Planning Portal updates

Enhancements

Click on each date to see the enhancements:

2022

2021

Enhancements: 11 February 2022

Label Changes
  • Updated the Certifier label name in Subdivision Works Certificate applicant screen.
  • Updated the Proposed Development detail’s label name to Development details in Review Harness for Subdivision Certificate.
Tooltip Updates
  • Added tooltips for all correspondence related questions like address and email for an Intent to Seek an Occupation Certificate application. 
  • Introduced address tooltips for Strata bond.
  • Updated all the missing "What is this" tooltips under “Proposed development” section in applicant details screen for Construction Certificate, Occupation Certificate, Complying Development Certificate.
  • Included a tooltip for the Land and Environment Court related question in the Subdivision Certificate applicant screen.
  • Added tooltips in the Post Consent Certificate landing page, for manual and spatial viewer address for all Post Consent Certificate applications.
  • Correspondence related tooltips were added to Subdivision Works Certificate Applicant screens.
  • Introduced correspondent tooltips for Construction Certificate applicant screens.
  • Added address and email tooltips to Principal Certifying Authority applicant screens.
  • In applicant details screen for Principal Certifying Authority, all the missing "What is this" tooltips were added.
  • Introduced address and email tooltips in the Occupation Certificate applicant screen.
  • Missing address and email tooltips were added to Subdivision Certificate Applicant screens.
  • Added email and address tooltips to the Complying Development Certificate applicant screens.
  • Introduced a “What is this” tooltip if “No” is selected to the BASIX question in Complying Development Certificate.
Help Text Updates
  • In Complying Development Certificate, a new owner’s consent related help text is added under the “Who Owns the development site”? question.
Added “Related Cases” Search
  • For the ease of the Post Consent Certificate applicant, to identify the related cases associated to the address they are applying the Post Consent Certificate application for, a "Search related cases" button is introduced in the Post Consent Certificate landing page.
  • By using the “Search related cases" button, the applicant can search for Development Application / Construction Certificate / Complying Development Certificate cases related to the selected address.
  • A new modal pop up is introduced, on clicking the "Search related cases" button, which will display all the related cases from which applicant can choose one.
  • This functionality is added to Construction Certificate, Occupation Certificate, Subdivision Certificate, Subdivision Works Certificate and Principal Certifying Authority.
  • This will avoid entering an incorrect related case number and the need to have the related case number handy.
Label Updates
  • In the Certificate Registration Certifier screens for Complying Development Certificate, Subdivision Certificate, Subdivision Works Certificate, Occupation Certificate and Construction Certificate, renamed the “Certificate details” label to “Details of the Certificate being registered" label in order to avoid confusion about which certificate the application is referring to.
Miscellaneous Changes
  • From Principal Certifying Authority screen, a mandatory document “Occupation Certificate / Subdivision Certificate stamped approved plans” was made to be “Optional”, as this is a Principal Certifying Authority application and Occupation Certificate and Subdivision Certificate related documents are not to be made mandatory, as requested by certifiers.
  • Updated the "What is this" tooltips for few documents in the “Requirements and uploads” screens for Certificate Registration" application for Complying Development Certificate, Construction Certificate, Occupation Certificate, Subdivision Certificate and Subdivision Works Certificate.
  • Added a help text to the “Details of the Certificate being registered" label in the Certificate Registration Certifier screens for Complying Development Certificate, Subdivision Certificate, Subdivision Works Certificate, Occupation Certificate and Construction Certificate. 

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Enhancements: 11 March 2022

Label Updates
  • In the Principal Certifying Authority application Certifier Acceptance screen, "Accreditation number of the Principal Certifier“ label is renamed  to "Registration number“ as this is the new terminology to be used.
Tooltip Updates
  • Missing "What is this" tooltips under “Proposed development” section in applicant details screen for Subdivision Works Certificate is updated.
Miscellaneous Changes
  • Introduced a fix to ensure that while a Principal Certifier edits an Occupation Certificate application, which was submitted by the Applicant as a “Non-Class 2” class type, then the certifier is restricted from changing the Class type to “Class 2”. 
  • The map display delay in Subdivision Works Certificate applicant screen was rectified, which was earlier taking more than 45 secs to load.
  • A technical fix was delivered for improving performance of the queries while searching for related cases in Post Consent Certificate applications, based on Pega warnings. 

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Enhancements: 2 April 2022

Miscellaneous Updates
  • Currently, in the Certifier dashboard, if a Certifier edits a Complying Development Certificate, State Development Application, Development Application Online or a Post Consent Certificate application they had received, then two rows are. The fix will address this issue and avoid duplicate entries being displayed in the dashboard. 
  • A help text will be displayed to the Construction Certificate applicant in the landing page screen if the related Development Application has not been determined. It will state that the Construction Certificate application will not be determined by the certifier until the related Development Application has been determined.
  • A new local action button and modal pop up screen will be added to the Certifier screens, while they assess a Post Consent Certificate application. This functionality is added to capture any significant fire safety issues which they find during an inspection.
  • Updating all the remaining missing "What is this" tooltips under “Proposed development” section in applicant details screens for Subdivision Works Certificate and Subdivision Certificate applications.
Documents / Notification Changes
  • For Post Consent Certificate applications, the certifier will be given an option to select a document and mark it as a superseded document in order to clearly identify which documents are no longer relevant.
  • Ability for the Development Application Online applicant to be notified when determination has been made on the Development Application Online application.
  • Notification is to be sent to the Certifier (not the applicant) to be notified when the assessment period on a Complying Development Certificate application is about to conclude.
  • Functionality to provide consent authority assessing Post Consent Certificate and Complying Development Certificate applications, to mark documents as sensitive so that certain documents are visible only to their organisation. 
  • Principal Certifying Authority Agreement document will be made optional in the Certifier screen for Occupation Certificate application.
  • Ability to be provided to the Post Consent Certificate application users to display more information on filtering documents so that it is easy to find the documents.
  • Ability to be provided to the Post Consent Certificate application users to sort the documents by 'Uploaded Date’, so as to easily find the documents that they need.
  • Functionality to be provided to the Post Consent Certificate application users to filter the documents by 'Uploaded By’, so as to easily find the documents that they need.
  • Ability for councils to be automatically notified of significant fire safety issues which the Certifier finds during an inspection for a Post Consent Certificate application.

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Enhancements: 5 March 2021

  • System-generated notification emails and associated invoices and receipts for Certificate Registration will now include Certificate Registration numbers and the private certifier's certificate reference number. This will enable certifiers to see which project each email is referring to at a glance. This enhancement will impact Certificate Registration for complying development certificates (CDC), construction certificates (CC), occupation certificates (OC), subdivision certificates (SC) and subdivision works certificates (SWC). It addresses item #2 in the AAC letter dated 21 January 2021.
  • The Department has re-instated the ability for an applicant to provide a notice of commencement to the Council and Principal Certifier (PC). This functionality was inadvertently removed from the Portal in 2020. The applicant will now be able to provide a notice of commencement from the PC appointment screen. The applicant will receive a system-generated email notifying them of the need to provide the notice of commencement. The Department is considering further improvements in this space.

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Enhancements: 12 March 2021

  • An applicant will be able to initiate a Principal Certifier Appointment case from the Online CDC Service and the Online DA Service.
  • From an Online CDC application, following data will be prefilled for a Principal Certifier Appointment application:
    • Site details (Addresses or Lot information)
    • Class of development (e.g. Class 1a, 1b etc)
    • Developer details
    • Nominated certifier details
  • From an Online DA application, following data will be prefilled for a Principal Certifier Appointment application:
    • Applicant’s address
    • Site details
    • Developer details
    • Who will be doing the building work?
    • Builder details or Principal contractor
    • Payer details
    • Nominated certifier details
  • In the Online CDC Service, those documents previously identified as “user-generated” documents will now be identified as “system-generated” documents. This change will also be applied to all applications within the Online Post Consent Certificate, as well as the Certificate Registration services.

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Enhancements: 19 March 2021

Online Post-Consent Certificate Service

  • In the Online Post-Consent Certificate Service (for Construction Certificates and Occupation Certificates), if an applicant and a payer are the same person, their details will only need to be entered into the system once – the data will automatically populate the relevant fields. Please note, the user will still have the ability to edit that content.

    Where certifiers using this service were previously asked to identify themselves with a “BPB registration number” or the “Accreditation number of the principal certifier”, they will now only have to provide a “Registration number”. The language has been amended throughout.

Online CDC Service and Construction Certificate Applications

  • In the Online CDC Service and for online Construction Certificate (CC) applications, the “material to be used” section, which was previously mandatory for all class types, has been amended so that it is only mandatory for following classes of developments: 1 (a), 1 (b), 2, 3, 4 and 9 (c). Help text is now available, advising users of the regulatory requirements for this section.

    If a certifier wants to apply for a modification to an existing CDC or CC application, the details entered in the original CDC or CC will now automatically populate the relevant fields of the modification.

    This will affect the following screens:

    • Contact details screen
    • Proposed development details screen
    • Registered practitioner details screen
    • Principal certifier details screen

    The user will still have the ability to edit that content.
  • For a CDC modification, the following documents will be brought across from the original CDC:
    • Owner's Consent
    • CDC stamped plans
    • Determination
  • For a CC modification, the following documents will be brought across from the original CC:
    • Owner's Consent
    • Construction certificate stamped approved plans
    • Construction certificate

Occupation Certificate Applications

  • For applicants applying for an online Occupation Certificate (OC), the details entered into the related  DA/CDC or Construction Certificate application will now be automatically populated into the relevant fields of the OC application. This includes the following details:
    • Developer details from the DA and/or the CDC
    • Nominated Principal Certifier details from the CDC
    • Builder details or principal contractor details from the CC

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Enhancements: 26 March 2021

Certificate Registration

When paying for certificate registration, the certifier’s reference number will now be included on the Payment Tax Receipt to assist with reconciliation of payments.

BASIX

BASIX information will now only be requested if the proposed development falls within the scope of BASIX requirements.

When am applicant is applying through the Portal for a CDC or a Construction Certificate, the BASIX-related questions will still be asked for the following Development Types:

  • Dwelling house
  • Secondary dwelling
  • Balconies, decks, patios terraces of verandahs
  • Swimming pools
  • Manor house
  • Dual occupancy
  • Multi dwelling housing
  • Alterations & additions to residential development
  • Bed & breakfast accommodation
  • Group homes

Online Post-Consent Certificate Service

If an applicant is a company, the company details will be pre-populated at the submission stage in regard to payer details. This information can be edited.  

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Enhancements: 9 April 2021

  • An ‘edit’ feature for certifiers in the Planning Portal's CDC service will allow certifiers to edit and update both applicant details and development details.
  • Auto-population of ‘Certifying Organisation’ details for applicants who initiate a PC Nomination application from a related CDC case.
  • Search feature for applicants enabling them to search for a certifier in CDC or Post Consent Certificate submission by Company Name, Trading Name, ABN, or ACN.

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Enhancements: 16 April 2021

  • Applicants are now able to capture ‘Payer Details’ in a CDC case. Previously this information wasn’t captured. This information will have an option to be auto-fill if it is the same as the applicant detail.
  • As an applicant for a CDC case, you will only be required to upload BASIX-related information and document/s if the application will be for any of the following development types:
  • Dwelling House
  • Secondary Dwelling
  • Balconies, Decks, Patios, Terraces or Verandas
  • Swimming Pool
  • Manor House
  • Dual Occupancy
  • Multi-dwelling housing
  • Alterations and Additions to a residential development
  • Group Homes
  • As a certifier, you will only be asked for ‘Development Information’ relevant to the development type selected as part of CDC application. We have conditionally removed the questions to reduce irrelevant capturing of data and help reduce application determination time.

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Enhancements: 23 April

  • Previously, as a certifier, the only option to correct issues with a Construction Certificate (CC) was to reject the application and work with an applicant to lodge another CC application. With this release, we are providing an ‘edit’ option to certifiers. This option will allow a certifier to edit and update the following sections:
    • Applicant Details
    • Development Details
  • A certifier will be able to confirm they have been given consent from the applicant before making the edits and upload the consent form as well.
    As a certifier, you will only be asked for ‘Development Information’ relevant to the development type selected as part of CC application. Questions have been conditionally removed to reduce irrelevant capturing of data and help reduce application determination times.

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Enhancements: 30 April 2021

  • Previously, as a certifier, the only option to correct issues with an Occupation Certificate (OC) was to reject the application and work with an applicant to lodge another OC application. With this release, we are providing an ‘edit’ option to certifiers. This option will allow a certifier to edit and update the following sections:
    • Applicant Details
    • Update Documents
    • Registered Practitioner & Certifier Detail
    • Proposed Development Details
  • A certifier will be able to confirm they have been given consent from the applicant before making the edits and upload the consent form as well.
  • As a certifier, you will only be asked for ‘Development Information’ relevant to the development type selected as part of OC application. Questions have been conditionally removed to reduce irrelevant capturing of data and help reduce application determination times.

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The next enhancement, due for release on due 21 May 2021, will address concerns about requirements for certifiers to make declarations as part of the application process.