Faxing letters using Outlook and Customer First 111-10010090

Requests to fax documents containing personal details (for example, income statements) should be considered on a case by case basis. The Service Officer must:

• be completely satisfied of the customer's identity
• take particular care to ensure the fax number is correct

When faxing a third party, always verify the third party’s identity and contact details.

It is the Service Officer’s responsibility to ensure that a fax goes to the correct recipient. There is no excuse for misdirected faxes.

Is the request considered appropriate?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, advise the customer or third party that faxing is not appropriate, and either:
• offer to post to the customer/third party
• advise the customer to attend the most appropriate Access Service to collect documentation.
  Procedure ends here

Is the customer requesting an Income Statement?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

Check the History Summary (HS) screen to work out if an Income Statement has already been issued on the date of their request.

• If Income Statement has been issued on that date, go to Step 5
• If Income statement has not been issued, run the Income Statement or Income and Asset Statement Guided Procedure

Note: when using any scripts or macros that allow the printer destination to be changed, type EMAILME in instead of the printer number. This will email a copy of the document to the staff member straight away.

• At the HS screen, open the twisties beside the Income Statement and select the Cancel option, then Print Local option. In Customer First the options on the HS screen display as a drop down menu. The Letter Print (LPA) screen will display
• In the Copy field change to 'Y'
• In the Printer destination field enter EMAILME
• Select [Enter]:
• the Document queued to printer message appears
• the Income Statement will be sent to the staff member's email address

Go to Step 5.

Note: Do not fax Statements (SU19) and letters which include attachments (for example, QCAT3 letters) using this method.

• At the HS screen, open the twisty beside the letter to be faxed and select Print Local option. In Customer First the options on the HS screen display as a drop down menu
• The letter Print (LPA) screen will display
• In the Copy field change to 'Y'
• In the Printer destination field enter EMAILME
• Select [Enter]:
• the Document queued to printer message appears
• the letter will be sent to the staff member's email address

The Service Officer will receive an email with the subject:

PDF of letter <History ID> [SEC=INCONFIDENCE:CUST <DATE><TIME>]

The document to be faxed is attached to this email. To prepare it for sending:

• open the email in a new window
• select the Forward button
• delete all content in the body and subject line of the email, including the signature block
• do not delete the attachment

Set up the fax recipient

In the To field of the email, enter the full fax number including its area code, followed by @fax.outbound. Do not include spaces or punctuation in the number.

For example, to send a fax to the number (02) 7010 3699, a Service Officer would use this in the To field:

0270103699@fax.outbound

Change the email format to plain text

Change the formatting of the email to Plain Text. This is required so that the cover sheet works correctly.

• From the Ribbon, choose the Format Text tab. The formatting options appear
• In the Format category, choose Plain Text

Set up a subject

Enter details into the Subject field of the email. Include details that are relevant to the document being sent, such as:

• Income Statement
• Recovery Notice
• Letter

Use codes in the body of the email to help format the cover sheet (first page) of the fax. Each code:

• goes on its own line
• starts with 2 at signs (@@)
• is followed with an equals sign (=)
• concludes with the text to be used in that part of the cover sheet. If the text contains more than one word, enclose the text in plain (straight) quotes.

Recipient details

In the body of the email, enter the recipient’s details using the following codes for recipients:

• @@recipientfirstname=
• @@recipientcompany=

To include spaces in any of these details, make sure the message is in Plain Text format and put plain (straight) quotes around the text.

For example, to send a fax to someone named Simon Surname who works at Example Pty Ltd, the details would look like this:

@@recipientfirstname="Simon Surname"
@@recipientcompany="Example Pty Ltd"

If any of the fields are unnecessary, leave them out.

Sender details

Staying in the body of the email, use sender codes to specify who is sending the message. In most cases this will be Services Australia. The service delivery brand is optional.

• @@senderfirstname=
• @@sendercompany=

For example, to send a fax from Services Australia Medicare, the details would look like this:

@@senderfirstname="Services Australia"
@@sendercompany=Medicare

Note: If both of the sender codes are left out, the staff member’s full name and team name will be in the cover sheet instead.

Message body

Staying in the body of the email, include an appropriate short message about the fax. Include a reference to the attachment and a contact number for any enquiries.

Please do not use symbols in the message body, for example, @, #. This is to avoid confusion with their use in other parts of the fax/letter.

Double check codes and details

Review all of the code and details, taking care to check the spelling and structure of each line of code. Mistakes in the code can cause display problems on the cover sheet. Resources includes a table of common display errors and what could cause them.

Once satisfied that the fax is ready, go to step 7.

Send the email. The email will go through to the fax system. The system will interpret the details and codes from the email, and use them to compose a fax message and send it.

Record details on a DOC

Create a DOC to record the fax, including the:

• recipient name (if they are not the customer)
• fax number
• contents of the email and details of the attachment

The staff member who sent the fax will get a message from the fax system, with a sender name of SVC-Telstra-SMTP, to confirm delivery. There will be an attachment with details about the transmission.

• If the fax was successful, this usually arrives within 5 minutes. The subject line will begin with “Fax sent to:”, followed by the recipient’s name and number.
• If it was unsuccessful, the message can take up to 30 minutes to arrive. The subject line will begin with “An error occurred while sending to:”, followed by the recipient’s name and number.

Was the fax transmitted successfully?

• Yes, go to step 9
• No:
• Review the error message in the confirmation email. Based on what the error suggests, decide whether to:
• re-try transmission
• raise a service request in MySupport. Search for Issues with fax
• Annotate the fax DOC created in step 7, and mention whether the fax has been re-sent. If the fax cannot be re-sent, record the error message for future reference
• Go to step 9

Delete any EMAILME, SVC-Telstra-SMTP, and confirmation emails immediately to maintain customer privacy.

Delete error emails once they have been resolved.