2016 December ‐‐‐ Welcome Thank You for a Great Year of Learning! As we close the year, it’s always good to look back with gratitude on what we’ve been able to accomplish together. This year, one of the things we’re most thankful for is how many opportunities we have had to work together with you, our Members, on ways to help you use your solutions more effectively. One of NISC’s focuses this year has been to help our Members get the most value they possibly can from the solutions they have in their offices. Many times, the way to begin that process is to take a deeper dive into what features and enhancements the products have that you might not be using. While our RBMs and other NISC staff continue to make onsite visits at your locations across the country, we also recognize that creating additional learning opportunities, geared towards the goal of using your products more efficiently is also important. If we look at the four main categories of learning events for NISC and our Members, the breakdown for the year looks like this: • Regional Training Events (Across the enterprise) = 876 attendees • Live WebEx Sessions (Across the enterprise) = 5,072 attendees • Recorded WebEx Sessions = (Across the enterprise) = 8,860 • Member Information Conference = 1,978 Those numbers add up to 16,786 individual learning opportunities for our Members this year, but just as important, it’s that many learning opportunities for NISC staff as well. Each time we are together with our Members, whether in person or via WebEx, NISC learns how our Members are using our solutions, what direction they are taking with them and how we can improve the enterprise offerings. Thanks for learning with us this year. We look forward to even more next year! Until next time,
Ed Wolff Vice President of Telecom and Enterprise Solutions
2016 December ‐‐‐ Members Matter Greetings Members! The holiday season is a special time of year where we take a moment to appreciate the past and look forward to the future. In this spirit, 2016 has been an exciting year at NISC. The year began with a strategic planning session with our Board of Directors, helping set the vision for the coming year for product innovations, Member Engagement and internal priorities. Some of our highlights over the past year have included:
‐ NISC Expands Distribution Analytics Offering ‐ New Lake Saint Louis Building Dedicated ‐ NISC a Top Workplace for 13 Straight Years ‐ Introducing Mosaic: A Cloud‐Based Business Intelligence Solution ‐ Record‐Breaking Member Information Conference
But the area of strategy we are the most proud of is the one that directly involves you. At our Annual Meeting in February, Vern Dosch outlined an initiative we refer to as Blocking and Tackling, a concept of executing on the fundamentals of what has sustained NISC for nearly 50 years: Our Members. We set a strategic goal to visit each one of our more than 750 Members over the course of a year. Because of your help, we are well on our way of reaching this goal. But we don't aim to be successful for the sake of checking off the box, we fundamentally believe our Members provide us the ultimate guidance in how best to proceed with every aspect of NISC. While the power of being intentional with a strategy is important, what's equally as important is we remain nimble in our approach, especially as a technology organization. President Eisenhower, in preparing for battle, famously said "Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." As we reflect back on 2016, we are grateful for what has been accomplished and look forward to the work left to do. Thank you for choosing NISC to be your technology partner.
Jasper Schneider Vice President of Member Engagement
As 2016 comes to a close, the various NISC divisions created a brief guide to provide you with year‐end pointers to make the start of the new year truly a great (and easy) one.
Accounting & Business Solutions
Year‐End Release – The year‐end release of iVUE, 2.37 is now available. All sites will need to upgrade to this ABS release prior to processing W‐2s, 1099s and the new 1094 and 1095 forms for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting.
Contacting Support – As we move closer to the end of the year, our call volume increases accordingly. With this in mind, here are a few tips that will help our support teams provide the most effective and efficient support for you:
o Scheduling Upgrade – Contact us early to schedule your upgrade to help ensure your requested date is available. While our Quality Assurance (QA) team tries to accommodate everyone’s request, time slots fill up quickly.
o Voice Messages – When leaving a voice message, please be sure to leave your last name along with your first name, company name, as well as your company ID. Since many companies have the same or similar names, without this information, it can be a challenge to identify who we need to contact.
o Details – It is also helpful to provide as much detail as possible in your support contact to us, whether that be a voice message, email or description when creating a CR through iVUE. More detail allows us to better identify the issue and provide you more efficient service to get you on your way.
o Contact Priorities – Since there are many ways to contact our support teams, now is a great time to review our contact methods and priorities we have in place for each method. The information on our guidelines for these various methods of contact can be found on the NISC Community > Member Resources >Processes & Procedures. The document, Contacting NISC’s Support Center, offers an explanation of each of the contact methods and the process in which we prioritize each method. Please note: ANY CRITICAL ISSUES SHOULD RESULT IN A PHONE CALL TO THE SUPPORT TEAM.
2016 Tax Forms – If you have not already done so, be sure to order your 2016 tax forms. These are now available from the NISC Supplies Store. A support awareness was posted to the ABS Support Awareness Community on October 18 and provides information on ordering your forms.
Affordable Care Act Update – Form 1094 and Form 1095 will print from within iVUE 2.37. There is no need to order these specific forms. Ensure you have your dependent information entered into the Payroll module to be included with the ACA reporting. You can enter dependent information at any time; however, a CSV (Comma Separated Values) import is available within the ABS software to help with entering dependents.
o If you are required or plan to file electronically, we recommend you contact the IRS now to register your company as you will need a Transmitter Control Code (TCC) from the IRS to be eligible to electronically file.
ABS Year‐End WebEx – There is still time to sign up for the year‐end training via WebEx. If you are unable to view these at the time they are presented, they will be recorded and available through Pathways:
12/6/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing
12/6/16 :: Processing 1099s
12/13/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing (Repeat)
12/13/16 :: Processing 1099s (Repeat)
12/20/16 :: General Ledger Profit Distribution
ABS Year‐End Community – Be sure to follow the ABS Year‐End Community to get the most up‐to‐date information and quick links to the above year‐end training WebEx recordings when they are available.
If you have any questions, please give the ABS Support team a call at 1.866.999.6472 extension 7132 or send an email to [email protected].
Telecom CC&B
Year‐End Procedures Reminder – Remember to check if you need to run your Year‐End Procedures before you do your first billing for any of January’s services. The Year‐End Procedures documentation and recorded WebEx can be found on the Community. Click here to access that information. If you are not sure if you need to run Year‐End Procedures, please visit your Company Options screen & check the “First month of year” on the General tab. If it says January, then you DO need to run year‐end procedures before producing any January bills.
FUSC Reminder – The FUSC rate changes effective January 1, 2017. Email reminders will be sent to SIS Contacts for each company. Your company will want to make sure to change this rate prior to billing for January services. The information will also be posted on the NISC Community.
Tax Rate Changes – If any of your company’s tax jurisdictions have changed their rates (State, County, City, Schools, Franchise, etc.), you will want to make sure to add the new tax ratings in your Tax Percent screen in SIS. If you are requested to begin collecting for a brand new tax, please work with our CC&B Telecom Support Team to be sure everything is in order prior to billing for January services.
Schedule Reports – Are there other reports that your auditors want your company to have as of 12/31/2016? Suggested reports to schedule to run on 12/31/2016 would be: AR Summary, Open Balance by Account, Service and Equipment Listing, Charges and Credits Listing, and any others you wish to provide data for as of 12/31.
Census Tract information – Run the FCC Form 477 Reports BEFORE December 31 to make sure you are not missing data such as upload/download speeds, technology and/or census tracts. If you need to add missing census tract data, be sure to do so on the Service Address – Address – Geocode tab in iVUE or on the Tax tab of the agreement. Keep in mind, the 477 reports are real‐time reports, not historical, so in order to collect data as of 12/31/2016, the report will need to run again on that date for you to meet your February filing date. Additional information on what reports are available and how to run them can be found here.
If you have any questions, please give the Telecom CC&B Support team a call at 1.866.999.6472 extension 7240 or send an email to sis‐[email protected].
Automated Mailroom Services (AMS) Adding Your Processing Schedule for 2017 in ActivTrace Only add processing dates for what AMS prints and mails for you. If you are printing anything yourself, these dates do not belong on this schedule.
Add to schedule if AMS prints.
Non‐AMS Companies ‐ Add to schedule if NISC processes your billings, but you do not utilize NISC’s AMS services. You will select non‐AMS in this case. We need this information for the EUB Processing.
Please add a full year. Why? AMS uses these to schedule our employees’ time in our print and inserting areas. Also we use it to schedule when our equipment can be serviced.
Keep in mind that if you need to change a date, it's okay to do so, but if you need to change for a current or next day date, you will have to contact AMS.
Have You Forgotten How to Login to ActivTrace?
You will need your cloud domain. Login using your iVUE username and password.
Click on the ActivTrace button which will take you to the ActivTrace home screen.
Go to the Calendar tab at the top and begin adding the type/cycle/processing date/processing time and click add.
BE SURE WHEN YOU ARE DONE TO GO TO THE RIGHT OF THE SCREEN AND CLICK SUBMIT. If you exit without doing this you will lose all your dates you have just entered.
Also available in Pathways is a quick 10‐minute WebEx that explains in detail on how to fill in your dates. You can find the training under AMS – Scheduling on ActivTrace in Pathways. There is no cost to you to go through this online training. You can access Pathways through the NISC Community by clicking on Pathways in the top navigation bar. The following are 2017 NISC days closed, and you will not be able to schedule processes on these dates: Monday, January 2 New Year’s Day recognized Friday, April 14 Good Friday Monday, May 29 Memorial Day Tuesday, July 4 Independence Day Monday, September 4 Labor Day Thursday, November 23 Thanksgiving Day Friday, November 24 Day after Thanksgiving Friday, December 22 Christmas Eve recognized Monday, December 25 Christmas Day If you have questions, please contact AMS Support at [email protected] or extension 7110.
Tips and tricks, along with the latest iVUE enhancements, are the main focus of the NISC workshops, but at the heart is one thing: Collaboration. The NISC workshops are a great place for NISC Members to not only learn about the iVUE software, but to share some of the knowledge that they’ve gained along the way, and pick up a few things from fellow iVUE users. The 2017 NISC Workshops are right around the corner, and collaboration will continue to be the key as the workshops reach even more areas next year. For 2017, along with our Accounting and Business Solutions (ABS), Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) and Engineering & Operations (E&O) workshops, we’ll have new workshops that cover Document Vault and an iVUE System Administrator Survival Guide. These new workshops expand what’s currently being offered and allow system administrators and users of NISC’s Document Vault to come together for two days of learning and working together to help get the most out of these NISC solutions. Each of our workshops takes place across two or two and a half days and features some of NISC’s subject matter experts sharing the latest available features in iVUE, along with helpful hints that you can take back to the office. Once again, we’ll have the NISC Workshops app for you to use while you’re on site. The app is available for Apple iOS and Android devices and features much of the information you need to attend the workshops including agendas, materials, maps, directions and more. Registration will be available soon for all of the 2017 NISC Workshops, so keep an eye on your inbox for the announcement. We’re looking forward to working with you in 2017 and helping you take your NISC solutions to the next level.
The Power to Drive and Close Sales in the Palm of Your Hand
NISC LeadAgent has been changing the way telecoms do business for more than two years now. But at NISC, the launch of a new solution doesn’t mean we quit innovating. When we set out to develop a powerful CRM tool for your on‐the‐go sales team, we had enhancements already planned to not only help your sales team convert new leads but also upsell existing customers. Check out the latest enhancements:
Integration between NISC LeadAgent and SmartHub Order Management’s New Customer Sign Up allows your sales team to assist new customers to compare and select service offerings and devices while in the field. When the customer agrees on a configured service, the information from the generated service order is passed to NISC LeadAgent, creating a document electronically for the customer to sign.
Real‐time access to customer data from iVUE CC&B, including billing accounts, agreements, service address and available services. Updates can also be scheduled to run daily, weekly or monthly to ensure the data being used in the field is the most recent.
Full integration with Document Vault, allowing sales staff to upload any documents generated, such as quotes, service agreements and contracts. No more paper copies and no more emailed attachments to the CSR team for manual uploading into Document Vault.
Additional integration from NISC LeadAgent to SmartHub Order Management to Maintain Services for upselling and cross selling to existing customers within a campaign as well as outside of a campaign.
Ability for the sales team to access SmartHub information for their customers, such as viewing the status of pending Trouble Tickets and/or submit a ticket on the behalf of the customer.
NISC LeadAgent helped you accelerate the sales cycle. Now the new features collectively streamline processes within your telecom and across all departments. Simple. Secure. Mobile. Learn more about this powerful, dynamic sales lead repository – And the innovative enhancements now available. Click here to visit the webpage, view the NISC LeadAgent animation or contact your Regional Business Manager for more information.
There’s Still Time to Take Advantage of the SmartHub Bill Inserts
Helping our Members save time and money is a priority at NISC, and one of the best tools to help our Members do just that is SmartHub. Not only does SmartHub help our Members, but goes beyond the office to help the end customers pay their bills, check their usage and stay in contact with your telecom. While we want you and your Members to get the most out of SmartHub, we want to help your customers understand the benefits of using the SmartHub solution. With that in mind, we’ve launched a set of SmartHub bill inserts, produced and distributed by NISC’s Automated Mailroom Services (AMS). These statements launched with the December billing cycle, but are available as a first run through May of 2017. The bill inserts are designed to help you showcase the benefits of using SmartHub to your customers. One insert is available each month, each focused on an important aspect of SmartHub, from paying and monitoring their bill to helping make a greener choice for the environment. For our Members, these statements are meant to be a turnkey solution. We’ve taken care of the design and the AMS department will handle the printing and inserting at a cost of $0.04 per insert. However, based on a crowdsourcing concept, the more inserts we get, the less the inserts cost. Those savings will be passed on to you. Don’t miss the SmartHub bill inserts! For more information, view this short video on the NISC Community. To sign up or to view each of the available SmartHub bill inserts, simply click here. If you have questions, or if you need more information, please don’t hesitate to contact AMS Support at [email protected].
2016 December ‐‐‐ What's New in iVUE?
With the release of iVUE 2.37 comes a wealth of updates and features for the iVUE solution. What can you do with iVUE 2.37? Visit the Software Release Information Community for the comprehensive release notes of everything that's included in the latest iVUE release!
2016 December ‐‐‐ NISC Learning Opportunities Mark Your Calendar for These Upcoming WebEx Sessions:
Telecom CC&B
12/14/16 :: Understanding Messenger for Telecom
12/21/16 :: Telecom CC&B/ABS Integration: Getting Down to the Penny ABS
12/6/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing
12/6/16 :: Processing 1099s
12/13/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing (Repeat)
12/13/16 :: Processing 1099s (Repeat)
12/20/16 :: General Ledger Profit Distribution
Please visit the Community to learn more about these upcoming WebEx sessions.
2016 December ‐‐‐ Welcome New Telecom Members! NISC would like to welcome our newest Members to the NISC family! Thank you for selecting NISC. We're excited to work with you!
Newest NISC Member
Five Area Telephone Cooperative, Inc., Muleshoe, Texas
2016 December ‐‐‐ NISC Community Tips & Tricks
Log in to the Community for an NISC Minute One of the added benefits of your Community account is access to the NISC Minute – short, informal video updates designed to keep you on top of the latest NISC news and announcements and introduce you to our solutions experts.
Log in to the Community, click the NISC Minute graphic at the top of the right column and take a few minutes to learn more about what NISC has to offer. Past Minutes have featured a wide range of topics, including a chat with the CEO of NTCA, a discussion on roll‐fed printers and a recap of the 2016 MIC. Be sure to follow the NISC Minute Community page to receive an email when new videos are posted.
2016 December ‐‐‐ Visit Us at These Events
MTA Annual Showcase :: November 30 ‐ December 1 in Billings, Mont.
MTA General Managers Peer Group Meeting & Christmas Party :: December 1‐2 in TBD
ORBA Christmas Dinner :: December TBD in TBD
NDATC Annual Meeting :: December 5‐7 in Bismarck, N.D.
WSTCA Fall Conference :: December 6‐7 in Eau Claire, Wis.
KTA (KY) Board of Directors Dinner :: December 8 in TBD
NTCA Telecom Executive Policy Summit (TEPS) :: December 12‐14 in Washington, D.C.
WSTA Broadband Forum :: January 11‐12 in Stevens Point, Wis.
ORBA Christmas Dinner :: January 20 in Napoleon, Ohio
ATA (AK) Winter Conference :: January 22‐25 in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii
SITA Spring Meeting :: January 31‐February 1 in Topeka, Kan.
TANE/NYSTA Issues Forum :: January 31‐February 2 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
NTCA RTIME :: February 5‐8 in San Diego, Calif.
WSTA Marketing Seminar :: February 20‐22 in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
TT&S Telecom Training & Safety Conference :: February 21‐23 in Bismarck, N.D.
GTA Annual Vendor Showcase :: February 21‐22 in Macon, Ga.
WSTCA Plant Conference :: February 21‐22 in Eau Claire, Wis.
LTA Annual Convention :: February 22‐24 in New Orleans, La.
CITA (Canada) Telecom Showcase & Seminars :: February 26‐28 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
ICA Meeting & Expo :: March 7‐8 in Des Moines, Iowa
OTA/WITA (OR & WA) ITA Showcase Northwest :: March 7‐9 in Portland, Ore.
WTA (West) Spring Meeting :: March 12‐15 in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
KTA Spring Managers Meeting :: March TBD in Lexington, Ky.
NTCA Legislative & Policy Conference :: March 26‐28 in Washington, D.C.
SCTBA Annual Conference :: March 26‐29 in Charleston, S.C.
MTA Annual Convention & Tradeshow :: March 27‐29 in Minneapolis, Minn.
ACA‐Cable Annual Summit :: March 28‐30 in Washington, D.C.
Visit with a Member Relations contact by stopping by the booth, or to arrange a visit, please contact Sarah Thorowgood or call 1.866.999.6472 extension 2369.
December 23 & 26 :: Closed regular business hours for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
January 2 :: Closed regular business hours for New Year's Day
February 6 :: 2017 NISC Telecom Annual Meeting at RTIME in San Diego, Calif.
2016 December ‐‐‐ NISC in the News
NISC Once Again Receives Honor NISC was once again named by Prairie Business Magazine as one of the 50 Best Places to Work! Read more about the honor here.
NISC’s New Expansion Spotlighted in Magazine With the Mandan construction complete, a regional magazine highlights our technology cooperative in the Construction Corner. Read the article here.
NISC Member Mor‐Gran‐Sou Features NISC Employees and New Building Thank you Mor‐Gran‐Sou for talking with our staff and featuring us in your Current News! Check out the article here.
Trent Leapaldt :: Professional Services Consultant
I grew up in the small town of Woodworth, N.D., Home of the Mallards. After finishing 6th grade, our school closed down, so my family moved to Carrington, N.D., which is where I graduated high school. I attended the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. from 1997 to 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. I have worked for both Dakota Central Telecommunications in Carrington, N.D. as well as West River Telecom in Hazen, N.D. before I started at NISC in Telecom Engineering & Operations. Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my dog, Sam, playing and watching almost any sport out there (go St. Louis Cardinals!), yard work, movies as well as camping, lake time and bonfires in the summer with my friends.
2016 December ABS Update & Tips and Tricks
MIC Remixed The 2016 MIC is part of our history; however, the learning does not stop there. If you were unable to attend the conference or simply could not make a session that interested you, worry no more! Once again, we have MIC Remix recordings available for you. Many of the actual Member‐led sessions as well as other sessions were recorded for your benefit. These can be found on the Community by clicking here.
iVUE 2.37 Year‐End Release Each year, we ask everyone to upgrade to the latest version of iVUE to receive the 2016 W‐2, 1099, 1094 and 1095 forms along with other year‐end updates. The iVUE 2.37 release is where you want to be for this year. Along with the year‐end
updates, this release has some new functionality that we believe you will find beneficial. For more information on these and other enhancements, be sure to review the What’s New for ABS document in the Software Release Community. Here are some highlights of the updates and functionalities in this release:
Ability to email pay notifications to employees with a PDF attachment of the pay stub
ACA 1095 is now available in ESS for employees along with email notifications
Ability to pay Miscellaneous Receivable Balances by check or credit card in Pay Now
New report called Accounts Where Used. With this report, you can easily tell where an account is being used
within ABS and will be useful when inactivating GL Accounts
NISC Support Login REMINDER: With the 2.37 release, our support team will be using an Inquiry Only login when logging into your individual sites. With this change, the support team will leverage WebEx for researching many payroll support CRs. Please take a moment to review the blog Changes to NISC Access to Payroll/Labor and ESS and ensure you are familiar accessing WebEx. While this may take a bit more of your time, we feel this is the right thing to do since Payroll contains your most sensitive data. To ensure all your ducks are in a row and you have a smooth transition into 2017, we would recommend you review the blog post Where Did 2016 Go?..Time to Prepare for Year‐End and follow the Year End Community Space. WebEx Training
There is still time to sign up for the year‐end training via WebEx. If you are unable to view these at the time they are presented, they will be recorded and available through Pathways:
12/6/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing
12/6/16 :: Processing 1099s
12/13/16 :: Payroll/Labor Year‐End Workflow and W‐2 Processing (Repeat)
12/13/16 :: Processing 1099s (Repeat)
12/20/16 :: General Ledger Profit Distribution
Wishing you the happiest of holidays from the ABS and Integration/Capital Credit Support Team:
Ashley, Chris, Dan, Dave, Deena, Gail D., Gail H., Gwen, Janet, Jen, JoAnn, Karla, Krista, Kristen, Kristi, Kyle, Lynn, Maria, Marie, Susan, Tom, Paul, Amber, Shawna, Jesse and Connie
2016 December CC&B Update & Tips and Tricks
In iVUE 2.37, we have added the Customer Care > Reports/Processes > Extracts > Equifax NCTUE Extract to create a file to send to Equifax®. This file contains information for any of your accounts with activity in the past five years. It will be used as part of the NCTUE process to help determine customer credit scores. If you are using Equifax for credit checks, this extract will be added into your after billing process that sends the NCTUE information to Equifax. Please contact Telecom E‐Solutions Support to set up both the Equifax NCTUE Extract recurring job and the File Transfer recurring job.
In iVUE 2.37, we have added the new GL Alias Accounting Validation report to identify GL Alias records used in SIS that are invalid in ABS to avoid issues when updating General Ledger. This report can help you determine GL account balancing issues and integration errors. In iVUE 2.37, Notes now has its own security, which means you can control the user’s ability to Add, Edit or Delete notes based on the user security to the Notes screen. Security to Notes is maintained in the Admin module under Admin > Security > Roles. With the proper role in focus, you can edit security by accessing SIS > SIS Customer Care > Customer Care > Notes. Previously, Notes inherited its security from the calling screen. For example, if the user had Inquiry Only access to the SIS > Customer Care > Agreements screen and accessed Notes from this screen, they would also have Inquiry Only access to Notes. With this enhancement, Notes security is no longer tied to the screen the user is on when accessing Notes. Upon upgrading to 2.37, NISC has set security to the Notes screen to match the security to the SIS > Customer Management > Customer screen. If different security is needed, you can edit the security after upgrading.
2016 December E&O Update & Tips and Tricks One of the items the Telecom E&O Member Advisory Committee recommended that NISC develop was the ability to delete service points. With the 2.36 version of software, this is available. To utilize this feature, an individual can bring into focus the service point that he/she would like to delete and click on the “Delete Service Point” button. Upon saving the service address, the user will be prompted for a new service point in which to attach the disconnected agreements. Once a service point is selected, the service address can be saved and the service point will be deleted. This can only be done
for disconnected service points. If you have any questions about this feature, please contact the Telecom E&O Support team at fa‐tm‐[email protected].
