What's New

Update 24A

Revision History

This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:

Overview

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Feature Summary

Permitting and Licensing

Permitting and Licensing Common

Replace Applicant on an Application

Agencies can now replace the current applicant with another responsible party as the new applicant. The new applicant must be registered with the agency using a matching email address entered as the contact. An address is also required.

The designated applicant can be managed on the Contacts page in the permit, planning, and business license application details. Contacts in the list can include the owner, applicant, previous applicant, and contractor contacts, among others. A new switch allows you to hide or show inactive contacts in the grid.

This example illustrates the Contacts page in the Business License Transaction details, with the new elements, including the switch to show inactive contacts, the action to make a new applicant (Make Applicant), and the designation as the previous applicant under the contact's name.

Contacts Page with New Elements

Allows your agency to select another contact to replace an applicant that should not be responsible for the transaction anymore.

Steps to Enable

Agency staff with application contact management access have the 'Make Applicant' action item available for each active contact. Using this option the current applicant can be replaced with another contact.

Tips And Considerations

When selecting a new applicant, you must assign a different contact type and access level to the previous applicant, including removing their access to the transaction. Once the previous applicant is assigned a new role and access, communications that go to the applicant will go to the new applicant. As in previous releases, a primary contact is required but can be any active contact. If the current applicant is also the primary contact, the new applicant will automatically be made the new primary contact, but you can select a different primary contact later.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Managing Permits," Working with Application Contacts on the Oracle Help Center.

Contractor Details Include Associated Business License Information

The agency's contractor license records now include a list of current and in-progress business licenses on the Transactions page in the contractor license details. You can also see business licenses and in-progress business license transactions in the Contractor grid in the application intake form for permits and planning applications as well as after submission in the application details.

This example illustrates business licenses associated with a contractor in the agency's contractor license records. The business licenses are listed on the dedicated Business Licenses tab of the Transactions page in the contractor license details.

Contractor License Record - Business License Tab on the Transactions Page

Provide agency staff with easy access to business license information of contractors, enabling agency staff to efficiently track and monitor the licensing status of contractors.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

The business license information is only displayed when the Business Licenses offering is enabled along with Permits.

When the Business License offering is enabled, agency staff can view:

• Business licenses and business license transactions where contractor license is used for each contractor license in the 'Transactions' tab in the Contractor List.

• Business licenses and in-process business licenses where contractor license is used for each contractor license in the permit and planning application.

The former Business Licenses tab on the Transactions page in the contractor license details was renamed to Business License Transactions, but its function remains the same: to show business license activity associated with the contractor license.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Managing Contractor Information," Managing Contractor License Details on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Applying for a Permit," Entering Contractor Information on Permit and Planning Applications on the Oracle Help Center.

Validate Contractor License During Application Intake

Agencies can now make a contractor license required for specific application types in the application designer for permit, planning, and business license applications. When the agency activates the requirement for at least one contractor license in the application designer, the applicant must provide a contractor license to submit the application.

The requirement is active by default when the Contractor field group is included on the intake form. Applicants who self-identify as contractors or agents in an application will always need to provide a contractor license.

This example illustrates the new switch in the Contractor Properties when adding the Contractor field group to a permit application.

Contractor Properties in the Intake Form Designer

The agency has the option to make an entry of a contractor license required during the application intake process.

Steps to Enable

You must have the "Require at least 1 contract license" option enabled in the Contractor Field group in the Intake Form Designer in order to require at least one contractor license during the application intake for permits, planning, and business license applications.

Tips And Considerations

If the Contractor predefined field group isn't used in the application designer or the Contractor field group is conditionally hidden based on the configuration of other fields in the application designer, the requirement isn't enforced. Applicants can't delete the license they added as part of the requirements for the application; only administrators can delete the license after the application is submitted.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Creating Intake Forms," Using Predefined Field Groups on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Applying for a Permit," Entering Contractor Information on Permit and Planning Applications on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Business Licenses, "Applying for a Business License," Entering Contractor Information on the Oracle Help Center.

System Administration

Bill Rate by Job Title in User Profiles

Agencies can now charge applicants for staff time spent working on an application based on a bill rate that is associated with the job title of the person performing the work. For example, an agency can set up a flat bill rate for the Plan Reviewer job title so that fees can be calculated when the agency staff with the Plan Reviewer job title records their time on applications.

The new Bill Rate and Override Bill Rate fields are available in all implementations of Time Recording, which include plan review for permits and planning applications, mobile inspections and inspection detail for permits, and cases in code enforcement. Only agency staff with time recording management roles have permissions to override the job title bill rate.

In the example below, a $110 per hour bill rate has been added for the Plan Reviewer job title. When an agency staff member with the Plan Reviewer job title records time in the system, the hourly rate will be used in fee calculations.

Job Title Detail Page - Bill Rate for Time Recording Setup

This example illustrates one of the pages used for recording time. In this example, the agency staff member also has been set up with permission to override the default bill rate for the Plan Reviewer job title.

Example of Time Details Page for Recording Time

Allows agencies to use job title bill rates in fee formulas to charge at different rates when using time recording-related fees.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Navigate to Agency > Job Title.
2. Open each job title you want to add a Bill Rate to and add the Bill Rate in the Bill Rate for Time Recording section.

This bill rate is defaulted when agency staff enters time for the task performed. The default value will appear on the Add Time page but can be overridden at the transaction level by a user with the privileges to make the change. See Access Requirements below.

Tips And Considerations

Agencies will need to set up bill rates for job titles and adjust or create any time recording DMN models using the Bill Rate field.

Key Resources

• See Using Communication Development Permits, "Recording and Billing Time" on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Your Agency, "Setting Up Your Agency Staff," Defining Job Titles on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Your Financials Framework, "Setting Up Fees," Mapping Form Fields to Decision Model Attributes on the Oracle Help Center.

Access Requirements

Only agency staff with time recording management roles have permission to override the job title bill rate.

Override security is assigned to the following Roles:

• PSC Permit Time Recording Management All
• PSC Planning Time Recording Management All
• PSC Case Time Recording Management for All

Bulk Reassignment of Alerted Tasks from Worklist

On the worklist, select multiple alerted tasks and reassign them to the appropriate staff member.

Agency users can efficiently select multiple tasks from the worklist, such as overdue tasks, and reassign them to other employees, rather than reassigning each task separately.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, Using Common Interface Pages and Elements, "Viewing Tasks in the Worklist" on the Oracle Help Center.

Business Rules Framework

Prevent Application Submission

Agencies can now configure a Business Rules Framework event to automatically stop the new application submission and display a message describing the reason for stopping the process.

Administrators configure stop process actions in the Business Rules Framework. Use the following events to set up the business rule for the applicable offering:

• Before Business License Application Submitted
• Before Permit Application Submitted
• Before Planning and Zoning Application Submitted

This example illustrates the Stop Process action message in the Business Rules Framework when configuring the Before Business License Application Submitted event:

Configure Action Page

For example, an agency can block the submission of a business license application if the provided address or parcel falls within a district or zone where that particular type of business is prohibited.

Steps to Enable

You need to configure the Business Rules Framework Rule to identify the criteria that should prevent an application from being submitted.

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Business Rules Framework.

2. Select your offering.

3. Select one of the following events:
   • Before Business License Application Submitted
   • Before Permit Application Submitted
   • Before Planning and Zoning Application Submitted

4. Create the rule, adding the criteria and the action Stop Process as shown below:

Business Rule Details Page

Tips And Considerations

• The new events are accessible and you should ensure that the corresponding business rules and criteria are properly configured to support this automation.

• The applicant can still save the application in order to contact the agency to find out what changes are needed.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Implementing the Business Rules Framework," Setting Up Business Rules, Setting Up Stop Process Actions on the Oracle Help Center.

Transaction Workflow Communication Events for Business Rules Framework

By default, previously delivered workflow process definitions made requests directly to the communication framework to send workflow communications, such as sending an email when an application has been accepted.

You can continue to use the direct calls to the communication framework to send the notifications for all situations, or you can configure your workflow process to call the Business Rules Framework REST API to send workflow communications only if your business rule criteria is met.

The transaction workflow communication events are enabled in the Business Rules Framework, allowing users to apply criteria and specify the communication template use.

Steps to Enable

If desired, update the workflow process models in Oracle Integration Cloud to call the Business Rules Framework REST instead of the Communications REST. To configure:

1. Configure the Business Rules Framework Rules for the workflow-related events. See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Implementing the Business Rules Framework, "Setting Up Business Rules".

2. Modify the workflow models in Oracle Integration Cloud to call the Business Rules Framework REST API instead of the Communications REST API. See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Implementing the Business Rules Framework, "Setting Up Update Workflow Actions".

3. Update the Application Types to use the updated workflow model version. See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Setting Up Permits, "Setting Up Permit Types".

You can continue to call the Communications REST if they don't want to leverage Business Rules Framework.

Tips And Considerations

The new events are accessible in Permits, Planning and Zoning, and Business Licenses offerings.  Workflow configuration is required to enable this functionality.

Key Resources

• See REST API for Oracle Public Sector Permitting and Licensing, "Tasks," Business Rules Framework Requests REST Endpoints on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Implementing the Business Rules Framework, "Setting Up Business Rules" on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Implementing the Business Rules Framework, "Setting Up Update Workflow Actions" on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, Setting Up Permits, "Setting Up Permit Types" on the Oracle Help Center.

Configure Rule to Update Workflow for Paid Fees

There is a new event named "Payment Received by Transactions" in the Common Events category that can trigger these actions:

• Add fee
• Relay to OIC
• Send communication
• Update workflow

You can use the PSC_BRF_EVENT_CODE custom property for a human task in your workflow definition to reference the Payment Received by Transactions event to run your business rule.

Business Rule Details Page

You can use the Business Rules Framework to set up a rule for automatic workflow updates when transaction fees are paid.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Open the Common category on the Business Rules Framework landing page.

2. Add a rule to the Payment Received by Transactions event to trigger the action to Update Workflow.

3. Update the workflow process model to identify the human task using Custom Properties. This task should be the same as what's configured in the Business Rules Framework Update Workflow action.

Tips And Considerations

The Update Workflow action is enabled for the Payment Received by Transactions event. You should ensure that the corresponding business rules and criteria are properly configured to support this automation. To check that all fees have been paid prior to advancing the workflow task, use the Fees Balance Due attribute in the criteria.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Implementing the Business Rules Framework," Business Rules Framework Event Details on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Implementing the Business Rules Framework," Setting Up Update Workflow Actions on the Oracle Help Center.

Business Rules Framework Generate Report Action

There is a new Business Rule Framework action named 'Generate report'. Currently, it is available only for Planning and Zoning events associated with the Hearing Notification resource.

Use the Configure Action page to select the report you want your business rule to generate and to map resource attributes to report parameters.

Configure Action Page

You define your reports as usual using the Reports Configuration Details page. For reports that you want to make available for the Business Rule Framework to generate, turn on the 'Available for Rules Framework Action' switch.

Report Configuration Details Page

The Generate Report action is enabled for the Planning and Zoning Hearing Notification Resource in Business Rules Framework, providing agencies with the capability to create a report and then attach it to a hearing communication based on criteria defined by the user.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Navigate to Business Rules Framework > Planning and Zoning > Hearing Decision Changed.
2. Select Action, Generate Report.
3. Click Configure.
4. Select the HearingTimelineReport for the Report ID.
5. Map the Resource Details to the Report Parameters and save.
6. Navigate to Common Setup > Report Configuration.
7. Select HearingTimelineReport.
8. Enable 'Available for Rules Framework Action' and save.

Tips And Considerations

The Generate Report action is currently enabled for the Hearing Notification resource. See the "Hearing Notifications Attributes" feature in the Planning and Zoning section of this document for more information.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Implementing the Business Rules Framework," Setting Up Generate Report Actions on the Oracle Help Center.

• See feature Hearing Notifications Attributes.

Financial Framework

Payment Methods Associated with Offline Payments

For offline payments, agency staff can now choose from many options to indicate what the payment method was, such as offline electronic payment, offline cash, offline credit card, and so on.

Offline Payment Page

When recording offline payments, agency cashiers can specify the payment method used to provide more detailed reporting and accounting of payments collected outside of Oracle Permitting and Licensing.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

Lookup codes for offline payment methods were added to added to lookup type:

ORA_PSC_CC_PAYMENT_METHOD_CD

Enable Agency Staff to record the payment method associated to the offline payment for:

• subsequent reporting based on payment method

• subsequent accounting based on payment method. For example, debit one general ledger account for wire transfers vs another general ledger account for credit cards.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Managing Permits," Working with Fees and Payments on the Oracle Help Center.

Calculate Fees from Custom Grid

Custom and reusable grids on an intake form have been enhanced to support fee calculations.

Intake Form

Fee estimates can be calculated from custom intake grids, expanding the input values agencies can use to assess fees.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature you must have a fee schedule for the application type created. Once created, you can add that fee schedule to the intake form.

1. Create a DMN model in Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) that includes inputs as a list/array.
2. Create a Fee Schedule that include the DMN model and associate the Fee Schedule to the Application Type setup.
3. From Designer, add a custom grid to the intake form.
4. From the Designer Fee Mapping page, map the grid columns to the DMN model's input.

For information on creating fees and fee schedules see Implementing Your Financial Framework, Setting Up Fees on the Oracle Help Center.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Financials Framework, Setting Up Fees on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Creating Intake Forms," Working with Grids on the Oracle Help Center.

Redwood Experience

Redwood Experience for OTBI Dashboards

The new Redwood user interface has been applied to OTBI Dashboards for Permits, Inspections, Plan Review and Parcel.

The Permit Dashboard is shown below:

Permits Dashboard

Permits Dashboard

This feature enhances your user experience with new OTBI dashboards.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

Redwood theme is enabled for Public Sector Dashboard. Placement change of certain analysis with in the Public Sector Dashboard is done to provide more information.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency, "Setting Up Analytics," Setting Up Dashboards on the Oracle Help Center.

Redwood Experience for Setup Pages

To enrich your user experience, various setup pages have been developed using the Visual Builder Studio (VBS) and the Redwood toolset.

These pages are only accessible through the Functional Setup Manager and will no longer be accessible via the menu navigation or the page finder.  The table below lists the pages that have been updated as well as their new navigation.

You will need to navigate to Setup and Maintenance and then select your Offering, Functional Area, and Task List as outlined below.

The new pages are built using the Redwood toolset and Visual Builder Studio and offer a more dynamic user experience across the application.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency on the  Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Your Financial Framework on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing on the Oracle Help Center.

Redwood Experience for User Registration and Account Management

Enrich the user experience with the Create Account and Manage Account pages developed using the Redwood toolset. These pages are built from the ground up using Visual Builder Studio (VBS) to give you a unique experience of Oracle applications.

This example illustrates the Create Account page featuring the enhanced UI, with all of the self-service features available on the original Register page for public users to register an account in the agency's system.

Newly Redesigned Create Account Page

This example illustrates the Manage Account page after an account has been created, featuring the enhanced UI.

Newly Redesigned Manage Account Page

Streamlined drawers open from the main pages for easy data entry. This example illustrates the drawer used to enter a new contact associated with an account.

Adding a New Contact from the Newly Designed Manage Account Page

The new page offers fewer clicks and better performance. By using these new pages, you can take advantage of the cohesiveness through the application.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Permits  No Longer Optional From: Update 25A

Tips And Considerations

By default, the Redwood Experience for User Registration and Account Management is enabled in Functional Setup Manager. Therefore, any new public user who wishes to register or goes to manage their account, will see the new enhanced experience. Should you wish to revert back to the original classic pages you can do this through Functional Setup Manager.

1. Navigate to Setup and Maintenance.
2. Select Setup: Public Sector Code Enforcement.
3. Click on Change Feature Opt In.
4. Select Features in the System Administration row. Only one of these should be selected.
5. Enable the Classical Flow for Registration and User Account Management.

In 24A the Redwood Experience User Registration page does not support collecting the address at the time of registration. Public users can update their address through "Manage Account" (after they have registered) or when they apply for a permit, planning application, or business license and save the intake application.

The following modifications have been made to the Manage Account page:

• Business Type field has been removed. This is now captured in the Business Entity.
• License section has been removed with the introduction of Contractor Registration in 23C.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, Managing Public Users on the Oracle Help Center.

Permits and Inspections

Assign Inspectors Without Start Time

Agencies can now be more generic and set appropriate expectations for inspection scheduling by only allowing date and no time selection. For example, depending on the agency's inspections setup for permits and business licenses, applicants may only be able to request an inspection date or see a date-only in the inspection display.

Agencies have the added flexibility of configuring the inspection request for a date only, specific time, or time range, based each inspection scheduling method. The arrival time displayed for the inspection can also be configured to show a date only, specific time, or time range. Possible combinations of assignment method, time entry method, and arrival display are described in the key resources.

This example illustrates the setup options for time entry method, assignment method, and arrival display.

Agency Information - Permit Options Page, Scheduling Method Options Section

Agencies can also configure their system so that inspectors can have a maximum number of inspections assigned to them for the day without specific inspection times. When inspection assignment is based on a count, the time entry method and arrival time can be a date only. A time range or specific time won't show up for inspections using a count assignment method. For inspections not tallied using a count, agencies can still use the duration assignment method along with a time range or specific time for requesting and displaying the inspection.

This example illustrates inspection assignment by count on the Scheduling page. Only a date and count of assigned inspections for the day appear for an inspector to show availability.

Inspections - Scheduling Page

Allows agency to be more generic and set appropriate expectations.

Steps to Enable

Review and update agency options for scheduling methods to select the corresponding options for time entry, assignment and inspector arrival.

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Your Agency > Features tab.

2. Select "Options" in the Permits row.

3. Scroll to Schedule Method Options.

4. Select the corresponding options for time entry, assignment, and inspector arrival.

5. If you choose to have a maximum number of inspections assigned to an inspector, select "Count" for the Assignment Method. Note that you then must use "Date Only" for the Time Entry Method.

If you use the "Count" Assignment Method, the default inspection count is set to 20. To update this value, navigate to Common Setup > Your Agency > Agency Information. In the Inspection section, you can update the Inspection Count Limit.

Tips And Considerations

If your agency breaks the day into two time ranges and allows inspections to be requested for one of these two time ranges, inspectors are assigned to a specific time and the agency has the option to display the Arrival Display (inspector arrival) as a specific time or a time range in the Scheduling Method Options setup.

NOTE: Customers should review the agency options post upgrade.

Business License setup is not being upgraded. If you have used time range for your Business License the configuration will need to be repeated at the agency level.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Working with Permit Inspections," various topics on the Oracle Help Center including these:
  • Managing Inspections for a Permit
  • Requesting Inspections
  • Assigning Inspections

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing,"Setting Up Business Licenses," Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Business Licenses on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Permits," Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Permits; "Setting Up Inspections" on the Oracle Help Center.

Inspection Sequences and Dependencies for Inspection Visibility

In addition to displaying inspections that have prerequisites, the View Dependencies diagram page now also displays required inspection types for a permit. The diagram includes these updates:

• Any inspection marked as required in the inspection group is displayed with an arrow pointing to the inspection group's final inspection.

• Inspection status information is available in each node to identify whether an inspection has been created yet or not and whether an inspection is a required inspection or a prerequisite inspection.

The nodes may appear in different colors depending on the stage in the process of completing inspections for their application. Some colors indicate inspection status (for example, white is requested or no inspection, yellow is pending, and blue is scheduled), whereas others indicate inspection result (for example, green is passed or corrected and red is failed).

This example illustrates all of the required and prerequisite inspections for a group of linked permits on the View Dependencies page with the inspection status information highlighted. The blue inspections have been scheduled.

View Dependencies Page

When primary and subapplications are linked together, the Inspections list page in the permit details displays inspections for all linked permits. You can turn on the new This Permit switch to view only the inspections for the current permit in the list and filter out inspections for the other permits.

Inspections Page in a Permit's Details

This further enhances an agency's ability to view and filter the inspection dependencies, including filtering out linked permit inspections, viewing current statuses of required inspections, and colorization of inspection nodes in the View Dependencies diagram to represent statuses or results.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

The View Dependencies link on the Inspections list page used to open the diagram view of prerequisite and required inspections is only available when permits are linked together in primary/subapplication relationships.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Permits, "Working with Permit Inspections," Working with Inspection Dependencies and Managing Inspections for a Permit on the Oracle Help Center.

Planning and Zoning

Update Conditions of Approval and Schedule Meetings with Elevated Access

Agencies can now create and assign their staff with a role that allows them to manage meetings and conditions of approval that can be applied to unassigned or planner-assigned planning applications.

Agency staff with such an elevated access role assignment can perform the following actions on conditions of approval:

• Add new
• Update, resolve, and delete existing
• Reorder
• Add comments and attachments

They can perform the following actions while scheduling meetings:

• Schedule
• Reschedule
• Comment
• Cancel

Planning staff with elevated access can now update the Conditions of Approval and schedule meetings for planning applications that are not assigned to them.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

For information about agency staff elevated access, see Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, Tracking Planning Application Activities, Security Details for Tracking Planning Application Activities.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency, “Setting Up Your Agency Staff” Managing Agency Staff Profiles on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, Tracking Planning Application Activities, Security Details for Tracking Planning Application Activities on the Oracle Help Center.

Schedule Multiple Hearings of the Same Type

Agency staff can now repeatedly schedule hearings of the same type for a planning application.

When an agency staff schedules a hearing for an application which already has an active hearing, the system now allows to either schedule a new one and cancel the active hearing, or keep the active hearing. So, even though the agency staff can schedule multiple hearings, only one hearing will be active at any given point in time.

In addition, the Planning and Zoning Options page has a new switch to control whether the public users can submit a hearing appeal or not. By default, the 'Allow public users to submit appeal for themselves' switch is turned on.

This example illustrates the the Planning and Zoning agency options page with the 'Allow public users to submit appeal for themselves' switch turned on.

Planning and Zoning Options Page

Agency staff can schedule multiple hearings of the same type.  Only one active hearing is permitted for the same application at any particular moment.

In addition, a new configuration option is added to allow or prevent public users from submitting a hearing appeal.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Agency > Features tab. Select the Planning and Zoning options link. 
2.  Under the Decisions and Hearing section, enable the 'Allow public users to submit appeal for themselves' switch.
3. To set up Decision making bodies navigate to Hearing Setup > Hearing body > Planning Applications > Add.
4. To set up the appeal hierarchy, select the hearing body that is set as first hearing body.
5. Click Add an Appeal Body with the relevant sequence number.

Appeal Body

On the Planning and Zoning Transaction page, Agency staff can schedule multiple hearings of the same type.  Only one active hearing is permitted for the same application at any particular moment.

Tips And Considerations

Agency can update the public users appeal option on the Planning and Zoning Agency Options page, under a new section named "Decisions and Hearing".  By default, the option is turned on allowing public users to submit a hearing appeal.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, "Working with Public Hearings", Using the Hearing Scheduler Page on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Planning Applications", Configuring Decisions and Hearing on the Oracle Help Center.

Define Custom Activities at Runtime

Assigned planners can now add ad hoc activities and set their own due dates on the Activity Tracking tab and the Planner Worklist. Agency staff with elevated access can update the activity status on the Activity Tracking tab and the Planner Worklist, but they can't add an activity on the Planner Worklist. If an activity is added by mistake, simply set the status to Canceled.

This new configuration to allow agency staff to define custom planning activities that can be added at runtime, without being dependent on the product triggers.

Steps to Enable

You must configure custom activities to use during runtime. Navigate to Common Setup > Activity to add new custom activities.

Tips And Considerations

When user with the privilege to add custom activities clicks the 'Add' button to add custom activity, it will present a modal window to choose activities already associated with the Activity Group linked to planning application. If you want to choose other activities in the system, choose the 'Show All' toggle button which will show all activities currently enabled in the system.

Creating custom activities in Planning Application is enabled only for the Planner of the planning application and users with elevated access. For all other agency staff users, the Add new activity button will not show on the page.

For information about agency staff elevated access, see Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, Tracking Planning Application Activities, Security Details for Tracking Planning Application Activities.

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, "Tracking Planning Application Activities," Overview of Activity Tracking for Planning Applications on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Community Development Planning and Zoning, Tracking Planning Application Activities, Security Details for Tracking Planning Application Activities on the Oracle Help Center.

Hearing Notification Attributes

Numerous fields for attributes, such as address, hearing body, hearing schedule and appeal details, are accessible and can be utilized by the agency to create a comprehensive hearing notification report.

Numerous fields are accessible and can be utilized by the agency to create a comprehensive hearing notification report.

Steps to Enable

You can send the hearing timeline report as an attachment.

To enable:

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Report Configuration.
2. Add a new report, HearingTimelineReport, on the Report Configuration page.
3. Navigate to Common Setup > Business Rules Framework.
4. Select Planning and Zoning.
5. Select the Business Rules Framework event you want and create a new rule.
6. Add an Action and select Generate Report.
7. Add another Action and select Send Communication.
8. Navigate to Communication Setup > Communication Events.
9. Update the event and add the details (email, attachment).

In a planning and zoning application when the action you set up is performed, the event you configured in Business Rules Framework and the associated communication event will trigger communications and an email should be sent to the recipient along with the report.

Tips And Considerations

A sample hearing notification report is delivered as part of this feature.

• Any event can be configured in Business Rules Framework for Planning and Zoning

• Any Planning and Zoning hearing communication event can be configured to trigger the communication and attach the report as per the requirement.

• The generated report which will be sent to the email as an attachment will have the information on the hearing timeline of the events.

See the "Business Rules Framework Generate Report Action" feature in the Permitting and Licensing Common section of this document for more information about using Business Rules Framework to send and attach the report.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency, "Oracle Permitting and Licensing Analytics" on the Oracle Help Center.

• See the "Business Rules Framework Generate Report Action" feature in the Permitting and Licensing Common section of this document.

Legacy Data Migration of Planning Objects

You can migrate your legacy data for planning applications, permits, code enforcement, and now business licenses to Permitting and Licensing using Import Management. Import Management improves definition, error handling, and performance for importing flat files (.CSV). For example, Import Management has drag and drop mapping capabilities and validates the first ten records in your data file before you import to ensure the data meets the import constraints of the various attributes. It also provides error files and diagnostic logs for analyzing unsuccessful imports.

These are the objects delivered in this release:

• Planning Zoning Hearing 
• Planning Zoning Hearing Sequence 
• Planning Zoning Hearing Event 
• Planning Zoning Hearing Appeal 
• Planning Zoning Hearing Appeal Fee 
• Planning Zoning Hearing Appeal Attachment 

This extends the legacy data migration tool to support business license objects and related information.

This feature extends existing legacy data migration to Planning and Zoning Hearing and Hearing Appeal objects.

Steps to Enable

You will need to complete the setup and configuration outlined in the technical brief "Migrating Data Using Import Management" Doc ID: 2808116.1 on My Oracle Support.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, “Migrating Legacy Data,” Migrating Data Using Import Management on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Migrating Data to Permitting and Licensing Using Import Management (Doc ID: 2808116.1) on My Oracle Support.

Code Enforcement

Case Creation Without Notice of Violation

Agencies can now create a case without automatically generating a notice of violation.

On the Notice and Report Group Details page, turn off the Create system notice on case creation switch. Using this feature, agencies can set up issue subtypes, where a case creation will not default to a notice of violation. This feature provides agencies with the flexibility and discretion to decide when a notice of violation should be generated.

This example illustrates the Notice and Report Group Details page where the Create system notice on case creation switch is turned off.

Notice and Report Group Details Page

Agency has the option to create a case without automatically generating a notice of violation. This provides staff more flexibility and discretion to decide when a notice of violation should be generated.

Steps to Enable

Disable the "Create system notice on case creation" flag at the notice group level to stop creating system notice when a case is created:

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Notice and Report Groups.
2. Disable the Create System Notice on Case Creation switch.

When the switch is DISABLED there will not be a system notice created when the case is created. The notice count will not change. The notice sequence for the status should not impact the switch.

When the switch is ENABLED a notice is generated when a case is created and the notice count will increase. The system notice will follow the sequence and status based on configuration.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Planning Applications", Setting Up Notice and Report Groups on the Oracle Help Center.

Redwood Experience for Code Enforcement

Redwood Experience for Code Enforcement Resolve an Issue

Enhance your user experience with the Resolve an Issue flow developed using the Visual Builder Studio (VBS).

We have enhanced the usability of the Code Enforcement flows for your public users.

My Cases Page

Public users can select their case to see make a payment or decide what actions are needed to resolve the case. Additionally, they can use the Appeal button to request an appear for the case.

Case Page

Using the Corrective Actions button, public users can view the actions they need to take to correct the case.

Public users can also upload attachments, such as photos.

Add Attachments

By selecting the I've resolved this link, public users can enter their justification for the resolution and request an inspection from the agency.

Resolve an Issue

They can now see that their case is ready for an inspection on their Case page.

Case Page

You can now deliver an enhanced user experience for your public users when resolving cases in Code Enforcement.

Steps to Enable

Use the Opt In UI to enable this feature. For instructions, refer to the Optional Uptake of New Features section of this document.

Offering: Code Enforcement  No Longer Optional From: Update 25A

The "Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User" feature is not enabled by default in 24A. You must use Functional Setup Manager to enable the Next Generation Flow for Public Users to use the new enhanced flow.

1. Navigate to Functional Setup Manager (Setup and Maintenance).
2. Select the Code Enforcement offering and click on "Change Feature Opt-in".
3. Click on the "Features" link next to Public Sector Code Enforcement.
4. Click on Enable (pencil icon) next to "Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User".
5. Review the feature options and enable "Resolve an Issue" .
6. Click Save and Close.

Next Generation Opt-In

To revert back to the Classic flow for Code Enforcement, you need to disable the Next Generation flow and enable the Classic flow.

1. Navigate to Functional Setup Manager (Setup and Maintenance).
2. Select the Code Enforcement offering and click on "Change Feature Opt-in".
3. Click on the Enable (pencil icon) link next to Public Sector Code Enforcement.
4. Click on the "Features" link next to Public Sector Code Enforcement.
5. Click on the Enable (pencil icon) link next to "Enable Next Generation Flor for Public User".
6. Review the feature options, and clear the Resolve an Issue checkbox.
7. Click Save and Close.
8. Click on the "Features" link next Public Sector Code Enforcement.
9. Click on the Enable (pencil icon) link next to "Enable Classical Flow for Public User" feature.
10. Review the feature options, and select "Resolve an Issue".

Classic Flow Opt-In

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Code Enforcement, Code Enforcement Activity for Public Users, "Resolving Issues" on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Using Functional Setup Manager on the Oracle Help Center.

Redwood Experience for Code Enforcement Payments

Enhance your user experience for public users with the Pay Citation pages developed using the Visual Builder Studio (VBS).

When the public user is ready to pay for their citations, they can click on the Make Payment button from their case details page.

The Code Enforcement Payments page allows the user to add their Case ID or Citation number as shown below.

Code Enforcement Payment Page

Once the case ID or Citation number is submitted, public users can choose their payment method to complete the transaction.

Choose Payment Method Page

This new interface gives the Code Enforcement public users an easy and clean flow to pay for their citations.

Steps to Enable

The "Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User" feature is not enabled by default in 24A. You must use Functional Setup Manager to enable the 'Next Generation Flow for Public Users' to use the new enhanced flow for Code Enforcement Payments.

1. Navigate to Functional Setup Manager (Setup and Maintenance). 
2. Select the Code Enforcement offering and click on "Change Feature Opt-in".
3. Click on the "Features" link next to Public Sector Code Enforcement.
4. Click on Enable (pencil icon) next to "Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User".
5. Review the feature options and enable "CE Payments" .
6. Click Save and Close.

Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User

To revert back to the Classic flow for Code Enforcement, you need to disable the Next Generation flow and enable the Classical flow.

1. Navigate to Functional Setup Manager (Setup and Maintenance).
2. Select the Code Enforcement offering and click on "Change Feature Opt-in".
3. Click on Enable (pencil icon) next to "Enable Next Generation Flow for Public User".
4. Review the feature options, and clear the CE Payments checkbox.
5. Click Save and Close.
6. Click on the "Features" link next Public Sector Code Enforcement.
7. Click on the Enable (pencil icon) link next to "Enable Classical Flow for Public User" feature.
8. Review the feature options, and select "CE Payments".

Classic Flow for Public User

Key Resources

• See Using Community Development Code Enforcement, Code Enforcement Activities for Public Users, "Making Code Enforcement Payments" on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Using Functional Setup Manager on the Oracle Help Center.

Business Licensing

Business Information Associated with Payment View for Custom BIP Reports

Business information is associated with payment and check out lines for use in custom reports.

The association of business information with each payment allows agencies to create custom BIP reports for complete payment history.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Tips And Considerations

Business information on the business license is associated with payment and checkout lines for reporting purposes. You can track the business information associated with a business license for each payment. This information is stored on the payment history line table but not exposed to any user on any delivered user interface, BIP report, or notification. You can pull this information from the payment table and display it on a BIP report.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency, "Setting Up Analytics," Setting Up Reports on the Oracle Help Center.

Reactivate Business License with Amendment Approval

Business owners can now apply for their license reactivation by submitting an amendment application.

Agency staff reviews the request and approves the amendment after accepting the applicant’s proposed effective date, or by overriding it with a new approved effective date to reactivate the license.

This example illustrates the Amend action that is used to reactivate an inactive license on the business licenses list page:

Business Licenses Page

Once the amendment application for reactivation is approved, the inactive business and the location associated with the license will also be reactivated.

Save applicant time by allowing them to request reactivation of a license on amendment instead of starting a new application.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Lookups and add additional values for ORA_PSC_BL_AMENDMENT_TYPE as required. One value, "Change license information", is delivered but you can add your own as well.

2. In the intake form designer, add the Amendment Information field group to your Business License type.

3. Mark this field group for 'Amendment' only.

4. If you add the Proposed Effective Date field separately to the intake form (not a part of the Amendment Information field group), it should be marked to display on Origination and not on Amendment.

Tips And Considerations

If the inactive Business License being amended is associated to inactive Business Entity and Location, then on Business License amendment approval, the respective Business Entity and Location are also reactivated.

Key Resources

• See Using Business Licenses, "Managing the Business License," Inactivating Business Licenses, Applying for a Business License Amendment on the Oracle Help Center.

Applicant Photo on License Certificate

Agencies can now configure the Business License certificate to include the profile picture of the applicant.

Business License Certificate

Allows agency to issue the Business License Certificates with applicant images.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature you need to set up a new document category and add the attachment to the Business License Transaction Attachment tab.

Set up a New Document Category

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Document Category.
2.  Click Add to add new category BL_PROFILE_PICTURE.
3. Add a Document Subcategory BL_LICENSEE_IMAGE.

Document Category Details Page

Set up Report Configuration

To use this delivered report when clicking ‘Print Certificate’ in BL, you need to update Report configuration to point the new report.

To set up report configuration:

1. Navigate to Common Setup > Report Configuration.
2. Open the 'BusinessLicenseCertificate' report ID.
3. Update the page to /shared/Public Sector/Business License/ BusinessLicenseDetailedCertificate.xdo
4. Click Save.
5. Alternatively, you can create a new Report ID under Report Configuration for the new report with the path: /shared/Public Sector/Business License/BusinessLicenseDetailedCertificate.xdo and the following parameters for the Report ID.

6. Associate the new Report ID to the Business License Type as detailed in the Oracle Help Center, Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Business Licenses", Associating a Business License Certificate.

Add Attachment to Business License Transaction Tab

To add the attachment to the Business License Transaction Attachment tab:

1. Navigate to Business Licenses > Business License Transactions.
2. Select the business License.
3. Open the License Information tab.
4. Select Attachments.
5. Add an attachment with the Category "BL_PROFILE_PICTURE" and subcategory "BL_LICENSEE_IMAGE"
6. Once the Business License is granted, select Actions > View Certificate to print the Business License.

Tips And Considerations

Agencies must configure an attachment category and sub-category to fetch profile picture from the attachment tab. Oracle has delivered a sample report for agencies to use. However, you can choose to use a different category/subcategory and customize your report to ensure it's fetching the right attachment.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Your Agency, "Setting Up Documents," Setting Up Document Categories and Subcategories on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Business Licenses", Associating a Business License Certificate on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Using Business Licenses, "Managing the Business License", Viewing the Business License on the Oracle Help Center.

Allow Agency Staff to Add New Business Owner

Authorized agency users can add owners on the Business License page by selecting the Owners tab. Select the Add button to add a new owner.

Add Owner

Once saved, the new owner appears on the Business License page.

Agencies can add an owner on the business license owner grid instead of having to navigate to the business pages.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Key Resources

• See Using Business Licenses, Managing the Business License on the Oracle Help Center.

Aggregated Attachments for Business

This provides a centralized location for agency staff to view and manage attachments related to business licenses, location, or entity for a business. A separate tab for business related attachments and a tab for license attachments are available.

Attachments Tab, Business License Activity

This gives the agency a centralized list to view and manage attachments for a business.

Steps to Enable

You don't need to do anything to enable this feature.

Key Resources

• See Using Business Licenses, "Managing the Business License," Overview of Business Licenses on the Oracle Help Center.

Access Requirements

Only system administrators, Business License Specialists, and Business License Specialist Managers can utilize this feature.

Renew and Pay for Multiple Business Licenses

If your license types and agency is configured for multiple application selection, businesses can renew and pay for all of their licenses at one time and can initiate the renewal and payment from the Business Location page.

Simplify renewal for multiple licenses with one intake.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. Create a Business License Type with a subclassification of "General Information".
2. Enable the Multiple Application Selection option from Agency > Features > Business License Options page.
3. Select the "General Information Type" previously created.

Business License Options

Tips And Considerations

• The General Information license type must include Applicant, Business Details, Business Location, Business Owners, and Contact Details.
• The Terms and Conditions is optional and should only be used if all Business License Types are using the same Terms and Conditions.
• All Business License Types should also include Applicant, Business Details, Business Location, Business Owners, and Contact Details.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Creating Intake Forms," Creating General Information Forms for Business Licenses on the Oracle Help Center.

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, "Setting Up Business Licenses," Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Business Licenses on the Oracle Help Center.

Future Activation Date for Business License Application

Applicants can now submit their origination or amendment license applications for a future date that they have identified to begin operations.

When the agency processes the workflow, the license authorization process uses the agency-approved date as the date for starting business operations. The assigned agency staff can change the approved date any time before authorizing the license.

This example illustrates the specialist’s view of the Application Details page in the business license amendment application. The Proposed Effective Date field shows the date entered by the applicant and the Approved Effective Date field allows the specialist to select a date that the business can start their operations. The date can be changed any time before issuing the license.

Application Details Page

Allows applicant and agency to process application irrespective of start of business operation or change, since the issued certificate can reflect the approved date.

Steps to Enable

To enable this feature:

1. From the intake form designer for your business license, add the Proposed Effective Date (field), Approved Effective Date (field), and the Amendment Information (field group) to the layout.

2. Mark each group box containing these fields as either "Origination" and/or "Amendment".

Tips And Considerations

• The Proposed Effective Date and Approved Effective Date fields should be contained in separate group boxes.

• The Proposed Effective Date should be marked only for Origination.

• The Approved Effective Date can be marked for both Origination and Amendment.  It should also be marked as "Hide from public user" so that only the agency can update this field.

• The Amendment Information field group should be marked only for Amendment.

Key Resources

• See Using Business Licenses, "Managing the Business License," Inactivating Business Licenses, Applying for a Business License Amendment on the Oracle Help Center.

Legacy Data Migration of Business License Tax Details

You can migrate your legacy data for planning applications, permits, code enforcement, and now business licenses to Permitting and Licensing using Import Management. Import Management improves definition, error handling, and performance for importing flat files (.CSV). For example, Import Management has drag and drop mapping capabilities and validates the first ten records in your data file before you import to ensure the data meets the import constraints of the various attributes. It also provides error files and diagnostic logs for analyzing unsuccessful imports.

These are the objects delivered in this release:

• Business License Tax Detail 
• Business License NAICS
• Business License Inactivate 

This extends the legacy data migration tool to support business license objects and related information.

This feature extends existing legacy data migration to business license objects.

Steps to Enable

You will need to complete the setup and configuration outlined in the technical brief "Migrating Data Using Import Management" Doc ID: 2808116.1 on My Oracle Support.

See Key Resources.

Key Resources

• See Implementing Permitting and Licensing, “Migrating Legacy Data,” Migrating Data Using Import Management on the Oracle Help Center.
• See Migrating Data to Permitting and Licensing Using Import Management (Doc ID: 2808116.1) on My Oracle Support.

IMPORTANT Actions and Considerations

Upgrade Actions

With every upgrade, make sure to complete the following steps in the Initial Set Up functional area in Functional Setup Manager. This process ensures all new security definitions, such as job roles, duty roles, privileges, and so on, are included in your implementation.

• Run Public Sector Security Setup Process
• Manage Custom Roles

Redwood Experience

Over the course of the next several updates, Oracle Permitting and Licensing will be transitioning to a new enhanced user experience built with the Visual Builder Studio (VBS) and the Redwood toolset. Functionality will remain the same or be enhanced, though the new experience may change how users complete certain functions.

Overall, many of the Redwood Experience updates will be delivered as opt-in features, meaning you will have the choice to continue using the classic version or uptake the equivalent new Redwood Experience pages in the first release in which they are delivered. This gives you time to plan for and test the new pages before you use them. In the next release, the classic pages will be removed and the equivalent new Redwood Experience pages must be used. By exception, there may be cases where the classic pages remain available for more than one release. Users can interact with a combination of classic and Redwood pages. While the visual design of the pages may differ, they will continue to function as one seamless system.

Our goal is a cohesive and streamlined all-Redwood Experience. This aligns with the transition underway for all Oracle Fusion Cloud applications. Additionally, with an application built entirely using Visual Builder Studio (VBS) you will have the ability to customize and enhance what we deliver, or create new capabilities using the same toolset. You can find information regarding Visual Builder Studio on the Oracle Help Center.

REST Backward Compatibility

Public Sector Permitting and Licensing updates REST APIs from release to release. Our goal is to not create APIS that are incompatible from one release to the next. However, due to circumstances and security impacts this may not be feasible.

For the most current information, see My Oracle Support Document ID: 2853758.1.

Documentation for all REST APIs included in Public Sector Permitting and Licensing can be found on the Oracle Help Center.

Common Technologies and User Experience

For information regarding common technologies such as OTBI and Visual Builder Studio, see Common Technologies and User Experience.