people portal user guide - mpac · produces a comma delimited data file (the pec.txt file)...

© Municipal Property Assessment Corporation 2018

Municipal Connect™ March 17, 2020

People Portal User Guide


Contents The People Portal ...............................................................................................................................1

Roles and Responsibilities ..................................................................................................................1

Municipal Administrator ........................................................................................................................... 1

Compliance Governor ............................................................................................................................... 2

Municipal Connect User ........................................................................................................................ 2

Privacy Disclaimer ..............................................................................................................................2

Logging On .........................................................................................................................................2

Levels of Access .................................................................................................................................3

Navigating the Tool Bar ......................................................................................................................5

Basic Search .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Custom Query ........................................................................................................................................... 7

General Information Tab ....................................................................................................................... 7

Property Address Tab ............................................................................................................................ 8

Reports ..............................................................................................................................................8

Potential Elector Counts Summary Report ............................................................................................... 9

Generate report .................................................................................................................................... 9

Export Data ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Map View ................................................................................................................................................ 10

Functionality .................................................................................................................................... 11

Name Search ........................................................................................................................................... 11

Created Date (Range) Search: ................................................................................................................. 12

Single Search ........................................................................................................................................... 13

Embedded Links .................................................................................................................................. 13

Municipal-wide Searches ........................................................................................................................ 15

Data Refresh Schedule ..................................................................................................................... 18

Logging Out ..................................................................................................................................... 18


Appendix A

Map View ..........................................................................................................................................1

Identifying Ward Errors ............................................................................................................................. 5

Satellite View Option ................................................................................................................................ 7

People Portal User Guide 1 of 18

The People Portal The People Portal is a feature of Municipal Connect 2.0 which allows users to search for, view and export people related data, including their respective non-assessment property information such as ward, poll, address, property code, etc. The People Portal allows users to complete customizes searches and exports of information related to the people within the user’s respective jurisdiction. The People Portal contains personal information, including, but not limited to:

o individual name; o municipal address; o mailing address (often the same as municipal address); o religion, if Roman Catholic (yes or no); o French language education rights (yes or no); o school support; o date of birth, and o citizenship (‘unconfirmed’, ‘alien’, or ‘Canadian’).

Roles and Responsibilities

Municipal Administrator The maintenance of People Portal municipal user profiles is the responsibility of the Municipal Administrator designated by the municipality. This individual is the only one authorized to create, edit and delete municipal user profiles. When a municipal user profile is being created, or edited by the local Municipal Administrator, they should always be aware of the terms of use, as well as, the terms and conditions of the Municipal License Agreement, paying particular attention to Section 3 of the Agreement, whereby:

The information contained in this product (the “Information”) is provided “as is” by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (“MPAC”) to the municipality (the “Institution”). The Institution assumes all risks and liabilities from the use of the information, and may only use the Information for internal planning purposes or the issuing of tax bills in accordance with the Municipal License Agreement and applicable Product Use Sheets entered into by MPAC and the Institution.

People Portal User Guide - Appendix A 2 of 18

Compliance Governor With the added functionality of access to people information within the system and on the products that can be exported, MPAC has established an added level of security to ensure Municipal Connect 2.0 usage and the further use of the data is compliant with all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements. Depending on each municipality, the same person may assume the role of both municipal administrator and compliance governor. Given that the Municipal Clerk’s role is already one of governing compliance with various statutory and regulatory requirements, in order to ensure appropriate use of the Municipal Connect 2.0 application and personal data provided therein, MPAC believes as a best practice the Municipal Clerk take on the role of compliance governor.

Municipal Connect User Each individual user is responsible for their appropriate access and use of MPAC data in accordance with the Terms of Use and Municipal License Agreement.

Privacy Disclaimer Both municipal users and MPAC are subject to the requirements contained in the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). Unauthorized use of personal information by MPAC or any other institution governed by the MFIPPA, including all Ontario municipalities, is prohibited by MFIPPA. In addition, the use of the all data within Municipal Connect 2.0 is regulated by the provisions contained in the Municipal License Agreement, and additional licensing considerations through MPAC’s data sharing agreement with Teranet. Under Municipal Connect 2.0 Terms and Conditions, municipalities are ultimately responsible for managing their own data governance. If you are unclear about whether your use meets the terms and conditions, please contact your Municipal Clerk or your local MPAC Municipal and Stakeholder Relations team.

Logging On • Each municipality has a local

administrator who creates and edits user profiles.

• Choose the Forgot Password? Link to complete the reset process.


• Users can repeat a password after three consecutive password changes. • Once username and password are entered, users are presented with the Home Page. • To log out, or change password, choose ‘username’ on

the menu bar.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Acknowledging terms and conditions is now required on every login

• Identical credentials may no longer be used concurrently. If a user logs in with identical credentials as another user who is already logged in, the first user is disconnected. This warns the first user that someone else is using their credentials.

Levels of Access There are two levels of access:

1. Standard Access - Basic Search plus Custom Query - access to property information linked to people

2. Enhanced Access - Basic Search plus Custom Query - access to property and people information

Under Custom Query, there are two search categories (tabs):

1. General Information Fields a. limited to roll number, ward/poll/suffix information, property type, unit class, legal

description, (roll) created date and updated date for Standard Access b. plus, name information for Enhanced Access

2. Property Address a. same search fields for both Standard and Enhanced Access


User Security Level Functionality / Data Elements Comments

Standard Access

Ability to search the people portal against the below data elements: roll number created date (range) updated date (range) ward, poll, sfx (poll suffix) property type unit class legal description

Any Municipal Connect user that has access to the People Portal will by default have Standard Access The Data elements within the Standard Access scope, accommodate searches to generate New Roll Entry results and the following reports: Household Counts

Enhanced Access

Ability to search the people portal against the below data elements: Roll number Name (first, last, middle) identifier (I, X, etc.) occupancy status date of birth (full) missing/partial birthdates Citizenship residency status religion school support school lease created date (range) updated date (range) ward/poll/poll suffix property type unit class French language rights designated ratepayer unit support capacity (estate, trustee,

etc.) legal description

A Municipal Connect user associated to Enhanced Access will by default have Standard Access The Data elements within the Enhanced Access scope, accommodate searches to generate New Roll Entry results and the following reports: Population Report Potential Elector Counts

Summary Report Household Counts


Navigating the Tool Bar


Basic Search Upon selection of the People Portal icon, the screen will display the Basic Search tool. This tool is available for both ‘Standard’ and ‘Enhanced’ access.

Shown here is how the Basic Search appears for an “Enhanced” access user:

For “Standard” access users, the Basic Search does not include the “Name” search option/field:


Custom Query Alternatively, the user can select the more granular ’Custom Query’ search tool

General Information Tab Under ‘Standard’ access protocols, the ‘General Information’ tab does not include people related search criteria (i.e. identifier, citizenship, religion, etc.):


Property Address Tab

In addition to general information, the ‘Custom Query’ tool includes additional search options found on the ‘Property Address’ tab:

Under ‘Enhanced’ or ‘Standard’ access protocols, the Property Address tab contains the same search criteria.

Reports Both ‘Standard’ access and ‘Enhanced’ access have access to the ‘Reports’ tab:

NOTE: The “New Roll Entry” report – users can now generate these results through a search based on “Created Date” by ‘Enhanced’ and ‘Standard’ level access users.

Counts of potential electors at ward /poll level

In-Year vs most current Roll/Year-End Counts of households where Unit Class = RU (Residential Unit), FRU (Farm Residential Unit) or RDU (Recreational Dwelling Unit).

Counts of all names where ID = M (male) or F (female) and Residency Code = U (primary residence

Counts of all persons in municipality


Potential Elector Counts Summary Report

The ‘Potential Elector Counts Summary Report’ provides the user with output options:

Note that the election date is defaulted to the next general municipal election but can be changed by the user. The date is used to calculate potential elector counts using date-of-birth to determine who will be at least 18 years of age on election day.

Generate report

This report provides a count of all units and potential electors (resident and non-resident) at the ward /poll /poll suffix level with totals for each ward section and an overall municipal total at the end of the report. The report can be printed by selecting the ‘Print’ button option.


Export Data Data related to information in the report can be exported in Excel or text format:

An Excel export will contain the same information as the Report. The text export selection produces a comma delimited data file (the PEC.txt file) containing every 19 digit roll number. Each roll number is followed by its ward, poll and poll suffix designations. Also included is each roll number’s resident and non-resident counts, and the property’s locational address.

Municipalities commonly import PEC file into Excel to make their ward /poll changes and corrections to affected roll numbers. However, such changes must be submitted to MPAC in the comma delimited text file format shown above. An Excel file can be saved as a text (.txt) or comma separated values (.csv) file, suitable for submission to MPAC. Note that MPAC does not require the elector count nor property locational address fields be included in the upload file.

When received, the file will be uploaded to MPAC’s database where changes /corrections to ward, poll and poll suffix designations will be applied to each affected roll number. An upload report and new municipal-wide PEC file will be produced and forwarded to the municipality for review and confirmation. Additional PEC uploads are done if necessary.

Map View

For an explanation of how to use the ‘Map View’ function, please see Appendix A, provided later in this User Guide.


Functionality In the following examples, search results will only include people information if processed under ‘Enhanced Access’ protocols.

Name Search Many data fields in each search screen have drop-down lists that activate upon initial keyboard entry.


Created Date (Range) Search: Other fields have short cuts that eliminate direct keyboard entries all together:


Single Search A single search is based on entries and selections made in one or more of each field and in one or more of each of the two data categories; General Fields and Property Address. More criteria selected for a search, will result in more specific results.

Searches with too little criteria (i.e. a partial roll number - 1809 010 036) may result in too many records for display (names have been removed for privacy purposes):

In accordance with the MPAC Data Sharing Agreement with Teranet, exports of search results that include licensed data, are limited to 5,000 records each. Licensed data includes:

• Owner Name • Service (mailing) Address • Sale Amount • Sale Date

Embedded Links Certain data fields within the displayed results may have embedded links (i.e. roll numbers in the above example). In this case, clicking on one of the roll numbers in the list brings up basic property and occupant information:


The user can return to the search results by selecting the ‘Back’ button to continue their investigation of other roll numbers.


Municipal-wide Searches Municipal-wide searches can be done on just one category:

Results may contain more columns of data than can be displayed in one view. By accessing the checkerboard icon in the top-right corner of the screen, the user can de-select one or more displayed columns:


Results display the total number of records, each record being a separate row for each name associated with a given property. The user can navigate to specific pages and change the number of records displayed on each page:

Search results can be sorted by any displayed category (i.e. Identifier) by clicking on the ‘up-down’ icon in each column heading:


Use the ‘Search’ box next to the checkerboard icon to find specific records contained in search results:

To export search results, use the ‘Export to Excel’ button in the upper left quadrant of the results screen:


Data Refresh Schedule Data provided within the People Portal is refreshed on a bi-weekly basis. The date of the most current refresh is provided on the top right hand corner of every display screen within the People Portal.

Notification will be provided at any time in future should there be a change to the current refresh cycle.

Logging Out Click on your user name in the top right hand corner of the Tool Bar and then click ‘Logout’.

For inquiries, further assistance and feedback, please contact your respective Municipal & Stakeholder Relations Account Manager - https://www.mpac.ca/Municipalities

https://www.mpac.ca/Municipalities

Appendix A

People Portal User Guide - Appendix A Page 1 of 8

Appendix A Map View The Map View function provides users the ability to view ward and poll assignments on each roll number in their municipality as currently maintained in MPAC’s Names Database1.

To access the Map View, select the Potential Elector Counts Summary Report under the Reports tab.

After selecting the Map View button, you will be presented with a solid colour area designating your municipality within a broader geographic area.

1 Please note that any changes made to ward /poll assignments are first processed in MPAC’s property assessment database (IPS) and will only appear in the Names Database as a result of an IPS extract. These extracts usually occur at two week intervals. However, this frequency is subject to change. If this is a concern, please check with MPAC to confirm current extract frequency.


Clicking on the coloured area will display a label identifying the municipality.


As you zoom in, this coloured block will break into different colours based on the current ward structure.

Zooming in further, will reveal poll divisions. The outline colour of each poll corresponds to the specific ward in which the poll is located.


Further zooming in will expose individual parcels2.

Clicking on any particular area of the screen will display the data behind each level of magnification (ward /ward + poll /ward + poll + address + roll number).

2 Note that parcels shown are based on the Ontario Parcel fabric and are subject to updates from Teranet.


Identifying Ward Errors

Based on a comparison of colours, some ward assignment errors are relatively easy to spot.


By zooming in, one can identify the affected parcel.

A similar approach can be used to identify potential poll assignment errors.


Satellite View Option

There is also a satellite view option (upper left corner of map) that can be switched back to ‘Map’ view at any time.


Note that this view also includes the Google Street View option.

The People PortalRoles and ResponsibilitiesMunicipal AdministratorCompliance GovernorMunicipal Connect User

Privacy DisclaimerLogging OnLevels of AccessNavigating the Tool BarBasic SearchCustom QueryGeneral Information TabProperty Address Tab

ReportsPotential Elector Counts Summary ReportGenerate reportExport Data

Map View

FunctionalityName SearchCreated Date (Range) Search:Single SearchEmbedded Links

Municipal-wide Searches

Data Refresh ScheduleLogging OutAppendix AMap ViewIdentifying Ward ErrorsSatellite View Option

people portal user guide - mpac · produces a comma delimited data file (the pec.txt file)...

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