OBG enables Service Providers and Representatives to use OBG on behalf of their clients, subject to access being established and managed by the client. Users at Service Provider companies who have access on behalf of Clients are able to change their company affiliation on the OBG Home Page. Once the company has been changed and the Client's FEIN and company name is displayed at the top of the Home Page, the user is accessing OBG transactions and services on behalf of the Client (subject to the access level defined by the Client).
This feature enables a user at a Service Provider company to access OBG transactions and services on behalf of many clients without having to log off and log on multiple times. The user's account is still primarily affiliated with their Service Provider company, but the user is able to temporarily act on behalf of the FEIN and company name displayed at the top of the OBG Home Page. A user at a Service Provider company sees the same OBG Home Page as a user from the Client company.
The Service Provider/Representative Sign-on feature is based on a relationship established by the Client company between the Client and the Service Provider company. The Client does not have to actually manage individual users at the Service Provider. By managing the access level of the relationship, the Client is effectively managing the access level that users at the Service Provider have when those users act on behalf of the Client.
The Service Provider is responsible for managing their own individual users, including managing which users have access to the relationship provided by the Client.
The Client remains in full control over what the Service Provider company can do on behalf of the client, much in the same way that the Client manages what its own users can do on behalf of the Client. The Client can always break the relationship with the Service Provider or redefine the Service Provider's access level at any time. Any changes simultaneously affect all users at the Service Provider who have access to the Client.
Setting up Service Provider access is a simple three-step process:
When the Service Provider Administrator edits the Client's group, the Administrator can only add or remove Service Provider users to/from the group. The Service Provider Administrator can not change the access level defined by the Client.
Service Provider users do not have to be created before Clients can establish relationships with the Service Provider company. When creating a new user, the Service Provider Administrator can also add the user to an existing Client group (see Creating and Managing Users).
Client Administrators can change the access level of a Service Provider or remove Service Provider Access by simply changing the access level of the group or deleting the group altogether.
Service Provider Administrators can change which Service Provider users have access to the Client relationship by editing the Client group.
See Creating and Managing Groups (Shared Access) for more information.
Users at Service Provider companies who have been added to Client groups have the ability to change to the OBG Home Page of the Client. Client companies to which a Service Provider user has access are displayed in a drop-down list at the top right of the OBG Home Page. After the user selects a Client from the list, the OBG Home Page is updated to show the Client's name and FEIN at the top left. The user is now viewing the OBG Home Page of the Client.
If the drop-down list feature is not visible on the OBG Home Page, the user does not have access on behalf of any Client companies.
Multiple users should not attempt to simultaneously create, edit, or checkout with the same transaction at the same time.
The highest practical access level that a business may provide to Service Providers using the Service Provider Sign-on feature is All-Access for individual Service Areas.
Even though the Client may select Service Area Administrator access when defining the access level of a group, users at Service Provider companies who are members of the Client's group may not access the "Administration" section of OBG on behalf of the Client. The Administration area is grayed out when a Service Provider user changes to the OBG Home Page of the Client. If Service Area Administrator access is assigned to the group, the full access will only be available to the users from the Client business that have also been added as members of the group.
If the Client desires for any Service Provider users to have any kind of administrative access on behalf of the Client business, then the Client Administrator should create one or more regular user accounts for the individual(s) at the Service Provider. This means that a Service Provider user will not be able to use the Service Provider Sign-on feature for the Client and the Service Provider user will need to maintain an additional OBG Username and Password for the Client.