13Managing Contractor Information

Contractor License Overview

Permit and planning applications can include information about the contractors who perform the work. Agency contractor records help you validate whether contractors have licenses that are active and in good standing.

Contractor Licenses

Contractor information is stored and maintained in your main contractor records, where agency staff manually adds or loads licenses from an external source. Additionally, applicants who are contractors or system administrators can supply contractor information in permit and planning applications. If an application includes a license number that doesn’t yet exist in your main records, submitting the application creates a new contractor record.

If you implement contractor integration, you can validate license information against your state or other external licensing body using the integration capabilities of Oracle Autonomous Integration Cloud (OIC).

Regardless of whether you integrate with an external licensing body, your contractor records include the same type of information. However, integration affects how you view and manage certain information. The following table describes how you manage information using only contractor records maintained by the agency or using an integration to validate and add licenses to your contractor records.

Information Type	Contractor List Only	Contractor List and External Source
All	Note: The agency limits the contractor selection to the agency-maintained contractor list. The agency allows applicants to select contractor licenses from the agency-maintained contractor records list only. In this case, applicants can enter or look up licenses from the contractor records only and not from the external licensing body. Agency staff with appropriate permissions manually enter or update license information in the contractor list. Contractor records can also be loaded from an external source, but license selection in the application is still limited to licenses in the list. Applicants who are contractors or their authorized agents can enter or look up their license to retrieve information from the contractor list, but can't manually enter their license information. Applicants who are not contractors or authorized agents, such as homeowners, can optionally enter or look up licenses to retrieve information from the contractor records about the license and contractor. The same is true for agency staff who are applying on behalf of this type of applicant. License information can be retrieved by looking up the license number, business name, or owner name.	Note: The agency doesn't limit the contractor selection to the agency's contractor list. The agency allows applicants to select contractor licenses from the contractor records list or an integrated external source. The validation process checks your contractor records first, and if you don’t yet have a record of the license, the process gets information from the licensing body. Agency staff perform a real-time license number validation that retrieves license details from the licensing body. For most users, the license detail fields are read-only, and re-validation is the only way to update the information. However, system administrators are able to modify contractor information. Applicants who enter a license number in an application can use the same validation process. Applicants who self-identify as contractors must supply at least one license number. They can retrieve license details because an integration is available but can’t manually enter data other than the license number. Other applicants aren't expected to know the license number. They can enter license numbers to retrieve information license details from the licensing body, but they can also leave the license number blank. They can’t manually enter or update data.
License status	Agency staff uses the Status field to indicate if a license is active, suspended, expired, and so forth. Note: The license status is independent of contractor approval. For example, a license can have an active status but is disabled for use because it isn't approved. Licenses must be enabled to be entered in an application. Applicants can see the internal status if they bring details from your contractor records into an application. They can’t modify the status.	The license validation process retrieves a source status from the external licensing body. This status is read-only for all users, and can only be updated by re-validating the license number. Your status mapping settings assign a default agency status based on the source status. Agency staff can update the internal status. Your status mapping settings also specify if specific source statuses will prevent applicants from submitting applications. If the application is declined due to the source status, the applicant sees a message explaining that the application can’t be submitted. Note that the expiration date is checked regardless of status validation. If the license is expired, the application is declined regardless of the status.
License type	When integration is not enabled, the agency must create a license type for contractor licenses. Set up the license type in the contractor license options. Applicants must select this value as the license type when they enter contractor license information in an application. Oracle recommends creating a single license type for contractors, and using license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform.	License types are not enabled in the contractor options, and applications do not include a license type field. Use license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform.

Information Type

Contractor List Only

Contractor List and External Source

All

Note: The agency limits the contractor selection to the agency-maintained contractor list.

The agency allows applicants to select contractor licenses from the agency-maintained contractor records list only. In this case, applicants can enter or look up licenses from the contractor records only and not from the external licensing body.

Agency staff with appropriate permissions manually enter or update license information in the contractor list. Contractor records can also be loaded from an external source, but license selection in the application is still limited to licenses in the list.

Applicants who are contractors or their authorized agents can enter or look up their license to retrieve information from the contractor list, but can't manually enter their license information.

Applicants who are not contractors or authorized agents, such as homeowners, can optionally enter or look up licenses to retrieve information from the contractor records about the license and contractor. The same is true for agency staff who are applying on behalf of this type of applicant.

License information can be retrieved by looking up the license number, business name, or owner name.

Note: The agency doesn't limit the contractor selection to the agency's contractor list.

The agency allows applicants to select contractor licenses from the contractor records list or an integrated external source. The validation process checks your contractor records first, and if you don’t yet have a record of the license, the process gets information from the licensing body.

Agency staff perform a real-time license number validation that retrieves license details from the licensing body. For most users, the license detail fields are read-only, and re-validation is the only way to update the information. However, system administrators are able to modify contractor information.

Applicants who enter a license number in an application can use the same validation process.

Applicants who self-identify as contractors must supply at least one license number. They can retrieve license details because an integration is available but can’t manually enter data other than the license number.

Other applicants aren't expected to know the license number. They can enter license numbers to retrieve information license details from the licensing body, but they can also leave the license number blank. They can’t manually enter or update data.

License status

Agency staff uses the Status field to indicate if a license is active, suspended, expired, and so forth.

Note: The license status is independent of contractor approval. For example, a license can have an active status but is disabled for use because it isn't approved. Licenses must be enabled to be entered in an application.

Applicants can see the internal status if they bring details from your contractor records into an application. They can’t modify the status.

The license validation process retrieves a source status from the external licensing body. This status is read-only for all users, and can only be updated by re-validating the license number.

Your status mapping settings assign a default agency status based on the source status. Agency staff can update the internal status.

Your status mapping settings also specify if specific source statuses will prevent applicants from submitting applications. If the application is declined due to the source status, the applicant sees a message explaining that the application can’t be submitted. Note that the expiration date is checked regardless of status validation. If the license is expired, the application is declined regardless of the status.

License type

When integration is not enabled, the agency must create a license type for contractor licenses. Set up the license type in the contractor license options.

Applicants must select this value as the license type when they enter contractor license information in an application.

Oracle recommends creating a single license type for contractors, and using license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform.

License types are not enabled in the contractor options, and applications do not include a license type field.

Use license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform.

Contractor Information in the Intake Form

Your agency may limit your license selection in the application to their own list of contractors, regardless of an integration with an external source. In this case, the contractor list is the source of truth. Only agency-approved contractors can be entered in the application. You can look up a contractor by license number, business name, or owner name to retrieve license information.

When your agency doesn't limit your license selection to their list of contractors, and you integrate with an external licensing body, the process initially checks the data in your main contractor records. If you don’t have a record of the license number, the process can retrieve license information from the external source.

If an applicant self-identifies as a contractor, then a license number is required. If integration is active and license selection isn't limited to the contractor list, all other fields are read-only and can be populated only by the process of validating the license number. When an application that includes a license number is submitted, the system creates a new contractor record if there isn’t already a record for the specified license number.

When public users review details for submitted applications, they can see the contractor information. As with all other information in a submitted application, the contractor information is read-only.

Authorized Agents

A contractor’s authorized agents, such as employees or contractors associated with the contracting business, can submit applications on behalf of a contractor. If you include the Authorized Agent field group in an application form, the applicant can self-identify as an authorized agent. Information about self-identified agents is saved to the associated contractor record. Newly identified agents are saved with a status that shows that verification is pending. Agency staff can review the information, update the verification status, and indicate whether the authorized agent is a contractor operating under the contractor license.

Agency staff can’t add authorized agents in a contractor record. Agents are added only when they submit applications where they self-identify as agents.

Agency staff also can’t remove authorized agents from a contractor record. Instead, they mark the verification status as failed.

The list of authorized agents and associated contractors for a contractor record is informational only.

Managing Contractor Licenses

Agency staff use the main contractor licenses page to enter and maintain information about licensed contractors and their authorized agents.

Viewing Contractor Licenses

To view the summary information on the contractor list page:

Select Contractor > Contractors.

Review the following summary information:

Page Element	Description
License	Displays the contractor license number and its status.
Dates	Displays the license issue date (or reissue date, if one exists), and the license expiration date.
Contractor	Displays the name of the contractor business.
Address	Displays the address of the contractor business.
Manually Changed	Displays the date that the contractor record was last manually updated and the user who made the changes.
Last Refreshed	Displays the date that license information was most recently synchronized with the external licensing body’s record. This field is relevant only if integration is active.
Used in Application	Displays Yes or No to indicate whether this contractor is associated with any permit or planning applications. When a record is created in the main contractor pages, the initial value is No. The value is Yes if an application referencing this license has been submitted.
Contractor Approved	Displays Yes or No to indicate whether this contractor license is approved by the agency and available for use with an application. You can’t select a contractor license or submit an application when a license is not approved in the contractor records. If the agency changes a license to not approved after an application was submitted, an icon on the license in the application details indicates that the license is not approved. This option doesn’t affect the license status. For example, you can change an active license to not approved for business purposes.

Use the three-dot Actions menu to perform these actions:

Action	Description
Edit	Select this action to access the detail page, where you can update the contractor information, including the status of the license.
Validate	Select to retrieve and save updated license information from an external licensing body. This action is available only when integration with the licensing body is enabled.
Delete	Select this action to delete the contractor record. This action is available only to system administrators and only when the contractor record hasn’t been used in any applications, as indicated by the value in the Used in Application field.

Manually Adding Contractor Licenses

Your agency may initially use an automated batch method to load multiple records from a file or an integration with an external licensing body. However, you can also manually add individual contractor licenses to the main contractor records shown in the list on the Contractors page.

To manually add a contractor license:

Select Contractor > Contractors.

Click Add.

The Add Contractor page displays the following the read-only information:

Page Element	Description
License Source	Identifies the license's status coming from the licensing body and brought in through integration with the external source. This field is displayed only when an integration is enabled. See Setting Up Contractor License Options.

Page Element

Description

License Source

Identifies the license's status coming from the licensing body and brought in through integration with the external source. This field is displayed only when an integration is enabled.

See Setting Up Contractor License Options.

In the License Number field, enter the license number that was issued by the licensing body.
Turn on the Contractor Approved switch to indicate that this license is available for use in applications.

If you do not integrate with an external licensing body, enter the following:

Page Element	Description
License Type	Select the license type for contractor licenses. Although your agency can create multiple license types as part of the contractor options, Oracle recommends using a single license type for contractors, and using license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform. This field is not visible if you integrate with an external licensing body.
License Status	Select the license status. Values include Active, Canceled, Expired, Suspended, Revoked, and Inactive. This field is available even when integration is active, but the initial value is based on the status from the external licensing body and the contractor options that map licensing body statuses to internal statuses. When you’re setting up the status rules in the contractor license options, you can indicate which statuses allow an application to be submitted. For more information, see Setting Up Contractor License Options.

Page Element

Description

License Type

Select the license type for contractor licenses. Although your agency can create multiple license types as part of the contractor options, Oracle recommends using a single license type for contractors, and using license classifications to track the specific types of work that a contractor is licensed to perform.

This field is not visible if you integrate with an external licensing body.

License Status

Select the license status. Values include Active, Canceled, Expired, Suspended, Revoked, and Inactive.

This field is available even when integration is active, but the initial value is based on the status from the external licensing body and the contractor options that map licensing body statuses to internal statuses.

When you’re setting up the status rules in the contractor license options, you can indicate which statuses allow an application to be submitted. For more information, see Setting Up Contractor License Options.

If you use integration to get information from an external licensing body:
1. Click Validate.
  This button is visible only when integration is enabled. The validation process uses the license number to retrieve additional details from the licensing body. When the process finishes successfully, it populates the rest of the fields on the page.
  It’s helpful to note that the Get Details button in the application intake and the transaction details also automatically fills in the contractor fields. However, this information comes from the agency’s list of contractors that have already been validated. If the contractor isn’t in the agency contractor list, and an integration is available, the contractor information comes from the external source.
2. Confirm the license status.
  
  The read-only Source Status field displays the status provided by the external licensing body. This value is updated any time you re-validate the license. Your contractor options map the source status to a status that comes from the set of statuses your agency assigns to licenses. If a source status is not mapped to an agency status, the default agency status is Other.

Enter, update, or review information about the business.

You can enter or update data if you do not use integration. If integration is active, the fields are read-only.

Business information includes these fields:

Page Element	Description
Business Name	The name of the contractor business.
Ownership Type	The ownership structure for the business, such as Sole Proprietor or Partnership.
Postal Code	The business address. The Country field displays US. As you enter a Postal Code, the type-ahead list shows values that include appropriate city and state combinations. After you select a value, the city and state appear as read-only fields, and two address fields appear so that you can enter the rest of the address. If you don’t know the postal code, click the Don’t know link to display a full set of address fields.
Phone	The phone number for the business.
Issue Date	The date that the license was originally issued.
Reissue Date	The date that the license was reissued after a period of inactivity or after it expired.
Expire Date	The date that the license expired or is due to expire.

Enter, update, or review additional information about the business.

You can enter or update data if you do not use integration. If integration is active, the fields are read-only.

System-wide contractor options determine what additional information is available and how it is labeled. Your agency can change the section names on the Contractor License Sections page. If the agency displays all available information using the default labels, these sections appear:

Section Name	Description
Classifications	License classifications indicate the type of work that the contractor is licensed to perform. This grid lists a Code and a Description for each classification. If integration is not active and the fields are editable, selecting a code displays the associated description.
Contractor Bond	Contractor bond information includes the Company Name (the bond issuer), Policy Number, Amount, Effective Date, and Cancellation Date.
Other Bonds	Information for other bonds includes a Qualifier Name (the name of the qualifying individual on the bond) and the same fields that appear for contractor bonds.
Workers' Compensation	Insurance information includes the Insurance Type (such as Workers’ Compensation), Company Name, Policy Number, Exempt status, Effective Date, Expiration Date, Cancellation Date, and Suspend Date.

To clear all information and start fresh, click the Clear button and go back to the step where you enter a license number.
Click Save.
The Add Contractor page closes after you save.

The next time you access the details for this contractor, the detail page displays two tabs: The License Information tab displays the information you entered when you added the contractor. The Associations tab lists any users who submitted applications where they self-identified as the contractor or as an agent for this contractor.

Modifying License Information

You can modify license information depending on the permissions assigned to you. When your agency isn't integrated with an external licensing body, both system administrators and permit technicians can update license information. When integration is on, only system administrators can update license information, but permit technicians can approve licenses. Only agency staff with the contractor administration duty role have the privileges needed to delete a license from the contractor records.

To modify the license information for a contractor:

Select Contractor > Contractors.
Click Edit in the three-dot Actions menu for the license that you want to modify.
Make your updates:
- Turn on the Contractor Approved switch to indicate that this license is available for use in applications.
- Update the License Status.
- If integration is active, click the Validate button to retrieve the most recent contractor information and refresh the license detail fields.
  
  System administrators can update data manually even when integration is active.
- If integration is not active, manually modify the contractor information as needed.
Click Save.

Managing Authorized Agents

Authorized agents are added when an applicant self-identifies as an agent for a licensed contractor. There can be multiple applicants who self-identify as agents for the same contractor. The agent’s name and contact information are copied from the applicant information on the intake form and added to the list of authorized agents in the Associations tab of the contractor record.

You can’t manually add authorized agent information for a license, but you can verify agents and update an agent’s verification status depending on the results. Only verified agents are marked as active. Agents who are pending verification or whose verification failed are marked as inactive.

To manage authorized agents for a license:

Select Contractor > Contractors.
Locate and select the contractor license.
Click the Associations link to access the tab with authorized agent information.

Review the following information:

Page Element	Description
Agent	Displays the authorized agent’s name, email, and phone.
Business	Displays the business name from the contractor license details.
Type	Displays the relationship this person has to the contractor license: Authorized Agent: A person who has shown valid documentation for using this license. Contractor: A person who is a contractor operating under this license.
Address	Displays the authorized agent’s address.
Association	Displays Active if the agent has been verified. Displays Inactive if verification is pending or the verification has failed.

Click a row to access agent details.
Update the Verification Status by selecting Verified, Pending verification, or Verification failed.
The default status for an agent who submits an application is Pending verification.
Update the Association Type by selecting Authorized Agent or Contractor to indicate how the person is associated with the licensed contractor.
The Last Reviewed field displays the date when the authorized agent information was last reviewed.
Make any necessary changes to the agent’s personal information or contact information.
The default values are copied from the applicant section of the intake form where the applicant self-identified as an authorized agent. You can update everything except the agent’s name.
Click Save.
The detail window closes and your changes are saved. If you changed the verification status, the system also updates the Association field on the agent list and the Last Reviewed field on the agent detail page.