usTLD Reserved Name Registration Process
The U. S.
Department of Commerce awarded Purchase Order No. SB1335-02-W-0175 (“the
contract”) to NeuStar, Inc. (“the Contractor”) for management of the .us
domain, the country-code top-level domain uniquely associated with the United
States. On April 24, 2002, the .us
domain was opened to the general public for registration. To preserve the U.S. Government presence in
the new expanded .us space, the Department of Commerce, working through the
Federal CIO Council among others, reserved second-level domain names that correspond
to the names used by the U.S. Government in the .gov space, as well as the
names of states and local governments.
The reservation list currently appears on the Contractor’s website at http://www.neustar.us.
This
document describes the process that the Contractor will use for registration of
these names by the appropriate entities.
This process is intended to provide a streamlined method for Federal,
State and Local government entities to obtain access to the reserved names.
Proposed Federal Reserved Name Registration Process
The Contractor
will serve as the registrar for all reserved name registrations. Registrations, modifications to
registrations, deletions and registration renewals all will be ordered through
a form-based registration and certification process. The Contractor will implement the following process:
Step
1: A pre-populated form will be sent by
electronic mail to each Federal government Central Information Officer
(CIO). This form will contain only
those names that correspond to the recipient’s agency or department. State and local government contacts will
receive either email, or direct mail notifications and a web address, which
they can go to for viewing their reserved names.
Step
2: In the case of the Federal Government, the
CIO will complete the electronic form, selecting the available reserved names
they wish to register along with the term of the registration (yearly or
lifetime) and method of payment (credit card).
State and local government points of contact will fill out a web form
and then mail it to a PO Box that the Contractor set up.
Step
3: The CIO will return the completed form by
e-mail within 90 days. State and local
government points of contact will have 120 days.
Step
4: Once the Contractor has received the
completed form and the appropriate payment, the names will be loaded into the
Contractor's Registry system and the registration point of contact will be
notified by email of the name registration(s).
The
reserved names will be released for general availability on the date to be
identified in the mailing described in Step 1.
Validated
Domain Registration Process
The
.US Validated Domain Registration Process is detailed in the sections that
follow. The documents provided break
down the steps by type. Specifically,
what parts are handled by the systems that the Contractor built for standard
.BIZ and .US registrations as well as the manual processes required to complete
validation and order entry.
The
documents also detail the level of effort required to complete each step in the
registration process. In order to give
one an understanding of how the level of effort impacts the Contractor’s costs,
the incremental time by functional area are categorized for these out of manual
processes. This information was used to
derive the pricing that is provided in Appendix 3.
1.
Process
Flow
Appendix 1 contains two process flows. The first process flow details the steps
required to process a validated domain registration. The second process flow details the steps required to process a
fully automated domain registration. In
the first process flow the incremental level of effort to perform a validated
registration are listed.
2.
Process
Flow Description
Appendix 2 is the process flow description
document. This documents provides the
details of each step in the registration process as well as the functional
areas that are impacted.
3. Business Case & Price By Option:
Appendix 3 contains the pricing options for a
validated registration. The Contractor
factored into its standard registration business case all of the incremental
costs associated with the Validated Domain Registration Process. After capturing the incremental costs and
applying a reasonable margin, the Contractor arrived at what the cost per unit
needs to be for a Validated registration.
APPENDIX 1
VALIDATED
DOMAIN REGISTRATION PROCESS
APPENDIX 2
USTLD
FEDERAL RESERVE NAME ALLOCATION PROCESS
|
STEP
|
OWNER
|
ACTIVITY &
DESCRIPTION
|
TRIGGER
|
SUPPORT TOOL(S) /
SYSTEMS
|
|
1
|
Customer Service
|
Send Request Packet
to Agency
Email full Request Packet with instructions and “terms
& conditions” to Federal Agency points of contact. The Request Packet will minimally include;
-
Reserved names for each agency
-
Request instructions
-
Terms & Conditions
-
Domain request forms with fields for all domain contacts
-
Credit card authorization form
-
Pricing and billing sheet
|
DoC Pricing Approval
|
1.
DoC provided Agency email list
2.
Agency Master List
- excel spreadsheet w/Agency, domain name, and authorized email cross-ref
3.
Contractor email text, email generator, and receipt email
box
4.
Request packet with;
o
Reserved name list
o
Instructions
o
Terms & Conditions
o
Payment authorization
|
|
2
|
Customer Service
|
Receive Completed Request
Packet
Email with completed
Request Packets received via defined and unique Federal Gov’t Contractor
email address.
|
Email with Request Packet
attachment
|
1.
Contractor email address
2.
Talisma
3.
Request Packet
|
|
3
|
Customer Service
|
Confirm Authorization
Compare “from” email
address and “Agency Name” to Agency Master List content. If the email address and Agency name do
not match that contained in the excel spreadsheet a “non-confirmed” email
response must be sent.
|
Email with Request Packet
attachment
|
1.
Agency Master List
2.
Soft-copy pre-written “non-confirmed” email
3.
Request Packet
|
|
4
|
Customer Service
|
Review Completeness
Review Request Packet completeness ensuring that all forms
and fields are included paying special attention to ensure minimally that
each domain name has all contact information and that Credit Card
authorization is included.
|
Email with Request Packet
attachment
|
1.
Request Packet Requirements Checklist
2.
Pre-written common error response emails
3.
Request Packet
|
|
5
|
Customer Service
|
Review Accuracy
Review each form and field to identify incorrect data,
data that does not synch from form to form and instances where multiple
credit cards are not associated with domain names.
|
Email with Request Packet
attachment
|
1.
Common Error Checklist
2.
Pre-written common error response emails
3.
Request Packet
|
|
6
|
Customer Service
|
Assess Charge & Assign Order Number
Audit pricing/billing
sheet to ensure numbers tie with domain order forms and pricing calculations
are correct.
Assign an order number and record such in Talisma and on
the paperwork for translation to billing data.
|
Email with Request Packet
attachment
|
1.
Pricing sheet
2.
Calculator
3.
Order number tracking sheet
4.
Talisma
5.
Request Packet
|
|
7
|
Customer Service
|
Determine if Request Packet Complete
Record results of preliminary review steps (steps 3-6) in
Talisma and on paperwork.
|
Completion of Steps 3,4,5, and 6.
|
1.
Agency Master List Updated
2.
Talisma
3.
Request Packet
|
|
7a
|
Customer Service
|
Request Packet Incomplete
If Request Packet appears to be complete, does not have
common/known errors, and is confirmed as being received from an authorized
Agency email account then date/time/rep stamp the packet and forward to
Finance.
|
Completion of Step 7.
|
1.
Talisma
2.
Request Packet
|
|
7b
|
Customer Service
|
Request Packet Complete
If any error is identified in Steps 3, 4, 5, or 6 such
should be record in Talisma and on the paperwork. An email must be crafted with all error details and next steps
and then returned to the submitting email address.
|
Completion of Step 7.
|
3.
Email text editor
4.
Talisma
5.
Request Packet
|
|
8
|
Finance
|
Enter Credit Card Transaction
Enter each Credit card
transaction into the Federal Gov’t Reserve Name SurePay account via the web
interface. The SurePay order number
should be the Customer Service assigned order number to support later
reconciliation and research.
|
Credit Card Authorization form sent by Customer Service
|
1.
Fed Gov’t SurePay account
2.
SurePay interface
3.
Customer Service assigned order number
|
|
9
|
Finance
|
Receive Credit Response
SurePay shall respond
with approval or denial within 5 minutes.
The response shall be printed and attached to original credit card
authorization noting any pertinent denial information for use by Customer
Service.
Finance personnel should
go to step 14 after sending approvals to Customer Service entry temp or denials
to Customer Service lead.
|
Entered SurePay transaction
|
1.
Email
2.
Printer
|
|
10
|
Customer Service Temp
|
Update Contacts
Using the “Modify Domain” transaction command in the CSR
GUI change all domain contacts per information contained in the Request
Packet. Domain contacts include;
-
Registrant
-
Billing
-
Administrative
-
Billing
Note the registrant
password should be entered into the “name-value pair” field to verify
authorization of later changes.
|
Credit card approval response from Finance
|
1.
SRS GUI
2.
“Modify Domain” transaction instructions/job aid
3.
Request Packet
|
|
11
|
Customer Service Temp
|
Update Registration Period
Using the “renew domain” transaction command in the CSR
GUI update the registration period for each domain as indicated in the
Request Packet.
|
Credit Card approval response from Finance
|
1.
SRS GUI
2.
“Renew Domain” transaction instruction/job aid
|
|
12
|
Customer Service Temp
|
Send Confirmation
Draft confirmation email
(utilizing pre-written template) listing all completed/updated domain names,
their registration period, and the total credit card charge.
|
Completion of Steps 10 and 11
|
1.
Pre-written confirmation email text
2.
List of entered domain names
3.
Credit card charge details
|
|
13
|
Customer Service
|
Review & File
Ensure that all necessary activities have been completed
and properly noted on paperwork and in Talisma with order number
cross-reference.
Check Whois and Speed of Light to confirm DNS and Whois
propogation.
All paperwork to include at least the following must be
filed for later retrieval.
-
Initial Request
-
Order Number
-
Date/time/rep stamps for each activity and disposition
-
SurePay approval/denial response
|
|
1.
Full Request Packet with activity notes and date/time stamps
2.
SRS GUI
3.
usTLD Whois
4.
Speed of Light
|
|
14
|
Finance
|
Record Billing Transaction
Create a daily Peoplesoft
(billing system) transaction tracking all SurePay submissions.
|
Step 9
|
1.
Peoplesoft
2.
SurePay
|
|
15
|
Finance
|
Reconcile w/Daily
Reconcile daily SurePay
bank clearance list with prior SurePay transaction submissions to ensure
accuracy and completeness. Upon
accurate reconciliation clear/close Peoplesoft transaction for posting.
|
|
1.
List of prior credit card submissions
|
|
16
|
Customer Service
|
Audit
Review SRS Inventory and Activity reports comparing such
to Billing and Talisma activity reports to ensure full reconciliation. Audit approach must confirm that no domain
orders have been lost or added and that no financial transactions have been
lost or duplicated.
|
|
1.
SRS Reserve Name Activity Report
2.
SRS Reserve Name Inventory List
3.
Agency Master List with disposition notes
4.
SurePay Activity List
5.
Peoplesoft Activity List
|
APPENDIX 3
PRICING
Option
1
Permanent
Reservation: $152
Three-year
registration: $168 ($56 per year)
Option
3
Five-year
registration: $180 ($36 per year)
Option
4
Lifetime
registration: $395
Note:
all prices listed above represent up front fees that must be paid at the time
the registration is processed. For
example, for a three-year registration, the Contractor will charge the
registrant $168.