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Accela 101 Basics Training – New Series Beginning Soon

Our Accela 101 Basics Training will be starting a new 3-part series. Each weekly training session will be offered to assist agencies who have lost their in-house experts/trainers or are needing a refresher of the basics. We have a lot of agencies that have lost their experts or are dealing with recent or high turnover, so training to ‘hit the ground running’ is now being offered. Submit a ticket to the Kayako helpdesk to request information on the current training schedule and availability. We plan to provide training every week on Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

Recordings of these trainings can be viewed on the ePermitting YouTube channel.

ACCELA 101 Training Series - Overview

Accela 101 is for beginner’s primarily and provides training on all the global functionality needed to process records and work in any module.  Existing users are also welcome to attend to refresh or brush up – there is always something new to learn in each session!

It is a 3-part series that takes 3 weeks to complete, then repeats again.  The invite is an open invite, we do not keep attendance or have expectations of who is attending.  The series will repeat for approximately 4-6 months, take a pause, then begin again – notification is provided when a pause period is nearing.

The trainer is open for questions at any point, in any of the trainings.  We do try to stay away from agency-specific process discussions unless they will benefit all the attendees, all agencies.  If there are more specific or more involved Accela or process issues within an agency, additional focus training can be requested - these might include Planning, Public Works, or Code Enforcement – as well as specific topics like Advanced Financial.

PART ONE

First part is an introduction to the Accela look and feel, how to set your Launchpad, how to customize your home page and My Tasks.  We go over the Dashboard versus My Tasks page, pros and cons for each.  We go over Global Search versus Record List Search, differences and how to search successfully and smart with a lot of tips and tricks provided.  We also go over reference data versus transactional data.  We pretty much touch on everything you can actively see when you log in – all icons and pages.

  • Home view – setting up Launchpad, favoriting pages, setting a custom home page.
  • Global Search and Record list search – what the differences are, how to search smart and successfully in each, searching tips and tricks.
  • Dashboard versus My Tasks page – pros and cons for each, recommended Filters and other available Filters.
  • Reference data and Transactional data – what the differences are, demonstration of key differences in searching in Reference versus Record List (Transactional) for an address.

PART TWO

Second part is where we create an application and talk extensively about all of the app requirements, what fields are included and what they are all for (in terms of reports, code requirements, etc).  We then go over fees, automation, and payments – all the best practices, how to add/delete/void.  We start the beginning of Workflow – Application Intake thru Ready for Plan Review, and parallel  tasks, talking about various business cases (ex. When they don’t meet intake requirements, etc). Assignment of Workflow tasks and how to view those assignments thereafter thru My Tasks page. We cover the plan review task results and what they do in general terms (we do not jump very deep into handling Revisions as this is a more intermediate function, but do touch on it).

  • Create a new application (Residential Structural) – discuss app requirements (who/what/where), required fields, searching of reference to populate app, what fields are included and why (reports, code requirements, etc.)
  • Fees, fee automation, and Payment – how to add/edit fees, fee status (delete vs void), payment best practices, how to add a Contact/Bill To Payor, when to invoice (touch on credit card processing fee consideration when invoicing), Documents – what auto-saves/how to reprint.
  • Workflow/Intake – walk-through Application Intake task, how to handle when intake requirements aren’t met (use of Workflow Email Notification to ask for Addl Info Needed, then Addl Info Received), make Ready for Plan Review/parallel tasks for review (how to use Task Activation if needed to adjust reviews), assigning Workflow tasks – the tracking benefits (assign a review to the PM, demonstration use of My Tasks to manage assigned work.)
  • Workflow/Plan Review – define each plan review task result and what it will do, demonstrate Addl Info Needed from plan review and how to Addl Info Received (ACA Alert vs OTC), high-level how to for handling Revisions pre-issuance and post-issuance.

PART THREE

Third part is a continuation of Workflow – thru plan review, discussion of all the uses of Workflow Email Notification and Task Specific Info (TSI) on each task, Completeness responsibilities, and Issuance checks and requirements.  We cover how to schedule inspections in the back office and touch on all the ways customers can schedule and how the agency can view/manage scheduled inspections thru My Tasks page.  We then return to Workflow and issue C of O – we discuss the Valuation Calculator tab being required for the C of O report.

  • Workflow/Plan Review to Completeness – plan review sign-off to Completeness task, what Completeness is for and how to track it through My Tasks page, what is required to be done at Completeness to move to Ready to Issue (plans prep, review of fees, Valuation Calculator tab – when it is required, Fee Calc Factor, plans pick-up, use of Workflow Email Notification.)
  • Workflow/Ready to Issue to Permit Issuance - how to track Ready to Issue through My Tasks page, Payment and ACA Alerts, scripting checks for required data at issuance, Permit Issuance, what is included on the Permit, how to ‘fix’ a Permit that has errors/missing info.
  • Inspection Process task/Inspections – what the Inspection Process task is for, how to schedule inspections in the back office (minimum requirements, request comment and details, scheduling overwrite of calendars in back office), how to manage Inspections in the My Task page, how to Transfer inspections, when/what to use Reschedule for inspections (edit details, change schedule date, update/add request comment, assignment), how Inspection Group is specific to Record Type, Inspection Scheduling rules (same-day cutoff, Look Ahead Days, Calendar restrictions), Inspection Process Complete status result and Final Inspection requirement, Final Inspection housekeeping for auto-close where available.
  • Certificate of Occupancy – what is required, Valuation Calculator, when it is required, how to generate/re-generate, finaling records, tracking finaled records.
  • Reports – touch on key reports.