Employee Setup

Use the Employee data entry form to enter or change information about agency employees. The type of information includes Contact Information, Commissions, AMS360 User ID, Security Authorization, and Signature Setup and use on electronic applications and supporting forms.

 

AMS360 includes a User ID named Administrator. This User ID is used for various security features and cannot be changed or deleted. For more information see User Security and Logging In.

To add an employee:

Open the Employee Center and then click New Employee.

To modify an employee

  1. In the Employee Center, open the employee that you want to modify.
  2. On the Views menu, click Employee Overview.
  3. In the toolbar, click Edit Employee.

Complete the following sections, paying attention to the red required fields:

Field What is this?

First
Middle
Last

Enter the name as you want it to appear throughout AMS360, including capitalization and punctuation.

Short Name

The Short Name must be unique. It is used on reports where space is limited. You can enter up to six characters.

Address
City
State
Zip

Enter the address as you want it to appear throughout AMS360, including capitalization and punctuation.

Phone Number and Email

Enter the information as you want it to appear throughout AMS360.

Define an image to display in the Employee Center

You can Browse and select an image file that displays when you open the employee in the Employee Center. For more information on the specifications for an image, see Image Display.

Out of Office Assistant

Click to open the Out of Office form where you can designate a backup employee to handle your Suspense items and Doc360 documents while you are on leave.

As a manager or department head, you can use Out of Office to designate a backup for an employee who is unexpectedly absent.
Field What is this?

Type

Indicate whether this employee is an Exec, Rep, or Sales Center Rep. Marking these boxes causes the employee's name to appear in the corresponding lists throughout AMS360.

Status

Select the employee's current status. Choose one of the following:

Status What is this?

Active

Causes the employee's name to appear in the appropriate lists.

Inactive

Causes the employee to not appear in the drop-down lists and searches throughout AMS360.

Retired

Causes the employee to not appear in the drop-down lists and searches throughout AMS360.

Time Worked

Select the time worked by this employee: Full or Part Time.

Memo Commission

Mark this box to prevent commission payables from posting to the general ledger for this employee.

Log Download Suspense

Mark this box to cause a Suspense item to be automatically logged for the employee when download items have been received that need to be assigned.

Time Zone

Select the appropriate Time Zone for the employee.

Employee Identifier

 Enter an Employee code (e.g., third-party payroll service), if you have one. You have 20 characters, alphanumeric and special characters – can accommodate leading zeros.

Date of Birth

Enter the employee's date of birth, if known.

SSN

Enter the employee's Social Security Number.

National Producer Code:

Enter the employee's National Producer Code.

This is a new code that is being issued to all producers from the National Insurance Producer Registry to eliminate the sole dependency on using social security numbers as a unique identifier.  This is being done as part of the effort to implement electronic appointments and terminations.

Title

You can select the employee's Title from the list or enter a title.

Year Employed

Enter the year this employee began working for your agency.

Supervisor

Select the employee's Supervisor from the list of employees.

1099 Category and Type

Only select a 1099 Category and Type if this employee requires 1099 reporting for all commissions. This information defaults to "Checks" when you create a check for this employee.

For occasional 1099 reporting do not enter a Category and Type in this field. Enter it when you create the check.

Group/Field What is this?

Category

The list includes the IRS-defined categories.

Type

The type(s) available are based on the Category selection you make.

Emergency Contact Information
Group/Field What is this?

Name

Enter the Emergency Contact Information for this employee, if known.

Phone, Ext

This section allows you to track current insurance license information for your employees. This information is used as part of the Alert system in AMS360.

  1. Click New on the section menu to enter a license for the employee.
Field What is this?

Licensed Agent

Select this box to indicate the employee has a valid insurance license.

Only signatures for licensed employee's can be used on electronic forms.

Type of License

Select Property & Casualty or Life & Health. This is a required field.

 

If the employee has both licenses, enter the employee's P & C license information, click Add and then click New to enter the employee's Life & Health license information, if applicable.

Number

Enter the employee's insurance license number.

State

Select the state that issued the license from the drop-down list. This is a required field.

Effective Date

Enter the effective date for this license.

Expiration Date

Enter the expiration date for the license.

Credits Needed

Enter the number of continuing education units required for renewal of this license.

Credits Taken

Enter the number of continuing education units already taken for renewal of this license.
  1. Click Add to complete data entry for a license. The information is saved when you Save the Employee Setup form.

This section is designed to track current license information only. When a license renews, click Edit to update the record with the new license information.

All of the business units created in Agency Setup for your agency appear in the list. Use the following information to assign the employee security access for one or more business unit combinations.

Field What is this?

Check All

Click Check All (default) to grant the employee access to all business units.

 

If the employee has access to most combinations select this option and then remove the check mark for the combinations to which the employee should not have access.

Uncheck All

Clicking Uncheck All denies the employee access to all business unit combinations.

Copy Access From

Use this shortcut to copy the Division/Department/Branch/Group Security Access settings from an existing active employee to the employee being added or edited.

The drop-down list displays all active employees. Select the Employee to copy from in the list and click Copy.

Check

This column defaults as selected for a new employee and has type-in-grid functionality. To include/exclude employees from a specific business unit combination just select the check box (Checked = Include; Unchecked = Exclude).

Special Situations: As new divisions, branches, departments and groups are added in Agency Setup the following occurs:

If an employee has access to all existing business unit combinations, they are automatically granted access to any newly added combinations.

If an employee does not have access to all existing business unit combinations, they are automatically denied access to any newly added combinations.

All of the Security Groups set up for the agency appear in the list. Select a box in the Chk column to assign the employee to the group. Clear the box to remove access.

When assigning an employee to a Security Group keep the following in mind:

  • An employee can be assigned to one or more Security Groups.

  • An employee with a User ID must be assigned to at least one Security Group to access AMS360.

  • At least one employee must always be assigned to the Admin group.

For more information on security groups, see Security Group Setup.

You must select the Employee Access Secured option in Customer Setup in the Name & Address section before the customer appears in this list.

Field What is this?

Limit Employee's Access to
Group/Field What is this?

Their Customers Only (based on Service Group)

These employee names are displayed in the Customer Center when you open a customer.

See Customer Setup > Name & Address > Service Groups for more information.

Select All

Use this to select all the customer names shown in the grid (e.g., there is a check mark in the Include check box for all customers).

Clear All

Use this to de-select all the customer names shown in the list (e.g., there is no check in the Include check box for all customers).

Customer Access Grid

This table lists the Secured Customer Names you can access.
Field What is this?

# of Licenses Purchased

Displays the total number of user licenses purchased by your agency.

  • Use the Agency License feature (Allows immediate change to your account)

    or

  • Contact Vertafore Sales at 1.800.444.4813 to purchase the license. After the license is purchased, it must be applied by the AMS Data Center.

Contact Vertafore Sales at 1.800.444.4813 to purchase the license. After the license is purchased, it must be applied by the AMS Data Center.

# of Available Licenses

This value represents the number of licenses purchased less the number of existing system users with valid user IDs.

You cannot delete an employee if that employee has been assigned as Exec or Rep in existing accounting transactions.

You can, however, remove the User ID and Password from the Employee Setup form of any employee who no longer requires system login capabilities. When this is done, an AMS360 license is recaptured and a User ID and Password can be assigned to a new employee without triggering an error message that the maximum number of licenses have been exceeded.

 

The user Administrator is not counted against your total licenses available.

Update Agency License

The Update Agency License feature is useful for AMS360 Online (Hosted) agencies that want to manage the availability of their user licenses.

The form allows you to change the maximum number of licensed users in your agency. When you save your changes to the system, notification is sent to the Vertafore Data Center so that your contract terms are updated accordingly. This change happens immediately; there is no waiting for processing to take place (a wait for processing would be required if you submit the change through Sales).

Example: You are adding a new employee, and another user license is required for him or her. You can easily add another license and submit the change using the Update Agency License form. Once the change is submitted you can immediately add the user.

Generate Password

Use to automatically generate a new password for the employee. Click OK to save the change or Cancel to return to Login Information.

User ID

Enter the ID this employee will use to log into AMS360. without Vertafore Single Sign on. You can enter up to 30 characters.

AMS360 licensing is recorded for each User ID.

 

If the user is enabled for Vertafore Single Sign-On (VSSO) you will not see the login name and password/password reset and associated fields.
To change the user information you will use the VSSO console. A user can change his/her password by clicking the link on the VSSO sign on dialog box.

Password

If the employee has a User ID, a password is required. See the Change Password topic for more information.

 

Not available for Single Sign on.

Enter a case-sensitive password meeting the following requirements:

  • Does not contain the Login ID
  • A minimum of 7 and a maximum of 30 characters in length
  • Include characters in at least 3 of the following 4 groups:
    • Uppercase character
    • Lowercase character
    • Numeric character
    • Symbol (Any special character such as # , *, or %)

Email Password

Available when either the Password field or the Generate Password option has been activated. Use this to email the new password to the employee.

  • Email is sent from local Outlook account.
  • Not available for Single Sign on.

Password change required at Next Login
  • If selected, requires the employee to create a new password on next login.
  • Box remains checked until the user changes the password.
  • Not available for Single Sign on.

Reset Login

If a user tries unsuccessfully to log in to AMS360 five times, the user is locked out for 20 minutes. Use this button to clear the lockout and allow the user to log in to AMS360.

Available for users with Admin security.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Used to register a user to create an account for signing on once for all Vertafore applications. However, we recommend you register users using the VSSO Administrator's console as you also need to configure applications for them, which can only be done in the console.

One of the following statuses appear for the user:

  • Unregistered - Not yet authorized to create a Single Sign-on account.
  • Registered - User has created a Single Sign-on account.
  • Pending - Authorized to create a Single Sign-on account, but the user has not yet completed the Single Sign-on setup by creating an account.

You can monitor and register multiple users for SSO in the Administration Center > Utilities > Single Sign-On.

Login Time Grid

This grid controls the time period during which you are allowed to log on to the system.

Group/Field What is this?

Day Selection

Monday through Friday selected by default for a new employee.

To add access for additional days, click the Day Selection check box on the desired row. Then, check the 24 Hour access, or type in the desired From/To time range.

24 Hour

If selected, allows 24 hour access to the user on this day of the week. Defaults as not marked for a new employee.

Only the Administrator login defaults with all days selected and all 24 Hour check boxes checked. See the User Security and Logging In topic for more information about the Administrator login.

From/To

The default time range is 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. To change the range, click a field and type in a desired From or To time.

You may want to click the 24 Hour check box for employees traveling in many time zones and accessing AMS 360 remotely.

If you change security options, the affected user must exit AMS360 and log back in before the security updates are applied.

Click Business Unit Assignment to be directed to the article.

AMS360 includes the option of negotiated commissions. This type of commission is set up in the policy under Basic Policy > Policy Personnel. When you edit an exec or rep you see the option of Negotiated Commission. Negotiated commissions carry forward to renewals, but can be modified or changed if necessary. For more information see Working with Policy Personnel.

The Commission Setup section lets you set up commission defaults by effective date. Commissions pull from the latest effective date for the employee that is less than or equal to the effective date of the policy being billed.

From there, you can setup commissions using the following parameters:

  • Type of Business
  • Parent Company
  • Writing Company
  • Line of Business
  • Plan
  • Transaction

AMS360 then finds the closest commission match for the policy based on the parameter ranking set up in Agency Setup > Accounting Options > Commission Parameter Ranking.

You can create as many commission setup combinations as necessary for the selected employee. If you subsequently revise commission schedules it is recommended that you add additional combinations with new effective dates, rather than editing existing commissions.

The first billing for a policy period uses commissions from setup. Subsequent policy billings use the commissions from the most recent billing transaction.

Don't forget to enter a general commission default record that applies to all parent companies, writing companies, lines of business, plans, and/or transactions. Consequently, when a specific match is not found, the general commission default applies.

To use commissions setup for an existing employee as a template for the current employee, click Copy Commissions. This opens the Copy Employee Commission form where you can select the employee to copy from and the commission rows you wish to copy.

To setup your commission schedule, do the following:

  1. Click New on the Commission Setup section bar. This opens the data entry fields.
  2. For your commission default, choose to apply to both Premium and Fees. (Although, you can set up default commissions for Premium and Fees separately.)
  3. Enter the effective date for your commission default record.
  4. Select any combination of Parent Company, Writing Company, Line of Business, Plan, and/or Transaction.
  5. Select the Commission Method (% of Agency Commission, % of Premium/Fees or Flat Rate), and the corresponding percentage rate or commission amount.
  6. Click Add.
Field What is this?

Applies to:
Option What is this?

Premium and Fees

The setup selections you enter apply to both premium and fees.

If you select this option, you cannot choose a line of business, nor plan.

Premium

The setup selections you enter apply to premium only. Line of Business and Plan are available when the commission setup applies to only premium.

Fees

The setup selections you enter apply to fees only.

If you select this option, you cannot choose a line of business, nor plan.

Effective Date

Select the date the commissions take effect.

If you enter an effective date that matches an existing record, you receive a warning that the system cannot copy a duplicate entry.
Business Origin Choose which of the options represents how the policy was originally attained.

Transaction

If the employee is paid different commission based on Type (New Business, Renew Policy or Rewrite) of transaction, select the transaction.

Type of Business

Choose from the types of business found on the New Policy data entry form.

 

This option is only available if Applies to: option is set to only Premium.

Line of Business

If the employee is paid different commission based on Line of Business (LOB), choose the line of business.

Parent Company

If the commission applies to a particular Parent Company, select the company. The parent company is not used in commission ranking. It is used to appropriately fill the writing company and plan fields. See the Writing Company and Plan fields below for more information.

Writing Company

If the commission applies to a particular Writing Company, select the company.

  • If a Parent Company is selected, then fill the Writing Company field with only the writing companies that belong to the selected parent.
  • If All is the selection for the Parent Company field, then fill the Writing Company field with All writing companies that belong to all parent companies.

Plan

If the commission applies to a Plan, select it in this field.

  • If a particular Parent Company is selected, then fill the Plan field with all plans that are assigned to the selected parent.
  • If All parent companies are selected, then fill the Plan field with all plans assigned to all parent companies.

Commission Method

Use to identify the method for calculating the employee commission. Based on the Method you select, the corresponding Percent or Amount field becomes active.

  • % of Agency Commission
  • % of Premium/Fees
  • Flat Rate

If you have a negotiated commission on a specific policy, enter that information on the policy transaction. It will override any default commission setup in this field.

Negotiated commissions carry forward to renewals, but can be modified or changed if necessary. For more information see Working with Policy Personnel.

To use commission parameters from an existing employee form as a template in creating commissions for this employee, click Copy Employee Commissions.

This section lists employees whose signature files have been added to AMS360. Set the Group selection to the business unit that the employee is in. Mark a box in the Chk column to select the signatures the employee is authorized to use for electronic applications and forms. Only signatures for licensed employees can be used on electronic forms.

 

Be sure to mark the employee to enable them to use their own signature.

To remove employees who are no longer with your agency from the list, open the Employee Setup form for the inactive employee and remove the signature file.

For information on setting up a signature for an employee, see Workflow: Set up a Signature for an Employee.

When you have imported the signature bitmap file and it appears in the Employee Signature box, set the Group selection to the business unit the employee is in, and mark the check box in the Chk column for every employee row authorized to use this signature.

Use the following procedure to remove the AMS360 signature for an employee and thereby make it unavailable for use on any future forms.

  1. From the Employee Center, find the employee for whom you want to remove the signature and open the account. Click Edit Employee.
  2. In the Signature Setup section, click Clear.

    Clearing the signature does not remove it from any form it is already on, but makes it unavailable for use on any future forms.
  3. Click the Save & Close icon.

This section appears if you have marked Email Signature in Agency Setup. The Agency Setup is a blanket setup for all of the agency. You can modify how each employee iis set up for email signature in Contacts.

AMS360 user licensing is based on the employees who have a Login ID, Password, and are assigned to at least one Security Group. For more information see User Licenses in AMS360 Online vs AMS360 In-house.

If you want to add a new user to access AMS360, enter the user in the Employee setup form with a valid Login ID, Password, and assign the user to a Security Group.

  1. From the Employee Center click New Employee.
  2. Enter the information for the employee making sure to enter a User ID, Password, and assign the employee to at least one Security Group.
  3. When you have finished entering the new employee information, click Save & Close.
  4. The new user can now log into AMS360.

Need to Add Another User License?

Contact Vertafore Sales at 1.800.444.4813 to purchase the license. After the license is purchased, it must be applied by the Vertafore Data Center.

OR

AMS360 Online (Hosted) Customers may use the Agency License feature, which allows immediate change to your account. (Available to AMS360 Online Customers only.)

If you have an employee leaving and someone else who is replacing them and want to add the new user, use the following procedure:

  1. From the Employee Center, find the employee who is leaving and open the account. Click Edit Employee.
  2. In the Login Information section, remove the User ID and Password for the employee. Although not required, you may also want to mark them as inactive.
  3. Click the Save & Close icon.
  4. From the Actions menu, select New Employee.
  5. Enter the information for the employee who is replacing the user who left the agency. Make sure to enter a User ID, Password, and assign the employee to at least one Security Group.
  6. When you have finished entering the new employee information, click Save & Close.
  7. The new user can now log into AMS360. The replaced user can no longer log into AMS360. However, if the employee was an Exec or Rep assigned to customers, policies, activities, and suspense their name is retained in the appropriate forms.

Use the following procedure to remove the AMS360 login ability for an employee and thereby recapture a license for reassignment:

  1. From the Employee Center, find the employee for whom you want to remove the login ability and open the account. Click Edit Employee.
  2. In the Login Information section, remove the User ID and Password for the employee. Although not required, you may also want to mark them as inactive.
  3. Remove the signature for the employee (if there is one) by expanding the Signature Setup section and click Clear.

    Clearing the signature does not remove it from any form it is already on, but makes it unavailable for use on any future forms.
  4. Click the Save & Close icon.
  5. The user can no longer log into AMS360. However, if the employee was an Exec or Rep assigned to customers, policies, activities, and suspense their name is retained in the appropriate forms.

AMS360 includes User ID named Administrator. This User ID is used for various security features and cannot be changed or deleted. The user Administrator is not counted against your total licenses available. For more information see User Security and Logging In.

What's Next?

Do you need to assign this employee to a customer account? See the Customer setup topic for more information.

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