Requesting Inspections

Agency users can request inspections for permits to ensure that they are in compliance.

You request, modify, and cancel inspection requests on the Inspection page. For information about adding, updating, or canceling scheduled inspections in the Oracle Inspector mobile application, see Managing Scheduled Inspections

Agencies may only allow inspections to be performed after prerequisite inspections are completed, but agency staff can override dependency requirements when assigning, reassigning, or scheduling inspections. Applicants can't schedule an inspection or update a pending inspection that has prerequisite inspections.

In addition, agency staff, applicants, or contractors can't schedule a final inspection or assign a pending final inspection until all of the required inspections for the permit are complete with a passing or corrected result.

For information about setting up inspection dependencies, required inspections, and the final inspection, see Setting Up Inspection Groups.

Note: Agencies may configure the system to prevent you from creating or scheduling a final inspection when permit fees are due. For more information, see Setting Up Stop Process Actions.

Requesting an Inspection

1. Click the Add Inspection button from one of the following locations:

   • Inspection List page of the permit details, which you can access by clicking Permits on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for a Permit.

   • Inspections page, which you can access by clicking Inspections on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for an Agency.

     Note: The button is also available to registered public users on the Inspection List page, which they access from the registered user public landing page by clicking Inspections or by selecting Schedule an Inspection from the I Want To field.

2. On the Inspection modal page, select the Permit for which you want to request an inspection.

   Note: If you are requesting an inspection from the Inspection List page for a specific permit, the Permit is already selected on the modal page.

3. You'll see the inspection types that are available to select based on the inspection group that is associated with the permit type.

   Note: Agency staff can select the Show All Inspection Types check box to make all inspection types available for selection. This check box isn't available to public users.

   For each inspection type listed on the Inspection modal page, you'll see this information:

   Element	Description
   Inspection Type and Description	Indicates the inspection type code and description.
   Dependencies	Lists the prerequisite inspections.
   Required	Indicates that this inspection type is required.
   Final Inspection	Indicates that this is the last inspection that needs to be done.

4. Select the check box next to each Inspection Type that you want to add. You can't select multiple inspections in small form factor or through the Oracle Inspector mobile application.

5. Select the Pending check box to set the status of the inspections to Pending. This check box is available only if the Enable Pending Inspections switch is turned on for the agency. For more information, see Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Permits.

   Note: This switch is not available to registered public users.

6. Click Continue to access the Inspection page. If you selected more than one inspection type, they are all displayed in the Selected Inspections grid.

   In a couple of cases, you can't continue to request the inspection or inspections, if you've selected multiple inspections:

   • Final Inspections: Inspectors must complete all other required inspections with a passing or corrected result before agency staff, applicants, or contractors can schedule the final inspection. If one of multiple inspections selected is the final inspection and there are incomplete required inspections, you won't be able to create the final inspection. If the final inspection is in a pending status and there are incomplete required inspections, agency staff or applicants can't assign the inspection.

     If an inspection type is defined as required in the inspection group, but you turn off the Required switch when the inspection is created, then it's no longer considered a required inspection when completing the final inspection.

   • Conditions: If you selected a permit for which a condition has been applied that prevents inspection scheduling, you won’t be allowed to request the inspections.

   For more on applying and resolving conditions, see Applying Conditions to Applications. For information on setting up required and final inspections, see Setting Up Inspection Groups.

   This example shows the Inspection page for a single inspection. The Select a Time button is available because the inspection was set up with the Schedule method.

   

   This example shows the Inspection page for multiple inspections. Each inspection has a different scheduling method. The inspection with the Select a Time button has the Schedule method and the inspection preferred date and time fields has the Request method.

   

7. Turn the Required switch on or off. The Required switch defaults to the inspection type setting on the Inspection Group Details page. If the inspection is outside of the inspection group, the setting defaults to Not Required.

8. Depending on the scheduling method set up for the inspection type, agency staff and applicants can enter times in the preferred date and time fields or ready by date and time fields, or select a time.

   The Select a Time button appears only for inspection types with a Scheduling Method of Schedule. See the next section, "Selecting an Inspection Time" for more information.

9. (Optional) Click the Delete button to remove any inspection types that you don't want to include in your inspection request.

10. Click Submit.

If the Inspection Requested communication event is configured, the system automatically creates an email notification for the permit technician that an inspection request has been created. For more information, see Delivered Communication Events.

Selecting an Inspection Time

The Select a Time button on the Inspection request page appears only for inspection types with a Scheduling Method of Schedule. Both agency staff and applicants can select a time on the Scheduling modal page. Only inspections supervisors can see the inspector names and override availability.

The dates and times that are available for inspection scheduling are based on the following factors:

• Type of inspection and when the inspection can be performed.

• District of the parcel or district associated with the address.

• Inspectors assigned to the district and inspection type.

• Availability of the inspectors according to work and holiday schedules.

For more information on scheduling inspections as a supervisor and an example of the Scheduling modal page, see Assigning Inspections Using the Supervisor Calendar.

For more information, see Setting Up Inspection Scheduling.

Modifying an Inspection Request

1. Select the View Request action for an inspection from one of the following locations:

   • Inspection List page of the permit details, which you can access by clicking Permits on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for a Permit.

   • Inspections page, which you can access by clicking Inspections on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for an Agency.

     Note: The action is also available to registered public users on the Inspection List page, which they access from the registered public user landing page by clicking Inspections or by selecting Schedule an Inspection from the I Want To field.

2. Update the field values on the Inspection page.

   Note: You can’t edit the Inspection Type field. In addition, you can’t edit any fields on this page if the status of the inspection is Canceled or Completed.

   Turn the Required switch on or off to override the default required inspection setting for the inspection. The Required switch defaults to the inspection type settings on the Inspection Group Details page. If the inspection is not part of the inspection group, the setting defaults to not required.

3. If an inspection time has already been selected, you can click Select a Different Time to select a different inspection date and time on the Scheduling modal page.

   Note: The Select a Different Time button appears only for inspection types with a Scheduling Method of Schedule. The button is not available if the status of the inspection is Canceled or Completed. In addition, the button is not available once the time to the scheduled inspection is less than the number of hours defined in the Schedule Change Policy field for the inspection type. For more information on inspection types, see Setting Up Inspection Types.

4. Click Save.

When you or the applicant reschedule an inspection, the applicant, inspection contact, inspector, and inspection supervisor can receive a notification, depending on the communication template setup.

Canceling an Inspection Request

Note: An inspection request is canceled automatically when an agency staff member withdraws the application associated with the request.

1. Select the Cancel Inspection action for an inspection from one of the following locations:

   • Inspection List page of the permit details, which you can access by clicking Permits on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for a Permit.

   • Inspections page, which you can access by clicking Inspections on the Agency Springboard. See Managing Inspections for an Agency.

     Note: The action is also available to registered public users on the Inspection List page, which they access from the registered public user landing page by clicking Inspections or by selecting Schedule an Inspection from the I Want To field.The Cancel Inspection action doesn't appear for inspections with a status of Canceled or Completed. In addition, the action isn't available once the time to the scheduled inspection is less than the number of hours defined in the Schedule Change Policy field for the inspection type. For more information on inspection types, see Setting Up Inspection Types.

2. Enter a Cancellation Reason on the Cancel Inspection modal page.

3. Click Confirm.

When you or the applicant cancel an inspection, the applicant, inspection contact, inspector, and inspection supervisor can receive a notification, depending on the communication template setup.

Interactive Voice Response Inspection Requests

When interactive voice response (IVR) is enabled for your agency, registered public users can request inspections over the phone. IVR is compatible with the Request and Schedule scheduling methods. Regardless of which of these two scheduling methods is associated with an IVR inspection request, a user chooses a preferred date and time period (morning or afternoon). For inspections with a Request scheduling method, the selected date and time period are recorded as the Preferred Date and Preferred Time. For inspections with a Schedule scheduling method, the system uses the selected date and time period to automatically assign a specific time slot and inspector.

For more information on IVR, see Setting Up Agency-Level Options for Permits.