How to complete your agency setup checklist

The **Agency Checklist** scores your agency configuration across 19 tasks, lets your agency skip the ones it does not need, and shows what still needs attention before you switch your agency to live messaging.

### Overview

Every time you open the checklist, it loads your agency's current configuration and works out which tasks are done, so there is nothing to tick off by hand. What the checklist cannot work out is what your agency has decided: a task it chose to skip, or an optional task someone has reviewed. Those decisions are saved for the whole agency, so everyone who opens the checklist sees the same thing.

The page opens with the **AGENCY SETUP CHECKLIST** card, which shows how many tasks are complete (for example, **9 of 19 tasks complete**, followed by how many are skipped), an overall percentage, a progress bar, and a **PDF** button. Below that, the tasks are grouped into **Foundation**, **Communication**, **Automation**, **Content**, and **Optional**, and each group header shows its own count. Every task row shows an icon, its title, a points badge, and a **Done**, **Skipped**, or **Reviewed** badge once it is settled. Expand a row to read what the task is for, see the records already configured, and open the screen where you manage it.

| Group | Tasks |
|-------|-------|
| **Foundation** | **General Settings**, **Users**, **Roles**, **Locations**, **Staging Agency** |
| **Communication** | **Agency Phones**, **Agency Emails**, **Web Domains**, **Email Domains**, **Carrier Registration** |
| **Automation** | **Statuses**, **Flows**, **Auto Messages** |
| **Content** | **Portals**, **Forms**, **Upload Templates**, **Data Dashboards**, **Reports**, **Files** |
| **Optional** | **Research Program**, **Referral Program** |

The **Optional** tasks earn no points. They are there so your agency knows the programs exist.

### Prerequisites

- An eCourtDate account signed in to the agency you want to review
- Access to the areas the checklist reads, including settings, users, roles, locations, agency phones, agency emails, statuses, flows, auto messages, portals, forms, upload templates, dashboards, reports, and files
- Permission to view messages, to check **Carrier Registration**
- Permission to update settings, to skip a task, mark an optional task as reviewed, or undo either one
- Access to the eCourtDate Console, because **Web Domains** and **Email Domains** are managed there rather than in the application

### How-To Steps

#### Opening the Agency Checklist

1. Sign in to your [eCourtDate agency](https://app.ecourtdate.com).
2. Click **Help** in the top navigation bar.
3. Select **Agency checklist** from the menu. Once you have opened the checklist at least once, this menu item also shows your cached progress, such as **Agency checklist · 9/19**.
4. Wait for **Loading setup data...** to clear.

You can also reach the same page from the **Checklist** tab in the tab strip on the **Setup**, **Billing**, **Carriers**, **Research**, **Referrals**, and **Help** pages, or from the alert on your **Dashboard** that asks you to review your agency checklist before going live.

#### Reviewing your progress

1. Read the tasks complete count and the percentage at the top of the **AGENCY SETUP CHECKLIST** card.
2. Read the milestone line under the progress bar, such as **Halfway done. Great progress so far.**
3. Scan each group header to see which group has the most tasks outstanding.
4. Look for task rows without a **Done**, **Skipped**, or **Reviewed** badge. Those are the ones still to finish.

#### Completing a task

1. Click a task row to expand it.
2. Read the description under the title to confirm what the task covers.
3. Review the records listed inside the task. If none exist, the task shows a warning such as **No agency phones configured.**
4. Click **Manage** followed by the task name, for example **Manage Agency Phones**, to open that screen in a new browser tab.
5. Make your changes on that screen and save them.
6. Return to the checklist tab and reload the page to pick up the new scores.

#### Skipping a task your agency does not need

1. Click the task row to expand it.
2. Click **Skip**.
3. Read what skipping the task means for your agency. For example, skipping **Data Dashboards** means nobody gets a web dashboard of your agency's metrics as they change.
4. Tick **I understand**.
5. Click **Skip**.

The task shows a **Skipped** badge and who skipped it and when. **General Settings**, **Users**, and **Agency Phones** cannot be skipped, because your agency cannot send messages without them.

eCourtDate does not recommend skipping **Agency Emails**, **Web Domains**, **Email Domains**, or **Carrier Registration**, because without them fewer of your messages reach clients, or they look less like they come from your agency. For these tasks the dialog shows its warning in red. For example, skipping **Email Domains** means your email messages are more likely to be filtered as spam, share the sending reputation of other senders, and look less official to clients. To skip one anyway, tick **I understand the risks and still want to skip it** and click **Skip Anyway**.

#### Undoing a skip

1. Click the skipped task row to expand it.
2. Click **Undo Skip**.

The task goes back on the checklist and counts toward your score again.

#### Reviewing an optional task

1. Click **Research Program** or **Referral Program** in the **Optional** group to expand it.
2. Click **Manage** followed by the program name to read about the program.
3. Return to the checklist and click **Mark as Reviewed**.

To take the mark back, click **Undo Review**. **Research Program** counts as reviewed on its own once your agency has joined or left the program.

#### Saving a copy of the checklist

1. Click **PDF** in the top right of the **AGENCY SETUP CHECKLIST** card.
2. Choose your printer or save the page as a PDF in the browser print dialog.

### What to Expect

Each scored task carries the point value shown in its badge. **General Settings** is worth the most at 10 points; **Agency Phones**, **Agency Emails**, and **Carrier Registration** are worth 8 each; and the remaining tasks are worth 5 or 6 points each.

Your percentage is the points you have earned out of the points for the tasks your agency has kept. A skipped task leaves the score rather than counting as done, so 100 percent always means every task your agency kept is configured. A skipped task that you later configure shows as **Done**.

Every task except **General Settings** is scored all or nothing. **General Settings** awards partial credit across 12 checks: the nine agency fields (name, phone, email, website, address, city, state, zip, and timezone), a logo, at least two languages, and a send mode of live. Any missing field shows a **MISSING** badge inside the expanded task.

Some tasks have extra rules before they count as complete:

| Task | Complete when |
|------|---------------|
| **Users** | At least two of your own staff accounts, excluding eCourtDate accounts, have signed in at least once |
| **Staging Agency** | The staging region has an active agency with the same name as yours (capital letters and spaces at either end do not matter) |
| **Forms** | At least one form has a status other than draft |
| **Reports** | At least one report has a monthly export |
| **Email Domains** | A configured email domain matches the domain of your primary agency email |
| **Web Domains** | A configured web domain matches the domain of your default portal |
| **Carrier Registration** | Your brand is verified, at least one campaign is active, and every local number is assigned to an active campaign. An agency with no local numbers has nothing to register |
| **Research Program** | Your agency has joined or left the research program |

Skips and reviews are saved for your whole agency as soon as you make them. The progress bar fills as you go and a short celebration animation plays when the checklist reaches 100 percent, where the milestone line reads **Setup complete. Your agency is fully configured.** Your completed count is also cached in your browser, so the **Help** menu can show it without reloading the whole checklist.

On the staging region, the checklist does not show **Staging Agency**, because the agency you are looking at is already in staging.

### Best Practices

- **Start with General Settings.** It is worth the most points, it is the only task that gives partial credit, and its send mode setting controls whether your outbound messages are live or simulated.
- **Skip only what your agency has decided against.** A skip is a decision for the whole agency, and the checklist records who made it and when.
- **Do not skip the tasks your messages depend on.** Agency Emails, Web Domains, Email Domains, and Carrier Registration decide whether your messages arrive and whether clients trust them.
- **Set up Agency Emails before Email Domains.** The **Email Domains** task only counts as complete when a configured domain matches the domain on your primary agency email.
- **Create your default portal before chasing Web Domains.** The **Web Domains** task compares your configured domains against the domain on your default portal.
- **Finish Carrier Registration before going live.** Carriers filter or block texts from local numbers that are not registered.
- **Ask your staff to sign in.** Invited accounts that have never signed in show a **Never Active** badge and do not count toward the **Users** task.
- **Reload the checklist after each change.** Manage buttons open in a new tab, so the checklist keeps showing the scores from when you loaded it.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Can I mark a task complete myself?**

A: No. The checklist scores every task from your agency's live configuration each time the page loads. You can skip a task your agency does not need, which takes it out of the score, and mark an optional task as reviewed.

**Q: Who can skip a task, and who sees it?**

A: Anyone whose role can update settings can skip a task, undo a skip, or mark an optional task as reviewed. Everyone in your agency sees the same skips and reviews, with who made each one and when.

**Q: Why can I not skip General Settings, Users, or Agency Phones?**

A: Your agency cannot send messages without them, so there is no version of a working agency that leaves them out.

**Q: How do I get a staging agency?**

A: Staging agencies are set up by eCourtDate. Click the help button in the bottom right corner of the screen and select **New support ticket** to ask for one. The checklist looks for an agency in staging with the same name as yours.

**Q: Why does Users still show as incomplete after I invited my team?**

A: **Users** needs at least two of your own staff accounts, not eCourtDate accounts, that have signed in at least once. Accounts that have never signed in appear with a **Never Active** badge.

**Q: Why does Reports show as incomplete when I already have reports?**

A: **Reports** requires at least one report with a monthly export. Expand the task and look at the **Monthly Report with Export** line, which shows **MISSING** until one exists.

**Q: How is the overall percentage worked out?**

A: Each scored task contributes the points shown in its badge. Your percentage is the points you have earned out of the points for every task your agency has not skipped. Everything except **General Settings** is all or nothing, and **General Settings** awards a share of its 10 points for each of the 12 checks you have completed. **Optional** tasks earn no points.

**Q: Where do Web Domains and Email Domains take me?**

A: Both tasks manage their domains in the eCourtDate Console, so **Manage Web Domains** and **Manage Email Domains** open the Console in a new tab rather than a page inside the application.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** The checklist will not load.

**Symptoms:** The page shows **Unable to load setup data. Please refresh to try again.** instead of the task list.

**Solution:**

1. Refresh the page. The checklist requests most tasks together, so a single failed request stops the whole list.
2. Confirm your role grants access to the areas the checklist reads, such as agency phones, users, reports, and files.
3. If it keeps failing, click the help button in the bottom right corner of the screen and select **New support ticket**.

**Issue:** You cannot skip or review tasks.

**Symptoms:** The card says **Skipped and reviewed tasks could not be loaded.**, or no **Skip** or **Mark as Reviewed** buttons appear.

**Solution:**

1. If the card shows **Skipped and reviewed tasks could not be loaded.**, click **Try again**. Nothing can be skipped until your agency's earlier decisions load, so a task is never skipped twice.
2. If the buttons are missing, ask an administrator for a role that can update settings.

**Issue:** Carrier Registration cannot be checked.

**Symptoms:** The task says **Checking carrier registration needs permission to view messages.** or **Carrier registration could not be checked.**

**Solution:**

1. If it needs permission, ask an administrator for a role that can view messages.
2. If it could not be checked, click **Try again** inside the task. The check asks the carrier registry, which can be slow to answer.

**Issue:** A task still shows as incomplete after you configured it.

**Symptoms:** You saved the change in the tab that opened from a **Manage** button, but the task on the checklist still shows a grey circle and no **Done** badge.

**Solution:**

1. Return to the checklist tab and reload the page, because the data is only fetched when the page opens.
2. Check the completion rule for that task. **Users**, **Staging Agency**, **Forms**, **Reports**, **Email Domains**, **Web Domains**, and **Carrier Registration** each need something specific rather than just one record.

**Issue:** General Settings never reaches complete.

**Symptoms:** The expanded task reports fewer than 12 of 12 settings configured, and one or more entries show a **MISSING** badge.

**Solution:**

1. Expand **General Settings** and note every entry with a **MISSING** badge.
2. Click **Manage General Settings** and fill in the missing agency fields, upload a logo, and enable at least two languages.
3. Set the send mode to live when your agency is ready. On the staging region, simulate mode counts as complete because staging always simulates outbound messages.

### Related Articles

- [How to Set Up a New Agency](/how-to-set-up-a-new-agency)
- [How to Manage Agency Phone Numbers](/how-to-manage-agency-phone-numbers)
- [How to Manage Agency Emails](/how-to-manage-agency-emails)
- [How to Complete Carrier Registration](/how-to-complete-carrier-registration)
- [How to Join the Research Program](/how-to-join-the-research-program)
- [How to Manage Users](/how-to-manage-users)
- [Roles and Permissions](/roles-and-permissions)
- [How to Create a Custom Domain](/how-to-create-a-custom-domain)