eFILE TIPS AND TRICKS Sherry SurrettAssistant Technical Support Manager

GET THE WORD OUT

Property Owner’s won’t eFile if they don’t know about it!

The more publicity the better.

Nine recommended ways to promote eFile!!

GET THE WORD OUT

Websites County Website Personal Property Website

Social Media. Get it trending! Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Google+ Snapchat

GET THE WORD OUT

Newspaper Articles Have a story written just after 1st mailings go out. Have a 2nd story written after 2nd mailings go out.

Local News Station/Radio Stations Have the assessor do a radio or television spot to explain what eFile is

and how it’s saving tax payers time and money. Have a story aired after first and second mailings. Public Service Announcements

GET THE WORD OUT

Flyers In the office Throughout the courthouse and city hall Throughout the community (Library, Lodges, VFW Halls, Police

Department, Community Centers)

Word of Mouth Your family Your friends Co-workers (all courthouse staff) Your neighbors Your pastors, preachers, clergy Your teachers

GET THE WORD OUT

Bulletins/Newsletters

Mail postcards announcements (not just their first and second mailings)

Other agencies/departments Friendly competitions for bragging rights. Example: Police vs

Firefighters, who had the most eFiled in a timeframe. If you have a Public Library and they have computer terminals, ask

them to encourage eFiling or to have a designated PC for eFile. Set up flyers at those terminals. Offer a community service project where volunteers can assist older

people with the eFile process.

IMPORTANT NEWS

WHERE TO UPDATE/ADD NEWS

ADD, EDIT, POST IS VISIBLE

You can add several announcements and choose which ones are visible and when.

YOU HAVE CONTROL

SET YOUR OWN eFILE DATES

Enter in the Assessment Year

Enter date you want to start accepting eFiles*early birds

Enter date you want to stop accepting eFilesfor the year. *Must turn off once every year

eFILE QUEUE, WHERE ARE YOU?

Option 1: Use only the web browserOR

eFILE QUEUE, WHERE ARE YOU?

Option 2: Use Personal Property’s Quick Link

From Personal Property’s Account Edit Screen, Click on the Globe Icon in the Toolbar and Select eFile Website Queue or Press F12 on the keyboard

Note: If Globe Icon is missing, go to Utilities | Employee Info

MISSING THE GLOBE?

Go to UtilitiesSelect Employee InfoFind the EmployeeClick eFile Access TabType in website address (url)User Name for websitePassword for websiteSave the Changes

DISSECTING THE QUEUE

Two New Fields:Total number of Accounts not set to Hold/DeletePercent of Accounts eFiled during current year

(Total eFiles complete/Total Accounts on set to Hold/Delete)

Status: Based on Config(Enabled/Disabled)

Start Date: Date entered in Config End Date: Date entered in Config eFiles Complete: Processed eFiles (by

Office) eFiles Queue: New eFiles since last

process eFiles Progress: Incomplete/Not Signed

eFiles

DISSECTING THE QUEUE CONT’D

Active Returned OnlyEdits to be done

Active CompletedNo edits needed

Residential = Personal Commercial = Business

Inside parenthesis is number of eFiles of that type to process

PROCESS THE QUEUE

If Website eFile Wizard is grayed out, you do not have access rights to run the process. This can be changed under Utilities | Employee Info.

Can now run with users in the program as long as it can get an account lock for all accounts it needs to process.

CANNOT GET ACCOUNT LOCK

Indicates any accounts with pending eFiles to process, but are unable to due to another user having the account locked. That user must exit the account in order to proceed.

HOW IT WORKS The website eFile wizard sends request to the website server The website server in return sends a .csv file and each reporting form as a .tif image to a Personal Property directory on your system. Clearing/removing old documents in that directory first. Next, it reads in the csv file, attempts to get a lock on all accounts in the csv file and if it can, then launches the Document Processor Next, you run the Document Processor, printing errors as needed and Press Close Finally, it updates the Account if applicable with account status, phone number, email address and reporting form. All that is left is to work up the accounts.

TEST MODE IS IMPORTANT

A test process request tells the website server, it’s only a test and not to mark the forms as processed, which allows for re-downloading of the tif images. A full process request tells the website server to mark those forms as processed, and never to send the tif images again.

SKIPPED DOCUMENTSIf the document processor skips attaching a form during Test Mode, it will not attach that form in Full Process Mode either.

These skipped accounts need to be looked at and likely addressed before full process mode is run.

Otherwise, you risk having eFile accounts missing reporting forms.

Helpful Tip: Do not attached any ‘additional’ documents to accounts until eFile is complete/disabled.

ADDRESSING SKIPPED FORMS

Close out of Website eFile Wizard (do not uncheck Test Mode)

Load each Account with a Skipped Image.

Go to Photovision Is existing document a paper filed form? Is the existing document just additional information?

There are a few of ways to handle existing forms for that year. Delete the existing form. Export out existing form, run the import and reload the exported form. Edit the date taken to one year ahead, run the import, then change date

taken back.

ACCIDENTS HAPPENIf the process was run in full process mode without addressing skipped forms or if document processor gets closed without being ran, all is not lost.

First, do not try to re-run import to get these images.

The images still exist in the Personal Property directory until you run the process again. At that time they are zipped up and moved (only most recent zip file is retained) to make room for the next batch. Re-running the import will see these images as processed and

not pull them down from the website again.

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN

You can manually attach them by navigating out to the directory and inserting them into Photovision. However, they will not have the eFile indications on them if done this way. Which could affect eFile counts on reports.

You can run just the Document Processor in eFile mode to bring in the missing forms as long as the forms are still in the directory.

Last resort, we (Vanguard) can do some scripts on the website server to force those images/forms to go down again.

WARNING AND ERRORS

Typical Reasons: Status already Active

Completed or Active Returned

Missing Accounts Accounts having

Delete/Hold status

*Not as important to clean up in Test Mode but accounts should be reviewed.

TEST MODE ERROR FREE

Uncheck Test Modeand Press Process.

It will run exactly the same way as Test Mode but this time it will attach the forms and update the accounts.

FULL PROCESS LOGS

Print Process Info: Prints the entire grid of data

1) Print Edit List: Prints all accounts that got set to Active Returned

2) Print Addrs List: Prints only accounts with an address change

3) Print Error(s): Prints all warnings and errors

Print All 3 Reports will print the 3 reports that are numbered 1, 2 and 3.

TURN ON THE FILTERS

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

Each user can have a different filterExamples: Active Returned & Residential (Personal) Active Returned & Commercial (Business) Active Returned & Address Changes Only

Once filters are saved, the Account Edit toolbar will have visual indicator that filters are set

VISUAL INDICATORS FOR eFILE

VISUAL INDICATORS FOR eFILE

EDITS – ADDRESS CHANGE

Any property flagged with Address Change will have a button called Clear eFile Flag appear. Review and/or edit the address based on the Address Change Log or Reporting Form.Press Clear eFile Flag to indicate address change is complete.

VIN COPY AND PASTE??

VINs can not be copy and pasted from the image of the reporting form because it’s a flat image. However……

VIN COPY AND PASTE??

VINs can be copied and pasted from the website, because that is not a flat image and is readable text.

ALL ABOUT THE NUMBERS…

USAGE STAT – eFILE PER MONTH

eFile is disabled Increase after 2nd mailing

USAGE STATS – eFILE PER YEAR

USAGE STATS – PP SEARCHES

USAGE STATS – ACCOUNT PAGES

VISION FOR FUTURE

Currently in a very early research phase, Brad is looking at ways to electronically merge and update the item data on an account through a Comparison dialog. The program will NOT just merge and update the data, it will still require a user to review the comparison and then decide yes or no to merge/update it.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

facebook.com/camavision

linkedin.com/company/vanguard-appraisals