Administration and Integrations
Licenses, Credentials and Activity Log
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NextAgency helps you track and find a log of all events that occur within a specific case or for the entire agency. Activity log history gives you a pulse on what's going on. It helps answer: "Who, from my agency, is doing what with such and such client?"
Update (3/11/2020): we help describe the new activity log tab in this video.
In NextAgency, you can find a log of all events that occur within a specific case on the Activities tab.On the Activities tab of a case, you can do the following:
- View all activity records related to this case.
- Filter the activities by users, contacts, and creation date.
- Search for specific activities.
- Select the number of activity records to display on the page.
In NextAgency, you can view activities not only for a specific case but also for the entire agency. To do that, in the navigation pane, click Fast Access > Activities.
On this page, you have options similar to those at the case-specific tab:
- View the records of all the activities that took place within your agency.
- Filter the activities by cases, users, contacts, and creation date.
- Search for specific activities.
- Select the number of activity records to display on the page.
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To start managing the state licenses, follow these steps:
- In the upper-right corner of any NextAgency page, click your profile icon and choose View Profile.
- On the My Profile page that opens, go to the State Licenses tab.
- On the State Licenses tab, you can see a list of all licenses that have been created in NextAgency, with the following data:
- Default: Select this option if you want to set this license as default in NextAgency.
- Name: The name of the agency that holds the license.
- License Number: The ID of the license.
- State: US state where this license is valid.
- Entity Type: Type of the license holder - either Agency or Broker.
- License Type: Services for which this license is valid.
- Renewal Date: Date on which the license should be renewed.
- Remove: Click this link to delete the license records from the list.
- Add License: Add a new license record to the list (an empty line will appear).
You can edit the license records directly in the list.
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A carrier credential is the login information about the broker or agent, which is stored in NextAgency. To open the Carrier Credentials page:
1. In the navigation bar, click Fast Access > Carrier Credentials.
Here you can see a list of all carrier credentials that have been created in NextAgency, with their names, types, settings, and available actions.
Adding a Carrier Credential
To add a new carrier credential, follow these steps:
- In the upper-right corner of the page, click Add New.
- In the Add New Broker ID dialog that opens, specify the following information:
- Carrier: Select the carrier for which you are adding the ID.
- Name: Enter the name of the broker or agency.
- Type: Select the type of the carrier, either Broker or Agency.
- Agent/Broker ID: Enter the ID of the agent or broker.
- Carrier Site Username: Enter the username that the carrier will specify for authorization with NextAgency.
- Carrier Site Password: Enter the password that the carrier will specify for authorization with NextAgency.
- Carrier Site URL: Enter the carrier website URL.
After you click Save, the carrier ID will appear in the list.
Managing Carrier Credentials
The following carrier credential management options are available in the carrier credentials list:
- Preview carrier credential information.
- Edit carrier credential information.
- Delete carrier credential information.
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Integrating your phone and agency management systems boosts both platforms. For client calls, you can instantly access contact info and NextAgency records. When in NextAgency, just click the phone number to place a call. Of course, you need the right platforms: NextAgency for your agency management system, NextAgency Intulse for your VOIP phone system. This article details how to set-up and make the most of their connection. Please note, this is a beta launch, meaning new features and fixes will be coming soon.
How to set up Intulse:To begin the integration process, the first step is to either sign in or sign up for Intulse and obtain the Master Key. To locate the Master Key in Intulse, click on the 'More' option, followed by 'API Access.' On this page, you will find the Master Key. Copy this key for later use.
After acquiring the Master Key, proceed to log in to NextAgency. Within NextAgency, navigate to Settings > Integrations > Intulse (located in the left side menu). In the provided field, paste the previously copied 'Master Key,' and then click 'Save' to complete the integration setup.
How to use Intulse in NextAgency:
Calls:After completing the integration process, you can begin utilizing Intulse within NextAgency for making calls and sending messages.
To get started with Intulse in NextAgency, the first step is to enable the 'Virtual Phone' feature in your Intulse settings.
Once 'Virtual Phone' is activated, navigate to either the Contacts icon or the Contacts tab within a case record in NextAgency. Click on Actions > View, and you'll notice a new dedicated tab for Intulse. Within this tab, simply click on 'Start Call' to initiate a call directly from NextAgency. Your browser will then notify you as the call is initiated. You will need to ensure that your browser notifications are turned on.
Below is a snapshot demonstrating the initiation of calls within Intulse. To initiate a call, simply click on the green button.
Text Messages:
Efficiently communicate with your Contacts via Text Messages by navigating to the Text Messages tab on the left-hand side and selecting the 'Send Message' option.
Compose your message and click 'Send' when you're ready.
The Intulse tab in NextAgency will store all the data related to your calls and messages.If you have questions, please reach out to our support team at support@nextagency.com
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NextAgency offers a wide variety of integrations to help you do more, more quickly, with automation. This includes making available to you our API and integration through the Zapier platform. This article describes how to connect NextAgency with other software platforms through Zapier.
Zapier makes it easy to move data between two software applications. We use workflows ("zaps") to help automatically move data between NextAgency and other software programs. For example, you can connect NextAgency to Calendly and automatically create a lead when someone sets-up an appointment with you.
There are literally hundreds of software platforms in the Zapier community. By automating repetitive tasks, we help you gain greater value from both NextAgency and other software you use. The result: you save time and money.
Here's how to automate your daily tasks in NextAgency with Zapier:
- Create a Zapier account if you don't already have one. (https://zapier.com/home).
- Request an invite to our Zapier integration. Simply click on the Help button at the bottom right of any page in NextAgency or send an email to support@nextagency.com stating your interest in integrating with Zapier. This must be done by an Administrative Broker or their designee. Our support team will send you the invitation.
- Use this invitation in Zapier to confirm your authority to link with NextAgency
- Go to My Apps in Zapier and select NextAgency.
- Zapier will ask you to provide a NextAgency API key so the app can connect to your NextAgency account.
- To get the API key, in the blue navigation pane select Fast Access and then click on the Settings link. On the Agency Settings > Profile page copy the key from the Zapier API Key fiel.
- Paste the key in the API Key field in Zapier and click Yes, Continue.
- NextAgency will appear under My Apps. You can test the integration as well as reconnect or disconnect it.
Connect NextAgency to Another Software Application
Now you can create workflow that connect NextAgency with other software platforms. Let's say you want to create a lead in NextAgency each time someone uses Calendly to schedule an appointment with you. Follow these steps:
- In your Zapier account, open the navigation pane and click Make a Zap.
- In the upper-left corner of the page, type a name for your zap (for example, "Calendly Leads").
- Under When this happens... > Choose App & Event, search for Calendly and choose the app from the search results.
- Under Choose Trigger Event, select Invitee Created, and then click Continue.
- Sign in to your Calendly account.
- Under Do this..., select NextAgency for Choose App, Create Lead for Choose Action Event, and then click Continue.
- Under Choose Account, sign in to your NextAgency account or select the account if you're already signed in, and then click Continue.
- Customize the lead and click Continue.
- Zapier will check the data and then test the connection.
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Our APIs make it easy to customize NextAgency for your company. From creating new leads to custom apps for backend data, we'll walk you through the tools you need to build new integrations and extend the power of NextAgency. While our Zapier integration gives you the ability to sync NextAgency with over 3500+ application in the Zapier marketplace, users may find that their use case requires more sophistication and complexity than a simple "if this happens, then do that". In a nutshell, Zapier is a one-way workflow, while APIs are two-way.
For example, suppose you have a large general agency, and you've built your own custom proprietary process to manage your clients and your agency's workflow.
Use Case Example #1:
It's renewal season. You've received PDF proposals from Anthem for your group's renewal. Your staff logs them into the customer's record within your legacy system.
You're using NextAgency as well, however. Your NextAgency portal informs the customer via SMS and Email that their renewal is ready. PDFs stored in your legacy system are also stored simultaneously in NextAgency.
NextAgency also notifies your own internal team that a renewal proposal from Anthem has been received and queues a task (with pre-set notification alerts) for your support team to call the customer. After the call, your rep posts a disposition/outcome of the call within NextAgency, which automatically posts the same exact note in your own legacy system.Use Case Example #2:
Your agency uses a VOIP solution such as RingCentral or Five9. When your agency receives an inbound call, you would like the customer's record to automatically pull up in your NextAgency portal, and additionally see an overlay window whereby you can input the call disposition (ie: notes/outcome). The disposition is then stored, complete with date/timestamp to your customer's record, as well as a recording of the conversation in .mp3/wav format (assuming opt-in compliance).
In addition, you'd like to make sure that when you access a customer record, that you're able to click on a contact's phone number and automatically pull up your VOIP window. Any information entered in this window will also be stored in your VOIP's platform.As you can see, tapping into NextAgency's API can unleash a world of new functionality and workflow that previously was hidden.
We have resources for each API to help you understand their use case, how to build with them, and a complete API reference. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at support@nextagency.com.