Subcontractors: checking your work and fixing problems

A five minute check that your file is real

Do this once a month. It takes longer to read than to do.

1. Open Subcontractors. Every carrier at the top of the list should be one you expect to see there. The list is sorted worst first, so anything red at the top is either a real gap or a carrier you no longer hire and should archive. 2. Look at Coming due. Everything there should have a name you recognise and a date that makes sense. An empty panel means nothing falls due inside your warning windows, which is good, not broken. 3. Open one carrier you believe is fully covered and read the badges. Every required row should say On file. 4. Click Export their file on that carrier and read the history at the bottom. If it shows accepted dates for the documents you expect, your record will stand up. If the history is thin, you are holding certificates without a record of when anybody checked them. 5. Check one insurance row has a coverage limit recorded, not blank. See below for why blank is treated as a failure.

The status that confuses people most

Under your limit means the certificate is accepted and in date, and the cover is still less than you require. It is not a mistake, it is the module doing its job.

A blank coverage limit is also treated as under your limit. That is deliberate: a certificate that cannot be shown to meet your bar does not meet it, and reading a blank field as "fine" is exactly how a gap survives to the day of a claim. If the limit really is on the certificate, open the document, file it again, and type the limit in.

Error messages, and what to do

"Only a Super Admin can change company settings." You are an Admin, not a Super Admin. Module toggles and company settings are Super Admin only. Ask yours to switch it on.

"A subcontractor with that legal name already exists." You already have that carrier, possibly archived. Search the list before adding. Archived carriers are hidden from the main list but still hold the name.

"Fleet insurance needs an expiry date, or nothing can warn you before it lapses." Insurance and clearance documents are tracked by the date printed on them, so the expiry is required. If the certificate genuinely has no expiry, it is the wrong document.

"Carrier profile needs the date it was issued." The carrier profile and the WCB rate statement carry no expiry, so they fall due a set number of months after the date they were issued. Enter the issue date, not a guess at an expiry.

"Say why you are returning it." A rejection needs a reason. The carrier sees it, and without one they will send you the same document again.

"That document is switched off for your company." Somebody turned that requirement off under Requirements. Turn it back on if you want it collected.

"Portal invitations need a service role key, which is not configured." A deployment setting is missing. This is not something you can fix from the app; tell whoever runs your installation.

"Login created, but the email was not sent." The portal login exists and works, but outbound email is not configured, so nothing was delivered. Until that is fixed you can copy the carrier in another way, or have your installer set up email delivery.

"Inviting carriers is disabled in the demo." You are in the shared demo account. Demo accounts never create logins or send email to outside addresses, on purpose.

The carrier says they sent it and you cannot see it

Work down this list:

1. Is it in Waiting on you at the top of their page? An upload arrives as awaiting review, not as on file. If it is there, it worked, and it is waiting on you. 2. Did you already send it back? A returned document leaves the slot empty again and shows your reason on their page. They may be looking at the reason and assuming you have it. 3. Are they signed in as the right company? A contact invited for two of your carriers sees both, and it is easy to upload against the wrong one. 4. Has their access been revoked? Check Portal access on the carrier's page. A revoked contact can still sign in but sees nothing.

The carrier cannot get in

Send the sign-in link again from Portal access. Links are single use and do expire. There is no password to reset, because there is no password.

If they say the link takes them somewhere that looks like a marketing site rather than their checklist, they are signed in under a different account in that browser. Have them sign out and click the link again.

A warning did not arrive

• Warnings go to Admins and Super Admins, not to every worker.
• You are told once per stage, not once per day. If you already got the first warning for a document, you will not get another until it moves into its final week or lapses.
• A document awaiting review is not cover and is not warned about. Only accepted documents are.
• A document you already replaced is not warned about either.
• Check the warning window under Requirements. If it is set to seven days you will not hear anything at thirty.

Something looks wrong that is not in this list

Export the carrier's file and read the history. It records every accepted document, when it was accepted, and what replaced it. Most confusion about this module resolves the moment you can see the order things happened in.