Customer Contact Center Solution (CCCS)

In this section

Below, affected ISO customers can learn more about the changes to systems or procedures related to the Customer Contact Center Solution (CCCS) Project. This project was one of several that ISO New England has undertaken, in collaboration with stakeholders, for the continued development of the region’s wholesale electricity markets.

See Participant Readiness Project Outlook for more detail on specifically affected customers and systems for this and other major projects.

Project Overview
Required Participant Actions or Notices
Technical Documentation, Rules, and Procedures

Project Overview

Implemented: August 27, 2018

Under the CCCS Project, ISO New England replaced its customer issue management application, Ask ISO, to enhance interactions with customers and other stakeholders and support business continuity requirements. Benefits provided with the new application include:

Facilitating responses to inquiries by streamlining the identification of customer contacts and displaying customer relationships and roles, using data from the Customer and Asset Management System (CAMS). Stakeholders are able to submit issues for all of the customers they might represent under one user account.
Bringing together various email and phone conversations, providing a more complete picture as an issue progresses from initial identification to resolution. Community knowledge articles will also be added to help with quicker resolution of common issues.

Maintaining CAMS Security Administrator control over Ask ISO accounts that are linked to a CAMS person record
Replacing digital certificate access control with user name and password security credentials
Allowing self-service registration to create non-CAMS Ask ISO user accounts (for stakeholders not associated with a specific market participant or other ISO customer)
Displaying the user’s authorization to submit or request certain types of restricted information within the Ask ISO application to the ISO analyst in accordance with their CAMS person attributes (e.g., assigned application access, person contact types, asset contact roles, and committee representation)
Offering an “Ask ISO Manager” user role that will allow this type of user to view all issues assigned to their company, regardless of the submitter
Providing Ask ISO users with common subject categories to expedite issue routing
Automating the connection of related communications across multiple channels by recording related voice and email communications within the Ask ISO system
Routing callers with open Ask ISO cases directly to the analyst assigned to their issue (will require up-to-date contact information in CAMS)
Identifying Ask ISO-registered users by their phone number and display contact information to the analyst receiving the call

Required Participant Actions

Affected market participants should be mindful of the following time-bound items, some of which may require customers to take specific steps or adapt to changes in ISO systems.

Please consider subscribing to Participant Readiness, Market Notices, Information Technology (IT) Notices, and MIS Report Issues to receive notices posted to the ISO calendar for future projects.

TIMING OR DEADLINE	SYSTEM	ACTION OR EVENT
August 23, 2018	CAMS	Security Administrators were asked to review all person records assigned the “Individual” entity type for accuracy. The email address and phone number are the most critical data to confirm to facilitate Ask ISO account setup and enable call routing, but other person attributes were also reviewed. See details and instructions that follow.
August 27, 2018	Ask ISO	Users received an Ask ISO welcome email from the askiso@iso-ne.com email address to create their new user account. The link in the welcome email expires after 72 hours. If a user does not set up their account within the 72 hours they must follow the “forgot password” process on the Ask ISO Community webpage to create their new account. Access the new system via the Participant Support webpage.

TIMING OR DEADLINE

SYSTEM

ACTION OR EVENT

August 23, 2018

CAMS

Security Administrators were asked to review all person records assigned the “Individual” entity type for accuracy. The email address and phone number are the most critical data to confirm to facilitate Ask ISO account setup and enable call routing, but other person attributes were also reviewed. See details and instructions that follow.

August 27, 2018

Ask ISO

Users received an Ask ISO welcome email from the askiso@iso-ne.com email address to create their new user account. The link in the welcome email expires after 72 hours. If a user does not set up their account within the 72 hours they must follow the “forgot password” process on the Ask ISO Community webpage to create their new account.

Access the new system via the Participant Support webpage.

Verifying and Linking Information

Prior to the project implementation, customers were encouraged to verify the email address and user entity types (e.g., “Individual” vs. “Device” or “Desk”) recorded in CAMS. This would help ensure that new Ask ISO accounts link to the proper CAMS person record and that new Ask ISO accounts were only generated for valid users and e-mails. Having a linked account will expedite responses to inquires related to confidential information because ISO New England analysts can now view a person’s relationship to a customer and what authorizations have been granted to them by their CAMS Security Administrators.

Where an individual represents multiple market participants and their person records are designated with the “Individual” user entity type, Ask ISO now accounts will link their various CAMS person records if the email addresses match. Note: contact type override email addresses do not link to an Ask ISO user registration. Additionally, CAMS person records with the “Desk/Department” or “Device/Application” entity types are not brought into the new Ask ISO.

Ask ISO accounts can be linked to a CAMS person record created at a later date by completing the following steps:

Create (or update) the CAMS person record using the same email address used to create the Ask ISO account.
Assign the “Individual” user type to an existing or new CAMS person record.
Grant the CAMS person record the Ask ISO user role (external user or external manager).

The new contact center system that integrates with Salesforce requires accurate phone numbers in CAMS for person records linked to an Ask ISO account to properly identify and route callers. Other attributes associated with CAMS customer and person records are also shared with Ask ISO user accounts. To ensure a smooth transition to the new system CAMS company and person records were asked to be reviewed by customer personnel prior to go-live.

Stakeholders that do not have a CAMS person record register for Ask ISO by creating an account via the Ask ISO Community page by providing their email address and other basic identifying information. Consistent with ISO New England’s information policy, only users who are verified to have an affiliation with a Market Participant can receive more detailed responses specific to a Market Participant. Ask ISO users that are not linked to a CAMS customer account are only permitted to inquire about publicly available information.

Please also see the following frequently asked questions (FAQs):

Customer and Asset Management System

Technical Documentation, Rules, and Procedures

The following documents were provided to market participants affected by the project for specific instructions on completing related tasks or processes and helpful answers to frequently asked questions.

Technical Specifications and Documentation

DOCUMENT	NOTES (if necessary)
Ask ISO User Guide	New user guide describing how to submit questions, requests and registration forms to ISO-NE.
CAMS User Guide for Company and Affiliate Maintenance	Revised user guide for the maintenance of company and affiliate information in CAMS which includes the assignment of the External Ask ISO Manager role.