FAQs

NSA MemberConnect FAQs

-   How do I set up my Profile?
-   What are My Networks and My Contacts?
-   What are Most Active Members?
-   It looks like I haven’t completed my Profile, how can I complete it?
-   How can I subscribe to a Discussion Group?
-   I am not receiving Discussion Group emails in my inbox, what should I do?
-   How can I get messages and contact requests from my online inbox delivered to my email address?
-   How can I post a message, view or search the discussions?
-   Can I attach a file to a Discussion Group message?
-   How can I change my signature on messages I post online?
-   How do I search for or post files to a Document Library?
-   How can I find another NSA member?
-   Can I blog?


How do I set up my Profile?
Click on the “My Profile” tab. On your profile page, you can update and add information and upload a photo or logo.  If you have a LinkedIn account profile you would like to use, you can grab your information from LinkedIn.  

Click on the “Edit” buttons to update your information. You will notice that sometimes clicking on “Edit” will open an editable area right on the screen—you can make your updates there and click “Save”; and other times it will redirect you to your profile page on the NSA website, www.nsacct.org (you’ll see tabs for Summary, Name, Address, Phone/Email & Demographics); you may need to log onto this page too if you were not already logged onto the NSA website.   After making edits here (you can make any of the edit options available), make sure you click “Update” to save your edits and then click on the gray NSA “MemberConnect” button.

The more information you enter into your profile, the more ways the system can match you with other members who have similar practices or interests.

Who can see my Profile?

You can change and customize your Profile settings to select who can see what parts of your profile. The default is for your basic contact information (name, company, address, email, phone, fax, website) to show to the public as part of NSA’s Find a Professional Directory.

How can I change who sees my Profile?
Click on “My Privacy Settings” in your profile or under the “My Profile” tab.

The default is to be included in the member directory and community rosters; it is highly recommended to keep that setting as is.  

From there, you can adjust who sees what parts or attributes of your profile.
•   Select Nobody if you don’t want anyone except you to see an attribute.
•   Select Public if you want anyone to see an attribute. The default is to show basic contact information (name, company, address, phone, email, web) to the public as part of the NSA “Find a Professional” Directory.
•   Select Members Only if you want NSA members to see an attribute.
•   Select My Contacts if you only want your contacts or friends (from contact requests) to see an attribute.
When finished, click “Save”.

Your profile is included in the “Find a Professional” Directory, so it is a great opportunity to add more firm information you want the public to see, like a mini website for your practice.

What are My Networks and My Contacts?
My Networks is where the system matches you with other members who have entered common attributes in their profiles. For example, your networks will include your city and state and all the other NSA members in that city and state.

Click on “My Networks” under the “My Profile” tab. You will see a list of the attributes you have in your profile with the number of members or potential contacts with the same attributes. Click on the number and you will see a list of the members in that group. Here you can also send a contact request or message to any of those members.

My Contacts are equivalent to friends on Facebook or contacts on LinkedIn.  
In the “Directory” tab, find members you know or want to know better and send them a contact request. You can send a message to that member from here. You can also invite your contacts to join communities.

The welcome box and your profile page lets you know when you have messages or contact requests and has links to manage your contacts and communities. The more contacts you make, more points you get for “Most Active Members”.

What are Most Active Members?
Members earn points on the site in many ways.  You can earn points for making contact requests, accepting contact requests, having your contact requests accepted, adding to your profile, writing a blog, contributing to a discussion, adding a file to a library, etc.  Every week the point system is reset so the home page shows the most active members that particular week.  You do also keep your total points in your record—it is just the most active members for the week that show up on the site each week.

It looks like I haven’t completed my Profile.  How can I complete it?
Add content to your profile to achieve 100% completeness.  A minimum of 20 contacts must also be established to achieve a full completeness bar.  There is a profile completeness bar formula which assigns points to attributes in your profile. So for instance, you may acquire up to 20 points by having 20 contacts, 10 points by having 5 different certifications, 10 points by joining 5 committees, and 10 points by completing two fields for job history and education. 

How can I subscribe to a Discussion Group?
Click on “My Subscription Settings” in your profile or “My Subscriptions” under the Discussions tab. Here you can see all the discussions you can join. You can customize how you want to receive emails in each discussion. All NSA members are automatically subscribed to the Tax Talk discussion group in the Daily Digest mode.

•   Real Time: receive discussion emails as they are contributed;
•   Daily Digest: receive one discussion email per day that has all contributions from the previous day.
•   PDA: receive discussion emails as they are contributed in plain text format—best for smart phones.

You can also choose to receive no emails, which means you still have access to the community and can read any posting online or unsubscribe which means you will not be able to view the postings online.

It is recommended that by mail format, you keep the HTML default. This format sends enhanced emails with easy links to respond or view discussion threads. It also enables you to add attachments to your post in which the file would become part of the library associated with the discussion group.

I am not receiving Discussion Group emails in my inbox. What should I do?
To ensure delivery of discussion email messages, please add these addresses to your email address book and as safe senders:
•   noreply@egroups.nsacct.org and
•   noreply@notifications.nsacct.org

How can I get messages and contact requests from my online inbox delivered to my email address?
Click on "My Privacy Settings" in your profile or under the “My Profile” tab. The default is “Yes” to allow other members to contact you; it is highly recommended to keep that setting as is.  

You can forward non-discussion group messages to your email address, so if a member sends you a contact/friend request, a message or a community invitation; you will receive that message in your inbox on your computer.  Otherwise, the messages sent will only go to your inbox in the NSA MemberConnect website. You can also change your notification email address if you want these messages to go to a different email address.

How can I post a message, view or search the discussions?
Under the “Discussions” tab, you have several easy-to-use options. You can view all the discussions, post a new message to discussion groups (cross post means the message will go to an additional discussion group if you select one), and easily search the discussion archives by keyword, author or date.

All recent discussions show up on the MemberConnect home page, so you can always see what members are talking about even if you don't get or miss the emails.  

Can I attach a file to a Discussion Group message?
Absolutely!  Under the “Discussions” tab, click on "Post a New Message".  After you complete your message, and before you hit “Send”, click on “Attach File” under the body of the message.  The documents you upload will automatically be added to the Document Library associated with that discussion group.

How can I change my signature on messages I post online?
Under the “Discussions” tab, click on “My Signature”.  Here you can change what shows up below your message when you post a new message or reply to a discussion thread.

How do I search for or post files to a Document Library?

Under the “Document Library” tab, you can view all the libraries; easily search for files in all libraries by keyword, author or date; and add a new document to the libraries.

Click on a library name to view its contents. The default “List View” shows the most recent files at the top and has tabs where you can files by other parameters such as most viewed files, etc.

You can click on “Switch to Folder View” and the page will show the name of the folder on the left and all the files (in alphabetical order) and file types (Word, Excel, PDF, etc.) on the right. Highlight the file name you want to see and click on “View”.  

Each library entry shows who it was posted by and when and has the file attached (click on the name of the file to open it).  There are so many things you can do here:
•   Give a file a star rating—let others know how helpful it is.
•   Add a comment—give feedback on the file.
•   Add a related link—have a link you can share that is related to a document in the library? Click on “Add Related Links” and enter the URL address in the pop up window.
•   Add a document to your Favorites—click on “Add to Favorites” and the those files will show up in “My Favorites” under the “Document Library” tab so you can easily find the document when you need to without having to search for it.

You can also blog about the document, share it with a friend, and view the profile of or contact the member who added the document.

To add a document into a library, click on “Add a New Entry” under the “Document Library” tab, enter you document name and description and select which library to add it to, click “Save” and then browse to find the file on your computer and upload it.

NSA posts press releases in the press release library and client letters in the client letter library.  The sample tools and forms library has sample engagement letters and more.  All recent documents show up on the MemberConnect home page, so you can always see what is new.  

How can I find another NSA member?

In the “Directory” tab, click on “Find a Member”. Find members you know or want to know better and send them a contact request. You can send a message to that member from here.

Can I blog?
Yes! Anyone can blog. Click on “Create a New Blog” under the “Blogs” tab.  Simply type in your blog, decide who can read and comment on it and click on Publish.  You can also view blogs and search blogs on the site.