Configuration

Renewals can either be managed completely on FoodTrader or with payments made external to FoodTrader, through council’s system. The steps below outline the process for both ways.

You can change council’s default renewal settings in ‘Council Configuration’ under the ‘Configuration’ section.

Auto Reminder: renewals automatically issued to businesses on the set number of days before expiry.

Auto Fees: the pre-set fees are automatically applied to businesses before a renewal is issued.

Renewal Days: is the set number of days prior to renewal date for the auto renewals to be issued by OSCAR. The Renewal Days must be set at 90 days or less.

Changing the ‘Auto Reminder’ and ‘Auto Fees’ settings in ‘Council configuration’ only applies them as the default option for new business. It does not change existing registrations. To change existing registrations, the ‘Auto Reminder’ or ‘Auto Fees’ boxes must be selected on individual registrations. There is no way to do this in bulk.

Tip: to change these settings, open the registration, select the ‘Edit’ button located at the top of the page, make the changes, and then select ‘Save’.

It is important to note that if the ‘On Hold’ setting is set to ‘Yes’, it will override ‘Auto Fees’ and ‘Auto Reminder’ and no renewal will be issued.

This video focuses on the renewal configuration settings in OSCAR.

By the end of this video, you should understand how to:

• Apply an Auto Reminder setting allowing renewal reminder emails to be automatically sent.
• Setup Renewal Days to determine how many days before the expiry date FoodTrader users will receive an automatic reminder email and then be able to submit a renewal application from FoodTrader using the Renew function.

Councils have the capacity to opt for a flat fee model or a model that allows different fees to be set for premises of the same type.

Note: the instructions below relate ONLY to non-fixed Premises Types. FoodTrader is not yet designed to raise fees for Fixed Premises as these are managed out of other council systems. If you wish to exclude a Registration from fee calculations in FoodTrader because you charge the proprietor via their Fixed Premises, you should set the FoodTrader Registration as Auto Fees = No.

Fees can be set and updated for each premises type in the ‘Premises Fees’ section under ‘Configuration’. Edit them by clicking on the view icon then selecting ‘Edit’ at the top of the page.

For a Flat Fee Model, enter the per premises Registration and Renewal Amount. This will charge each premises of this type at the flat fee regardless of how many premises are associated with the registration.

Example

Council A charges $100 for each Class 3 mobile premises. Colin Coffee operates three Class 3 coffee vans. In the flat fee model, Colin’s registration fee would be 3 x $100 = $300. To achieve this outcome, configuration settings would be:

FoodTrader accommodates discounting of additional premises of the same type. To enable this, select ‘No’ on ‘Flat Fee Model’.

The record will refresh to display additional fields.

Additional Not Charged: use this field to specify how many additional premises of this type will be allowed at no fee (if applicable).

Additional Premises Amount: specifies the per premises rate that will apply to premises after the first premises and any additional not charged.

Maximum Fee Amount: specifies what the maximum amount will be. This maximum amount will override any Additional Premises fee settings.

Note: Setting Maximum fee to $0 will result in no Additional Premises fees being applied.

Example 1

Council B charges $200 for a Class 3 mobile premises and allows 2 additional premises to be operated under this single registration fee. For 4 or more premises, Council B charge an extra $75 for each premises.

Cathy Coffee operates five Class 3 coffee vans. In Council B’s discounted fee model, Cathy’s registration fee would be 1 x $200 + 2 x $75 = $350 (i.e., Cathy’s second and third premises will not attract an additional fee but her fourth and fifth premises will).

To achieve this outcome, configuration settings would be:

Example 2

Council C charges $450 for a Class 3 mobile registration which allows up to two premises to be operated. For operators of 3 or more premises, council charges $50. However, the maximum fee that council charges is $800. Charlie Coffee operates 12 Class 3 coffee vans. In Council C’s discounted fee model, Charlie’s registration fee would be 1 x $450 + 9 x $50 = $900. However, the actual fee that Charlie will be charged is $800 because that is the maximum fee that has been set. To achieve this outcome, configuration settings would be:

Setting a pro rata will adjust the total fee according to the pro rata, the current date and council’s renewal date. It is important to remember that pro rata only applies to registration fees and NOT renewal fees.

Example 1

Council D renews on 31 December each year and charges registration fees quarterly.

Annie Applicant lodges her application to register on 5 May. The system calculates Annie’s registration fee at 75% of the annual amount. (i.e., registration date is later than 31 March (end Quarter 1) but before 30 June (end Quarter 2).

Example 2

Council D renews on 31 December each year and charges registration fees monthly.

Community Group lodges an application on 5 July. The system calculates that Caroline’s registration will be active from July onwards until the 31^st of December and only charges for those 6 months (July – December). It is important to note that for the monthly registration pro rata fee setting to be applied, each individual premises fee will need to have ‘Monthly’ selected. To achieve this outcome, configuration settings would be:

This video focuses on how to create and upload your council signature, configure roaming Statement of Trade settings and apply pro-rata registration fees.

By the end of this video, you will understand how to:

• Upload your council signature to Council Configuration, and issue certificates with the signature embedded.
• Enable or disable the roaming statement of trade function in Council Configuration.
• Enable or disable pro-rata registration fees in Premises Fees.

Tips on saving your signature as a .PNG file

• It is important to note that .PNG is the only file type accepted when uploading a council configured signature. This is the ensure the image is uploaded at the highest quality, reducing blurring or pixelation.
• Whether you are uploading a logo or a signature, we recommend taking a snippet of the reference image and saving that as a .PNG file.
• Ensure you have minimal space on the left border of the image. This will ensure that when the certificate is produced, it aligns perfectly with the template. Also try to prevent capturing any other white/blank space at the borders of the image.
• Once you have snipped the image, click ‘save as ‘and select save as type .PNG.
• You are now ready to upload your image.

Upload your council signature

1. Using the navigation menu on the left, select ‘Council Configuration’.
2. On this page, you will be able to view your council settings.
3. At the top of the page, select ‘Edit’.
4. Scroll down the page to ‘Upload Signature’. Note guidance text advising .PNG file type only. See ‘Tips on saving your reference signature as a .PNG file’
5. Select ‘+Choose’, locate the .PNG file on your computer and select ‘open’.
6. You will see the page refresh and the image details are now visible.
7. Scroll back up to the top of the page and select ‘Save’.
8. Your signature will now display on all newly issued registration/notification certificates.

Update/Delete your council signature

1. Using the navigation menu on the left, select ‘Council Configuration’.
2. On this page, you will be able to view your council settings.
3. At the top of the page, select ‘Edit’.
4. Scroll down the page to ‘Upload Signature’. 
5. Select ‘X Remove’ below the .PNG file that is visible.
6. The signature has been removed. If you do not want to add a new signature, go to step 9.
7. Select ‘+ Choose’, locate the new .PNG file on your computer and select ‘open’.
8. You will see the page refresh and the new image details are now visible.
9. Scroll to the top of the page and select ‘Save’.

View your council signature on a certificate

1. Using the navigation menu on the left, select ‘Registrations’.
2. Use the ‘Filter’ options to refine your search.
3. Once you have located the relevant registration, click on the ‘View’ icon in the far-right column to open the registration.
4. Select ‘Preview Certificate’, you can see the signature you uploaded in the Council Configuration settings.
5. Please remember that if you replace your signature with a new one, it will only be visible on a certificate once you select the issue certificate button.

Roaming Statement of Trade settings

1. Using the navigation menu on the left, select ‘Council Configuration’.
2. On this page, you will be able to view your council settings.
3. At the top of the page, select ‘Edit’.
4. Scroll down to ‘Statement of Trade – Roaming Allowed’.
5. Select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ depending on your Council policy.
6. Scroll back up to the top of the page and select ‘Save’.
7. Your settings have now been updated and will be available in the FoodTrader system. If you selected ‘Yes’, business users will have the option of submitting a roaming Statement of Trade in the FoodTrader System for your Council. Alternatively, if you selected ‘No’, Business users will not be able to lodge a roaming Statement of Trade and a message will appear in the FoodTrader System advising them that this Council does not allow applications for a roaming Statement of Trade.

Pro-rata registration fees

1. Using the navigation menu on the left, select ‘Premises Fees’.
2. On this page you can see a list of registration and renewal fees associated with different premises types, organisation types, and classes.
3. Click on the ‘View’ icon in the far-right column to open the relevant fee record.
4. At the top of the page, select ‘Edit’ and scroll down to the ‘Registration Fee Pro Rata’ field.
5. Click on the dropdown box to see the options available.
6. If you are a council that does not use pro-rata fee calculations, select ‘None’.
7. If you are a council that does use pro-rata fee calculations, you will have the choice of selecting ‘Monthly’, ‘Quarterly’, or ‘Bi-annually’.
8. Once you have set this to the desired entry, scroll back to the top of the page and select ‘Save’. 
9. The premises fee has now been updated.