Record Search

As you may recall in October, ePermitting sent out a survey to see how many agencies would like to have the Record Search Page updated to allow the record number field to be the first field on the page moving the street number field to a new location and allowing users to type in the record number without the curser jumping to the street number field once the page continued to load.

We were very excited to provide an opportunity to let our agencies decide if the street number or record number field should go first on the page and wanted to say a big “Thank You” to those of you that placed a vote! Out of 34 votes it was an even split between those that wanted the change and those that didn’t and after some discussion as a team we have decided to leave the Record Search Page how it is to keep up with best practice searches and we wanted to provide some information to explain why Searching by Address in the Record List as Best Practice. 
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Because customers can apply for permits in Accela thru ACA online (Accela Customer Access) or over the counter in your office – it can be difficult sometimes to group various permits together that are all working on the same one project.  The general contractor may come in and pull the Structural Permit over the counter but the trades contractors purchase their Electrical, Mechanical, and Plumbing permits through ACA online.  In this very common scenario where the various contractors purchase their permits through different avenues and at different points in time but all are for the same one building project – searching by address always first will help agencies to quickly and visibly identify permits related to the same project that should ultimately be related as a group.  Relating records has it’s definite advantages – expiration dates across all the related records will synch up to the most recent inspection plus 180 days regardless of what permit it occurred on within the related record group – and – Certificates of Occupancy require these related groups so that an agency can easily determine whether all permits are completed on a project as a whole prior to granting occupancy.  Related record groups can span modules as well to include Public Works, Planning, and/or Onsite records that ultimately relate to the project for approvals or in sequence of completion, ie. perhaps Onsite and Public Works Driveway/Site Prep has to be done before work on the structural dwelling can begin, etc.  For these reasons, searching by address first then ultimately becomes best practice in helping agencies to relate permits associated to the same project.