We have listened to user feedback around the process of copying applications and are pleased to be able to improve this function with more flexibility and information where needed.

The feature will be available in early February, and we will monitor feedback and look to deliver further improvements going forward.

More options when copying applications

Users have requested several additional functions that we can now start to deliver.

Choosing not to copy supporting documents

Users will be able to choose whether they want to carry over an application’s uploaded supporting documents or not when making a copy, in addition to the choice to copy the site location and applicant/agent details.

This will save a user time having to manually remove documents if they are not needed for the copy.

Changing application type

Users will be able to change the application type when making a copy.

This will be done using the same options as when creating an application from scratch, so should be familiar to users, and a confirmation will be presented to users.

When changing application type, users can still opt whether to retain site location and applicant/agent details (as per above). Additionally, all common questions will have their answers copied across.

This means that:

• Answers will be copied across where the entire question is the same in the original and new application type (e.g. for ‘Employment’ where all application types share the same question template).
• It will not copy individual common answers between different variations of the same question (e.g. answers in each of the distinct ‘Description…’ questions for each application type)

As an example of how this will work, see the screen below and numbered annotations:

1. ‘Site Location’ – Copied across by user choice.
2. ‘Applicant Details’ – Not copied across by user choice.
3. ‘Description of the Proposal’ – Not copied across, the original and new application types use different variations of this question.
4. ‘Site Area’ – Copied across, the same question is used for both the original and new applications.

Better contextual information when copying applications

When changing type, the system will warn users that questions and supporting documents may need to be reviewed where they have been copied over.

Additionally, users will be reminded to review their responses on the new application.

Additionally, the system will check if files uploaded to the original application are still relevant based on the individual requirements of the new application’s type.

Any document types that are specifically not required will be removed from the copy and details will be shown to the user to confirm these actions. Such files can always be re-uploaded to the new application by the user if still required.