Job Aid: Your First Complaint in SES
This job aid guides agency complaints users through the creation and completion of their first consumer complaint in the State Examination System (SES).
Purpose
This Job Aid highlights the basic workflow for processing a complaint in SES and underlines important information along the way. Since the workflow in SES is not specific to any industry or business type, this job aid is relevant for any complaint conducted in SES.
Basic Flow for Processing a Complaint in SES

1. Company Communication
Each agency will need to decide when to communicate with companies about their agency’s use of the SES Consumer Complaints functionality. Consult the Agency Guidelines to Enroll New Companies in SES article for helpful resources, including industry communication templates and a recommended communications approach to assist with this process.
Agencies currently using the functionality have reported success with sending targeted communication to their supervised companies. Members of industry have also expressed appreciation for early notification allowing them to appropriately react and prepare for this change.
2. Complaint Initiation
Agency users enter complaint details, based on information provided by the complainant outside of SES, on to the complaint intake form. To get familiar, take a look at the SES Consumer Complaints Intake Form to see what type of information is captured within SES on a complaint.
3. Create and Send Information Request (IR)
After Step 3 is complete, the system will assign the Complaint ID, a unique identifier that can be used to access the complaint record in SES.

The article SES Consumer Complaints – More about the Information Request Exchange explains how IRs provides the ability to request information and documentation from the company to move forward with processing the complaint.
Recent updates to SES enable agency users to enroll a company user while sending the information request. This is another improvement generated from user feedback. Keep in mind, the company will need adequate time to complete enrollment and become familiar with system functionality before they can respond to the request.
4. Company Enrollment
If you decide to communicate with the company via a complaint information request, the agency must first initiate the company enrollment process. This process is referred to as Company Enrollment. It was designed so that the agency, who has the most accurate information about the company, would create the first user of the company as they would know who is best suited to handle the complaint on behalf of the company.
After the agency enrolls the appropriate individual, the company user is notified via email. The company notification provides the steps company users must take to access the system. If you are interested in learning more, we recommend watching the Company Enrollment in SES – How it Works.
5. Company Completes Enrollment and Responds to IR

A Company POC must be assigned for each new complaint received by the company. The POC is in charge of responding to information requests and serves as the person in charge of the complaint from the company’s perspective. The SES Call Center is available to assist company users with the steps listed above at1-800-269-6189.
6. Agency Reacts to IR Response
Once Step 5. Company Completes Enrollment and Responds to IR is completed by the company, the agency should receive an email notification alerting them of a new information request response. The agency may also use the Viewing the SA IR Response Activity Report to monitor incoming responses from companies.

If the IR response provided is satisfactory, you can choose to move on to closing the complaint. Otherwise, additional information requests can be created and sent, or the existing information request can be sent back to the company to allow them to respond again.
7. Updating and Resolving Complaint
The original complaint details provided on the complaint intake form can be edited at any point before complaint closure. When closing a complaint, the agency user will choose from a predefined list of closure reasons and is given the ability to add closure notes, and denote monetary relief paid out to the complainant, if applicable.
8. Record is Closed and Locked
After a complaint is closed, the complaint record is locked, and the Record Retention and Disposition Schedule are activated. All uploaded documentation associated to a complaint is accessible for 6 years after the complaint closure date. While the record remains locked after closure, agency users have the ability to add notes to closed complaints as applicable.
SES Agency Resources
Be sure to check out the SES Agency System Roles & Consumer Complaints Roles accessible at the SES Portal: https://portal.stateexaminationsystem.org.
For more information or support, contact the Regulatory Users Group (RUG) of the NMLS Call Center at the phone number or email provided on our secure portal. Secure Portal (requires agency login).