System Configuration (Client Organizations)

System Configuration (Client Organizations)




The following section describes the steps to configure the security, user access and other system settings for your organization. Any changes to the security settings will only be applicable to users within your organization, the settings do not apply to the Advisors with whom you are contracted.

Limiting User Access based on IP address

By default, authorized users can access the APEXA site from any IP address. For security purposes, you may want to restrict access to only specific IP addresses, or using CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing).

If you want users to access APEXA only from a specific IP addresses, enter the IP address with a CIDR of 32. If you want users to access APEXA only from IP address that fall within a specific range, use other CIDR values. For example, to accept all IP address that begin with 192.168.1, use a CIDR value of 24.

How To – Limit User Action Based on IP Address
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Security Settings from the resulting sub-menu.Note: Your current IP address will appear at the top of the screen.
  3. Select the Add button in the top right-hand corner to add a new IP address.
  4. Enter the IP address, following the conventions listed above.
  5. Enter the Network CIDR, following the conventions listed above
  6. Click Save.
  7. Repeat as necessary to add all applicable IP addresses. 

Password Complexity

There are standard rules that govern password complexity in APEXA, which are automatically applied for all users. Your organization may, however, have additional requirements for password complexity that you wish to enforce for your users.

How To – Limit User Action Based on IP AddressHow To – Define Password Complexity
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Security Settings from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Specify how frequently users need to change their password by entering a value between 0 (never expires) and 365 (expires annually) in the Reset Password After How Many Days field.
  4. Enter the Minimum Password Length for user passwords.
  5. Check the appropriate rules that you wish to apply:
    • Password must include one or more numerical digits.
    • Password must include both upper-case and lower-case letters.
    • Password must include at least one special character (e.g. @, #, $, etc.).
    • Password must not contain personal information (e.g. name, email, etc.).
    • Password format must not match the format of calendar dates, telephone numbers, postal codes or email address.

Roles

As a partner organization, roles provide you with the option of tailoring APEXA functionality for your users. APEXA provides permissions that control access to specific functions within the system, and you can combine these available permissions to create roles that make sense for your organization. Every user on the system will be assigned a role, which will then dictate the functionality that the user has access to in the system. For example, you may create a role – “level 1 contracting staff” – and assign basic permissions like viewing an Advisor’s contact information, viewing internal codes and profile history, but without permissions to run or view credit and criminal checks.

APEXA comes equipped with the mandatory roles of Administrator and CITS API. You cannot delete these role, nor should you edit the permissions for them in any way. You can assign specific employees to the Administrator role. 

The CITS role allows your system(s) to speak with APEXA through a web service and should not be altered in any way to ensure proper performance. The Administrator role is tied to the administrator account for your organization. You may choose to add additional administrators, but these individuals should be responsible for configuring the settings for your organization, creating additional roles for your organization and setting up accounts for your users (see all functions outlined under System Administration).

How To – Create a Role
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Roles from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click Add from the upper right-hand corner.
  4. Enter a Name for your Role.
  5. Enter a Description for your role (optional).
  6. Choose the applicable permissions (see Appendix A – Permissions) by clicking on the corresponding checkbox.
  7. Click Save (bottom-right of the screen).

Permissions

As part of role creation, you will be asked to select a set of permissions for that role. The list of available permissions, along with their functionality, is listed in Appendix A – Permissions.

User Accounts

Individuals who will be using APEXA at your organization will each need their own user account. You can add users by sending an invitation via email, or if the individual already has an APEXA account, you can link that user to your organization. Note: you’ll need to create your roles prior to creating your users, as each user needs to be placed into a role.

After setting up the account, an email is sent to the user’s email address, with a link and instructions for how to login the first time and setup their password. 

 When creating user accounts for your organization, you have the option of mandating that APEXA notifications related to your organization go only to a company-issued email address. This is done by selecting the Use separate email for corporate notifications checkbox during employee set-up (see Create a User Account, below).

Pending Invitations

All employees that you have invited to APEXA and not yet on-boarded to APEXA will show up in the “Pending Invitations” section. You can keep track of the employees who are not yet onboard to APEXA. 


How To – Create a User Account (New User)
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Users from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click Add from the upper right-hand corner.
  4. Enter the user’s Email address. If you wish to restrict company-specific notifications to a company-issued email address, select Use separate email for corporate notifications and provide the company-issued email address you wish to use.
  5. Enter the user’s Name.
  6. Enter the user’s External ID (this is an optional field that allows you to track an ID to link the employee back to your own record of this user).
  7. Enter the user’s Position (optional).
  8. Select the Role you wish the user to belong to – this drop down will display all the roles available in the system (for more information refer to Roles above).
  9. Select the preferred Language (English (CA) or French (CA)) for the user.
  10. Click the Send Invitation button to send the invitation email to the user.
How To – Create a User Account (Existing APEXA Account)
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Users from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click Add from the upper right-hand corner.
  4. Select the Associated Individual from the drop down – this will automatically populate the user’s Email and Name fields. Associated individuals include registers owners and directly contracted advisors.
  5. If you wish to restrict company-specific notifications to a company-issued email address, select Use separate email for corporate notifications and provide the company-issued email address you wish to use.
  6. Enter the user’s External ID (this is an optional field that allows you to track an ID to link the employee back to your own record of this user).
  7. Enter the user’s Position (optional).
  8. Select the Role you wish the user to belong to – this drop down will display all of the roles available in the system (for more information refer to Roles).
  9. Select the preferred Language (English (CA) or French (CA)) for the user.
  10. Click the Add Employee button to add the user to your organization.

Deleting User Accounts and Roles

Simply click the adjacent to the user account or Role that you wish to delete.

Note: Users with a deleted user account can no longer login to APEXA. However, the user account information is retained in the system for historical purposes. You can view the deleted user accounts on the User’s section and click Show All.

You cannot delete a role if a user is assigned to that role. Once a role is deleted, it can be recreated, but not recovered.

Reactivating User Accounts

At any time, you can reactivate a deleted user accounts. Simply click theadjacent to the deleted user account that you want to reactivate.

 Temporarily Removing User Access

At any time, you can temporarily remove a user access to the system. Simply click theadjacent to the user account and change the account’s Status to “Inactive”.

Additional Partner Settings

You can configure additional business rules for your organization that apply to all Advisors with which you do business.

Debt Threshold

Debt Threshold: Advisor with a single debt greater than this dollar value will have their health status indicator changed to 

Aggregate Debt Threshold: Advisor with debts totaling an amount greater than this dollar value will have their health status indicator changed to 

Credit Score Threshold

Advisors with a credit score below this level (as determined by a regular feed of credit data) will have their health status indicator changed to 

FundServ Dealer

In this section, you can specify that your organization is registered as a dealer. If you are a dealer, you will be required to provide a FundServ Code on a contract to submit the contract to a Carrier.

Allow Direct Business

This determines whether you allow a direct contracting request to come to you from the Advisor. If you select “Yes” – Advisors will be able to send a direct contracting request to you. If you select “No” – Advisors will not have the ability send a direct contracting request to you.

Allow Application for E&O Coverage

This determines whether you allow Advisors to apply for E&O through your organization. If you select “Yes,” Advisors will be able to send a contract request to you without E&O coverage.

How To – Create a User Account (Existing APEXA Account)
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Settings from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Select Edit from the top right-hand corner.
  4. Enter the Debt Threshold to indicate your organization’s threshold for single debts.
  5. Enter the Aggregate Debt Threshold to indicate your organization’s threshold for aggregate debt.
  6. Select your Credit Score Threshold from the dropdown.
  7. Indicate if you are a FundServ Dealer by selecting Yes or No.
  8. Indicate if you Allow Direct Business Requests by selecting Yes or No.
  9. Indicate if you Allow Application for E&O Coverage by selecting Yes or No.
  10. Click Save to confirm any and all changes.

Branch Code Administration 

Carrier Branch Codes

Carrier-defined branch codes are maintained on contracts between the Carrier and the MGAs, AGAs and Corporations below them. For more information, see Contracting > Carrier Branch Codes.

Internal Branch Codes

Any partner organization has the ability to create a set of branch codes specific to their Corporation, to which they can then assign Advisors or Corporations in their own population. Note that unlike the Carrier-specific branch codes above, these branch codes are only available to your organization and are assigned at the profile level, and not the contract level.


How To – Create Internal Branch Codes
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Internal Branches from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click on the Add button in the top right-hand corner.
  4. Enter a Name for your branch code.
  5. Enter the Branch Code.
  6. Click the Save button.
How To – Add an Address/Phone Number to an Internal Branch
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Internal Branches from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click on the name of the branch you wish to add the address and/or phone number to.
  4. To add an address, click “Edit” in the Addresses section, and complete all fields.
  5. Click the Save button.
  6. To add a phone number, click “Add” in the Phone Numbers section, and complete all fields.
  7. Click the Save button.
How To – Assign an Internal Branch Code to a Profile
  1. Open the appropriate Advisor or Corporation’s profile.
  2. Click on the Branch Codes button below the profile header.
  3. Select the appropriate Branch Code from the dropdown list and click Ok.
  4. The branch will now display in the Advisor/Corporation’s profile header.

Tag Administration

Tags allow a user to “tag” various items throughout the system with a word or phrase that can help to organize assets and make searching for items easier. For instructions on adding tags, see The Basics > Tags. Tags can be added to Logos, Sections, Agreements, Documents Packages and Contracts.

Creating & Maintaining Tags

You can pre-populate the tags within APEXA to ensure consistency throughout the organization. 

You can only create or add tags if you are granted permission. For information on how to grant a user permission to manage tags, please refer to Roles.

How To – Create a Tag
  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Tag Admin.
  3. Select the type of tag you wish to add (Documents, Packages, Contracts).
  4. Click Add.
  5. Enter the Tag name in Tag Value.
  6. Click Ok.

Tags can be a single word or a whole phrase. You can assign multiple tags to an item.

Only those who are granted permission are allowed to create new tags, edit existing tags, merge tags and delete tags. To Edit an existing tag record, click . To Delete an existing record, click. If a tag is deleted, the tag will be removed from any record it is currently on.

How To – Merge Tags

At any time, you can merge an existing tag with another tag. All the sections with the former tag will update to reflect the new tag.

  1. Select Corporation from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Tag Admin from the sub-menu.
  3. Select the tag that you wish to merge into another tag (the tag that will not remain)
  4. Click the icon.
  5. Select the tag you wish to merge the first tag into (the tag that will remain)
  6. Click Save.
  7. All the sections with the relinquishing tag (tag in step 3) will now reflect the new tag (tag in step 5).

Billing

The Billing sub-tab will show a breakdown of your organization’s billable advisors, credit checks, and criminal background checks, separated by billing period. There is also an Export button, which will allow you to extract the information within this screen as a .CSV file, which can be opened by Microsoft Excel.