To add new agency users in NextAgency, you should have the Administrative Broker permissions, so this article is aimed at users that have such permissions within NextAgency. Follow these steps:

1. In the navigation bar, click Fast Access > Manage Users.
2. In the upper-right corner of the User Management page that opens, click Add an Authorized User.

3. In the Add an Authorized User window that opens, you should fill the name of the user, their email address, location, and role. The field arrangement in the window may change depending on the role.

       

4. When ready, click Save. As a result, the user will get an invitation by email.

 

The following user roles are available:

• Administrative Broker. Administrative Brokers have broad authority concerning your agency’s business. They may view and manage all of your agency’s prospects and clients, including those of other brokers. Administrative Brokers may manage carrier profiles and enrollment kits. They have access to your agency’s billing information including your agency's license fees. If new users should not have these permissions, consider adding them as Writing Brokers or Support Staff.
• Writing Broker. Writing Brokers are permitted to view and make changes to their own prospects and clients and to appoint Support Staff to help them. They may manage carrier profiles and enrollment kits used by your agency. Only Administrative Brokers may appoint Writing Brokers. Administrative Brokers can customize the permissions for Writing Brokers within the same Add an Authorized User window.

           

• Broker Support. When you select this role, an additional field will appear, where you should specify the corresponding associate brokers/writing brokers. Support Staff are permitted to view and edit only the prospects and clients to which the Broker adding them as user has access. If appointed by an Administrative Broker, they have access to all prospects and clients in your agency. If appointed by a Writing Broker, they have access only to that Writing Broker's prospects and clients. Administrative Brokers can customize the permissions for Support Staff within the same Add an Authorized User window.

       

• Agency Support. Support Staff are permitted to view and edit only the prospects and clients to which the Broker adding them as user has access. If appointed by an Administrative Broker, they have access to all prospects and clients in your agency. If appointed by a Writing Broker, they have access only to that Writing Broker's prospects and clients. Administrative Brokers can customize the permissions for Support Staff within the same Add an Authorized User window.

       

 

IMPORTANT: Before adding any broker as an authorized user, make sure that you can trust this person.

On the Settings page, you can manage data that is relevant to your NextAgency account and access the most important functionality of NextAgency with just a couple of clicks.

 

There are two ways to access the page:

• In the navigation bar, click Fast Access, and then choose Settings.

       

• In the upper-right corner of any page, click your name, and then choose Settings.

       

The Settings page is divided into several subpages, so let's explore each of them.

 

Agency Settings

The Agency Settings subpage is divided into the following tabs:

• Agency Contacts. Manage the records of contact persons that you want to keep track of and display to your entire agency, such as vendor and carrier contacts.

• Profile. Manage your profile data, such as agency details, contact information, and locations.

       

• Teams. Manage the teams that are authorized to access NextAgency.

        

• Vendors. Edit the data relevant to the vendors that your company is working with and add new vendor records.

        

        

 

Sales Settings

The Sales Settings subpage is divided into the following tabs:

• Account Contacts. Manage the contacts that are associated with your account.

       

       

• Checklists. Manage the checklists that are associated with your account.

       

       

• Custom Fields. Add custom fields to NextAgency and view the existing ones.
• Email Templates. Add custom email templates to NextAgency and view the existing ones.
• General Agents. Edit the data relevant to the general agents and add new general agent records.

        

        

• Incoming Lead. View the incoming leads and add them to CRM.

       

• Product Types. Add new product types and manage the existing ones.

       

• Sales Statuses. Add new sales statuses for cases and edit the existing ones.

       

       

• Stages. Add new case stages and edit the existing ones.

       

• Sub-Agents. Edit the data relevant to the sub-agents and add new sub-agent records.
• Tags. Manage all tags that you and your agents have created within NextAgency. Add new tags, edit the existing tags, assign the tags to cases, and specify whether tags should be mandatory when creating new cases.

       

• Workflows. Manage all workflows that you and your agents have created within NextAgency. Add new workflows, edit the existing workflows, and assign the workflows to cases.

        

      

Administrative Settings

There is a separate article about the administrative settings - NextAgency: Administrative Settings.

 

Billing

On the Default tab of the Billing subpage, you can manage your billing information in the following way:

• View information regarding your current payment plan with NextAgency and make changes to your plan if desired

       

• View the next charge date, the billing amount, the number of brokers that you manage with your current plan, credit card data, and the email address we have on file for you
• Update the email settings (unsubscribe certain mailing lists).

       

• Update the payment card info.

        

On the History tab of the Billing subpage, you can view the history of your payment transactions according to the chosen payment plan.

 

Integration

The Integration subpage is divided into the following tabs:

• NextMail. Set up the internal mailing system of NextAgency. For more information, see NextAgency: NextMail.

        

• Lead Widget. Copy the code of NextAgency widget that will help you capture leads on your website.

        

 

To open the administration tools of NextAgency, click Fast Access > Settings in the navigation bar, and then click the Administrative Settings tab.

 

 

 

 

There is also a faster way to access the administrative settings - just click Fast Access > Carriers, to directly open the first subtab of the administrative settings, Carriers.

Now let's explore each subtab of administrative settings.

Carriers

On this page, you can manage the records of carriers that are relevant to NextAgency:

• Use the quick filters to narrow down the search results.

       

       

• Add new carrier records.

       

• Edit existing carrier records.

       

• Duplicate carrier records.
• Archive carrier records.

       

• Manage commission statements for the carriers.

       

Carrier Credentials

On this page, you can manage the carrier credentials, i.e. login information about the broker or agent, which is stored in NextAgency. You can also add your carrier login information for all carriers that have been added to your agency portal.

 

Support Staff

On this page, you can manage the broker support staff records and hire new support staff.

You can do the following:

• Add new credentials.

       

• Filter the credentials according to state or user.
• Preview information about the credentials.
• Edit information about the credentials.
• Delete information about the credentials.

Managers

On this page, you can view the agency managers and their associated brokers as well as add new managers.

Users

On this page, you can manage users who are authorized to access NextAgency. You can also add the trusted brokers and support reps to your NextAgency account.

 

 

 

 

This article will give you a basic overview of the NextAgency platform.

Once you've logged into the application, you will see each page is made up of the header (top), navigation menu (left), and the main content section.  

 

 

Header

In this section, you'll find access to latest agency notifications, a global search field, announcements (recent updates to the application),  text messages, help, user profile, and agency settings.

 

 

 

Navigation

The navigation sidebar provides access to the following:

• Dashboard
• Cases/Policies
• Library
• Reports
• NextCalendar
• NextMail
• Fast Access
• Most Recent
• Directory
• Tickets
• Timeline

 

Let’s explore these features one by one.

 

 

Dashboard 

By default, the Dashboard is the first page that you see when you login to the application. The dashboard is a customizable view, using a selection of various "tiles", which represent different data sets within NextAgency.  Tiles can be selected and re-arranged, based on the needs of your agency and business.

 

 

 

 

Cases/Policies

This is where you'll manage your agency's case records.  Clients/prospects, policies, and all of the related data will be contained or linked within these cases.  The initial view for this page, by default, displays all cases. You may also choose to display a listing of all policies, rather than cases.  NextAgency provides many options for sorting, filtering, searching, and viewing your data.

 

 

Filters & Search

There are many options for filtering, sorting, and viewing your cases and policies:

• Sales Status: Filter based on the current sales status.  (Sales Status' are customizable from within your Agency settings.)
• Market Segment: Display records for specific market segments.
• Search: Find a record by typing in partial or complete name.

 

If you click on "Filters", on the top right of the Cases/Policies page, you will find even more options to filter your results.  Frequently-used filters can be saved for later use.

 

 

 

Adding New Cases

To add a new case record, click the New button next to the Import button and fill in the necessary data.  The fields that are shown will depend on the market segment selected.  Individual cases will have different fields than Group cases.  Custom fields may also be defined from your Agency settings menu.

 

Importing Cases (Bulk)

To save time on adding each case record manually, you can bulk import an Excel spreadsheet with the case record details. To do this, click the Import button next to the search box and follow the instructions.

 

Viewing and editing a Specific Case

Once you've opened a case, you'll be presented with the details for that case.  Multiple tabs across the top of the case record help to organize the various types of related data.  The available tabs and data will depend on whether the Case is defined as Individual or Group market segment.  Now let's take a look at each of these tabs.

 

• Summary (All Market Segments) -  Snapshot of the case record, including detail from each of the tabs, as well as Broker of Record and Team members that are assigned.  

     

• Contacts (All Market Segments) - Contacts associated with case.  "Primary" contact will be shown with the blue (P) icon, and this contact will also be listed on the summary page.  New contacts can be added here, and existing contacts in NextAgency can be associated with this case.

• Benefits (All Market Segments) - Policies (benefits), including Current, Past, and Future.  Add new and modify existing benefits.

• Tasks (All Market Segments) - Create and modify tasks (action items) related to this policy.  Tasks can be assigned to NextAgency users.  Due dates and reminder notifications can also be defined.

• Notes (All Market Segments) - View and create notes related to this case.  Notes can be assigned to NextAgency users.  Important notes can also be "Pinned to Summary", so they show up on the Summary page of the Case record.

• Files (All Market Segments) - Attach files to the case.  These could be completed insurance applications and other related documents.  Folder structure's can be used to help organize, if needed.

 

• Dependents (Individual Market Segment Only) - Manage an individual's dependents.  Existing individuals can be added as dependents, or new dependents can be created.

• Census (Group Market Segment Only) - Manage Census data for a Small or Large Group case.

• Employees (Group Market Segment Only) - Add, edit, or remove employees associated with a Small or Large Group case.  

• Sales (All Market Segments) - Manage quotes, proposals, and enrollment kits.

• Commissions (All Market Segments) - Edit, create or import commissions statements.   Define commission splits, per policy/Carrier.  NOTE: Commissions module is billed separately from the Core NextAgency product subscription.

• NextMail (All Market Segments) -  If you've chosen to sync your email account with NextAgency, the NextMail tab will display communications related to the case, including emails sent to or from contacts defined within the case.

• Activities (All Market Segments) - Log of activities related to the case.

 

 

 

Contacts

In this section, you'll find all of your contacts within NextAgency.  This includes contacts that have been created within a case, within this Contacts page, and/or imported from an Excel spreadsheet.  You may also choose to include contacts that have been synced from your NextMail email (if applicable).

 

 

 

 

Library

The Library is your agency's file repository.  It contains all files that have been uploaded into NextAgency.  You may create a folder structure to organize your files.  The Library is where an agency would typically store blank applications and documents, whereas, Case specific (completed) applications and documents would be stored within a Case record.

 

 

 

 

Reports

The Reports allows you to create reports for many different data sets. Most fields within NextAgency can be used to generate reports, including your agency's custom fields.  Any reports that have been saved will be listed here, under the appropriate report category.  To generate a new report for a template that has already been saved, select the category, find the report, and within the Actions menu, select "Run".

 

 

 

To create a new report, select the category of the report, and click "Create".  You'll be taken to a screen where you can select the fields that are relevant for that type of report.  Select the fields you'd like to be included.  If you'd like to save the report for future use, select "Save As Template". 

Once you are ready to generate the report, click "Run".

 

 

 

 

NextMail

The NextMail page gives you access to NextAgency's mail client, if you've chosen to utilize this integration. For more information, see NextAgency: NextMail.

 

 

 

Fast Access

The Fast Access menu gives you quick access to many features within NextAgency.

 

 

 

 

Most Recent

The Most Recent menu provides quick access to the most recent cases you've visited, sorted by Individual and Group cases.

 

 

 

Directory

The Directory page contains a list with records of all agency brokers and their details.

 

 

 

Tickets

The Tickets page contains all tickets that have been created by your Agency.  Tickets are typically used for tracking and assignment of an agency's internal actions.

 

 

 

 

Timeline

The Timeline page provides you with several options for viewing all tasks, tickets, and notes that you or other users have created within NextAgency.  This feature is useful to help your Agency manage and organize your work.  Current options for viewing include:

• All
• Today and Future
• Today
• Tomorrow
• This Week
• Next Week
• Prior to Today

It is also possible to add filters, sort the records to view only their specific types, as well as export and add new tasks and tickets.