# Utility zones
Utility zones connect Civillo permits to results from Before You Dig Australia (BYDA), so that anyone reviewing a permit can see the relevant underground utility plans without leaving Civillo.
TIP
Utility zones are specific to Australia, since they rely on BYDA. They are only useful for projects that need to check for underground utilities through this service. Utility zones are also an opt-in feature and are not available by default. Please contact the Civillo sales team at sales@civillo.com to request access to this functionality for your project.
# How it works
A utility zone is a named area, defined as a polygon, that Civillo stores against your organization. Each zone is assigned to one or more projects.
When a permit template requires BYDA, Civillo requests the search on your behalf and the results appear directly against the permit once they're available, ready for reviewers to check.
WARNING
Utility zones only cover the area you define. If a permit's drawn area extends outside all of your project's utility zones, Civillo will not be able to show any BYDA results for it, and you will need to attach the relevant files to the permit separately.
# Setting up utility zones
Utility zones are created and assigned to projects by Civillo staff. If you'd like utility zones set up for a project, contact the Civillo sales team at sales@civillo.com with the area(s) you'd like covered. A zone can be retired once it's no longer needed. Retiring a zone stops it from being matched against new permits, but keeps its historical results available. Contact sales@civillo.com to retire zone(s).
# Requiring BYDA on a permit template
To require BYDA on a permit template:
- Navigate to Permit templates and open the template you want to configure.
- Select the Require BYDA checkbox.
- Save the template.
Permits created from a template with this setting enabled will be checked against your project's utility zones, and will show a BYDA files panel in the permit creation and summary views.
# Using utility zones on a permit
When creating or viewing a permit whose template requires BYDA:
- A Show utility zones switch lets you display the utility zone boundaries on the map, so you can see whether your permit area is covered.
- A BYDA files panel lists the matched utility zone(s) and their most recent results. Click Download all responses to download every file for a zone as a single combined PDF.
If the permit's drawn area doesn't fall entirely within an existing utility zone, you'll see a warning explaining that the area does not fall entirely within existing utility zones. In this case, attach the relevant utility plans to the permit manually rather than relying on the BYDA files panel.
# Reviewing inquiry data
Project administrators with permit management access can review BYDA inquiry history for a project's utility zones by navigating to
Administration -> Project -> Utility zones
This page shows the utility zones assigned to the project on a map, along with an Inquiry data panel listing past BYDA inquiries and their results. Select an inquiry zone from the map or list to view its details, and use Download all responses to retrieve all files for that inquiry.
# Next steps
- Permit templates: configure which templates require BYDA
- Permits overview: general permit administration