EZ Messenger Staff - Vendor Offboarding V 1.3

Procedure Name: Vendor Offboarding Procedure

Launch Date: 6/2018

Last Update: 11/5/2020

Author Name: Ashley Todd, Aimee Dietz, Regional Relationship Managers

Author Title: Vendor Operations

Version: 1.3

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1. Summary

EZ Messenger service vendors provide an invaluable service to our organization and customers. On occasion, those vendors choose to no longer provide services to EZ Messenger. There are instances where Vendors must be removed from our network due to a wide range of issues. Some of those issues may include failure to follow guidelines or even compliance related matters.

It is imperative each vendor be offboarded in an efficient and methodical manner to reduce the likelihood of jobs becoming dormant. More importantly, we must be sure our vendors are paid for all services rendered.

2. Responsibilities

Vendor Operations will be responsible for offboarding vendors, this will be carried out by our Regional Relationship Managers. The Regional Relationship Managers operates under Vendor Operations and coordinates their efforts with the Vendor Resources department within Vendor Operations. Regions for the relationship managers can be found here.

Regional Relationship Manager (RRM)

Director of Vendor Operations (DVO)

3. Escalation Point of Contact

Primary Point of Escalation = Director of Vendor Operations

4. Vendor Self Offboarding Procedure

The details in section 4 pertain to a vendor who has elected to discontinue providing services with EZ Messenger. A vendor is required to provide 7 days advance notice of termination of services. If the vendor provides 7 days advance notice, the following procedure 4.1-4.14 apply.

If the vendor is not providing 7 days advance notice as stated in the contract for services, the issue should be escalated to the Director of Vendor Operations. Vendor’s not providing 7 days advance notice of termination of services SHALL have their final pay held until all outstanding issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the Director of Vendor Operations.

1. Obtain a reason why they are choosing to leave.

2. Confirm if the leave is permanent or temporary.

3. Ask the vendor to provide a list of Jobs that they have in their possession, including physical documents.

a. All Physical Documents need to be returned to EZ Messenger. An EZ Messenger Business Reply Envelope maybe used to facilitate this process.

4. Ask the vendor to confirm their last day (last day the vendor intends to attempt EZM work).

5. Review any jobs that are currently assigned to the vendor. Confirm what the vendor’s intentions are with their current inventory.

a. If the vendor is not going to continue making attempts, those jobs will be reassigned to another vendor. The Regional Relationship Manager shall coordinate the reassignment of these jobs.

i. The vendor must be made aware of the possibility of not receiving compensation on the job if diligence has not been met. Diligence is defined in here.

6. Ask the vendor if there are any invoices or invoice questions that need to be resolved. This is from their perspective.

7. Review all outstanding Affidavit’s needed. Explain to the vendor they may receive requests for affidavits after they leave. We will need the vendors contact info, and how to send these for signatures. The Regional Relationship Manager shall be responsible for following up on any and all outstanding affidavits of service.

8. Confirm Vendor’s mailing address and contact information. If updates are needed, the vendor profile will need to be updated.

9. Note this information in the vendor profile in FAST (Server Log). The log should contain answers to sections 1-8.

10. Toggle the Vendor Status to Suspended (only if affidavits are still needed). If vendor does not have any outstanding affidavits, they should be toggled to Terminated status. Ensure User Prevent Assign and System Prevent Assign has been checked.

11. Upon toggling the vendor as suspended, the Vendor Relations Manager shall notify the Vendor Recruiting group of the information found above in the Vendor Status Update channel in TEAMS.

12. The vendor’s access to the portal shall be monitored by the Regional Relationship Manager. The vendor shall have access for a reasonable amount of time to finalize their inventory, affidavits etc. The Regional Relationship Manager shall provide the vendor with a final accounting of their commissions prior to terminating access to the portal.

a. Disputes involving vendor commissions shall be addressed by the Regional Relationship Manager and the Director of Vendor Operations.

13. Director of Vendor Operations shall review any outstanding chat messages between the vendor and the EZ Messenger team via Intercom. The Director of Vendor Operations shall direct any open communications to the appropriate parties, answer any unresolved questions, and unsubscribe the vendor to receive future Intercom Messages. This shall be done in concert with the Regional Relationship Manager.

14. The Regional Relationship Manager shall review all EZ Messenger reporting tools to insure all of the vendor’s inventory, affidavits, compliance issues are resolved. These reports include, but are not limited to:

a. Open Jobs by Server

b. Vendor’s Packing List

c. Affidavits Needed by Server

d. Holder Portal Reports as to areas opted in

5. Zip code Opt Out

Upon offboarding, the Vendor Operations Vendor Resources department shall be notified via the Vendor Status Update channel in TEAMS. The Vendor Resources department shall opt the vendor out of their coverage area.

This process is performed in the Holder Portal. The opt out tool is found under Tools - Vendor Maintenance – Opt In Management.

6. Vendor Offboarding Procedure

In instances where the offboarding of a vendor is deemed necessary by the Director of Compliance, Chief Operation Officer, Director of Vendor Operations or any other officer of EZ Messenger, the offboarding procedure will be outlined by the requesting Director or Officer.

The procedure will contain some or all of the elements listed in section 3 and will be commensurate with the vendor service.

7. Vendor Offboarding Procedure

Vendors who are subject to offboarding due to instances contained in section 5 shall have their final pay withheld by the Chief Financial Officer or their designee. Final pay is withheld to ensure fulfillment of terms and conditions found in the service vendor agreement.

The Director of Vendor Operations shall notify the Chief Financial Officer or their designee to withhold vendor payment. Upon requesting pay to be held, the vendor’s final pay shall be in the form of a check.

Once the vendor has fulfilled terms and conditions of the vendor agreement, which includes but may not be limited to the below instances, the vendor’s pay shall be remitted without delay.

1. Return of all documents deemed necessary by EZ Messenger

2. Signing and Return of Affidavits of Service or Non-Service to EZ Messenger

3. Cooperation with any Incident Reports that maybe outstanding at the time of separation.

8. Recommendation

Anytime a vendor is offboarded, a final note shall be placed in the vendor’s profile indicating if the vendor is eligible to be onboarded at a later date.

9. Vendor Profile Removal

Vendor profiles should not be removed or deleted unless deemed necessary by a Director.

10. Timing

Time is of the essence in respect to this procedure. At no point should the offboarding process take longer than 10 business days to complete. If the offboarding process is expected to take longer than 10 business days, the offboarding party shall notify the Director of Vendor Operations. Each step in the offboarding procedures outlined herein should be done in concert with one another. Steps should not be performed by piecemeal.

The Director of Vendor Operations shall evaluate the circumstances surrounding the offboarding and take steps to facilitate the offboarding of the vendor without unnecessary delay. If necessary, the Director may enlist EZ Messenger Human Resources, a company officer for assistance, or another Director for assistance.

For purposes of measuring the time for offboarding, the timing starts upon the written request of the vendor to self-offboard (as defined in section 3 of this procedure). Section 5 timing starts upon entry of a note from the Director of Compliance, Chief Operation Officer, Director of Vendor Operations or any other officer of EZ Messenger into the vendor’s log.

11. Licensing Authorities

The Director of Compliance, Chief Operation Officer, Director of Vendor Operations or any other officer of EZ Messenger may, at their discretion, file a complaint on behalf of the company against a vendor with licensing authorities.

Prior to filing a complaint with licensing authorities, the vendor shall be afforded an opportunity to correct issues raised by EZ Messenger. The vendor shall be provided written notice of the issues prior to the filing of a complaint. The written notice shall afford the vendor a reasonable amount of time to correct issues raised. The notice shall specify a date certain for the issue(s) to be resolved and should include language specifying a complaint maybe filed with the licensing authorities.

Issuing a complaint with vendor licensing authorities should be carefully considered and weighted against the probative value. EZ Messenger customers may request filing of formal complaints with licensing authorities. If an EZ Messenger Customer requests filing of a formal complaint, the process shall be overseen by the Director of Compliance.

Keywords: Vendor, Off-boarding, Procedure, Offboarding