Overview

Schedules are reports or other deadlines imposed upon a regulated entity as a condition of a permit, compliance action, or project (a "source record"). Schedules broadly apply to either submitted reports (e.g., an annual emissions summary report) or notifications (e.g. notify the agency when construction begins or ends). Schedules are added to a source record as part of the drafting process. Schedules are tied to forms which can then be completed and submitted by the regulated entity through the nVIRO system and routed to the appropriate workgroup or user for review. The agency can then review, reject, and request resubmission of revised schedule submissions.

Schedules are added to schedule groups (see below). In turn, submission versions are submitted against each schedule. The diagram below illustrates the relationship between schedule groups, schedules, and submission versions:

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Schedule Groups

Schedules are always added to a permit as part of a schedule group. A schedule group is a list of one or more related schedules. Groups provide an easy way to categorize schedules that logically belong together. For example, an “Air Reporting” schedule group might contain a number of different schedule forms that are required to be submitted for compliance with an air permit. Schedule groups also make it possible to calculate a due date for a schedule in a group, based on the received date or decision date of another schedule within that same group (see Triggered due date in the Schedule Due Dates section below).

Adding Schedules to a Permit

Schedules can be added to a permit in one of three ways: by adding a new schedule group, by copying a predefined schedule group, or by transferring an existing schedule group from another permit on the site. Regardless of the method used, the schedule must first be added to a schedule group, as noted above.

• To add one or more schedules to a permit, navigate to the permit and click the Schedules tab.

• Click the Add Schedules button. The three options for adding a schedule are displayed, as shown in the following image. Note that the third option, Transfer Schedule Group(s), is only available if configured as such on the Edit Permit Category page for the relevant permit category.

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• Click Add Schedule Group to create a new schedule group. Enter a name for the schedule group and then click the Add Schedule button to add one or more schedules to the group.

• Click Copy Schedule Group to add a predefined schedule group. The Copy Schedule Group page is displayed.

  • In the Copy From field, select whether the schedule group should be copied from a predefined template (configured on the Admin > Form Sets page), or copied from another permit on the same site.

  • In the Program Area field, select the program area in which the schedule group was configured. This determines which schedule groups are available in the Schedule Template field.

  • In the Schedule Template field, select the schedule group that should be copied to the current permit. Once the schedule group has been added to the permit, it can be edited as needed (i.e., schedules can be added to or removed from the scheduled group).

• Click Transfer Schedule Group(s) to transfer a schedule group from another permit on the same site. The user is presented with a list of active or in-process permits on the same site that are not superseded by the currently in-process permit, as shown in the following image. Unlike the “copy from another permit on the same site” option discussed above under Copy Schedule Group, the transfer option moves schedule groups from one permit to another.

As noted above, the Transfer Schedule Group(s) option is only available if the “Allow Transferring Schedules Between Different Permits” checkbox has been checked on the Edit Permit Category page for the relevant permit category:

Schedule Types

A schedule is defined by a schedule type. Schedule types are defined by system administrators. For example, a schedule type might be "Construction Progress Report". The schedule type name becomes the schedule name, but can be overridden on a case-by-case basis. For example, the schedule may be named "Treatment Unit Construction Progress Report". While the name changes, the underlying schedule type drives the behavior of the schedule, such as the form to display when a schedule is filled out, whether or not to create a violation when a schedule is not submitted by its due date, or whether or not the schedule requires approval by the agency, for example.

Schedule Due Dates

Schedules anticipate the submittal of some information by a regulated party at some point in the future. When a schedule is created, the appropriate due date behavior is established. Schedules can be configured as follows:

• As needed (One Time) - the schedule is not due on any particular date and is therefore never considered late. Once it is received, the regulated party will not need to submit it again. For example, a schedule could be set up for a regulated party to notify the agency that construction has begun.

• As needed (Recurring) - the schedule is not due on any particular date and is therefore never considered late. The regulated party may have to send this report many times. For example, this due date type would be used for a schedule that requires a regulated party to submit a report each time a specific event occurs. |
  Recurring schedules may be set to Allow Single Draft or Allow Multiple Drafts:

  • When an Allow Single Draft schedule is submitted, a new schedule is created and made available for submission. This ensures only one draft of the schedule may exist at a time.

  • When an Allow Multiple Drafts schedule is begun, a new schedule is created. This allows for multiple draft submissions to exist at once.

• Specific Due Date - the schedule has a specific due date. It is considered late if it is not received by the due date. Whether or not a violation is created depends on the configuration of the schedule's underlying schedule type.

• Triggered Due Date - Used when the receipt or processing of one schedule triggers the availability of another schedule. For example, receipt of a “Construction Begun Notification” schedule can trigger the availability of a “Construction Completed Notification” schedule. The triggered schedule will have no due date and will not be available for submittal until a trigger event occurs.

• Calculated Due Date (recurring) - Creates a recurring instance of the same schedule over time. For example, when a progress report is received, the next progress report can be due X days from receipt of the first report.

Trigger Events

Trigger events are defined for Triggered and Calculated Due Date (recurring) schedule due dates. Trigger events can be one of the following:

• Achieved Date - the Achieved Date entered by the reviewer

• Received Date - the received date of a triggering schedule,

• Decision Date - the review decision date of the triggering schedule, or

• Received Date Override - the manually-entered received override date of a triggering schedule.

Recurring (Repeating) Schedules

Schedules can be set to repeat on a regular interval, such as the 30th of every month. In order for a schedule to be recurring, it must have a due date type of either a specific due date or a triggered due date. Recurring schedules can be set up for a specific number of occurrences, or can be set to repeat in perpetuity for as long as the parent item is active (such as an effective or extended permit). 

Schedule Permissions (Managing Schedule Groups, Schedules, and Submission Versions)

Schedules are typically added to or removed from a source record before it has been made active. Users with edit access to the record prior to activation may edit its schedules.  

After the source record is activated (e.g., a permit is issued), the schedules are locked from further adjustment, with a few notable exceptions:

Managing Schedule Groups on an Active Source Record

• A schedule group can be added to a source record if the current user has administrative rights.

• A schedule group can be deleted from a source record if the following conditions are met: 

  1. the current user has administrative rights,

  2. none of the schedules in the group have associated violations, and

  3. none of the schedules in the group have any draft or submitted submission versions.

Managing Schedules on an Active Source Record

• A schedule can be added to a schedule group if the group is configured to allow adding new schedules to the group after its source record is activated.

• A schedule's Due Date can be changed if the following conditions are met:

  1. the schedule is configured to allow adjustment of the due date after the permit is activated,

  2. the permit is in an Active status, and

  3. the current user is the compliance manager.

• A schedule can be deleted from a schedule group if the following conditions are met:

  1. the current user has administrative rights, 

  2. none of the schedules in the group have associated violations, and

  3. none of the schedules in the group have any Draft or Submitted submission versions.

Managing Submission Versions on an Active Source Record

Submission versions are an instance of a received report related to a schedule. Over time, since a report can be revised and resubmitted, nVIRO supports multiple submission versions.

• A submission version can be added to a schedule if the current user has rights to manage the associated schedule (such as being the assigned processor) and a draft nFORM submission version does not already exist on the schedule. 

• A submission version can be deleted from a schedule if:

  1. the current user has permissions to edit the schedule,

  2. the version is the highest (latest) available,

  3. the Receipt Type is either "Paper" or is a draft nFORM submission created by an internal (agency) user, and

  4. no Decision has been entered.

Routing and Processing Schedules

This section describes schedule behavior when a new schedule submission is received.

Routing a Schedule for Review

Received schedule submissions can be configured to be routed to different workgroups and users.

The default behavior is as follows:

• Permit schedules are routed to the permit's assigned permit compliance manager.

• Compliance Action schedules as they are routed to the Compliance Action's assigned processor.

• Project schedules are routed to the Project's assigned project manager.

• Schedules created via an Ad Hoc form set are assigned to the form set initial submission’s workgroup and processor.

Schedule submissions are never routed to the "InBox" Page.

In the event that the schedule is associated with a permit, compliance action, or project that does not have a user assigned to one of the roles above, it will not be assigned. This should be avoided by ensuring that all records have an assigned processor, as the schedule may never be reviewed or acknowledged by the agency.

The default routing rules can be overridden on a form-by-form basis, such as when a schedule of a certain type is always reviewed by a specific workgroup or user. Custom routing can be configured on the Workgroup Routing tab on the Form Edit Page to specify the appropriate workgroup/user.

Processing a Received Schedule

Once a received schedule submissions is routed to an assigned user, it will appear in the assigned user's My Tasks. The assigned user can then set the Decision on the schedule. Depending on how the schedule is configured, the decision options will either be Acknowledged, Approved, Not Approved, or Not Approved - Closed.

If a schedule is set to "Not Approved", a Resubmittal Due Date can be supplied. This new date is not used for compliance purposes. The schedule will still be considered overdue if an approvable submission is not received before the schedule due date.

Setting a schedule to "Acknowledged", "Approved", or "Not Approved - Closed" will set the schedule submission's status to "Complete" and the schedule will be considered closed.

If a schedule decision is set to "Not Approved", the schedule submission record stays "In Process", allowing the submitter to revise and resubmit the schedule.

Automatically Setting a Schedule Decision (No User Intervention)

nVIRO can be configured to automatically set a schedule decision based on information provided by the submitter in the form. This is useful for high-volume submissions that the agency does not want to review one by one. Another example where this is useful is if an initial and final report are required (such as sewer overflow reports).

For forms configured for automated review, a new decision type of "Requires Resubmission" is available. This decision behaves the same as the "Not Approved" decision type in that the submission remains "In Process" and the submitter can revise, correct, and resubmit.

Enabling this capability requires a special setup in the design of the schedule form. If needed, contact a configuration expert for assistance in setting up the schedule form.

Schedule Evaluations and Violations

Every schedule has an associated evaluation record. The Evaluation stores any violations that have been identified related to the schedule. A late violation may be generated automatically if an un-approvable schedule submission was not received by the schedule due date. Also, the reviewer may record additional violations that were identified in the course of reviewing the schedule submission.

Schedule Statuses

Schedules have a life cycle, largely tracked by status. Like other records, each status falls into a broader category of Draft, Active, or Closed. The following table lists the available schedule statuses:

Schedule Behavior with Closed or Superseded Permits

For permits, schedules are shared across permit revisions (e.g., v1.0 and v1.1). The same schedules will be visible when looking at a permit version, regardless of revision number. Therefore, existing schedules will remain active when a permit is superseded by a newer permit revision. 

When a permit version is inactivated (Terminated, Superseded, etc.), then any unsubmitted schedules that were due before the permit's Terminated/Inactive Date will remain active. In other words, nVIRO assumes that the schedules are still due and subject to compliance even after that permit version. 

Recurring Schedule Behavior with Extended or Expired Permits

For Extended or Expired permits, recurring schedules are created nightly for schedules that are due up to 6 months after the current month. For example, if an annual report is due on 7/15/2021, its schedule will be created on 1/1/2021.

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