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.