HTTPS The New B2Bi Portal Bank of America s secure web transmission interface user guide
This manual contains proprietary and confidential information of Bank of America and was prepared by the staff of Bank of America. This user guide may not be reproduced or disclosed to others in whole or in part without the written permission of Bank of America. Permitted reproductions shall bear this notice and the Bank of America copyright notice. The user of this user guide acknowledges the rights of Bank of America in the contents and agrees to maintain this user guide and its contents in confidence. Bank of America Member FDIC 2018 Bank of America Corporation All rights reserved. None of the enclosed material may be reproduced or published without permission of Bank of America. 00-35-3335NSB 01-2018 2
Table of Contents Overview... 4 Signing In... 5 My Profile... 6 B2Bi Portal Home Page... 7 Retrieving Files... 8 Sending Files... 10 Information Center... 13 B2Bi Server & Protocol Info Review connectivity information by protocol... 14 B2Bi Server Certificates & Keys... 15 B2BI Documentation... 16 Reviewing Transmission Activity... 17 Support... 19 Additional Functions... 20 Change Password... 20 View Alerts... 21 Log Out... 21 3
Overview We are pleased that you have selected Bank of America for your transmission services. This guide is designed to assist you in using the many features offered through our B2Bi secure web interface. Some of you will use this portal to simply upload and download your files. Others, depending on your access, will use the website to perform transmission monitoring, key/certificate maintenance, SWIFT 3SKey administrative functions, and other tasks. Additional functionality will be made available throughout 2018 and beyond as we enhance security and deliver new methods of managing your transmission options. We hope you will find these instructions helpful and effective in completing your daily tasks. SPECIAL USERS NOTE Users who were previously using our legacy transmission portal and were recently automatically migrated to the new B2Bi portal in March 2018, should note any Exception comments throughout this guide. In order to simplify your migration experience, exceptions to normal B2Bi account structure and/or portal usage were made to more closely simulate your previous upload and/or download experience. Whenever applicable, we will draw your attention to these exception situations. 4
Signing In To begin using the website, enter the indicated URL into your browser: https://b2biportal.bankofamerica.com Figure 1 Sign-In Screen 1. When the landing page displays, enter your User ID and Password. Note: If you have recently received a new B2Bi user ID, Bank of America will have provided you with a temporary password. Before you can begin using the website, you must change the password to ensure confidentiality. Exception - If you are using a legacy user ID (upper case alphanumeric format) and password as a result of the March 2018 automated migration, you will not be prompted to change your password for 90 days. 2. Click Sign In to log into the system. 5
My Profile In order to better identify our users and respond more quickly to servicing issues, we have created My Profile. At initial sign in you will be presented with the user information we have in our records. Please take a moment to review and correct your information. Once completed, scroll down and click Update to save. Our new B2Bi portal offers enhanced security enabling each portal user to be assigned their own user ID and password. The new B2Bi portal also requires that you reset your password at least every 90 days. If you are currently sharing your ID and password with other portal users at your company, please contact your Bank of America sales or service advisor to initiate steps to obtain a personal ID and password for each user. This enhanced security reduces the chance of unauthorized access to your transmission mailbox by allowing you full control over safeguarding your credentials. Figure 2 My Profile Screen 6
B2Bi Portal Home Page The menu bar at the top of the B2Bi Portal home page will display only those functions assigned to your user ID. Select Getting Started to quickly view this manual in HTML format. Select What s New to stay informed of portal related changes and new features. Figure 3 - Home Screen Menu Bar functions: 1. Click Retrieve to download files from the bank. 2. Click Send to upload files to the bank. 3. Click Information Center to access connectivity information related to the transmission protocols we support and review learning materials. 4. Click Reports to view a Transmission report. This feature allows you to research past transmissions sent or retrieved and view their completion status: Successful, Error, Pending. 5. Click Support to view our contact information or initiate a service request. 7
Retrieving Files To locate files that are available for retrieval/download from Bank of America, click Retrieve in the menu bar, and then enter your search criteria. 1. Select the drop down Mailboxes menu to select the /outgoing directory to locate your retrievable files. Those who have requested the optional /archives directory will see this choice as well. Figure 4 - Retrieve Screen Exception Legacy users included in the March 2018 automated migration, will see the Mailboxes field automatically default to the root directory (/). No directory selection is needed. Proceed to Step 2. 2. Next set the Date range you wish to search. The date range & time fields will default to the last 24 hours. 3. Then select Search to view any files available for download that meet your search criteria. Figure 5 - Retrieve Results Screen The files meeting your search criteria will appear on screen. The date displayed in the results is the date the file was received at the bank. You may sort your results by clicking on the sort arrow next to the Received field heading. You may search for a specific file by entering a partial file name using a wildcard symbol * in the File name field, and then re-select Search. 8
Note: Files remain available for download from your outgoing folder for 5 business days (7 calendar days) so that you can re-download them if needed without contacting the bank. You may wish to use the archive folder option which automatically move files to an archive folder on a daily basis at a prearranged time. Please contact your Bank of America representative for assistance in setting up this archive option if desired. File retention period for files moved to the archive folder is the same as the outgoing folder. Exception For legacy users included in the March 2018 automated migration, files will automatically delete from your mailbox once you retrieve them as they did with the legacy portal. To re-download a file, you will need to contact us and request a bulk replay to make the file once again available to you. 1. To download the results, click on the file name link or on the download icon next to the file name. You may only download one file at a time. Figure 6 Download Screen 2. Select Open to view or Save to save the file to a desired location on your server or desktop. 9
Sending Files To send/upload a file to Bank of America, click Send in the menu bar. Figure 6 - Mailbox Send Screen The Send screen appears and a list of recent file uploads will appear at the bottom of your screen. 1. Select the applicable incoming directory from the Send file to: drop down menu. If you have only one destination, the box will prefill with your incoming/destination. If you have multiple destinations for your files, it is very important that you select the correct incoming directory from the drop down menu for the type of file you are sending. Misdirected files will fail to process at the destination application. Exception For legacy users included in the March 2018 automated migration, the Send file to: field will automatically default to the root directory (/). Your ID is set to only send files to a specific bank destination. You will not need to select the appropriate incoming destination directory. Proceed to Step 2. 10
2. In the File field, click Drop file here or click to upload to navigate to the file you would like to upload. If you select the wrong file, click the trash can icon beneath the File upload field & next to the file name. This will delete your selection. 3. You may rename your file prior to uploading it if needed. To rename the file, enter the new name in the Rename file field. Otherwise leave this field blank. Note: File names should not include blank spaces and cannot contain the following special characters:! % *? < > " / \ : & 4. Then click Upload. Figure 7 Upload Notification Screen Note: Transmission status notifications are an optional service. Please contact your Bank of America Sales advisor if you are interested in subscribing to these notifications. 5. Click Continue. Figure 8A Upload Monitor Screen 11
6. Your file may appear in the list with a PENDING status. It is important that you wait for your file s status to change to Completed before exiting the portal. Click the Refresh button to update status. The Business unit displayed is the preliminary destination of the file you sent. To view additional files sent to the bank, click the View additional transmission reports link. Figure 8B Upload Monitor Screen 7. When the status changes to Completed, you may safely exit knowing that your file upload has successfully been sent to the bank. Note: Positive confirmation of a successful send only indicates that the file has been successfully received by Bank of America. It does not indicate the status of the subsequent processing of that file by downstream systems. We encourage you to reconcile your transmissions to any acknowledgement or status report generated by and received from the processing system. Alternatively, you may follow up with your business contact for further confirmation. 8. If the file was not successfully sent, an Error message will display in the Status field. Occasionally a file may have been successfully sent to the bank, but fail to forward to the bank s downstream business destination for processing. In these cases we will fix the error and you don t need to take action. We will contact you if the error cannot be resolved internally. At your option, you may contact us for further information. 12
Information Center The Information Center allows you to access connectivity information related to the transmission protocols we support, download bank keys and certificates, and review learning materials. Figure 9 Information Center Home Page You may choose your selection from the Information Center drop down menu or from the Information Center home page. Information Center options: 1. Select B2Bi Server & Protocol Info to view connectivity information for each protocol supported by the bank. 2. Select B2Bi Server Certificates & Keys to quickly access and download bank certificates and/or keys for a selected protocol. 3. Select B2Bi Documentation to learn more about the B2Bi environment or download the B2Bi user guides. 13
B2Bi Server & Protocol Info Review connectivity information by protocol 1. Select B2Bi Server & Protocol Info from the Information Center drop down menu or home page. A. Click the Select drop down menu to choose a protocol. 2. Example: If you choose SSH SFTP from the drop down menu, the connectivity information applicable to SFTP displays. You may download the key directly from this page or use Request keys & certificates option from the Information Center drop down menu. Figure 10 Example B2BI Server and Protocol Information screen (SFTP) 14
B2Bi Server Certificates & Keys Alternate method of downloading bank keys or certificates 1. Select B2Bi Server Certificates & Keys from the Information Center drop down menu or home page. A. Click the Select drop down menu to choose a protocol. 2. Example: If you choose FTP SSL from the drop down menu, the bank certificate for FTP SSL displays. You may download the key directly from this page by clicking on the certificate name or the download icon. Figure 11 Example Download keys & certificates screen (FTPS) 15
B2BI Documentation Learn more about Bank of America s B2Bi transmission environment 1. Select B2BI Documentation from the Information Center drop down menu or home page. Figure 12 B2BI Documentation home page A. Click B2BI Overview to learn more about the B2Bi structure, services and features. B. Click B2BI User Guide to download the user manual for the B2Bi portal. C. Select B2BI Technical Guide to download the comprehensive guide to the B2Bi transmission environment. 16
Reviewing Transmission Activity To review your recent transmission activity, click Reports in the menu bar. Then click Transmissions. Figure 13 Transmission Report screen The Transmission report will automatically default to the last 24 hours. 1. Adjust the date range (up to 7 calendar days) and time as needed, and then click Search. 2. A list of your transmissions meeting that search criteria displays: Figure 14 Transmission Report Results screen a. If the file is successfully sent to Bank of America, a COMPLETED message will display in the Status field. Note: Positive confirmation of a successful send only indicates that the file has been successfully received by Bank of America. It does not indicate the status of the subsequent processing of that file by downstream systems. We encourage you to reconcile your transmissions to any acknowledgement or status report generated by and received from the processing system. Alternatively, you may follow up with your business contact for further confirmation. 17
b. If the file was not successfully sent, an ERROR message will display in the Status field. Occasionally a file may have been successfully sent to the bank, but fail to forward to the bank s business unit destination for processing. In these cases we will fix the error and you don t need to take action. We will contact you if the error cannot be resolved internally. At your option, you may contact our production transmission support team for further information. c. If you have requested alert notifications, please consult the reason for file failure contained in the alert. You may need to address the error and upload the file again. d. You can search the transmission list in 3 ways: i. Use the Direction drop down to narrow your search to Sent only, Received only, or Both. ii. Use the up or down arrow to sort the list by Received or by Sent files. iii. Search for a specific file by file name, message ID, business unit, or status. e. You may export a CSV formatted file of your transmission results by selecting Export. 18
Support Click Support in the menu bar to obtain our contact information or create a service request. Figure 15 Support Home screen Click Create a Service Request to request assistance on a number of topics including: Login/Password questions, connectivity concerns, notifications, missing data, or other topics. 1. Select the Support type from the drop down menu. 2. Enter a brief description of your support needs in the Support details text box. 3. If helpful, upload a file to provide documentation of your concern/question. 4. Indicate how we should contact you. (Note the phone number and email address that is populated is based on the information in My Profile so please be sure that information is up to date.) 5. Click Submit. We will respond to your query as soon as possible. 19
Additional Functions Change Password To maintain password confidentiality, you will be required to change your password at least every 90 days. You may, of course, change it more frequently by using the Change password feature within My Profile. To begin, click My Profile in the menu bar and then click Change password. Enter your old password and new password in the assigned fields. Re-type your new password in the provided field and then click Submit. Figure 16 My Profile Change Password screen 20
View Alerts Select the bell icon in the right corner of your screen to view any alerts. Log Out Figure 17 View alerts screen Figure 18 Log Out screen Select the exit icon in the menu bar to safely exit the website and secure access from others, and then click Signout. 21