Travis Software Official Blog

The Summer 2008 release of WebCOBRA is complete, and was made available on Sunday, September 28. Over the next few weeks, we are going to highlight some of the new features that we have added to the system.

Retiree Billing is one of the major features added to the WebCOBRA.com system. With this new Add-on Module, you can now enroll and track your Retirees, and their benefits, with the same ease that you have tracking COBRA Participants.

How will an online Retiree Billing system help you? Just like administering COBRA in WebCOBRA.com, Retiree Billing can:

• Allow Retirees to Log-in online and view their account, contact, and payment information.
• Allow Retirees to initiate online payments themselves.
• Gives Administrators the ability to set up benefit plans based on age, salary, and years of service.

This isn’t all we’ve added to WebCOBRA in the Summer 2008 release, check back next week and we’ll tell you about another important feature!

A quick post that our upgrade of WebCOBRA.com is complete and the Summer 08 release is live.

You can read more about the Summer 08 release, or login and explore it for yourself. I suggest checking out the “Show History as Timeline” link on the QB History page.

We’ll post highlights of features over the next two weeks, our first highlight was on Online Enrollment

The testing of the Summer 2008 release of WebCOBRA is almost complete, and over the next few weeks, we are going to highlight some of the new features that will be added to the system.

One of the major features that will be added to the WebCOBRA.com system is Online Enrollment. With this feature, administrators will have the ability to enable QBs to have the option to log into the system and accept their coverage with a full electronic payment.

A major benefit of using Online Enrollment is that it will significantly cut down on the paperwork you receive because, by having the QB login and accept their coverage, it will be the same as if the Administrator had actually received the enrollment form. Additionally, the system Administrator will be able to grant or deny QBs the ability to participate in Online Enrollment.

After hearing about this feature, are you worried the QB will be able to change the coverage options offered to them? Don’t worry; QBs will only be able to select the options that the Administrator sets for them. If the QB has questions regarding their coverage, or wants to change tiers or amounts, the QB will be instructed to contact the Administrator. Once this “offline” conversation occurs, the Administrator can then make the benefit changes for the QB, such as dropping a dental plan, changing from QB and Family to QB and Children, etc. Then, after the Administrator makes the necessary changes, the QB can login and make their first payment.

This isn’t all we’re adding to WebCOBRA in the Summer 2008 release. Check back next week, and we’ll tell you about another important feature!

City wide power does not affect WebCOBRA

As you probably saw on national news, Houston, Texas went dark early in the morning on Friday, September 12th, and has been slow to come back online.

Many of our friends only now (at the time of writing) have power, and some do not have cable or internet. WebCOBRA, on the opposite side of the spectrum, ran without issue during the week long power loss and without management by Travis employees.

Travis was out of the office starting on Friday, September 12th, and was back to work on Wednesday, September 19th

Travis offices in Houston received power back Monday night, and the building restored water and air conditioning today (9-16-2008). Building management confirmed that it will open the building for business on Wednesday, so Travis will be back at work tomorrow.

We’re very lucky at Travis that none of our team members were injured during the storm, and we thank you for your understand during this time. We’re excited to be back at work, and look forward to talking with our customers again.

We will post an article about how we were able to keep WebCOBRA online during a city-wide power outage. Look for that in the next couple of days.

Hurricane Ike has turned towards Houston in the last 24 hours, and, as a precautionary measure, Travis is closing its offices on Friday, September 12, 2008.

If our office is closed because of floods or does not have power, we will post an update here. Otherwise, we’ll be back open on Monday.

You can view an interactive map of Hurricane Ike

WebCOBRA and TravisHosting for TCIAM and TFIAM will continue to be available. WebCOBRA runs in two data centers, each of which can withstand significant flooding and power loss (up to 15 feet of water and 7 days). WebCOBRA is completely automated, so even if we aren’t at work, WebCOBRA is!

Update – Travis will close its offices on Monday, September 15. The majority of Houston, including Travis HQ, is still without power, with trees and power lines littering the streets. WebCOBRA remains online without any outages.

Update 9-15-2008 – Travis office’s power has not been restored. We will open our offices as soon as possible, but it is likely we will not have power for the remainder of the week. The Department of Homeland Security has prioritized local power restoration efforts toward the oil refineries and away from homes and commercial buildings. We will update this blog when we are able to open our offices again.

Update 9-17-2008 – We’re opening tomorrow – read all about it.

Have you recently purchased your Travis product? Maybe you’ve added a new member to your team that needs to learn the software; or, maybe your team has been using your Travis product for a few years and could use a refresher course. These are all great reasons to take advantage of a Travis Software training class.

With so many contacts at Travis Software, it can be confusing to know who to contact for what reason and how to get in touch with them. We realize this, and hope this will give you some answers.