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 ePermitsHelp.BCD@DCBS.Oregon.gov.
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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. Commercial Alarm and Suppression – Structural Plan Review Fee to Now be Added/Assessed Automatically1/2/2024 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:
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. In response to Agency requests, we are moving Code Compliance out of the Planning module and into its own module! This new module will have the exact same record type/design/functionality but will be in its own dedicated module.
Providing Code Compliance as a dedicated module, now allows Code officers and staff to much more easily manage their cases apart from Planning applications and other Planning-specific configuration. User access to Code cases and data can now also be more specifically managed and/or restricted. We are also improving upon existing Code reports and have created a new Code-specific inspection work site report, that include the Code-specific inspection results. For any agency that is already using the Planning Investigation record type for cases will have all its data moved into the new dedicated module. The record type will be renamed from “Planning Investigation” to “Code Compliance.” We will notify agencies in advance of this transition, and work directly with agency staff on the details. Stay tuned! With the Accela Upgrade, there were some changes to the public facing website(ACA). We have updated the ePermitting Online Training (https://www.oregon.gov/bcd/epermitting/howto/Pages/index.aspx) with updated screenshots.
The training site has a walkthrough of most everything a customer can do on ACA. We have also updated the Online Homeowner Applications document. This is the document you the jurisdiction can give to a home owner. So they can walkthrough an application online using the Owner License. The document has a fresh layout and updated screenshots. We were recently informed that Bluebeam will no longer allow the concurrent licensing model that we are currently providing for electronic document review. ePermitting will continue to provide Bluebeam, but we will be providing a set number of individual licenses to each jurisdiction.
We will be paying for the annual renewal costs of those licenses. We are finalizing our agreement with Bluebeam, so the number of licenses per jurisdiction has not yet been determined. After we execute the agreement, we will be reaching out first to jurisdictions that are currently using Bluebeam, so that they can continue to use it without interruption. Then, we will then be giving licenses to all ePermitting jurisdictions, since everyone will be required to accept electronic plans by January 1, 2025. We will provide updates through emails/GovDelivery as we get more information. Please be sure to read to the bottom of this article for important information regarding the implementation of these changes. We have created an enhancement to allow ACA applicants to declare their additional Energy Measures when applying for dwelling or residential structural record types. Additionally, we are moving where this information is displayed in the back office of Accela. When the Additional Energy Measures fields were originally added to the model, they were included in the building review task. At that time, because of how the Accela back office interface was structured, that made the most sense. Over the years as we have upgraded, changes in Accela have made it more difficult for users to go back and find that information. We’re now adding a new tab to the main menu navigation for residential dwelling and residential structural record types, making it much easier for users to find and/or update. Previously entered in the Building Review workflow task. Once the review was complete, the user would need to navigate to the building review task in Workflow History to once again view and/or update the information. With this enhancement, the information is now available to be recorded and viewed in it’s own tab within the left hand navigation panel (screenshot below is for the Residential Structural Record type and now allows the user to choose from the correct tables based on the size of an addition): In ACA, for the DWL record types, there is a single field: For the Residential Structural record type in ACA, additional energy measures are in their own section in order to provide more context for users to know which table they should be selecting from. We’ve also included a link to the source document (Residential energy additional measure selection (oregon.gov): Implementation: This enhancement we will be rolled out one agency at a time. As part of the implementation we will be migrating the current energy measure data (for all existing records) from the building review in workflow to the new tab. When we are ready to start implementing this enhancement for your agency, we will reach out to your designated agency contact with the details of the implementation/migration and to answer any questions they may have. Please keep an eye out for these communications as it will be important for you to respond in a timely manner and for you to communicate the changes to your internal users.
To help agencies specifically keep track of the Air Leakage/Sealing Compliance Method on dwelling construction- a new inspection type called 1465 Blower Door has been added to the Model.
When agencies begin their residential plan review, it is recommended that they PEND this inspection to the record when the plans indicate that the dwelling should be tested to demonstrate the blower door result (rather than a declaration that they are meeting the requirements of Table N1104.8). Please note the related citation for your information: N1104.8.2 Sealing required. Exterior joints around window and door frames, between wall cavities and window or door frames, between walls and foundation, between walls and roof, between wall panels, at penetrations or utility services through walls, floors and roofs and all other openings in the exterior envelope shall be sealed in a manner approved by the building official. Sealing for the purpose of creating a continuous air barrier shall be in accordance with the applicable requirements of Table N1104.8 or the dwelling shall be tested to demonstrate a blower door result not greater than 4.0 ACH50. Production Upgrade Schedule
Production is scheduled to be upgraded the weekend of May 5. Oregon ePermitting will be providing regular updates and more information in the coming weeks as we progress through our testing and the upgrade project. You can look forward to some more GovDelivery emails, as well as updates on our Accela Upgrade Information website which can be found at: https://www.oregon.gov/bcd/epermitting/juris_hub/Pages/upgrade-info.aspx Previously, the expiration letters for all modules showed all the inspection scheduling methods that are available for the public to use. However, some agencies, particularly for the Onsite module, have elected to not allow inspections to be scheduled by the public so this message was confusing. To address this scenario, we have allowed the display of the inspection scheduling methods to be optional for either Onsite, Planning, or the PublicWorks modules. If your jurisdiction does not allow inspection scheduling by the public, please submit a help desk ticket by emailing ePermitsHelp.BCD@dcbs.oregon.gov and we can remove this message on the expiration letters for you. Please note that the inspection scheduling methods will always be available for the Building module and cannot be removed.
Example of optional inspection scheduling methods on expiration letters: We are now receiving routine updates for Land Surveyors, a new license type available to all participating ePermitting agencies, as of March 1, 2023. This license is issued by Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering & Land Surveying (OSBEELS) and is generally used within the Planning module. These licensed professionals can now be added to records through the back office. However, Land Surveyors are unable to apply for any new applications through Citizen Access.
We’ve made some changes to the required fields for the 1 & 2 Family Dwelling [DWL] record type. The following fields are now REQUIRED at intake for applicants online and also for staff creating new records in the back office:
These changes were made at the request of agencies who reported that customers were often not entering the necessary information in these fields which impact fees, and that as a result, it was sometimes causing delays in getting permits issued. These changes fall in line with the required fee methodologies for new single-family dwellings. While we recommend using the 1 & 2 Family Dwelling record type as a true and complete combination permit when possible, please note that ‘0’ is a valid value and could be used, for example, if the plumbing contractor had pulled the plumbing permits separately. For those of you that do not have a full program, and therefore only offer the DWL_LTD record type, these changes will not affect what the customer is presented for programs that you do not offer. For example, if you do not have the Electrical program, the customer will not see or be required to complete the ‘Work Includes 600 Amp Service or Greater’ field. The PublicWorks Tracking record type under the "Erosion and Sediment Control" tab has been modified, as of Tues, Feb 28, 2023 to better accommodate DEQ's new MS4 requirements.
BEFORE: The following existing checkboxes have been removed:
AFTER: The following two new fields have been added:
Bluebeam has announced plans to end support for Revu versions from 2019 and older.
We see that some of our Oregon users are using older versions of Revu. Please let your planners or anyone with BlueBeam installed that they will need to upgrade to Revu 20. With ePermitting's concurrent licenses, you can update to the latest version using the latest Product Key. If you need the latest Product Key, please submit a helpdesk ticket by emailing ePermitsHelp.BCD@dcbs.oregon.gov. Here are instructions on how to update BlueBeam from an older version: https://support.bluebeam.com/articles/revu-upgrade-to-latest-version/ Oregon ePermitting is happy to welcome the City of Estacada, City of Gearhart, City of Seaside, and the City of Warrenton as our newest jurisdictions to joining Oregon ePermitting.
April 1 of each year, ePermitting loads the most recent ICC Building Valuation Data into Accela. The February 2023 ICC Building Valuation Data has been loaded into all agencies and will become available for use on April 1, 2023.
IMPORTANT reminders:
A new optional workflow email notification is now available for enhanced communication with your customers! For most Building workflows, under the Application Intake task, there is a new workflow status called Intake Requirements Needed. If this status is selected, an email will automatically be sent to the Applicant and any additional email recipients that you enter (an example of the email is shown below). The intent of this new status is to communicate more specifically to the applicant that additional intake requirements are needed before the application can be accepted and/or plan review can begin, as apart from using the Additional Info Needed status. The bonus part of this email is that it automatically includes the current balance on the record. Communicating additional requirements to the applicant, including paying outstanding plan review and/or other intake fees, is now made much easier with this simple status update. You can use this status at any time; no additional configuration is needed from our team.
Example email: The Expiration Letter has been enhanced so that it can be generated for a single record. It is also now available from the Summary page. To generate an expiration letter, navigate to the Summary page > hover over Reports > click Expiration Letter: There are new required parameters. Depending on your selections, the report will generate different language.
Record Number = Enter the record number. Please note that single quotes are no longer needed. Letter Type = Application or Permit Contact Type = Applicant or Owner Module = select the appropriate module Accela 101 Training (3 part series): www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCrlQ45XMyFwGN5psfyyH9At1d8N3wDKj
Code Enforcement Focus Training: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr3HOXhshYc Planning Module Focus Training: https://youtu.be/UaabyfzMKEQ A link to the Oregon ePermitting YouTube that includes a few other training videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPrRRU13H4Ajohabvo_sRwg The receipt has been updated to allow agencies to create specific information for the header when the receipt is issued for a POS transaction. Over the past couple of years, you may have noticed that the header for a POS transaction is not related to the module where the POS transaction occurred, but rather to the preferred module for the user who performed the transaction. For agencies using only one module (e.g. Onsite only agencies, Building only agencies and Planning only agencies), this is not a problem. Agencies using multiple modules may have users whose preferred module is Building, but sometimes perform POS transactions in other modules. To accommodate those agencies using multiple modules, a new option has been added for Agency Contact Info. The Agency Contact Info POS allows the agency to have specific values for: Right now, these values are set to the Building module values for all agencies, except those agencies using only Onsite or Planning modules. If the agency is using only the Onsite module, the values are set to the same as the Agency Contact Info Onsite. For those using only the Planning module, the values are set to those of Agency Contact Info Planning.
If your agency wants to customize the value for POS transactions, please submit a help desk ticket and fillout the appropriate submittals found here: http://orepermittinghelp.kayako.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/agency-contact-submittal-all-modules-pos. A new OSM enhancement was completed at the end of September where the Record Link is now available on all record types that are available through Citizen Access. The Record Link is the direct link to each specific record on Citizen Access. It can now be easily copied and pasted into any communication to your customer. The Record Link can be added to the public user’s browser favorites for easy access or can be sent to other interested parties. It is an easy way for public users to access records without the need to search or log into Citizen Access. The Record Link can be found on the primary custom fields tab for each record type, toward the bottom of the screen. The Record Link is also available on Citizen Access and is clickable so users can easily add the record to their browser favorites. It is expected functionality for the Citizen Access “wrapper” to not be visible when accessing the record through the Record Link. We hope that this enhancement adds more functionality for communication with your customers! Back Office:Citizen Access (under Record Details > More Details > Application Information):One of the changes that occurred during the last software upgrade was the inclusion of the “Office” field on the payment screen. In order to avoid negative consequences for jurisdictions that have different offices for accepting payments, we have had to add this field to all jurisdictions’ payment pages.
For jurisdictions that do not have offices, we have defaulted the value to “not applicable” (we are using that instead of no office, so that receipts do not say that the payment was received in “no office”). By defaulting this, no one needs to choose a value when taking a payment in a “no office” jurisdiction. In addition, this change affects financial reports that have an office parameter choice. For jurisdictions without offices, there used to be the choice of, “all, online and no office.” Now there is, “all, online and not applicable.” The “all” choice will bring up absolutely every payment (even some old ones that have blank office fields); “online” brings back online transactions only, and “Not applicable” brings back the non-online transactions only. |
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