Standard vs. Temporary Permits

This article explains how standard term permits and temporary permits handle vehicle assignments and plate scanning in OPSCOM. It outlines how administrators can configure vehicle activity limits so enforcement officers can verify permit validity across multiple vehicles on a single user account. This article is intended for OPSCOM administrators.

Intro

Standard permits are long-term, account-based passes that can cover all vehicles registered to a user profile, making them ideal for regular staff, faculty, and students. Temporary permits are short-term passes bound strictly to a single specific license plate, designed for visitors, contractors, or brief parking needs, and intended to be used up to 30 days (though, this can be changed in settings, allowing them to be used indefinitely). This guide explains the core functionality differences between standard and temporary permits within OPSCOM.

Setup and Configuration

Admin Side Setup

Hover over System Configuration, Users, then click User Types. Click the Edit button next to the target user type. Locate the Extra Active Vehicles field. Enter the desired number of additional active vehicles allowed per account (this is in addition to the default, of 1 vehicle) to match the total registered vehicles allowed, or set a higher value if lot capacity is not restricted. Click the Save button to apply the changes.

The Extra Active Vehicles field represents how many additional active vehicles a user may have on their profile, beyond their first required active vehicle. To view that wiki article on limiting active vehicles, click here!

User Side Setup

Log into the user portal and register all vehicles under the user profile. Instructions can be found on the User Experience page.

Using this Feature

Standard Permits and Vehicle Validity

Standard term permits are account-based rather than plate-specific. When a user holds an active standard permit, the permit covers the user profile and its associated vehicles.

Administrators can handle multi-vehicle accounts under standard permits in two ways:

• Default Profile Behavior: When an enforcement officer scans a plate that is linked to a profile with an active standard permit but is not marked as the primary active vehicle, the system alerts the officer that the profile holds a valid permit.

• Multi-Active Vehicle Allowance: By increasing the Max Active Vehicles limit for a user type, administrators allow users to maintain multiple active vehicles simultaneously. Every vehicle registered on the account will scan as active without requiring the user to switch active plates in the portal.

Standard permits apply to the user account level. If space and lot capacity are not concerns, increasing the allowed active vehicles per user type ensures that any vehicle registered on an account will scan as valid for enforcement personnel.

Temporary Permits and Vehicle Validity

Temporary permits are strictly plate-specific and cannot be shared across multiple vehicles on an account.

Key characteristics of temporary permit vehicle assignments include:

• Single Plate Binding: A temporary permit applies exclusively to the specific license plate selected during the purchase process.

• No Account-Level Coverage: Scanning a secondary vehicle on the same user account will not display temporary permit validity unless a separate temporary permit was purchased for that specific plate.

Temporary permits are bound strictly to a single vehicle plate. If a user drives a secondary vehicle, a separate temporary permit must be issued for that license plate.

Best Practices and Considerations

• Increase the Max Active Vehicles setting for user types if lot capacity is not a concern so that users with multiple vehicles do not need to manually toggle their active vehicle in the portal.

• Evaluate potential permit misuse before enabling high active vehicle limits if your organization has limited parking space or wants to prevent users from parking multiple vehicles simultaneously on a single permit.

• Ensure users register all potential vehicles in the portal prior to parking so enforcement officers can match scanned plates back to the valid account permit.