Introducing… agile Quotes

We are pleased to announce that the general release of agile Quotes is well underway and will be completed for all C&I ED and International agencies by January 2011. This new, robust tool will replace AQS as your quotations system for both ABL and Non-ABL. agile Quotes has many great features that will allow you to effectively manage the quotation process and analyze your quoting activity. The delivery of this major piece of functionality now ties together all aspects of managing projects full cycle, seamlessly in agile.

Now that the general deployment of agile Quotes is underway, this is what you can expect when your agency’s time comes up on the schedule:

Step One – Initial Contact: Each week, 5-6 agents with the same Acuity Quote Manager are scheduled to begin the migration. Prior to the week of your training, your agency will be contacted by one of our agile Quotes Agency Liaisons about the on-boarding process.

Step Two – Training: We will offer two levels of training for different users in your agency. Your agile  Liaison will let you know when each session is being offered and will help coordinate who will be attending from your agency.

Overview Training: 

• Target Audience: Those who need to only know the basics such as searching for a quote, opening a quote or printing a quote.
• When and how long: Two identical 30 minute webinars will be offered during your training week, one morning and one afternoon. Each individual only needs to attend one session and may choose to attend the session that best fits their schedule.

Detailed Training:

• Target Audience: The quotation department at your agency. Anyone who is going to be using the system to render quotes should attend this detailed training
• When and how long: Two identical 2 hour training webinars will be offered during your training week, one morning and one afternoon. Each individual only needs to attend one session and may choose to attend the session that best fits their schedule. If you attend a detailed session there is no need to attend the overview session.

Step Three – Training Environment Access: Once training has been completed, your Agency Liaison will provide you with an agile User ID that you can use in the training environment (also referred to as Alpha). This User ID will allow you to practice using the system and familiarize yourself with its’ capabilities prior to being formally turned on the following Monday. We strongly urge you to log on and explore the tool in the test environment.

Step Four – Production Access: On Monday following training, your quote users will be granted access to agile Quotes in production. It is imperative that your agency begin using the tool to create and issue quotes. You may choose to ramp up slowly, but we encourage you to set a goal of all users in your agency making a complete cutover within 30 days of training.

Step Five – AQS Data Load: Within 30 days of training, when you are ready to make the cutover to agile Quotes exclusively, we will do a one time load of AQS quotes to a history table viewable in agile. This will give you the ability to view ALL AQS quotes in agile and import active AQS quotes from history into agile quotes for continued processing as needed on a one by one basis.

Step Six – Turn off AQS: Once the data load is complete and you give the “go live green light”, AQS will be turned off!

That’s all there is to it….you will be live with agile Quotes!

Stay tuned for a series of agile blogs introducing you to the many great features and functions of agile Quotes. Our next blog will be focused on how agile Quotes ties in with Project Container and the rest of agile!  Email you questions to agilequotes@acuitybrands.com.