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. 

1. Code Investigation - this record type is identical to Planning Investigation
2. Code Inquiry (NEW) - this is a new flexible record type to be used as a placeholder for non-case related Code information or activity.

 
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).
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Additionally, a field named, Existing Use of Structure was added to the Onsite Site Evaluation record type.
 
Required Fields for Onsite Authorization:

• Category of Construction
• Acreage or Lot Size
• Water Supply
• Existing Use of Structure
• Proposed Use of Structure
• Site Ready for Inspection

** If Type of Application = Residential Authorization, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Bedrooms (Existing)
• Number of Bedrooms (Proposed Total)

** If Type of Application = Commercial Authorization, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Employees (Existing)
• Number of Employees (Proposed Total)
• Number of Seating (Existing)
• Number of Seating (Proposed Total)

 
Required Fields for Onsite Site Evaluation:

• Acreage or Lot Size
• Water Supply
• Existing Use of Structure
• Proposed Use of Structure

**If Type of Application = Residential Site Evaluation, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Bedrooms (Existing)
• Number of Bedrooms (Proposed Total)

**If Type of Application = Commercial Site Evaluation, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Employees (Existing)
• Number of Employees (Proposed Total)
• Number of Seating (Existing)
• Number of Seating (Proposed Total)

 
Required Fields for Onsite Permit:

• Category of Construction
• Acreage or Lot Size
• Water Supply
• Existing Use of Structure
• Proposed Use of Structure

**If Type of Application = Construction Permit - Residential, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Bedrooms (Existing)
• Number of Bedrooms (Proposed Total)

**If Type of Application = Construction Permit - Commercial, then these additional fields will become visible and required:

• Number of Employees (Existing)
• Number of Employees (Proposed Total)
• Number of Seating (Existing)
• Number of Seating (Proposed Total)

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).

• The individual user licenses can be installed by each user on up to 3 devices.
• These licenses allow full mark-up and the use of Studio sessions: a fantastic feature which allows licensees to invite others, who don’t have Bluebeam licenses, to a “studio session” to look at plans and leave comments without consuming a license. Studio sessions also facilitate the plan review process by allowing reviewers to concurrently see each another’s comments. You can also invite design professionals and contractors into a studio session, if you choose
• Licenses can be transferred to new employees when you have turnover - new user contact information must be provided at the time of transfer.

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].

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:
 

• Inspection Calendar Block Out Dates
  • This report will show you all dates that are blocked out that are NOT a named holiday or weekend that fall within the next 35 days. Example block out dates you may see on this report could be when you have a different schedule based on inspection districts or all inspectors are in an all-day training.
• Inspection Holiday Block Out Dates
  • This report will show you all dates that are blocked out that are a named holiday (like “Christmas”) for the current year + the next year.

Currently, when this record type is created via ACA, no plan review fee is added. In those cases, when plan review is required, a back office staff member has to “Add fee”. When the record is created by back office staff, there is a Yes/No radio button that staff members must set to Yes in order to assess the Structural Plan Review fee. We have heard from several agencies that the structural plan review fee is required in several instances and that people often forget to add it (especially when the application has come in through ACA).

With this update, scripting has been revised so that the Structural Plan Review fee will now assess automatically when the record is created (regardless of whether it's created in the back office or through Citizen Access) and in the case where it is not required, back office users can delete it before invoicing the fees.

In conjunction with the scripting change, the Y/N radio button for Structural Plan Review mentioned above will be removed/hidden.

Valuation Calculator enabled on Citizen Access:
Public users will be able to see all of the Valuation Calculator values that have been added to the record in the back office except the Multiplier and Extra Amount. Public users will be able to navigate to the Valuation Calculator from the "Record Info/Schedule Inspections" dropdown menu.

Linn County joined Oregon ePermitting in Fall 2023: welcome Linn County!

We’ve added two new statuses to the Hearing task for the Planning Tracking record type:

• Final Denial: Will close the record
• Initial Hearing Complete/Referred: Will close the Hearing Task and loop back up to reopen the Staff Report/Decision task

These changes are now live in production and will be available for previously created Planning Tracking records as well as new records.

To find an updated Planning Tracking Workflow Diagram (a diagram showing how each of the statuses moves through/affects the overall Planning Tracking workflow) please click here.

When submitting help desk tickets by email to ePermitting, please start only using epermitshelp.bcd@dcbs.oregon.gov and discontinue using [email protected].