SDL Desktop Release Notes

New Features

Updated NJ State UCC Electrical and Fire Tech Cards Now Supported

SDL Desktop's Construction module has been updated to reflect the New Jersey DCA's revised UCC Electrical (F120) and Fire Protection (F140) tech card formats, including new fields and revised fee calculations.

Electrical Subcode:

• A new updated Electrical tech card report (UCC F120) is available and can be selected from the permit's Related tab
• New fields are available on the Electrical subcode form, including EV Charging Stations (quantity, size, fee), PV Systems, Energy Storage, Load Shed Devices, AMP Disconnects, Smoke Detectors, CO Detectors, HVAC equipment types (Central AC, Mini Split, Space Heater, Air Handler, Furnace), and Pole Height
• Fee calculations and the fee worksheet have been updated to support all new Electrical field groups
• Fields removed from the updated state form have been moved to a new Historical tab on the Electrical subcode form, preserving access to legacy data without cluttering the active form

Fire Protection Subcode:

• A new updated Fire Protection tech card report (UCC F140) is available
• New fields are available on the Fire Protection subcode form, including Initiating Devices, Notification Appliances, Dedicated Fire Service Equipment, Dry/Wet Chemical Systems, Clean Agent Suppression, Portable Fire Extinguishers, Exit Signs, ERCC Systems, and a Low Voltage indicator
• Fee calculations and the fee worksheet have been updated to support all new Fire field groups
• Fields removed from the updated state form have been moved to a new Historical tab on the Fire subcode form, preserving access to legacy data without cluttering the active form

Impact: Construction subcodes for Electrical and Fire Protection now capture all fields required by the updated NJ State UCC tech cards, ensuring permits, fee calculations, and printed tech card reports are fully compliant with the revised state forms.

Fire Protection Subcode Updates

Electrical Subcode Updates

Improvements

Code Enforcement - Dynamic Fields for Certificates

SDL Desktop now supports dynamic fields in Code Enforcement Certificate templates, allowing municipalities to include application-specific data directly in the certificate's Purpose field.

What's new:

• Two new dynamic fields are available for Code Enforcement Certificates: [Address] and [Expiration Date].
• [Address] populates with the Location Address of the certificate application.
• [Expiration Date] populates with the expiration date of the specific certificate application.
• Dynamic fields work consistently with how they function in RTF templates.

How it works:

1. Open a Code Enforcement Certificate template and navigate to the Purpose field.
2. Insert [Address] and/or [Expiration Date] placeholders where the values should appear.
3. When the certificate is printed, the placeholders are automatically replaced with the actual values from that application.

Impact: Staff can now create certificate templates that automatically display the correct location address and expiration date per application, eliminating the need for manual edits at print time. Existing certificate templates are unaffected.

Code Enforcement - Lead Certificate Enhancements

Several enhancements were made to Lead Certificates in the Code Enforcement module, enabling staff to track and record certificate types per lead certification record.

What's new:

• The Lead Type column on the Lead Certificates datagrid is now functional.  Values can be saved and retrieved per record.
• The Lead Certificate form editor now includes options to set the Lead Type, supporting values such as Three Year Lead Cert, Certified Lead Free, and Post 1978 Construction.
• The Lead options settings area now correctly labels the inspection type field as "Default Inspection Type," and a separate "Default Certificate Type" setting has been added.

Impact: Staff can now capture lead certificate type information directly on lead certification records, improving data tracking and reporting accuracy on the Lead Certification spreadsheet.

Code Enforcement - Setting Abatement Dates When Quick-Adding Multiple Violations

SDL Desktop now allows staff to set a single abatement date across all violations added in a quick-add session, eliminating the need to set dates individually for each violation.

What's new:

• A bulk abatement date option is now available when quick adding multiple violations in Code Enforcement.
• Setting a bulk abatement date applies that date to all violations in the batch at once.
• Individual violations within the batch can still have their abatement date overridden independently.
• The bulk date field is optional. Leaving it blank preserves the existing behavior where dates are set per violation or left blank.

How it works:

• Begin a quick-add session for multiple violations in Code Enforcement.
• Use the bulk abatement date option to set a single date for the entire batch.
• When saved, all violations in the session are saved with the selected abatement date.
• To override a specific violation's date, it may be edited individually.

Impact: Staff adding multiple violations at once can now set abatement dates in a single step, significantly reducing manual data entry during high-volume enforcement workflows.

Construction - CO Signature Auto-Applied to Construction Letters

SDL Desktop now supports automatically applying the Construction Official's signature to Construction letters, including the Inspection Notice Letter, Final Inspection Notice Letter, and Permit Pickup Letter.

What's new:

• A new button on the Contact tab in Tools > Construction Options allows admins to add or remove the Construction Official's signature for use on letters.
• When configured, the Construction Official's name and signature image are automatically applied to applicable letters at print time. No manual sign-off is required.
• Signature support extends to both standard and alternate versions of the affected letters.
• Emailed report attachments now also include the Construction Official's name and signature, consistent with what appears in the on-screen report.

Impact: Staff no longer need to manually apply or collect the Construction Official's signature on routine Construction letters. Once configured in Construction Options, the signature is applied automatically across all supported letter types, including emailed attachments.

 

Engineering - Alternate Road Opening Permit Report Now Available 

SDL Desktop's Engineering module now includes an alternate Road Opening Permit report, allowing municipalities to use a customized permit printout format without affecting the standard report used by other customers.

What's new:

• A new "Use Alternate Road Opening Report" option is available in Engineering Options
• When enabled, the alternate report format is used when printing from both the Closure tab and the Permit tab
• The standard report remains the default and is unaffected for municipalities that do not enable this setting

How it works:

1. Navigate to Tools > Engineering Options
2. Check the "Use Alternate Road Opening Report" checkbox
3. When printing a Road Opening Permit, the alternate report format will be used in place of the standard printout

Impact: Municipalities requiring a customized Road Opening Permit layout can now use the alternate report format without impacting other customers who rely on the standard printout.

Health - Ward Field Added to Food Application and Inspection Forms

SDL Desktop's Health module now displays Ward information on Food applications and inspection forms, enabling staff to schedule inspections based on the ward associated with each application.

What's new:

• A Ward field has been added to Food application forms in the Health module
• Ward/zone values are now visible when scheduling inspections, allowing staff to assign inspections by ward
• When a parcel is linked to an application, the Ward value is automatically populated from the GeoWard layer

Impact: Staff can now use ward information directly within Food application and inspection workflows, making it easier to organize and assign inspections by geographic ward without needing to look up ward data separately.

Fire Prevention - Bulk Email Support for Renewal Applications

SDL Desktop's Fire Prevention module now supports bulk emailing of renewal applications directly from the datagrid, allowing staff to send multiple renewal notifications in a single action.

What's new:

• A new Bulk Email option is available in the datagrid edit menu when two or more Fire Prevention records are selected.
• Staff can select multiple renewal application records and email them all at once, without needing to open and send each one individually.

How it works:

1. In the Fire Prevention datagrid, select two or more renewal application records.
2. Click the Edit button to open the datagrid edit options.
3. Choose the Bulk Email option to send renewal application emails to all selected records at once.

Impact: Staff can now notify multiple applicants of their renewal applications in a single step, significantly reducing the time required to distribute renewal communications.

 

Fire Prevention - Properties Can Now Share a Block/Lot When Existing Records Are Inactive

SDL Desktop's Fire Prevention module now allows a new property record to be linked to a Block/Lot/Qualifier (BLQ) number that is already associated with other properties, as long as all existing linked properties are marked as inactive.

What's new:

• A new property record can now be linked to the same BLQ number as existing inactive property records
• The restriction preventing duplicate BLQ assignments now applies only when an active property is already linked to that BLQ — inactive records no longer block the association

Impact: Staff can now link a new property to a parcel that has historical inactive records tied to the same BLQ, without needing to manually remove or reassign those older records first.

 

Pet Licensing - Inspection Form Now Shows Only Active Inspectors

The Inspector dropdown on the Pet Licensing inspection form has been updated to display only active inspectors, reducing clutter in municipalities with large inspector lists.

What's new:

• The Inspector dropdown on Pet Licensing inspection forms now filters to active inspectors only
• Existing inspections assigned to inactive inspectors continue to load correctly — the inactive inspector's name is still displayed when viewing those records

Impact: Staff can find and assign inspectors more quickly without scrolling through inactive entries, keeping the inspector list clean and relevant.

Fixed Issues

Code Enforcement - Department Prints Correctly on Licenses

Two display issues affecting the Department Info header on printed Code Enforcement licenses have been resolved.

What's fixed:

• Multi-line Department Info now prints in full on licenses. Previously, only the first line of text was included in the printout.
• Long Department Info text no longer overlaps with the logo image in the upper-left corner of the license.

Impact: Code Enforcement licenses now print with complete, correctly formatted department header information, ensuring licenses display as intended regardless of the length or line count of the Department Info field.

 

Code Enforcement - Infraction Location No Longer Overlaps Statute on Violation Notice

When an Infraction Location was entered across multiple lines, the text would overlap with the statute section on the printed violation notice letter.

What's fixed:

• The spacing between the Infraction Location and the statute on violation notice letters now adjusts dynamically based on the number of lines in the Infraction Location field, preventing any overlap.

Impact: Violation notices print cleanly regardless of how many lines are entered in the Infraction Location field, ensuring all content is legible and properly laid out on the printed document.

Code Enforcement - Signatures Display Correctly on Inspection Reports

Signatures on Code Enforcement inspection reports, including the Inspection Summary and Violation Notice, were not sized or positioned correctly, causing the inspector's name and part of the signature line to remain visible beneath the signature image.

What's fixed:

• Signatures on inspection reports now properly cover the name and signature line, consistent with how signatures display on other report types

Impact: Printed inspection reports now display signatures cleanly and consistently, with no inspector name or signature line showing through beneath the signature image.

 

Code Enforcement - "Update All Registry Owner" Button No Longer Clears New Property Registries

Using the "Update All Registry Owner" button in Code Enforcement would cause recently added property registry records to disappear from view, preventing staff from opening and completing those records after clicking the button.

What's fixed:

• Newly added property registry records remain visible and accessible after using the "Update All Registry Owner" button, allowing staff to open and enter information into those records immediately after updating.

Impact: Staff can now confidently use the "Update All Registry Owner" button without losing access to newly added registry records, eliminating a disruptive interruption in the property registry workflow.

Construction - Permit Status Correctly Reflects Denied Certificate Prior Approvals

Permits with all final inspections passed but one or more denied Certificate Prior Approvals were incorrectly showing a status of "Finals Passed" instead of "Prior Approval." This could allow a certificate to be inadvertently issued despite an outstanding denied prior approval. This has been resolved.

What's fixed:

• A permit now correctly displays a status of "Prior Approval" if any Certificate Prior Approval is in a Denied status, consistent with how Not Started and In Progress statuses are already handled
• Certificate issuance is no longer possible in this state, preventing certificates from being issued when prior approvals remain unresolved

Impact: Staff can now trust the permit status to accurately reflect the state of all Certificate Prior Approvals, reducing the risk of certificates being issued prematurely when a prior approval has been denied.

Construction - Size Range Fee Subtotals Display Correctly on Electrical Worksheet

When fees were calculated using the Size Range basis on the Electrical fee schedule, the worksheet displayed incorrect subtotals for individual line items. The overall total was calculated correctly, but the per-item subtotals shown on the worksheet were not.

What's fixed:

• Size Range fee items now display the correct multiplied subtotal on the worksheet, accurately reflecting the quantity × unit amount calculation for each line item

Impact: Staff and administrators reviewing the Electrical fee worksheet can now trust that per-item subtotals are accurate, ensuring full transparency between the line-item breakdown and the final fee total.

Construction - Standalone UCC-L700 Summary Page Now Includes All Fees

When printing just the summary page of the UCC-L700 report, "Other Fees" line items were missing from the output, causing both the fee breakdown and the total to be incorrect. This did not occur when the summary was printed as the last page of the full report.

What's fixed:

• All "Other Fees" are now included on the UCC-L700 summary page when using the "Print just the summary page of the L700 report" option, matching the output of the full report's summary page.

Impact: The standalone UCC-L700 summary page now accurately reflects all fee line items and totals, ensuring reports are consistent and reliable regardless of how they are printed.

Construction - Violation Statute Rules Dropdown Now Matches Construction Options Order

The statute rules dropdown in Construction violations now displays rules in the same order as they are configured in the Construction Options -> General tab.

What's fixed:

• Statute rules in the Construction violations dropdown are sorted to match the order defined in Tools > Construction Options > General tab

Impact: Staff no longer need to cross-reference two differently ordered lists when selecting statute rules on construction violations, making data entry faster and less error-prone.

 

Fire Prevention - Activity Month Multi-Edit Now Sets the Correct Month

When using the Activity Month multi-edit feature on the Active Units datagrid in Fire Prevention, the selected month was being saved as one month ahead of what was chosen.

What's fixed:

• The Activity Month multi-edit feature on the Active Units datagrid now saves the correct month that was selected, with no offset applied

Impact: Staff can now reliably use multi-edit to bulk update activity months on unit records, with confidence that the month saved matches what was selected.

 

Fire Prevention - Expiration Date Update Prompts Now Appear After Municipay Online Payments for Unit Permits

When a Fire Prevention unit permit was fully paid via a Municipay online payment request, the prompts to update the permit expiration date were not appearing.

What's fixed:

• Processing a Municipay online payment in full for a Fire Prevention unit permit now triggers the same expiration date update prompts that appear for other payment methods.

Impact: Staff processing online payments for unit permits can now update expiration dates immediately after payment, consistent with the workflow for all other payment types and eliminating the need for a manual follow-up step.

Fire Prevention - Expired Miscellaneous Permits No Longer Persist on Home Page

Expired Miscellaneous Permits were continuing to appear in the "Expiring Miscellaneous Permits" section of the Fire Prevention home page after their expiration date had passed, with no straightforward way to remove them.

What's fixed:

• The Expiring Miscellaneous Permits list on the Fire Prevention home page now correctly reflects the configured day count window, showing only permits expiring within the next X days on the right-hand side, and permits that expired within the last X days on the left-hand side.
• Permits that have expired beyond the configured window are no longer displayed.

Impact: The Fire Prevention home page now displays an accurate and up-to-date view of expiring miscellaneous permits, giving staff a reliable at-a-glance summary without needing to manually remove stale records.

 

Fire Prevention - Portable Fire Extinguisher Checkbox No Longer Auto-Checks on Detector Inspection Requests

On Fire Prevention detector inspection requests, the Portable Fire Extinguisher checkbox was automatically re-checking itself even after a user had manually unchecked it, preventing the field from accurately reflecting the record's data.

What's fixed:

• The Portable Fire Extinguisher checkbox on detector inspection requests now retains its unchecked state when a user unchecks it, saving correctly and no longer reverting automatically

Impact: Staff can now accurately record whether a portable fire extinguisher is applicable on detector inspection requests, ensuring the data on each record reflects what was actually entered.

 

Fire Prevention - Quick Descriptions Now Apply Regardless of Selected Statute Source

In the Fire Prevention inspection editor, Quick Descriptions selected via the Quick Violation button would only populate data if the Quick Description's source matched the source selected in the Quick Violation statute source dropdown. Quick Descriptions with a different source were silently ignored.

What's fixed:

• Quick Descriptions now apply correctly when selected via the Quick Violation button, regardless of which source is selected in the statute source dropdown.

Impact: Staff can now use any Quick Description in the inspection editor without needing to match the statute source dropdown first, eliminating unexpected gaps in violation data entry.

 

Health - General License Printouts No Longer Display a Border When None Is Configured

General License printouts in the Health Pro module were displaying a border even when the border option was set to "None" for that license type.

What's fixed:

• General License printouts now correctly reflect the border setting configured for each license type, displaying no border when "None" is selected.

Impact: General License printouts now match the formatting configured in the license type settings, ensuring printed licenses look as expected without unwanted borders appearing.

 

Pet Licensing - Blank Report Now Respects Alternate Renewal Letter Settings

The Blank Pet License report was always generated in the standard format, ignoring the "Use Alternate Renewal Letter" and "Use Alternate Renewal Letter 2018" settings configured in Pet Licensing Options > Pet Types.

What's fixed:

• The Blank Pet License report now uses the correct alternate renewal letter format when one is enabled in Pet Licensing Options > Pet Types, matching the format of the renewal letter for that pet type.

Impact: Blank Pet License reports now print consistently with the renewal letter format configured for each pet type, ensuring a uniform appearance across all Pet Licensing printed output.

 

Pet Licensing - Send Renewal Email Confirmation Now Accurately Reports Emails Sent

When using the Send Renewal Email option in the Active Pets datagrid, the completion confirmation was reporting that emails had been sent for all selected records, even for pet owners with no email address on file. No emails were actually sent to those records, but the count was inaccurate. 

What's fixed:

• The confirmation message after sending renewal emails now accurately reflects only the number of emails that were actually sent, excluding records where no pet owner email address exists.

Impact: Staff can now trust the renewal email confirmation count to be an accurate tally of emails successfully sent, making it easier to identify which pet owners still need to be contacted through other means.