Thursday, February 11, 2016

Systems Replacement Update #2

BLS Partners – 

After years of planning, 2016 is the year that a BLS systems replacement will launch. By now you’ve heard that ATLAS stands for Automated Tax and Licensing Administration System. ATLAS will reduce the number of steps required for you to issue licenses, gather reporting, and do regulatory work. We’re completing the systems configuration in the next couple months and preparing for rollout in June. Our team is working on staff training plans for our Partners, and plan on delivering the training this spring.


Access and reports 

The shift to ATLAS comes with some changes. One of the biggest changes is how you will access the BLS system. You will access it through a partner portal. There will be fewer steps and no new software to install, but we encourage you to work with an updated browser (Internet Explorer 10 or greater, Chrome, etc). Instead, all partners will use a secure portal hosted on the Revenue website. BLS Partner staff will be creating their own User ID and password and will no longer be issued by Revenue staff. We’ll include more information about the new secure portal in future updates on the BLS Partner Post.

 
Secure login will be managed by users, not BLS staff
(click to enlarge).


Depending on your program or city, you will continue to get standard reports such as:
  • Licensees
  • Delinquent renewals
  • Incomplete applications
  • AFCD and AFCS (financials)
  • All other reports that you currently get



Application summaries (ARDs) will become work items that are queued for your review and approval. We will train your workgroup to create, access, download, and reformat reports so they work best for your city, agency, or vendor software. ATLAS has more scalable, on-demand reporting options.

Customer-friendly features

Some of ATLAS benefits are:

  • Web-based interface
  • Single login feature
  • Spell check feature
  • Word wrap (to keep entire words on the same line of text)
  • Robust search functionality
  • “Help” icon on every screen
  • Address validation (US) – to include +4 digits of zip code


Instead of daily documents to review, you will have a work queue
(click to enlarge)


Spring Training

This spring we’re inviting you to step up to the plate. Our staff is developing training materials and setting dates for partners. We will be sending timing and location information soon. We plan to host trainings in several cities around Washington. 

SPACE WILL BE LIMITED. Please understand we’re making efforts to offer in-person support, but some training will take place with computer-based training modules, videos, and webinars as we approach the June launch of ATLAS. Thank you in advance for your understanding.


Keep in touch


We’ll post training dates and news updates at BLS Partner Post soon. Also, if you send a message to dorblspartner@dor.wa.gov we’ll do our best to answer quickly.

~BLS Partnership Services