accela-civic-guide
Accela Civic Platform Integration
Velaro connects to the Accela Civic Platform so citizens can check permit status, look up inspection schedules, renew licenses, and submit 311 requests through chat, SMS, or IVR — without calling your agency or visiting in person.
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Connect Accela Civic
1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Accela Civic
2. Enter your Agency URL (the base URL of your Accela Civic Platform instance, e.g., https://yourstate.mygovhub.com)
3. Enter your API Client ID and API Client Secret (generated in the Accela Developer Portal for your agency)
4. Click Save
If your agency does not have API credentials configured, contact your Accela administrator to create an API application in the Accela Developer Portal and grant it the appropriate agency scopes.
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What AI Can Do
| Action | Details |
|---|---|
| Check permit status | Return the status of a permit application by application number or property address |
| Look up inspection schedule | Return scheduled inspections for a permit application |
| Check license renewal status | Return the current status and expiration date of a business or professional license |
| Answer fee and document questions | Return required documents and fee schedules for common permit and license types |
| Submit 311 service requests | Collect citizen name, contact info, location, and issue description, then submit a new service request in Accela |
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Use Cases
Permit status inquiry via IVR — Contractor calls your agency's IVR and says "check permit status." Velaro asks for the application number, queries Accela, and reads back the current status and any pending conditions.
Inspection schedule lookup by SMS — Contractor texts your agency number with their permit number. Bot retrieves the upcoming inspection date and time from Accela and replies via SMS.
License renewal question — Business owner contacts your agency chat asking if their license has expired. Bot looks up the license by name or license number and returns the expiration date and renewal instructions.
311 service request via chat widget — Resident reports a pothole on your city website chat. Bot collects the street address, type of issue, and contact info, then submits the service request to Accela and returns a confirmation number.
IVR reminder outreach — Velaro proactively sends SMS reminders to applicants with upcoming inspection deadlines. Citizens can reply to reschedule or confirm — the bot handles the response.
Fee and document questions — Resident asks what documents are required to pull a residential electrical permit. Bot returns the checklist and fee from your Accela permit type configuration.
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Supported Accela Record Types
The integration works with any Accela record type configured in your agency. Common types include:
| Record type | Lookups available |
|---|---|
| Building permits | Status, inspections, conditions, expiration |
| Business licenses | Status, expiration, renewal instructions |
| Professional licenses | Status, expiration, continuing education requirements |
| Service requests (311) | Create, status lookup by confirmation number |
| Planning applications | Status, hearing dates |
Your account manager configures which record types are active during setup.
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Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to check |
|---|---|
| Permit status not found | Confirm the citizen is using the exact application number from their Accela confirmation. Application numbers are case-sensitive in Accela. Check Settings → Integrations → Accela Civic → Activity for API errors. |
| Integration shows Disconnected | Your Accela API credentials may have expired or been revoked. Contact your Accela administrator to confirm the API application is still active and regenerate credentials if needed. |
| 311 submission fails | Check Settings → Integrations → Accela Civic → Activity for the error response. Common causes: required fields missing, service request type not enabled for API submission, or authentication failure. |
| Inspection schedule shows nothing | Confirm inspections have been scheduled in Accela for the permit application. If the permit is in a status that does not allow inspections, no schedule will appear. |
| Wrong agency data returned | Confirm the Agency URL entered in Velaro is the correct base URL for your Accela instance. Multi-agency deployments require separate Velaro configurations per agency. |
Contact Velaro support at support@velaro.com with your agency name and Accela instance URL for setup and escalation.
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