A big transition is on the horizon for subscribers when RMLS™ changes its billing and subscriber management system. This change—which we anticipate will take place in late May—will affect every single RMLS™ subscriber, but each person will be impacted a little differently. Take note of the following changes:

A New Approach to Logging In

All RMLS™ subscribers will have a different login name and see a different login screen when accessing RMLSweb. The email address that appears on the RMLSweb roster will now be your user name. (Subscribers with licenses in both Oregon and Washington will have one login and password like everyone else.)

This means subscribers should log in to RMLSweb before May 13th to confirm their email address. Access User Preferences on RMLSweb and confirm the email address that appears in the RMLSweb Contact Email field—that email address is what your new login will be once the transition happens. (See update below.)

Due to account security, RMLS™ staff will be unable to help subscribers who have lost their password in this new system. Instead, the login screen will feature a password reset link.

One Call Does It All

Contacting RMLS™ can involve a transfer from department to department. A centralized system means callers should be able to take care of multiple needs in just one stop. Subscribers will be able to manage more account information on RMLSweb as well, meaning less of a need to wait until a particular office is open to take care of a pressing issue.

Billing and Payments: You’re In Control

Changing this system will give subscribers access to more billing and payment options. One perk of this higher-security system: RMLS™ will now be able to accept ACH, eChecks, and checks by phone for payment!

Subscribers will be able to directly manage email address(es) where bills are sent. Have a personal assistant or accountant? No problem! They both need a copy of your bill? Also no problem! You’re in control of how bills from RMLS™ are routed.

RMLS™ subscribers will also be able to manage personal assistant accounts online rather than contacting RMLS™.

However, RMLS™ subscribers enrolled in the auto-pay program will need to re-enroll. RMLS™ will contact subscribers once the systems are in place to re-enroll in auto-pay—keep an eye out in the coming weeks. Everyone will receive a bill on June 1st unless there is a credit balance on the account.

Smoother Event Registration

Attending a RMLS™ Broker Education Series (BES) event or trade fair? Registration will be handled using this new subscriber management system. RMLS™ staff will be able to register subscribers for classes, as well as modify or cancel event registrations.

Changing a system that is such an integral part of RMLSweb is no small task, but it was a long-needed change, and we’re all in this together. RMLS™ staff will receive training to ensure a smooth transition and ease subscribers through the process.

RMLS™ will soon reach out to smaller groups of subscribers via email about other more specific changes. Continue to watch RMLScentral and the RMLSweb desktop for updates in the coming weeks.

UPDATE (May 9, 2016):

Subscribers should still log in to RMLSweb before May 13th to confirm their email address, but the email address used for the new system will be the Association Email address listed in Internet Member Services (IMS) instead of the RMLSweb Contact Email field. Contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 if you need assistance making this change.

The RMLS™ accounting team—Dalece Lauck, Cheronn Foster, Ceri Howell, and Stacy Waples—are the friendly voices on the phone if you call regarding your RMLS™ bill.

This post is part of MLS Insight, a series about how things work at RMLS™.

Do you know there is an opportunity for receiving a discount on RMLS™ dues? This year, our annual Subscriber Satisfaction Survey revealed that only around 20% of those responding knew about it.

Generally, subscriber dues are quarterly, billed in advance. However, there are now two options to make discounted payments for a longer time period. If you pay all subscriber dues annually in advance, you will receive a 10% discount, and there is now also a brand new offering of half-yearly advance payment with a 4% discount. With the end of 2014 rapidly approaching, so is the opportunity for making an annual payment to take advantage of this discount opportunity for the full year in 2015. Call RMLS™ Accounting at 503-872-8003 for more information.

The Accounting Department works hard to make the billing process as easy and streamlined for subscribers as possible, while maintaining the highest level of fiscal responsibility for RMLS™. Last year, our billing process did not allow for payment of fees without penalty in the quarter of service, because this allowed us to virtually eliminate bad debt. No one received service that they had not paid for. However, this policy caused problems for some subscribers who needed to pay in the month or year that the service was actually received to make their accounting work the way they wanted it to. This year our billing timeline allows for payment without a late fee until the sixth of the month after billing occurs, eliminating those problems and not significantly increasing our exposure to unpaid service.

RMLS^™ will upgrade its billing and membership system in 2015. The RMLS™ Board of Directors approved a new contract with Abila, Inc, to use their cloud-based system netFORUM Enterprise. RMLS™ has used the same membership system since 1993. A change was needed because that system does not operate optimally over a wide area network—in plain English, this means that our branch offices often experience slow response and other difficulties. It has been increasingly difficult to maintain PCI compliance for credit card processing with the current system. After reviewing many products, Abila was chosen for its solid platform, customization potential, and commitment to PCI compliance and data security. The system will also replace our outmoded HelpDesk software, as well as some other staff tools. Customization of the system and data migration will take place over the next six months or so. We do not expect to bill subscribers with the new system before the third quarter of 2015. When the system is rolled out, it will include an upgrade to the online payment system for subscribers.

Next month we will spotlight another department at RMLS™. If you have any questions you would like to have answered about how things work at RMLS™, I encourage you to post a comment to this blog.