Working with Communications

Messages enable agency staff, responsible parties, and applicants to maintain correspondence regarding the progress of applications or cases.

Agency users can send emails, notifications, and texts associated with a specific application or case on the Communication Details page. Agency staff, applicants , and responsible parties can also use the Communication Details page to view a record of the messages associated with an application or case.

Security Details for Working with Application Communications

This section describes important security roles, requirements, or considerations specific to working with permit and planning application communications.

Primary Role	Access Description	Associated Job Roles and Abstract Roles
Anonymous access	View permit communications that are marked as visible to the public.	All users, including guests who don't log in.
PSC Registered Public User	View communications that are marked as visible to applicants.	PSC Registered Public User
PSC Permits Communication Management	Manage communications in permit applications.	PSC Inspections Supervisor PSC Geographical Information System Administrator PSC Finance Administrator PSC Economic Development Officer PSC Chief Building Officer PSC Cashier PSC Building Inspector PSC Business Analyst PSC System Administrator PSC Principal Planner PSC Planning Coordinator PSC Plan Reviewer PSC Permits Supervisor PSC System Administrator PSC Permit Technician

Primary Role	Access Description	Associated Job Roles and Abstract Roles
Anonymous access	View planning application communications that are marked as visible to the public.	All users, including guests who don't log in.
PSC Registered Public User	View communications that are marked as visible to applicants.	PSC Registered Public User
PSC Planning and Zoning Communication Management	Manage communications in planning applications.	PSC Zoning Administrator PSC Planning Assistant PSC Associate Planner PSC Geographical Information System Administrator PSC Finance Administrator PSC Economic Development Officer PSC Cashier PSC Principal Planner

For more information on creating roles for Public Sector Licensing and Permits, see Creating Custom Roles for Oracle Permitting and Licensing.

For more information on all the predefined security data such as abstract roles, job roles, privileges and so on, see the Security Reference for Oracle Public Sector Licensing and Permitting.

Sending Communications

1. Click Business License Transactions, Permits, , Planning Applications, or Cases on the Agency Springboard.

   Select an application on the Transactions page. For Code Enforcement, select a Case.

   Click Communications in the navigation bar.

2. On the Communication Details page, click Add.

   Agency planners can send their application communication from the My Applications tab. Click the Planner Worklist tile on the Agency Springboard and then click the My Applications tab. You send an ad hoc message for an application by clicking the Actions menu and selecting Send Message.

3. On the Ad Hoc Message page, enter values for the following fields:

   Page Elements	Definition
   Channel Type	Specify what type of ad hoc message you want to send. Values are: Email: Generates an email that is sent to users. Emails and Notifications: Generates both an email and a notification with the same message. Notification: Generates a notification that appears when users click the notification icon in the application. Text: Generates a short message service (SMS) text message that is sent to users. Note: The fields that are available to define on this page vary depending on the channel type and display format that you select.
   Visibility	Select which users can see this message listed on the application's Communication Details page. All communications can be viewed by agency staff. Values are: Applicant and contacts: Includes agency staff, the applicant, and contacts added to the transaction. Agency staff only: Includes only agency staff. Applicant: Includes agency staff and the applicant on the transaction. Note: This option is presently not applicable for Code Enforcement.
   Display Format	Select the format of the message. Values are: HTML: Displays rich text, links, and images Text: Displays plain, unformatted text. Note: This field does not appear for the Text channel type.
   Priority	Turn this switch on to display the notification at the top of the notification list. Note: This field appears only for the Emails and Notifications and Notification channel types.
   User Can Delete	Turn this switch on to enable users to delete this notification from their notification lists. Note: This field appears only for the Emails and Notifications and Notification channel types.
   Select and Insert	These fields enable you to insert variables for attributes into your message. You select the field and the attribute that you want to insert in that field, and click Insert to enter a variable for that attribute. For example, if you select the Body field and the Status attribute, and click Insert, the ${Status} variable is inserted into the Message Body field of the message. When you send this message, the status of the application associated with the communication is included in the body text. For more information, see Using Attributes in Communication Templates.
   Create Web Form	Click to access the Web Form modal page where you create a questionnaire that you can insert into your message.
   Insert Web Form	Click the icon to insert the web form questions into the body of your message along with a link that the recipient can use to access and respond to the questionnaire.
   To	Enter the email addresses, user IDs, or phone numbers of the people or organizations that you want to send the communication to. Note: Enter email addresses for emails, user IDs for notifications, and phone numbers for texts.
   Cc and Bcc	Enter the email addresses of the people or organizations that you want to receive a copy or blind copy of the message. Note: These fields appear only for the Email and Emails and Notifications channel types.
   From	Enter the email address, user ID, or phone number of the person or organization who is sending the generated message. For text messages, select the phone number of the person or organization who is sending the generated text message from the drop-down list. The available numbers come from a third-party messaging service. Note: Enter email addresses for the Email and Emails and Notifications channel types, user IDs for the Emails and Notifications and Notification channel types, and phone numbers for the Text channel type.
   Priority	Turn on this switch to display notifications generated by this communication template at the top of the notification list. Note: This field appears only for the Emails and Notifications and Notification channel types.
   User Can Delete	Turn on this switch to enable users to delete notifications generated by this communication template from their notification lists. Note: This field appears only for the Emails and Notifications and Notification channel types.
   Subject	Enter a brief description of the purpose and content of the message. Note: This field doesn't appear for the Text channel type.
   Attachments	Click Add to add an attachment from your local device. After adding an attachment, you can click the Actions icon to view attachment details, download attachments, or delete attachments.
   Message Body	Enter the main body text of the message. For the Text channel type and emails and notifications with the Text display format, you can enter only plain, unformatted text. For the HTML display format, you can enter rich text, links, and images.

   You can also insert variables for contact attributes into fields when composing a communication for contacts with a specific type, the primary contact, or all contacts. Select attributes such as phone, email, user ID, and user name of the contacts and insert the variables into the selected field. For example, if you want to send an email to all of the contacts for an application, you select the email attribute for all contacts and insert the variable into the email To field. For information about inserting variables, see Using Attributes in Communication Templates.

4. Click Send.

Communicating Using a Web Form

You can create and send emails or notifications that contain an online form with questions for the applicant , responsible party, or other agency staff. The correspondence contains a link that the recipient can use to access and respond to the questionnaire. Note that contacts can't access web forms or web form attachments.

Here’s how to create a web form:

1. On the Communication Details page, click Add.

2. Enter values for the channel type, such as email or notification, visibility to send to the applicant, responsible party, or agency staff, and the To, From, and Subject fields.

3. Click Create Web Form.

4. For each row of the web form, enter the Question Text along with the Answer Type that you expect from the recipient for that question. You can select from these answer types:

   Answer Type	Description
   Attachment	Enables the recipient to attach one file per question. After the recipient uploads the file and submits the form, attachments are available in the web form response and on the Attachments page for the application.
   Date	Enables the recipient to answer the question using a calendar to indicate the date.
   Text	Enables the recipient to enter text in response to a question.
   Number	Enables the recipient to enter a numeric value of up to 13 digits and three decimal places.

5. Click OK to save your web form questionnaire and return to the Ad Hoc Message page. The Create Web Form button displays the number of questions included on the web form in parentheses.

6. Click Insert Web Form to insert the web form questions into the body of your message.

7. Click Send.

After you receive the communication, you click the link in the message to open the online web form and answer the questions or upload a file. After you submit the form, the response appears on the Communication Details page and attachments are also listed on the Attachments page.

Viewing Application Communications

The Communication Details page displays a list of all messages that are associated with the application or case, including emails, notifications, texts, and web form responses.

1. Click Business License Transactions, Permits, Planning Applications, or Cases on the Agency Springboard.

   Select an application on the Transactions page. For Code Enforcement, select a case.

   Click Communications in the navigation bar.

   You can view the message reference ID, date and time the message was sent, message subject, channel type, attachments, and status, such as Sent.

2. For each row on the Communication Details page you can:

   • Click the Actions icon to resend or forward the message.

     Select the Resend action to access the message in the Message Details modal page in display-only mode. Click Resend to send the message another time to the same list of recipients.

     Select the Forward action to access the message in the Message Details modal page. Enter new recipient email addresses, update the message if necessary, and click Forward to send the updated message to the new recipients.

   • Click the View More Details button to view detailed information about the message.

   • If there are attachments, you can view detailed information about the attachment.