Commission until their next meeting scheduled for July 12, 2024. If the surcharge increase is not approved, you will be notified by DEQ and the ePermitting Team will not make any changes to the DEQ surcharge amount.
Following the Accela upgrade several users noted some changes in the task specific information forms (TSI) associated to some workflow tasks. In some cases, fields were squished, and in others the form would be extremely stretched to the point that users could not see all of the fields on the form. Strangely, this issue was not consistent across all workflow tasks or even across all agencies. We have submitted a ticket to Accela to help identify what caused the issue. In the meantime, we have reformatted all forms using the new designer which should alleviate the scrolling issues.
As of Mon, 6/17/2024 changes were made to the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (Temp C of O), and the Onsite Certificate of Satisfactory Completion (Onsite CSC) reports. The most exciting changes were made to the C of O and Temp C of O where a scanned image of the Building Official’s signature can be uploaded into Accela and display at the bottom of the document. If a scanned signature is not available in Accela, the report will now display the Building Official’s name in a cursive font. If your Building Official is interested in taking advantage of the option to include a scanned image of their signature, please email [email protected] and the ePermitting Team will provide specs for the scanned image file. The Onsite CSC was reformatted so that the issuing Sanitarian stands out more and their name is included in a cursive font. Unfortunately, the option to add a scanned image of each Sanitarian’s signature is not available. See below for before and after screenshots of the report changes. C of O Before: After: After (example with scanned signature) Temp C of O Before: After: Onsite CSC Before: After:
A new enhancement was just released by our app developer so that we can customize the contact information at the top of the Inspection Summary Report that's generated from the Oregon Inspector App (OIA). Previously, we could only configure one set of contact information that displayed across all modules for an agency. If you would like the module contact information to be customized for each module of your agency, please submit a ticket to the ePermitting Team by emailing [email protected]. Be sure to include which modules should be customized and the appropriate contact details.
The Accela upgrade for 2024 is now complete, for more information visit: www.oregon.gov/bcd/epermitting/juris_hub/Pages/upgrade-info.aspx.
Accela Version Upgrade (23.2.4) Highlights The Inquiry record type for Building can now be available to be searchable on ACA. If you would like us to turn this optional functionally on and allow the Inquiry record type to be search on ACA, please submit a help desk ticket request – submit to [email protected].
This is just a helpful tip when using the V_RECORD or V_OSM_BUILDING_RECORD views in Adhoc Reports - the views automatically exclude records with the status of Void. If you are comparing the number of records in your Adhoc Report to the number of records from search another method, like a Record List Search, you may see different results if any of the records are Void.
City of Independence, City of Reedsport, and City of Rogue River joined Oregon ePermitting in Spring 2024. Welcome!
We are very excited to announce that the ePermitting Team has created a brand new Code Compliance (CC) module that will be rolled out to all jurisdictions who are currently using the Planning Investigation record type to track code compliance issues. The new CC module is identical to all the things Code related that are currently in the Planning module, including the Investigation record type. The biggest benefit to the new module is that users will no longer see confusing items that are related to Planning that do not apply to code work.
The CC module includes the two record types listed below. There are also several enhancements we added to the new CC module - follow this link for a full list.
As a part of this project, at go-live, our team will transition all existing Planning Investigation records over into the Code Investigation record type in the CC module so that all Code records can be found in a single module. Klamath County was our first jurisdiction to go live with the new CC module on 12/11/2023. We are working on a schedule to transition the rest of the jurisdictions who are actively using the Planning Investigation record type. Our team will contact jurisdictions about two weeks prior to their go-live to prep and work through the transition. There will be about a 30 minute downtime window on the early morning of go-live day for our team to process the transition in the system. The new CC module will also be offered to newly implementing jurisdictions as an available module. If you have any questions or would like more information, please submit a ticket at [email protected]. On 12/19/2023, the ePermitting Team released a new enhancement for the Onsite module. These changes were requested and approved by Oregon DEQ who has authority for Onsite. This change impacts online applications only; back office functionality did not change. Public users who are submitting online applications for an Onsite Authorization, Site Evaluation, or Permit will now be required to enter data in the fields listed below so that more complete information will be collected online to process the application.
Note: All existing required fields will not change (Authorization & Permit = Type of Application; Site Evaluation = Type of Application, Category of Construction, Site Ready for Inspection). Additionally, a field named, Existing Use of Structure was added to the Onsite Site Evaluation record type. Required Fields for Onsite Authorization:
Required Fields for Onsite Site Evaluation:
Required Fields for Onsite Permit:
We have begun assigning the individual user Bluebeam licenses that are replacing the concurrent login licenses that we currently use (Bluebeam no longer supports the concurrent licenses).
Nathan Flowers has begun sending out emails to jurisdictions to get users setup and will continue to do so as quickly as possible to assure everyone has access to Bluebeam. We plan to provide some Electronic Document Review (EDR) training sessions in 2024, to accompany the new licenses - stay tuned for training details. Third Party Service Record Type - is used to record and process work done when an agency is acting as the third party to someone else on a regular, recurring basis such as providing inspection and/or plan review. They can schedule and result inspections on this record – and also record plan review results/notes. They can also attach any electronic documents, as needed. This record type can also be used to charge third party fees for the work you’ve completed - which can then be invoiced and sent to the party/agency that received service, and ultimately initiate and post payment.
A help desk ticket request must be made to add and configure this record type for an agency. It requires some configuration for custom dropdowns (to be collected from the agency), potentially for fees (agency dependent), add of any other users participating in this process, and some other small functionality. Third Party Billing - is when an agency uses a third party (receives service from) where the billing for the service(s) provided is a percentage-based split of fees collected and with no conditions (is always split and not dependent on any other criteria). Example, we cannot accommodate third party billing if they only split fees when the permit is greater in value than $10000 or when it is charged hourly, etc. Distribution codes are assigned to every fee to determine if it’s split and how it’s split – these must be configured as per the agency’s agreement. This distribution is only a mechanism that feeds a dedicated report to be run monthly to assist in reconciling and ultimately paying the agency’s third party. This functionality also requires configuration at the fee code level and otherwise. Once implemented, this must also then be maintained with all fee updates thereafter - every active fee would then include a distribution code – up and until the agency is no longer using this split method. A help desk ticket request is also required configure this fee functionality – submit to [email protected]. Currently when a workflow task is assigned using the Supervisor action, it does not appear in the users task list on the Workflow tab of the MY TASK PAGE. In the next Accela upgrade, this will be fixed.
If your agency has already published their 2024 holiday schedule where you know the dates that no inspections will be performed, please send that to the ePermitting Team as soon as possible by emailing [email protected]. Our team can verify all dates are blocked out for the year so that no inspections can be scheduled on those dates that your office is closed.
Just as a reminder, there are two helpful reports that you can generate to view a list of dates that are already blocked out on your inspection calendars. The reports can be found under Building Reports > Audit > select either:
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