Council is intending to undertake a system upgrade on its resource consenting platform from 5pm 4 December 2020 – 7:30am 7 December 2020.
During this period the system will be down and unavailable to all users while we undertake this work, we apologize for this interruption.
Apart from the disruption to the service, there will be no data lost while the system is down, including any drafts underway or any previously submitted resource consent applications.
This upgrade is a core component of our Stage 2 build, ‘Migration of Data and Online Processing’, as we move our resource consenting services into the new digital processing system.
A subsequent second upgrade is being planned for early in the New Year, we will advise when this will occur, and what is being released well in advance.
If you have any questions or encounter any problems after the 7 December please contact MDC on 520-7400.
What will be different for external users after the 7 December?
Autosave on timeout
Currently, a user can be timed out of the system due to inactivity and lose any changes they had previously made that had not been saved. This is a major pain point for users who might have filled out lots of content in free-text fields and had forgotten to save.
Under this upgrade, a user will be presented with an option to restore any unsaved data immediately after the user logs back in after a timeout. The user will not need to log in using the same browser on the same machine to use this capability, and there will be no timescale as to how long the draft remains available.
The only restriction to this is if a user closes the web browser, then any unsaved data would unfortunately be lost. We encourage our users to please be mindful of this point.
‘New’ application types available
After 7 December we will have available to external users a large number of ‘New’ application types.
These will follow the existing pattern of the Section 88 application currently available in that they can be started in draft, completed as necessary, and submitted digitally online. These ‘New’ application types follow the same principles as the existing system i.e. validation steps outlining mandatory information, the same calls to action (edit, view and continue) and the same ability to export to pdf, etc.
The applications will be available under the ‘Create new application’ button, once started they will follow the existing pattern and be available in your ‘My applications’ dashboard.
One important note to make here is that once submitted the application will be processed as the application type submitted, if you have submitted the incorrect application type you will need to end this application and re-lodge under the correct type, the system will not allow the application type to be transferred or changed to a different application style once underway.
Below are some examples of the new application types that will be available;
Section 87AAC Fast Track, Section 87BA Application (Deemed permitted boundary activity), Section 139 Application (Certificate of compliance)
‘Variation” application types available
After 7 December the system will also contain the following ‘Variation’ application types.
Section 127 Application (Change or Cancellation of resource consent conditions
Section 125 Application (Extension to Lapse date)
Section 136 Application (Transfer of abstraction and/or use site)
Section 357 Objection
These application types follow the same principles as the existing Section 88 application form including validation steps outlining mandatory information, the same calls to action (edit, view, and continue), and the same ability to export to pdf.
Information already held within the system is available for the applicant/agent through the application process. This includes the likes of; Issued Consent numbers, Application decision activity descriptions, current consent conditions, and lapse dates, etc.
Once lodged or submitted with Council the applications will follow their own independent processing workflow as per standard RMA processes, at the end of a successful process the ‘Variation’ application will have its decision finalized and any resultant agreed changes flowing automatically into the master ‘Issued Consent” record.
Changes to Councils Processing Forms
With the move to digital processing, some of the forms used by the Council for important decisions will look different to those previously used; this includes, Section 88 Checklist, Section 95 Notification Decision, and Councils decision document.
Application ‘Resubmission’ process
The existing system allows resubmission on applications by the agent/applicant; this was designed as part of the initial stage one work but has received feedback from the team as to its function.
Currently, an applicant can choose ‘Amend application’ from the Actions menu once they have submitted their application. This allows a user to make changes to the original application, and then resubmit. However, the Processing Officer might be well underway in processing the original application. This leads to wasted effort and confusion.
This upgrade looks to restrict the actions which both lock and enable further amendment by controlling how and when this happens, the following brief scenario outlines the basics of the changes being introduced:
- Agents/applicants will have complete flexibility to resubmit and make amendments up to Sec 88 checklist commencement and or a maximum of 10 working days from processing start.
- Upon the processing officer finalizing the Section 88 checklist or 10 working days has passed the resubmission action will be locked.
- Post the Sec 88 acceptance the processing officer has manual control over further opening of resubmission action, with clear actions to enable and disable the resubmit function up to Sec 95 decision finalization. If a resubmission is required prior to Section 95 decision finalization the agent/applicant should communicate directly to the assigned processing officer.
- After the Sec 95 finalization resubmission is completely disabled, processing officers will handle any additional amendments to the application outside of the system.
- Depending upon the point of resubmission the assigned processing officer will also complete an ‘Assessment of amended application’, this new process is a basic assessment as to whether the changes will still fit within the scope of the original application, If the amended application exceeds the scope of the original application then the processing officers can potentially reject the amended application. It is then up to the applicant as to whether they revert back to the original application, or withdraw the original application and make a new application through a new application process.
