On November 1, 2011 CMA’s Construction Services Department will offer new anscers® web pages for our service users.

Our goal is to make the pages easier to read, easier to use and provide additional features.

You will still access the pages by clicking on the Liens tab in anscers®.

Liens tab on anscers

FORMS FILING REQUESTS

Your main Forms Filing Requests page will display all requests with the most recent request at the top of the page.

Sort, Filter & Search:
You will be able to sort the display of your requests using the column headings, filter the display of your requests using the status filters at the top of the screen or search for specific requests using the search to the right. (see screenshot below)

Click to enlarge - Main Liens Page

New – Usage Details:
A new feature on this page – Usage Details – will not be made available until the end of November. Once the November 2011 link displays clicking this link will show you the entire usage and billing for the month of November. This is the billing breakdown for the statement sent to you from CMA. Usage Details will be populated at the end of every monthly billing cycle and 12 months of billing data will eventually be available – starting with November 2011.

To see the project details and notices on any project, click on the Project Name.

PROJECT DETAILS PAGE

On the Project Details page you will see all the details of the project, starting with what you supplied and adding what CMA has verified.

Status and History:
If your project has an active notice request in process, the first item you will see on the page is the status of that current request.

Status of a notice

This status will be updated as things change. Once the notice is completed it will move to the History section of the page. All completed notices will be linked to a PDF version of the final notice for your records. This is a new feature, and a popular request among our current customers.

Click to enlarge - Project Details Page

Comments:
As CMA staff enter comments on your project (verification updates, problems, re-mails etc.) they will be visible at the top of the project details page – including the date and who is commenting.

Request Action:
Throughout the payment cycle of a project you may need to request more than one type of notice. Once your project is in anscers requesting a new notice is as simple as clicking the requested action and supplying any further information required. Your new notice request will be trackable on the project page in the Status and History area.

Print Progress Release Forms (FREE):
As payments are remitted on your project, use one of the four Progress Release forms provided to update your customer. Each time you create a progress release a PDF version of the final form will be available in the History section.

NEW FORMS FILING REQUEST

CMA has added several new features to the entry screens for notice requests. Now that we can file Mechanics Liens in all 50 states you have the ability to choose any available notice when submitting your request.

Types of forms filings - click to enlarge

On the customer and contractor fields an automatic search starts once you enter the name.

Auto search in action - click to enlarge

On all address fields we ask the zip code first, then the city and state, because anscers will automatically add the city and state with data provided by the US Postal Service. This is for your convenience, but you can easily overwrite this data if you do not believe it is correct.

The new entry screen also gives you the ability to add multiple contractors, owners and bonding companies to a project.

Very important: The new anscers® web pages have undergone significant testing before being made available to our customers, however, we acknowledge that you may temporarily encounter usability issues that were unanticipated. If you have any difficulty using the new anscers®  CFFS web pages, or you just have some suggestions, please call CMA’s Construction Services Department at 800-841-5793 and we will be happy to assist you.

We appreciate your business and your support of our efforts to continually improve your experience with CMA.

Searching for companies with & in their name has been a weak area on anscers for some time.

Last night we made some updates and changes to our searching logic that results in nice and clean search results for companies using & in their name.

anscers search using & - click to enlarge

A search for R & G – will result in those entered as R&G (close together) and those as R & G (spaced apart), see screen shot below.

R & G Demo - click to enlarge

We hope these upgrades to our search make it easier for you to submit RFI’s and Alerts on the proper companies without having to add them into anscers.

New anscers feature

New RFI feature on anscers – under the green check mark see how many days ago you responded. Great for members who contribute full AR and may want to update a response.

You receive a green check mark on an RFI if you respond to it directly – or if you have a previous tradeline in anscers, on the requested subject, that is less than 30 days old.

Please give us some feedback on this idea in the comments section on the CMA Blog.

Increased adoption of the anscers RFI process has changed the way groups use their Group Report.

To support this evolution, CMA has simplified the Group Report using a 99% RFI solution. If you understand the RFI process (submitting and responding to RFIs) you will easily adapt to the new Group Report process – now called Meeting Review.

Flow Chart - Click to Enlarge

Here is how it will work (see Meeting Review Process Chart above):

• Group members submit RFI’s as they need the information.
• Once you make a reservation for the upcoming meeting you will be able to select any RFI submitted (since the last meeting) for meeting review. Selecting an RFI adds it to the Meeting Review Report.
• If you have been submitting and responding to RFI’s as they happen then you are set for the Meeting Review. View the Meeting Review RFI’s from the RFI tab to add/edit your RFI responses.

On May 2, 2011 the evolution of the Group Report into the Meeting Review will be live on anscers.com. This change comes with some new rules:

• All accounts selected for meeting review must start as an RFI.
• Make your meeting reservation on anscers on the Group tab. CMA will no longer send fax or email reservation forms.
• Only members who reserve for the meeting will be allowed to select RFIs for meeting review.

The evolution into Meeting Review relies on group members use of the anscers RFI process. For many group members this will not be a big change since they use the RFI process on a daily or weekly basis. For others it will take time to adapt and we ask for your patience and encouragement to help the whole group benefit from these changes.

CMA will be sponsoring training webinars on the Meeting Review process throughout the month of May. Watch for further information on training times. You can also contact Customer Support during business hours at 800-541-2622 option 6 for a personal training.

We have some exciting changes coming to anscers.com for Groups on May 2, 2011. Group and Network members will be able to see all the changes on their Group Home Page.

New Group Home Page - Click to Enlarge

The following enhancements will be made to the Group Home Page:

1. The ability to make and track your meeting reservation on the Group Home Page.

2. See how active your Group is with the last three months of stats on RFIs, Alerts, Tradelines and Subjects entered by Group Members.

3. Access report archives from the Group Home Page.

It is our goal to make group functions easier to complete on anscers.com. As more group members use anscers we reduce the use of email and faxes and increase the quality of information in the group.

Watch for these changes on May 2, 2011.