telecommunications consumer protections (tcp) code c628:2012

TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONSUMER PROTECTIONS (TCP) CODE

C628:2012

Online Compliance Documents Lodgement Portal (iAppraise)

USER GUIDE

The Communications Compliance online Compliance Documents Lodgement Portal

is facilitated by iComply Pty Ltd through the iComply software iAppraise.

Communications Compliance Ltd Online Compliance Documents Lodgement Portal – User Guide

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................... 2

OVERVIEW – ONLINE COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS LODGEMENT ............................................................ 3

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 6

BROWSER COMPATIBILITY ................................................................................................................... 6

POP-UPs ................................................................................................................................................ 6

CSP ONLINE REGISTRATION .................................................................................................................... 8

ACCESSING THE SYSTEM ....................................................................................................................... 11

LOGGING IN ........................................................................................................................................ 11

LOGGING OUT / TIMING OUT ........................................................................................................... 12

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD ........................................................................................................... 12

PAYING LODGEMENT FEES .................................................................................................................... 14

ACCESSING THE COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS ASSESSMENT ................................................................. 17

ASSESSMENT FEATURES ......................................................................................................................... 18

QUESTIONNAIRE WINDOW ................................................................................................................. 18

ASSESSMENT RESPONSE WINDOW ..................................................................................................... 19

UPLOADING DOCUMENTS ................................................................................................................. 20

SUBMITTING THE ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................................... 21

HOW TO PRINT A REPORT OF INFORMATION PROVIDED ................................................................ 22


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OVERVIEW – ONLINE COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS LODGEMENT

TCP Code background:

Chapter 9 and Appendix 1 of the TCP Code set out the Code Compliance Framework. Under this

Framework you are required to lodge certain compliance documents with Communications

Compliance (CommCom) which in turn will publish the names of the CSPs that have lodged the

required documents along with some of the information contained in those documents. As per the

Code, CommCom must also publish the names of the CSPs that have failed to lodge the

documents. In the event that you are unable to provide one or more of the required statements

and/or indicate non-compliance with one or more provisions of the Code, you are required to

lodge a further document that details how you intend to become compliant with the Code.

Lodgement process:

To facilitate the lodgement and processing of those compliance documents CommCom has set up

an online assessment portal. To use the portal you are required to register your details in a

registration form. Once you have submitted your registration form you will receive an email with

some welcome information and your log-in details.

After you have logged in using these details, you will be able to pay and complete your initial

assessment. This initial assessment leads to the lodgement of your Compliance Attestation, and

(as applicable) a Code Questionnaire or Statement of Independent Assessment, and your Customer

Information Compliance Statement.

If your assessment indicates that you may have one or more compliance issues, you will be asked

to lodge a Compliance Achievement Plan (CAP) in a second assessment.

Assessment structure and form:

The initial assessment consists of three sections:

Compliance Attestation (for all CSPs);

Statement of Independent Assessment written by an External Qualified Assessor (only for

large and very large CSPs) or a Code Questionnaire for selected Code clauses ( only for

micro and small CSPs);

Customer Information Compliance Statement (for all CSPs).

Each of these sections consists of a questionnaire that closely reflects the appropriate Code

provisions. All questions require a yes / no response (or n/a where a question does not apply to

you) with the exception of the Customer Information Compliance Statement which requires the

insertion of hyperlinks (or n/a where the content does not apply to you). Some questions may also

require you to upload a document or to insert a hyperlink. For most questions you will be able to

provide additional comments with your responses. It is recommended that you refer to the “Help”

tab available for most questions.

If your responses indicate that you are not complying with all Code provisions, you are required to

submit a second assessment, i.e. a Compliance Achievement Plan (CAP), which involves an

additional payment. The CAP will contain pre-listed questions (i.e. the questions where you

indicated compliance issues in your initial assessment) and ask you to indicate/confirm which

Code provisions you are not complying with, what actions you are taking to become compliant and

the timeframe to complete those actions.


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Progressing through the assessments:

Assessments (the initial assessment as well as the CAP assessment where required) progress

through several stages, called ‘Statuses’. When you log on to the portal the Status of your

assessment will be “Set up, unpaid”. Upon payment of the applicable fees your assessment moves

to “In Progress” and you are able to complete your assessment. Once you have completed all

questions and you wish to lodge your assessment, you must change the Status from “In Progress”

to “Submitted” to lodge your compliance documents. This then locks your assessment.

After you have lodged your assessment CommCom will review your compliance documents and

contact you via email to inform you of one of the following:

Your compliance documents have been accepted. In this case no further documents are

required.

CommCom kindly requests further information or clarification. In this case your

assessment will be reactivated and you will be able to enter the additional information and

to re-submit the assessment.

CommCom kindly requests a Compliance Achievement Plan (CAP). In this case, you will be

required to open a newly generated assessment to detail how you will progress to

compliance with the Code. The CAP assessment follows the same process as the previous

assessment.

Please refer to the table below for an overview of the stages of an assessment.

Status Who changes

Status Description

Set up,

unpaid CSP

The assessment has been initiated but the applicable

fees have not yet been paid. (CommCom’s fees can be

found on commcom.com.au/csp-area/commcom-fees.)

In progress CSP

The assessment has been paid for and is active. You

can work through the individual sections (e.g.

Compliance Attestation, Customer Information

Compliance Statement etc.) of the assessment.

Submitted CSP

The assessment has been completed and submitted to

CommCom. No further changes can be made unless

requested by CommCom.

Accepted

and final CommCom

CommCom has reviewed the assessment and accepted

it. The assessment is closed. No further documents are

required at this point.

Further

information

required

CommCom

CommCom has reviewed the assessment and requested

additional information or clarification. The assessment

is reactivated for your response. You can find

CommComs issues for clarification in the “Review Item”

tab of the assessment.

CAP

required CommCom

CommCom has reviewed the assessment and requested

a Compliance Achievement Plan (CAP).

Deadline

expired CommCom

No assessment was submitted in time and the

assessment is deactivated.


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Reports:

You are able to generate a report of the responses you provided throughout an assessment. Upon

submitting an assessment, the portal will automatically email you a confirmation of your

submission and a report of all responses and notes that you provided.

Once your assessment has reached the “Accepted and final” Status, you will also receive your

Customer Information Compliance Statement as a PDF file via email.

Publication:

CommCom will evaluate all documents received from Carriage Service Providers (CSPs) and publish

a CSP’s ‘compliance status’ as per the Appendix 1 (A.1.10 – A.1.14) of the Code.

Where applicable, CommCom also intends to indicate the nature of non-compliance (e.g.

“Substantially compliant”, “Largely compliant”, “Working towards compliance”) to express varying

degrees of non-compliance evident from Compliance Achievement Plans or to express progress

made by CSPs through continued compliance efforts.

A list of CSPs that have been referred to the Australian Communications and Media Authority

(ACMA) for further investigation must also be published on CommCom’s website. More detailed

information on CommCom’s obligations to publish compliance data and to refer CSPs to the ACMA

can be found in Appendix 1 A and B of the TCP Code.


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SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

BROWSER COMPATIBILITY

iAppraise has been developed for Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or later (except V10 operating on

Windows 8 devices). For best results set screen resolution to 1280 x 1024 +

iAppraise is compatible with most internet browsers, as follows:

Firefox (Mac and PC) – Version 3.6 or higher is recommended, but it will work

satisfactorily under earlier versions

Safari – Version 4 or higher.

Chrome (Mac and PC) – Version 9 or higher

Opera (Mac and PC) – Whilst it appears to function correctly under Opera (v9.8), the

software provider will not warrant its behaviour in this environment.

POP-UPs

Web browsers are sometimes configured to block pop-up windows. You will not be able to gain

access if pop-ups are blocked.

Before using the software please enable pop-ups in the ‘Allowed Sites’ list for the following web

address:

iappraise.com.au/CommCom

To configure your browser to accept pop-ups from the iAppraise site, follow the instructions

outlined below for the browser you use:

1. Internet Explorer 8

a. From the toolbar or menu bar, click Tools->Popup blocker->Popup blocker settings.

b. Add the site address in the box under “Address of website to allow:” and click the

“Add” button.

2. Internet Explorer 9

a. From the menu bar, click Tools->Internet Option ->Privacy Tab

b. Under the Pop-up Blocker section, add the site address in the box under “Address of

website to allow:” and click the “Add” button.

If the menu bar is hidden:

a. Click the Settings icon in the right corner of toolbar and select Internet Options -

>Privacy Tab

b. Under the Pop-up Blocker section, add the site address in the box under “Address of

website to allow:” and click the “Add” button.

3. Firefox

a. From the toolbar, click Tools -> Options -> Content -> Block popup windows->

Exceptions

b. Enter the site address in the box under “Address of web site:” and click the “Allow”

button.

4. Chrome -

a. From the wrench icon on the toolbar, select Settings and click Show advanced

settings. Under the Privacy section, click the “Content settings” button. In the opened

window, go to Pop-ups section, click the “Manage exceptions” and enter the side

address and have the option of “Allow” selected and click on “Done”.


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5. Safari

a. From the menu, uncheck the “Block Pop-ups” option.

b. Note that it is not possible to restrict pop-ups to only this site so it needs to be

turned off for all. Users may wish to return this setting to ‘ON’ by checking the

option “Block Pop-ups”, when they complete their work in iAppraise.

6. Opera (note that functionality in this browser is not warranted)

a. From the toolbar, click Menu -> Settings -> Preferences

b. Under the pop-ups section, if it is set to “Block unwanted popups”, select the option

“Open all pop-ups” to allow pop-ups for all sites. Alternatively while using the

iAppraise site, if you get the message asking to allow the popup, click “Open”.

If you have changed your pop-up settings, close the browser window, and open a new

session with the new settings to begin your iAppraise session.

Alternatively, when using iAppraise, if you see a yellow bar on the screen with the text “Pop-up

Blocked”, click on it and select the first option “Always allow pop-ups from iAppraise.com.au”, then

click “Done”.


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CSP ONLINE REGISTRATION

1. Follow the link provided by CommCom or go to the following URL:

https://www.iappraise.com.au/commcom/commcomregistration.aspx

Complete the online registration form. Fields denoted with an asterisk (*) must be

completed to submit the registration form.

Please note that under Australian law, each company with its own Australian Company

Number (ACN) is a separate legal person (even if it is part of a corporate group) so each

company that provides voice and/or data carriage services is a CSP. Each CSP with its own

ACN registers individually and lodges its own compliance documents.

2. Carriage Service Provider (CSP) Details

a. CSP Name. The business name of the CSP as it is commonly known and referred to.

(Max. 20 characters)

b. Name. The registered business name for the CSP

c. Trading Name. The CSP trading name (may be the same as the registered business

name)

d. ACN

e. ABN If applicable

f. URL. The CSP’s web address.

3. Physical Address

Please complete the details of the Physical Address section.

4. Billing Address

Please complete the details of the Billing Address section.

5. Primary Contact

Please complete the details of the Primary Contact section.

https://www.iappraise.com.au/commcom/commcomregistration.aspx


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6. Secondary Contact

Please complete the details of the Secondary Contact section.

7. Additional Details

a. Brief description of business. Provide a brief description of your business. This assists

CommCom with understanding what kind of services you are providing and to which

customer groups (residential, small business, corporate etc.)

b. Business size. Select a category from the list provided depending on the number of

services in operation that your organisation provides to Consumers (with Consumers

being defined in the Code, Definitions section, p. 14). A service in operation is e.g. a

mobile service, a land-line or an ADSL service.

c. Services in Operation. Please provide the current number of services in operation. The

answer to this question is voluntary. Your answer will be treated confidentially and is for

our own statistical purposes only.

8. Signatory Administrative User

Please complete the details of the Signatory Administrative User section.


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9. Declaration

a. Declaration and Acknowledgement. Read the Declaration and Acknowledgment

statement at the end of the form.

b. Captcha Interface. Type the two words into the textbox at the bottom of the form as

requested (case sensitive). Leave a space between the two words. If you are having

difficulties deciphering the letters, click the little arrow button to the right of the two

words (top of the three blue buttons) to create a new Captcha or listen to the letters by

clicking on the little speaker button (middle of the three blue buttons). You can create as

many new Captchas or listen to them as often as you like.

c. Confirmation. Click the “I agree-Continue Registration” button.

10. The system will display a welcome message on successful registration.


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ACCESSING THE SYSTEM

LOGGING IN

When you first register or are added as a user, you will receive your username and a system

generated password via email. When you first log in you will be required to change your password.

1. Access the login page by visiting https://iappraise.com.au/commcom

2. Enter your username and password. Note that the password is case sensitive.

3. Click the Sign In button.

4. The system will display an important displaimer message. Please read it carefully and only

click the Accept button if you agree to the terms.

https://iappraise.com.au/commcom


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5. On clicking the Accept button, the iAppraise dashboard will be displayed.

LOGGING OUT / TIMING OUT

Please log out of iAppraise when you complete your session to avoid a potential loss of data.

1. Click the Sign Out button on the application toolbar. (Top right corner of your screen.)

Please note that a session times out after 1 hour of inactivity

CHANGING YOUR PASSWORD

The system security policy ensures that all passwords expire every 45 days. If your password has

expired, you will be informed when you attempt to log on. The process to follow to renew your

password is as described below, step 2 onwards.

The system will also prevent you using recently used passwords.

It is important that you keep your password secure.

You can change your password at any time, as follows:

1. On the dashboard in the Compliance Activities tab, click Change Password.


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2. A Change Password pop-up window will appear in the upper left corner of your screen. If

this does not appear you must unblock pop-ups before you try again.

3. Enter your existing password, followed by your new password, and re-enter the new

password to confirm. Then click the OK button. Ensure your new password meets the

following rules:

6 to 10 characters in length

Should contain a mix of upper and lower case letters

Must contain at least one number


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PAYING LODGEMENT FEES

Lodgement fees apply and must be paid by all CSPs providing services under the Code prior to:

a) Opening and lodging Annual Compliance Documents;

b) Opening and lodging a Compliance Achievement Plan (CAP). A CAP is required whenever

non-compliance with a provision of the TCP Code is evident from information lodged in

Annual Compliance Documents. CommCom will inform you via email (iAppraise generated

email) if a CAP is required.

On the Dashboard page:

In order to pay your pay the applicable fees, you will need to

1. Select the assessment, e.g. TCP Code Annual Compliance Documents Lodgement by

clicking on it. (It will then be highlighted). If it requires payment, it will have the Status

“Set up, unpaid”.

(Note: Payment of lodgement fees must be made before the assessment can be opened.

Once you have paid your assessment you can modify it an multiple times until you are

ready to submit it.)

2. Click the Pay Lodgement Fees button


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3. The Pay Lodgement Fees page will be displayed.

4. The Purchase Details area will display the appropriate total lodgement fee (and its

individual components if applicable) for your CSP category. The quantity will default to 1.

We recommend you do not change the default setting!

5. Click the Confirm Order button to proceed with the purchase. The Billing Details area will

update with the total amount to be billed for payment.


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6. Complete your Credit Card Details and click the Purchase button.

7. After successful processing of the payment, you will be directed to the Tax Invoice /

Receipt page. This displays a Tax Invoice, and provides buttons for you to print and/or

email a copy of the tax invoice. This page can be closed by clicking the red X at the top

right of the page.

8. Then select the assessment (it will be highlighted after you selected it) and click

“Checklist” to commence your assessment.


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ACCESSING THE COMPLIANCE DOCUMENTS ASSESSMENT

1. Click on the checklist e.g. TCP Code Annual Compliance Documents Lodgement. The row

in the table will be highlighted, as below:

2. Click the Checklist button on the toolbar. 3. The Checklist will pop up in a new window, as shown below.

IF THE CHECKLIST DOES NOT OPEN, PLEASE UNBLOCK POP-UPS FOR THIS SITE!


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ASSESSMENT FEATURES

QUESTIONNAIRE WINDOW

The default view of the questionnaire is the Checklist page, as shown below. This allows you to

navigate quickly through the questionnaire and access certain functions.

Notes:

1. The Checklist tab is always visible. Click this at any time to return to this window.

2. The Reports tab is always visible. It provides access to a TCP Code assessment Details

Report, which you can generate at any time to print a record of the information provided by

you in the checklist.

3. To access further help, click the Help button.

4. This is the main body of the checklist, displaying a list of all questions of the respective

section (see 5. below).

5. Questions are organised into sections (e.g. Compliance Attestation, Customer Information

Compliance Statement etc.). This is a drop down list containing a list of all sections making

up the assessment. When you select a section from this list, the screen will display all

questions for the selected section. You can jump to any section of the assessment at any

time.

6. This is an example of a question. If you click anywhere on a question, a response screen

will be displayed (see next page). This is where you enter a response.

7. To navigate forwards through the assessment, click the blue arrow pointing to the right.

When you click this button your response will be automatically saved.

8. To navigate backwards through the assessment, click the blue arrow to the left. When you

click this button your response will be automatically saved.

9. To exit the assessment, click the Close button. Your last response (and your previous

responses) will be automatically saved. You do not have to complete the assessment in

one session. You can return to the assessment any number of times as you

progressively record data.


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ASSESSMENT RESPONSE WINDOW

When you click on any question in the main checklist window (step 6 above), the response window

will be displayed. This is where you enter information in response to the question.

Notes:

1. This tells you which section of the assessment you are in.

2. This tells you which question you are responding to.

3. This is where you click an appropriate response based on your compliance. Some

questions may require you to insert a hyperlink or to upload a document

4. This is where you can enter comments, if required, to expand on your response.

5. To clear responses you have entered, click the Clear button, and confirm the action when

prompted. This will remove all responses on the current screen. It will not remove

responses to any previous screens/questions.

6. This provides help and guidance on the TCP Code. Click on the Attachments tab to upload

documents. Note that uploaded documents have a file size limit of 5MB each.

7. To navigate forward or backwards through the questions, click the right or left blue arrow

buttons. When you navigate using these buttons, your responses will be automatically

saved.

8. If you have entered data and wish to exit this question without saving, click the Cancel

button to return to the default Checklist page.

9. If you wish to explicitly save, then click the Save button, but note that this will

automatically return you to the default Checklist page. (Save and Close will save your

latest response, then exit the software.)

10. When you finalised your assessment of all sections and are satisfied it is correct, you can

change the assessment status to “Submitted”. Note that this action is final and will

prevent future access to the assessment unless further information is requested by

CommCom.

11. If you click on the Checklist tab, this will also return you to the default Checklist Summary

page, without saving data entered on the current question. Data entered for previous

questions will remain saved.


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UPLOADING DOCUMENTS

As part of the assessment you may be required to upload/attach documents. Documents must

each be less than 5MB in size. If your attachments are larger, you may zip the file, or attach it in

smaller parts.

To upload a document (e.g. a sample Critical Information Summary) use the Attachments tab in

the question response screen.

1. Click the Add button on the toolbar.

2. Click the Add Files button, and select the file you wish to upload from your file system.

3. After selecting your file, you can name it appropriately.

4. Repeat for up to five separate files, then click the Upload button to upload and store all files

at once.


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SUBMITTING THE ASSESSMENT

There are 2 stages to completing the assessment:

1. Check that you responded to EVERY question of the assessment and uploaded

documents and included links where required.

2. Open the Status dropdown list, and select “Submitted”. You will be advised that you will

no longer be able to access the assessment once submitted.

3. The assessment will be closed, and an email will be automatically generated and sent to

you with your assessment Details Report (i.e. a report with all the responses and notes

you provided) attached.

4. The assessment will be locked and you will no longer be able to access and edit the

assessment.

Note: You might like to print a report of your assessment before submitting. Please

see following section.


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HOW TO PRINT A REPORT OF INFORMATION PROVIDED

1. In the main questionnaire window, click the Reports tab.

2. This opens the report viewer, with a report at the top left of the screen. Next to this is a

View button.

3. Click the View button to generate the report. The report will be displayed in this window.

4. To export the report in order to save or print, click the Export button (which will be in the

top right of screen), and then click OK when the Adobe Acrobat (PDF) prompt appears.

The file will be created and you will be prompted to open or save the file, from which it

can be printed.

The report will provide a summary of all responses provided up to when you generated

the report.