Permits/Projects
What are the permit types typically referred to as the “Trade Permits”?
Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing
What is a code enforcement?
A way to maintain a set of rules, principles, or laws that a municipality has established.
Sometimes a muni is looking to track a new record type and they aren't sure whether it should be a permit or certificate. What is the one main detail that would determine if a cert would be the better option?
If the record is going to roll over year over year with new fees being added, then it should be a certificate so it can be renewed en masse.
If this is needed and it was created as a permit instead, then they would need to manually go through and create new permits/add new fees.
What are PZE processes used to track?
They are used to track the planning, zoning and engineering processes that take place prior to permits being applied for. This is the stage where construction documents are reviewed and go through revisions to make sure the plans are correct so they can pull permits to start the work.
What records can be applied for/scheduled online?
Permits, PZE Processes, and Inspections
Which record types CANNOT be linked to a Project via requirements?
Certificates, Inspections Groups, and Code Enforcements.
Can enforcements have custom statuses?
Yes, statuses are customizable for enforcements.
On a certificate there are Actual Units and Billing Units. What is a scenario where these numbers would be different?
On things like a Duplex where the owner lives in one of the units, meaning that one would not be considered a "Billable Unit."
What is the difference between a process step and a review?
A process step is the record type that houses the review(s). The process step would be where you track the documents being reviewed and the reviews get added to the step.
What is a Contractor Web Pin used for?
This is one of the methods to link a Contractor record in BD.NET to a BSAOnline user name.
What does the permit attribute “Hold for Fees” do?
This attribute has 2 functions.
1) will require an invoice (will appear as HOLD FOR INVOICE).
2) once an invoice is present it will require the balance due to be paid in full before it's issued.
Do quick code violations have separate numbering format than a regular code enforcement?
No, they are the same.
What determines which inspections are created during the mass renewal?
Whatever is mapped to the Initial Inspections setup. These inspections are then optionally created during the renewal process?
Can PZE processes have custom statuses?
Yes, PZE is allowed to have custom statuses.
What is one possible reason a contractor would hit an error when trying to schedule an inspection that says they “don’t have permissions to schedule on this record”?
1) they are not signed into BSAO
2) they are signed in, but their BSAO account is not linked to a contractor record
3) they are signed in and linked to a contractor record, but that contractor record is not associated with the given permit
Explain what a Project Requirement set as Blocking means?
That given requirement must be completed before any subsequent requirements are completed.
What is the purpose of the Date Last Action/ Date Next Action fields?
Trick question: these no longer really serve a purpose for most muni's. These were once used to track the next/last inspections, but there are now standalone fields which do this automatically.
Explain a major roadblock with scheduling inspections during the mass renewal process (and this is the reason why most muni’s don’t use this option).
This process will create ALL of the given inspections for the same given day/time. For rental certs, if inspections are required, they typically happen once every few years, and thus not all certs will require an inspection in the same year. Because of this, most muni's will manually schedule inspections when needed.
What does it mean if a Process Step shows as “Revision 3”?
There has been 4 previous 'versions' of the given step: Original Submittal, Revision 1, Revision 2, and now Revision 3.
Can inspections be scheduled online for other record types, or only permits?
All record types can be setup to have their inspections scheduled online.
A project cannot manually be changed to Finished status; why?
A project will only switch to Finished when all of the given requirements are fulfilled. To do this manually, those open requirements would need to be fulfilled/finished, or deleted.
Explain when quick violations would be more useful than adding a regular code enforcement.
Quick violations allow for fast data entry for "common" enforcements. They allow the enforcement, inspection, and violation to all be entered at once as opposed to being done individually.
What does the setting on the certificate type setup “Allow Conditional Certification” mean?
The "Allow Conditional Certification" field makes it possible for each Certificate to be issued despite the existence of uncorrected violations.
Where is a “Meeting” tracked on PZE?
This can be tracked on any Step. Under The Process Step setup there is an option to "Show Meeting Details." This adds a tab to the Step with things like Meeting Type, Meeting Date, and a Meeting Summary section.
What are the most reasons you can name that a Contractor would not have a licensee to select when applying for a permit online?
The bsao user is linked to a contractor that does not hold an active licensee for the exact permit type being applied for online
If they are using parent permit types in your permit type setup, they may be configured incorrectly.
If certain licensee types have been selected for licensee type override on a permit type in your setup, it might be excluding the licensee type they hold.