Expiration Overview
This topic describes expiration rules, including the types of rules that can be applied to the different types of transactions and the batch process that updates expiration statuses for transactions.
Expiration Rules
Your agency defines expiration rules that determine the expiration dates for permits, planning applications, and business licenses. The expirations apply to different phases of the permit, planning application, or business license lifecycle. The system calculates expiration dates based on transaction statuses, or for business licenses with a fixed date expiration rule, a specified date. The rules can include grace periods, which provide extra time beyond the expiration date for the user to take action. The rules also can include extensions for permits and planning applications, which provide a way for you to add time to the expiration timeframe. Note that pending inactive applications can’t be extended.
For information about expiration rules, see Setting Up Business License Expiration Rules, Setting Up Permit Expiration Rules, and Setting Up Planning Application Expiration Rules.
Business License Expiration Dates
You can set up expiration rules for business licenses to define:
When an inactive pending application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the applicant saves a business license application and ends when the application is submitted.
When the business license expires based on either a fixed date or when the license was issued.
Business License Consultation Expiration Dates
You can set up expiration rules for business license consultations to define:
When an inactive pending application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the applicant saves a consultation application and ends when the application is submitted.
When the consultation recommendations expire and the business must submit a business license application.
For example, the agency can require businesses to submit their application for a business license consultation within 14 days of starting the application. Once the consultation is complete, the business has another year to roll the recommendations over into a business license application.
Permit Expiration Dates
Expiration rules for permit applications define the following:
When an inactive pending application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the user saves an application and ends with application submission.
When the application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the agency accepts an application and ends when the permit is issued.
Caution: When an application expires, all plan review tasks associated with the application are canceled.When the permit expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the agency issues the permit and ends when the Certificate of Occupancy is issued or the permit is completed.
Caution: When a permit expires, all inspection tasks associated with the application are canceled.
For example, the rules for a permit application may be set up as follows: Require users to submit an application they started within 30 days. Then after the application has been accepted, they have another 45 days to complete requirements and get the issued permit. Once the permit is issued, the applicants must complete the all tasks including the final inspection within 180 days. The rules may provide for a grace period and one or more extensions to allow for more time.
Planning Application Expiration Dates
Expiration rules for planning applications define the following:
When an inactive pending application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the user starts an application and ends with application submission.
When the entitlement expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the agency issues the completed entitlement and ends when the user submits the permit application.
This example applies specifically to planning applications: After the user submits the planning application and the agency issues an entitlement, the user must submit a permit application within 90 days. There is a grace period of 5 days, so the applicant has a total of 95 days to submit the application before the entitlement expires. The rules may provide one or more extensions to allow for more time.
Pre-Application Expiration Dates
Expiration rules for pre-applications define the following:
When an inactive pending pre-application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the user starts an application and ends with application submission.
When the pre-application expires.
The expiration timeframe begins when the user completes the pre-application and ends when the user starts the planning application.
An example for pre-application expiration might be like this: The applicant submits the pre-application within 30 days as specified in the expiration rules. Then the applicant completes the tasks such as meetings and required applications. Then the applicant has 120 days from the time the pre-application is complete until they submit the planning application. There may be a grace period and extensions for pre-application expiration dates.
Processing Expiration Status
You can view the latest expiration statuses in the details of an individual transaction, or in the list of transactions. To change the status to About to expire or Expired, your agency must run batch update expiration processing. Processing runs against transactions with transaction types for which an expiration rule was defined.
Here’s an example of how the processing works: An agency created a rule for solar permits that indicates pending applications expire in 30 days. The rule indicates that the permit is about to expire 5 days before the expiration date. When the pending application is inactive for 25 days, the application is about to expire, and at 30 days, the application expires. When expiration processing runs, the system updates the expiration dates for pending solar permit applications to indicate that the application is about to expire and when it expired and sends out communications based on the updated status and the rule. If the rule includes a grace period, such as 3 days, the system status changes to expired after 33 days of inactivity.
When an application expires, processing changes the system status to Expired and cancels all associated open tasks.
You must periodically run batch expiration rule processing to update the about to expire and expired statuses after setting up communication rules. The system updates the statuses and sends out the communications according to the setup.
For information about how to process expiration statuses, see Updating Application Expiration Status.