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Register Today for ePermitting’s Regional Training and User Conferences

11/5/2019

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Sign up for one of our upcoming ePermitting Regional Training and User Conferences before they are full! Registration is required.

They are:
        Nov. 13-14 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., hosted by the City of Happy Valley
        Dec. 4-5 from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., hosted by the City of Astoria

Attendees will learn about a wide variety of training and discussion topics related to ePermitting. These include: Creating Custom Filters Locally, Conditions of Approval, Activities, Inspections, Basic Ad-Hoc Reporting, Processing Refunds and Other Financial Transactions, Workflow, Advanced Tips and Tricks, and an open question-and-answer session to get the answers you’ve always wanted to know.

We will also schedule conferences in Eastern Oregon and Southern/Central Oregon this coming Spring.
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For more information and to register, visit https://www.oregonepermitting.com/conferencestraining.html.
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Survey: New Record Type Options for the Building Module

11/5/2019

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We are considering making some additions to the available record types in the Building Module and have created a short survey to gather agency feedback. The deadline to complete the survey is Nov. 22, 2019.

To participate in the survey, please click the link below or copy and paste the entire website address into your web browser.

http://dcbs.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_byo6wFTA8He9nKt

​Thank you for your participation in this important enhancement consideration!
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New Exceptional Payment Method is Added to the Model – Restore Payment

11/5/2019

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We will be adding a new exceptional “payment” method to the Model effective November 18th called Restore Payment. After much data analysis, it was determined that the Journal Entry payment method was being used for much more than restoring payments voided in error – it then became necessary to break the restoration of a payment voided in error out uniquely so that it could be included in the nightly financial batch where Journal Entry is excluded. This new method now requires a change in how the Journal Entry method is used – these differences are explained below.

Journal Entry: The Journal Entry payment type is will be used to reflect/record a payment that was posted or receipted outside of Accela, such as receipted to a financial software. This payment type is only used to reflect payments made outside of Accela such as with a case where you need to demonstrate that a deposit payment was made to the City/County cashier and receipted in the agency financial system directly. You would process a payment type of Journal Entry for the external payment amount - in the Payer field you will type “Journal Entry Payment” and in the Payment Comment, and as best practice, you would include a brief comment that the payment was made in an external system, the reason, the receipt number from the other system, the payment method, the date posted, and any sort of approval code or check number.

This payment type effectively demonstrates that an external payment was made, and does not show up on your cash balancing but does show in the transactions applied/revenue reports as a result of a payment method being applied to fee items in Accela. The Transactions Applied by Method would show this type of transaction clearly as would the standard Revenue Exceptions Report. Important note: You cannot process a refund on this payment type as it is just a reflection of a payment made outside of Accela, the payment would have to be refunded in the external system it was posted in.

Restore Payment: The new Restore Payment payment type will be used to restore a payment transaction to a record where the payment was voided in error. This payment is only used to restore payments voided in error as the monies were already deposited on a prior date/year/fiscal cycle such as with a 6-month old payment that was accidentally voided today. You would process a payment type of Restore Payment for the voided payment amount – in the Payer field you will type “Restore Payment” and in the Payment Comment, as best practice, you would include a brief comment that a payment was voided in error and is only being restored, and reference information to the original ‘voided’ payment such as original receipt #, payment method, payor, and original posting date.

This payment type effectively restores the original payment transaction, although on current date, and does not show up on your cash balancing but does show in the transactions applied/revenue reports as a result of a payment method being applied to fee items in Accela. The Transactions Applied by Method would show this type of transaction clearly as would the standard Revenue Exceptions Report. Important note: Restore Payment should only be used to restore ‘Cash’, ‘Check’, ’Credit Card’, ‘Fund Transfer’, ‘Internal Transfer’ and ‘Refund Check’ payment types. Using it to restore other exceptional payment types to include ‘Credit Memo’, ‘Fee Waiver’, ‘Write Off’ and ‘Billed’ will not appear correctly on reports and cause financial issues. You cannot process a refund on this payment type as no cash was currently exchanged/paid – you are only restoring the transactional payment record.

To refresh on the other available Exceptional Payment Types, check out the Knowledgebase article Payment Processing Cases and Types.
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New Jurisdictions Live with OSM!

11/5/2019

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  • Clatsop County - Oct. 7, 2019
  • City of Sandy - Oct. 28, 2019
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OSM Future Implementations

11/5/2019

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​• City of Cannon Beach – Go live Spring of 2020
• City of St. Helens – Go live Spring of 2020
• Redmond Public Works – Go live 2020
• Lake Oswego (conversion to OSM) – Go live 2020
• City of Phoenix – Go live 2020
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What to Report to the Helpdesk to Help ePermitting Troubleshoot

11/5/2019

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When submitting a ticket because you are experiencing slowness or an issue, please include the following information in your ticket. This will allow us to provide the necessary information to Accela helping them to more quickly pinpoint the issue.
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  • Which Accela page were you on when you started having slowness and/or issues?
  • Have you tried troubleshooting already (clearing cache, logging out then back in, etc.)?

Currently, we have 4 servers and occasionally it will be a single server that is the issue. To help us narrow down which server(s) may be affected, please open a new tab in the same browser session as your current Accela session, and enter the following link into your address bar: https://av.prod.oregon.accela.com/portlets/version.jsp - the below will be displayed:
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​Please let us know which server is showing for you. You can find that information on the server line of the version page from the above link.
Additionally, you can try logging out of your current browser session and then back in to a new browser session until you are able to work successfully. Logging out then back in several times may get you logged into a better performing server as the server assignment is random.
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Set Names Should Not Include Special Characters

11/5/2019

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​What are the limitations in naming sets? Because set names are stored in the database and these names are used to retrieve information about the sets, special characters like ‘&’, ‘%’, ‘-‘, ‘()’, single quotes (‘) and double quotes (“) should not be used. These characters have special meaning in the programming languages used to develop reports. When these special characters are used, the reports will often fail. Please take note the next time you are creating a new set in the system.
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OSM Changes from Last Month

11/5/2019

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  1. Public Works module: Corrected an issue where users were unable to add/update Custom Lists (tables) on Investigation, Inquiry and Project record types because of scripting requirements to complete some specific application specific information (which wasn't available to those record types). Scripting now only requires a service to be selected when it's a PW Tracking record. (9/23/19)
  2. Onsite: Added Payment History to menu navigation for OnsiteReadOnly user group. (9/24/19)
  3. Building module: Updated the code edition for Oregon Structural Code and Oregon Mechanical Specialty Code (both only apply to commercial) to include (and default to) 2019. (10/1/19)
  4. All Modules: Added parcel attribute template to record search form so that users can search by parcel attribute (where applicable). (10/1/19)
  5. Building module: Updated the Write It/Cite It standard comments due to new code editions. (10/3/19)
  6. Building module: Updated scripting for new 1 & 2 Family dwellings so that the '6050 Final Erosion Control' inspection cannot be resulted if there are other outstanding erosion control inspections. (10/21/19)
  7. Building module: Added a new user group to the building module: "BuildingReviewerLimited". This user group can update "review" workflow tasks only. (10/21/19)
  8. Planning module: Document Type, "Other Planning Document" in the PLANNING DOCUMENTS group is now visible and downloadable by all ACA Users. (10/21/19)
  9. Building module: Update CETv3 report to include 'Restore Payment' payment method. The 'Restore Payment' payment method is included with the 'ACH', 'Cash', 'Check', 'Credit Card'. 'Fund Transfer', 'Internal Transfer', 'Journal Entry', 'Refund Check' totals. (10/22/19)
  10. Building module: Update Affordable Housing Worksheet to include 'Restore Payment' payment method. In the report the payment methods 'Billed', 'Credit Memo', 'Fee Waiver', 'Write Off' will appear in Red and be grouped into Non-revenue type payments. (10/22/19)
  11. Building module: Set the 'Unit Cost' in the Valuation Calculator to read only. Previously it was editable but should not have been. (10/24/19)
  12. Building module: Added a new value of "Non Participating School District" to the CET - Exemptions dropdown. (10/24/19)
  13. Building module: Update Metro Excise Report to include 'Restore Payment' The report was modified to include the payment method in the detail list. Additionally another section was added to the report footer that shows total amount of Metro share and Admin share paid using each payment method. (10/25/19)
  14. All modules: Added the following contact types to all OSM agencies: Complainant, Property Manager, General Contractor, Tenant, Bank, Attorney, Trustee. (10/28/19)
  15. All modules: Systems Requiring Maintenance is a new report that can be used to identify ATT, Holding Tank, Bottomless Sand Filter, Sand Filter and Pressure Distribution Systems that have a completed Certificate of Satisfactory Completion. The report lists the permit number, county, parcel number, site address, directions to the site, system type and date the CoSC was issued. There are no visible parameters - all records that meet the report requirement regardless of issue date are included. The report output is an Excel spreadsheet. (10/28/19)
  16. All modules: The receipt has been updated. The page orientation has been changed from landscape to portrait. Also when the receipt is for a permit or record the IVR number appears just below the record number. It will also accommodate the new payment method ‘Restore Payment’. The new receipt will be available on November 18.
  17. Building module: Add two new user groups to the building module: "BuildingCashierTechnician" and "BuildingCashierSupervisorTechnician". These user groups have the same permissions as BuildingCashier and BuildingCashierSupervisor but can also result workflow. The purpose is to allow those agencies that have a centralized cashiering office to not have to send the customers back to the Building Department to issue the permit once they have paid the fees. (11/4/19)
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To see your current agency user group assignments, run the User Configuration report, located under Building Reports >Admin>User Configuration.

Note: There are ePermitting staff and other scripted users that appear on the report that need to remain active for daily system functionally.

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