Real-Time Alerts!

Real-Time Alerts! provide a method for companies to transmit important information to their agencies. These messages can be anything that is important for the agency to receive as soon as possible. This could include a notice of cancellation, a claim reported to the carrier, reinstatement of a policy, etc.

The Alerts! option can be initiated from the Real-Time Interface or from Night Utilities. From the Real-Time Interface, there is no requirement to pick a specific customer, nor is there a need to choose a policy. When the transaction is run, any Alerts! available from the companies for the agency are picked up from Real-Time.

To access the Real-Time Interface screen, click Clients and Files > Real-Time > Real-Time Interface.

To conduct the Alerts! transaction, follow these steps:

1. From the Real-Time Interface screen, click the Home icon located by the customer's name.
2. Under the Administrator section, click the Alerts! link. The Real-Time Interface connects to the server and returns any Alerts! available for the agency.

When Alerts! are received, they are converted into activities. The message of the activity starts with "TS-ALERT," followed by a brief description provided by the carrier. Alerts! provided by the carrier can also be generic and can be assigned to the carrier's account within Applied TAM.

Alerts! in Suspense

Alerts! intended for a specific customer or policy that do not find a match in Applied TAM are automatically put into a suspended state. These items must be moved manually to a customer and/or policy. The person who ran the Alerts! transaction also has an activity added to his or her account to remind him or her about suspended items.

To assign suspended Alerts! follow these steps.

1. From the Real-Time Interface screen, click the Home icon by the customer's name.
2. Under the Administrator section, click Alerts - Suspense Files.
3. On the Alerts - Suspense File screen, highlight an activity in the list, identify the desired customer, policy, or claim, and click Add. You may double click in each of these fields to bring up a list of possible choices. The activity moves from the suspense file to the customer.
4. Repeat step 3 until all items have either been moved or deleted from suspense.

Alerts! Setup

The Alerts! code default is to have the same activity code as in Applied TAM. If the alert code sent from the carrier does not have a matching activity code, the alert code will be created as a Applied TAM activity code. In order to avoid having new Applied TAM activity codes created during this process, it is recommended that the agency associate Alerts! codes with Applied TAM activity codes. This is completed through the Alerts! Codes Setup in the Real-Time Interface.

To associate an Alerts! code with an Applied TAM activity code, follow these steps.

1. From the Real-Time Interface screen, click the Home icon by the customer's name.
2. Under the Administrator section, click Alerts - Codes Setup.
3. On the Alerts - Codes Setup screen, highlight the Alerts! code in the list, and double click the Code in the Activity frame below the list. A list of Applied TAM activity codes displays.
4. Select the Applied TAM activity code that you wish to correspond to this Alerts! code, and click OK.

Activity assignment is based on the activity code assigned in Applied TAM. When activity codes are created in Applied TAM, a follow-up person can be designated for it. Alert codes are associated with Applied TAM activity codes, and the assignment for the alert is based on what the agency has defined for follow-up on the associated Applied TAM activity.

For example, if the agency has associated the Alerts! Direct Bill Status (DBS) with the Applied TAM activity code BILL, and the agency has predefined the CSR to follow up on the Applied TAM activity code BILL, then the alert code DBS will have that CSR assigned to follow up on the alert, provided that the Who Assigned code is set to Agency.

The Who Assigned designation is the person who will follow up on the activity/alert. This is set by activity categories.

If the Who Assigned designation is set to Company, then the company can assign the follow-up person. The company would need to know the individual's follow-up code in order to use this workflow for Alerts!.

If the Who Assigned designation is set to Individual, another list appears, containing all the Who codes for this agency. For a specific activity/alert, the person assigned will always be the follow-up person for that specific activity/alert, even if the policy or customer associated does not belong to that individual.

Alerts! Acceptance

Also available on the Alerts! Codes Setup screen is the ability to accept, reject or place into suspense returned Alerts!. Acceptance of Alerts! is configured by the alert code type. Select an alert type from the Alerts! - Codes Setup screen, and select from the following:

• If you want to automatically have this type of Alerts! added as activities, select the Yes radio button in the Alerts! Acceptance frame.
• If you want to automatically delete this type of Alerts! when returned, select the No radio button.
•  If you would like this type of Alerts! to automatically be put into suspense, even if a matching client or policy is found, select the Suspense radio button.

Note: Carriers who have implemented the Alerts! transaction have the option to return an action code. If the carrier returns an action code, it may overwrite what has been defaulted for the alert code.

Attachments

The Alerts! message is limited to 250 characters, and attachments may be assigned. An attachment is listed on the generated activity, where the user may assign it to the respective customer/policy/claim within the eFiling system.

Night Utilities

It is also possible to set up Applied TAM Night Utilities to collect available Alerts!. If you have the appropriate rights, follow these steps.

1. From the Home Base, click Utilities.
2. On the Utility Manager screen, open the System Administrative folder in the treeview.
3. Select Night Utilities Setup.
4. Click the arrow to continue.
5. On the Night Utilities Setup screen, select the Real-Time Alerts checkbox. When the Night Utilities run, a connection to Real-Time is made, and any available Alerts! are retrieved.