10Tracking Planning Application Activities

Overview of Activity Tracking for Planning Applications

As planning department staff, you use activity tracking to help work through a list of time-sensitive tasks that affect the progress of a planning application.

The activities are driven by local ordinance, state law, and an agency’s internal process, and the activity tracking provides a way to monitor the application. Taken together, the activities form a to-do list of tasks with calculated due dates and the flexibility to make updates when needed. Activities are displayed on the Activity Tracking page in the planning application details. You can also view activities on the Planner Worklist. For more information about using the worklist, see Using the Planner Worklist.

The activities for a planning application are configured by your agency based on events or dates in the application timeline, including when the application is submitted, when the application is accepted, the hearing date, and the hearing decision date. The activities show up in the activity tracking for the planning application when one of the key events or dates occurs. For more information about configuring activities, see Defining Planning Application Activity Rules.

Before you can use activity tracking, the agency sets up a list of activities and maps the group to a planning application type. Whenever you create an application with that planning application type, the associated activity list is used.

The activity due dates can occur prior to or after an event. For example, when the planner schedules a hearing, the activities associated with the hearing date appear in the activity tracking list. You’ll see automatically generated due dates based on the activity rules set up by your agency and ensure that all of the deliverables are complete before or after the hearing.

Viewing the Activity Tracking Page

For each activity, the following information appears in the tracking list. Navigate to the Activity Tracking page by accessing the planning application, then select Activity Tracking under the Planning Application menu in the left panel on the page. The activity tracking tab is only available if the planning application is associated with an activity group.

Page Element	Description
Activity	Displays the name of the activity or task. This field is read-only and can’t be updated. If the task is overdue, you’ll see an overdue notice.
Base Date	Displays one of four milestone dates triggered by an event. The base date is the reference date for calculating the activity due date. Received date - The application was received by agency staff. The activity appears on the tracking page when the application is submitted in the system or the received date is updated, depending on the activity rule. Acceptance date - The agency staff accepts the application in their worklist. This date is automatically updated through workflow. Hearing date - The agency staff schedules or reschedules a public hearing for the planning application. Hearing Decision date - The hearing body makes a decision and agency staff enters the decision in the system. When these events occur, the activity is added to the tracking list. These dates can change and the due dates may be recalculated depending on the activity rules and the status of the activity.
Due Date	Displays the date the activity or task is due. This date is calculated using the base date and the activity rule for number of days due before or after the base date. This field can be manually updated.
Status	Displays the status of the activity or task. This field can be manually updated
Show All Statuses	Turn on the Show All Statuses switch to view a complete list of activities in the tracking table. The default view shows activities with an in progress or pending status. When you opt to show all statuses, you’ll see history with other statuses, including complete or canceled activities.
Last Updated	Displays the date when the due date or status was last updated. This field can be manually updated.
Updated By	Displays the name of the user who last updated the due date or status. This field is automatically updated.
Comments	Click the Comments icon to view and add internal notes for each activity. The number of comments appears on the icon. The comments also show up on planning application items in the agency staff activity worklist.
Actions	Displays Resubmit when the activity with a Submission Date base date has an incomplete status. Agency staff can then create a new activity with a resubmitted date. This action appears only when the Allow Resubmission option is selected in the activity rules.

Working with Planning Application Activities

Activity tracking helps you effectively manage important due dates for deliverables due during the planning application process. You can monitor activities when due dates are updated automatically and make manual updates to due dates and statuses to ensure the application progresses as required.

In some cases, activity due dates are updated automatically, such as when a received date is updated or a public hearing is rescheduled. As you work through the tracking list, you can also manually update the due date and the status of activities, and enter the date of the update. In general, you can’t add activities, however depending on the setup, you can create a new activity for a resubmitted application. If an application is canceled or withdrawn, all activities are canceled.

Viewing Automatically Updated Activities

The system automatically updates activity due dates depending on the type of base date, the current activity status, and the activity rules configured by the agency. This section provides details about the automatic updates that occur after different actions are taken, such as updating the received date for an application or rescheduling a public hearing.

Agency staff enter the date an application was received while filling out the intake form on behalf of an applicant. The activity based on the Received Date appears in the tracking table upon application submission. When agency staff updates the Received Date on the application details Overview page, the activity due date is automatically recalculated based on the new received date. However, the due date is recalculated only when the option to Allow Resubmission is set up for the activity.

Activities based on the hearing date appear in the tracking table when the hearing is scheduled. The agency can set up the activity rules to create a new activity or update an existing one when the public hearing is rescheduled or the hearing body is changed. The rule is active when the switch to Redo Activity with New Base Date is turned on. The system determines the updates based on the redo activity setting, the action, and the activity status.

The table here shows the automatic activity updates for different actions when the base date is the public hearing date.

Action	Current Activity Status	Redo Activity Setting	Automatic Tracking Update
Hearing is rescheduled.	Pending, In Progress, or Not Required	On	Recalculates the due date for the current activity based on the new hearing date and resets the status to Pending.
Hearing is rescheduled.	Pending, In Progress, or Not Required	Off	The due date stays as-is.
Hearing is rescheduled.	Completed	On	Creates a new activity with a new base date and due date. Sets the status to Pending. The completed activity stays as is.
Hearing is rescheduled.	Canceled	N/A	No changes are made to the base date or due date. The canceled activity stays as-is.
Hearing body is changed.	Any	N/A	Deletes all current activities with the old hearing body and creates all new activities with new hearing body. Sets the status to Pending.
Hearing is canceled.	Any except for Canceled	N/A	Cancels all activities.

Manually Updating Due Dates and Statuses

Although you can’t manually delete or modify system-added activities and their base dates, you can manually update the activity due date, activity status, and the date the activity was last updated. If an activity isn’t required, you can update the status to Not Required or Canceled.

Let’s take a look at how to update these activity attributes for a planning application.

1. Go to the planning application.

2. Select Planning Application then Activity Tracking in the left navigation panel.

3. On the Activity Tracking list page, select the row of the activity you want to update.

4. You can update these fields:

   Page Element	Description
   Due Date	Enter the date that the deliverable is due or the deadline for the action that should be taken.
   Activity Status	Select a status from the drop-down list. Your agency may provide statuses in addition to the statuses in the system.
   Last Updated	Enter the date when you updated the activity.

5. Click Save.

Repeating an Activity for a Resubmitted Application

The Received Date activity that appears when the application is submitted can be repeated when the application is resubmitted. The Allow Resubmission switch must be turned on in the activity rule. Here’s how to reset the activity due date with a pending status if the application is resubmitted.

1. On the Activity Tracking page, select the row of the activity based on the submission date.

2. Change the status to Incomplete. This status is only available if the Allow Resubmission switch is turned on in the activity setup.

3. Click Save.

4. Click the Resubmit link, which is only available when the status is Incomplete.

5. On the Resubmit page, the Resubmitted Date is automatically populated with the current date, and the New Due Date is calculated using the existing activity rule. You can change the Resubmitted Date and the due date will be recalculated. You can also override the due date.

6. Click Save.

   The activity status resets to Pending.