Troubleshooting Application Access

Public House has tools to minimize the support time required for application access issues. The most common access issues trigger clear instructions for the applicant and create automated cases in Salesforce. For less common issues, the applicant can initiate a support request by ringing the help bell.

User not Found

If the system cannot identify a Contact with a matching email and an application with Status = Application in Process, then the user sees:

User found without an application

If the system cannot identify a Contact with a matching email and an application with Status = Application in Process, then the user sees:

If an applicant is found, but the Service File Status is not Application in process, after authentication, the applicant will see:

Multiple Contacts exist with the same email address

Email is the unique identifier in Public House – multiple Applicants(Contacts) can not have the same email address. An applicant will not be able to access their application with an email that can be matched to multiple contacts*. The applicant will receive the following notification:

A case is automatically created with the subject “Duplicate Contact” which includes Salesforce IDs for all the duplicate contacts. You will need to merge, delete or edit the contacts’ email addresses to ensure all contacts have unique emails.

More Details

*National clients also match on a Community ID. In this case, each contact at a community must have a unique email.

Public House will not create a duplicate contact with a common email. Duplicates have been introduced manually or by some other process.

Applicant does not have a phone number on file

After using the provided email to identify the applicant, if that applicant does not have a phone number – they cannot receive the SMS to complete the authentication. The applicant will receive the following notification:

How to fix it?

Manually add a phone number that can receive SMS text messages.

More Details

Public House only references the Phone Field in the Contact record. It will not look for other phone number fields on the contact.  Make sure your organization is using the correct phone Field.

Co-applicant access: The exception is when an applicant adds a co-applicant. For the co-applicant to access the application, all of the following must steps must be completed.

  • The co-applicant receives an email asking them to consent to be a co-applicant on the application.
  • The applicant will need to add the co-applicant’s phone number to the application.
  • The co-applicant will receive an SMS to verify they own that phone number.

Phone numbers are required on screening forms. Applicants without phone numbers have been introduced manually or by some other process.

Applicant phone number is invalid

If the applicant’s phone number is invalid or the system detects it cannot receive SMS text messages, the applicant will see the following notification:

How to fix it?

Make sure added phone is SMS capable and valid.

Applicant does not receive the authentication SMS text message

An applicant may not receive the authentication SMS text message for the following reasons:

The registered phone number is not correctEmail the applicant to obtain a current phone that is SMS capable.
The registered phone number cannot receive SMS text messagesEmail the applicant to obtain a current phone that is SMS capable.
The SMS is going to SpamAsk the applicant to look for a Spam folder in their message app and mark as not spam.
The applicant’s phone is blocking the authentication SMS text messageApplicants may need to whitelist the Public House number to receive SMS by sending the message START to +1 970 474 5057 and then confirming the request with YES.

Too Many Attempts

To prevent hackers from trying indefinitely to guess an applicant’s email or temporary code, the system will lock out after 6 attempts.

Lost access to email or phone

Access Recovery Tools

The applicant Public House provides access recovery tools for Applicants that can no longer access either their email or phone and can provide the answers to their security questions. Find out more in the Application Access Recovery

How to manually fix it?

Staff phone authentication – If the Field is available on the Service File or the applicant Contact, staff can click the Phone Update confirmation link, which will initiate an email to the applicant.

Other Log-in Issues

Reminder! Applicants can only access applications in Application Status Invited, Incomplete or Document Corrections. They will be able to authenticate but then will see a message about not having access.

What if an applicant does not have a cell phone or cannot accept text messages?

You can help the applicant log-in in real-time:

  • Open the Applicant Contact (or Service File if the codes are there)
  • Applicant enters their email address to log on to the portal and validates it.
  • Staff refreshes the Contact page and selects the SMS confirmation link (this is equivalent to selecting the link on the real SMS)
What if an applicant does not have an email address?

Public House requires the use of an email address. Encourage Applicants to set up a free account using Yahoo, Google, or any similar service.

If this is not feasible, it is possible for organizations to utilize their own email systems to create accounts on the applicant’s behalf that the organization monitors in order to process applications outside the designated manner.

Authentication Emails are not received?
  • Ask the applicant to check all spam/junk email folders
  • Set-up email bounce handling in SalesForce to identify any applicant bounced emails or full email accounts.