New Applicants/General Information
- What is Mystery
Shopping?
- What is the difference
between a Mystery Shopper and a SEC Business
Analyst?
- How do I become
a SEC Mystery Shopper?
- How do I become
a SEC Business Analyst?
- How secure is my
personal information?
- Why do I need to
give my Social Security Number?
- How much and when
does SEC pay for completed assignments?
Selecting/Availability Of
Evaluations
- What is the Eyes2Ears
Gateway?
- What is the Business Analyst Gallery?
- What is a Certified
Business Analyst (CBA) and why do I need to
become one?
- What does Stand-By
mean?
- How do I become a CBA?
- How do I self-assign
work or go into Stand-By for an assignment?
- How many assignments
can I receive a month?
Completing/Submitting Evaluations
- Do assignments have
to be completed at a specific time?
- How are evaluation
results submitted?
- How do I know if an
assignment I submitted went through successfully?
- How do I retrieve my
Assignment Sheet and all other documentation
necessary to successfully complete and assignment?
- What happens if I
cannot complete an assignment after accepting
it?
Problems Using The Web Site
- What should I do if
I receive an error when I try to submit an evaluation?
- What is the site not
working properly with my computer?
- Can I use WebTV or a
countertop “internet appliance”?
- What can’t I view
or print any documentation?
Additional
- How do I contact SEC?
New Applicants/General Information
What is Mystery Shopping?
Mystery Shopping is the practice of using trained shoppers to anonymously evaluate
customer service, operations, employee integrity, merchandising, and product quality.
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What is the difference between a Mystery
Shopper and a SEC Business Analyst?
Mystery Shoppers are Independent Contractors engaged
by specialized market research organizations.
As a Mystery Shopper, your name is entered into
our proprietary database; however, a mystery shopper is
not certified; therefore, cannot navigate through
the SEC website and is denied entry to the SEC
self-serve environment. A Mystery Shopper will
only be used if an SEC Project Liaison chooses
to contact them for a particular assignment.
A SEC Business Analyst is a Certified Standard
Mystery Shopper who has access to the inner workings
of the SEC Website via the E2E Gateway. BA's are
tested and certified to ensure they have a complete
understanding of SEC policies and procedures and
market research methodologies. A BA has access
to a personal cyber briefcase and portfolio, in
a self-serve, web enabled, environment. Only a
BA has the ability to become a SEC Certified Business
Analyst (CBA), the highest standard in the industry.
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How do I become a SEC Mystery Shopper?
You must complete a registration form and an
Independent Contractor Agreement. Both of these
documents are located in the "Become an
SEC Analyst" link. Once you have properly
completed and submitted both documents, you
will automatically be added
to our electronic database.
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How do I become a SEC Business Analyst?
You must register, submit an Independent
Contractor Agreement, read a BA Certification
Program and take a BA Certification Exam. The
exam will examine your knowledge of SEC's policies
and procedures, and market research methodologies.
Upon successful completion of the exam, you will
automatically be registered as a SEC BA and will
have the ability to freely navigate through the
Eyes2Ears Gateway. You can then take the necessary
steps to become a CBA, the highest standard in
the industry. The entire process is fast, easy
and rewarding.
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How secure is my personal information?
Your personal information is very secure. SEC
will never disclose your personal identifiable
information to our clients or to any other interested
parties, as per the "SEC Privacy Policy".
Our clients will only be able to identify you
by your Business Analyst ID number (BA ID). Clients
do not have the ability to contact you without
first going through SEC and without the presence
of an SEC Project Liaison. SEC has also implemented
Secured Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology
on our website, which prevents outside sources
from intercepting your confidential information.
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Why do I need to give my Social Security
Number?
In order to pay you as an Independent Contractor,
we must have your Social Security Number on file.
In the event that you make over $600 with SEC
during the course of a fiscal year, we will send
you and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) a 1099
statement of your earnings for income tax purposes.
Further information can be found in the Independent
Contractor Agreement, which must be agreed to
in order to register with SEC. Your Social Security
Number is used for no other purpose than the aforementioned.
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How much and when does SEC pay for completed
assignments?
You are paid an Independent Contractor at a specific
invoice per assignment on or around the 20th of
each month for assignments completed in the previous
month. For example, assignments completed in June
will be paid in July and assignments completed
in July will be paid in August. Payment for each
assignment depends on the specifications involved
in completing the assignment. Payments may range
from $10 to $50 or more per assignment. When you
take into account the free products and services
that are available on many assignments, the personal
benefits rise substantially. Examples of free
products and services include reimbursements for
groceries, meals, gas, retail products, and much
more.
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Selecting/Availability Of Evaluations
What is the Eyes2Ears Gateway?
The Eyes2Ears Gateway is the point of entry or
login to the SEC web application (Business Analyst Gallery for
all SEC users). The name was derived from our
mission "The EYES of the customer, The EARS
of management." The E2E Gateway is a portal
to the Business Analyst Gallery.
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What is the BA Gallery?
The BA Gallery is a complete self-serve environment
that a Business Analyst is brought to after logging
into the E2E Gateway section.
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What is a Certified Business Analyst
(CBA) and why do I need
to become one?
A Certified Business Analyst is a Business Analyst
who is tested and certified to ensure they have
a complete understanding of a specific client
engagement. CBA status, the highest standard in
mystery shopping, is achieved by reading client
work order specifications and taking a certification
exam for a particular client. Without CBA status,
a BA cannot assign himself/herself to any SEC
engagement. Our website is designed specifically
for professionally Certified SEC BA's.
In order to become a CBA, you must read client
engagement guidelines, and then pass a certification
exam for that particular client engagement.
You must get all answers correct in order to pass
the exam. All information on the exams is in the
guidelines. If you fail the exam on your first
attempt, you will have two more opportunities
to re-take the exam. Once passing the exam, you
will be CBA for that particular engagement, until
the specifications change. As
a first time CBA, you are only able to assign
yourself one assignment. After the initial assignment
is successfully completed, you will be able to
self-assign additional work via our website.
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What does Stand-By mean?
Stand-By is functionality that allows for up
to three CBA’s to be in “stand by”
for an assignment that is already assigned to
another Certified Business Analyst. In the event
that the CBA who has the assignment cannot complete
it, the Stand-By CBA’s will automatically
be notified via email that the assignment is available
and will be offered the opportunity to accept
the assignment. In case a CBA has to cancel/reject
an assignment for a particular reason, Stand-By
ensures that there is more than enough coverage
for a particular assignment.
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How
do I become a CBA?
Please follow the steps that follow to become
a SEC CBA:
Step 1: Go to www.serviceevaluation.com
Step 2: On the homepage, enter your Username and
Password, in the section titled " Enter Eyes2Ears
Gateway ".
Step 3: After entering this information, hit the
"login" button.
Step 4: Select a state by clicking on the appropriate
image on the map or from the pull down menu below
the map.
Step 5: The cities and number of assignments available
within each city will be displayed.
Step 6: To view the assignments within a given
city or cities you must click on the box listed
next to the city. All available assignments for
that city or cities will appear.
Step 7: Click on the Assignment ID you wish to
become client certified for.
Step 8: The assignment details will appear for
the assignment. You will be prompted to print
out and read the client guidelines, and then take
the CBA exam.
Step 9: After passing the exam, depending on the
assignment status, you will be able to either
self-assign or place yourself in Stand-By for
the assignment.
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How do I self-assign work or go into
Stand-By for an assignment?
Please follow the steps that follow in order to
self-assign or be placed in Stand-By for an
assignment:
Step 1: Go to www.serviceevaluation.com
Step 2: On the homepage, enter your Username and
Password, in the section titled “Enter Eyes2Ears
Gateway”.
Step 3: After entering this information, hit the
"login" button.
Step 4: Select a state by clicking on the appropriate
image on the map or from the pull down menu below
the map.
Step 5: The cities and number of assignments available
within each city will be displayed.
Step 6: To view the assignments within a given
city or cities you must click on the box listed
next to the city. All available assignments for
that city or cities will appear.
Step 7: Click on the Assignment ID you wish to
self-assign or be placed in Stand-By for.
Step 8: Depending on the assignment status, you
will automatically be assigned to or placed in
Stand-By for the assignment.
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How many assignments can I receive
a month?
In order to take on any assignments you first
must be certified for that specific client. As
a first time CBA, you can only receive one assignment.
Until the first assignment is successfully completed,
no other assignments can be taken. After you successfully
complete an assignment, you can assign more work.
The number of assignments you can receive depends
upon the amount of work available in your area,
and your CBA rating. The higher your CBA rating,
the more assignments you will be able to receive.
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Completing/Submitting
Evaluations
Do assignments have to be completed
at a specific time?
Assignments can be completed at your convenience,
as long as they are completed within the times
and/or dates listed on your Assignment Sheet and
on the Assignment Details page of our website.
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How are evaluation results submitted?
All SEC assignments are submitted online, unless
otherwise noted in the client engagement guidelines.
You must submit the evaluation within 24 hours
of the assignment’s completion. The 24 hour
deadline to submit the completed assignment does
not apply if you complete the assignment on the
due date, as the assignment must be submitted
by 12:00 PM, EST of the following morning. If
the assignment is not submitted by this time or
if you have not contacted SEC regarding its completion,
it will automatically go into rejection status.
If you have a problem with submission, but have
completed the assignment, please be sure to contact
SEC to notify SEC of the assignments completion.
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How do I know if an assignment I submitted
went through
successfully?
After submitting your assignment, it will be removed
from your Assignments in Progress immediately.
If it was completed accurately, it will appear
in your Completed Assignments, located in your
Cyber Briefcase, within 72 business hours. It
takes this amount of time to go into Complete
status because SEC needs to verify/review your
evaluation. If it does not appear in your Completed
Assignments after 72 hours of submission, you
need to email your SEC contact or feedback@serviceevaluation.com
to ensure there are no issues with your report.
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How do I retrieve my Assignment Sheet
and all other documentation
necessary to complete an assignment successfully?
All documentation needed to complete this assignment
successfully can be obtained from your Cyber Briefcase
and Assignment Sheet, which are located in the
Gallery.
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What happens if I cannot complete
an assignment after
accepting it?
It is understood that occasional circumstances
arise that may prevent you from completing an
assignment. If a problem arises that prevents
you from completing an assignment you have, you
must reject (cancel) the assignment online or
contact SEC regarding the assignment. If you accept
an assignment and reject it, your CBA rating will
be negatively affected. You should not take on
any assignment(s) if you are not positive that
you will be able to successfully complete them
during the specified dates and/or times.
Steps for Online Rejection of an Assignment:
Step 1: Go to www.serviceevaluation.com
Step 2: On the homepage, enter your Username and
Password, in the section titled " Enter Eyes2Ears
Gateway ".
Step 3: After entering this information, hit the
"login" button.
Step 4: Select the link "Assignments in Progress",
located under your Assignment Portfolio.
Step 5: Select and click on the Assignment ID
for the assignment you wish to reject.
Step 6: Click on the "Refuse" icon.
Step 7: Submit a reason for canceling the assignment.
After entering the reason, hit the "Submit"
icon to continue with the rejection of the assignment.
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Problems Using The Web
Site
What should I do if I receive an error
when I try to submit an
evaluation?
If you encounter an error when submitting your
evaluation, please email feedback@serviceevaluation.com,
with your BA ID, the Assignment ID, and the EXACT
error message you received. We receive thousands
of evaluations each month and the site does work,
but we want your feedback on any error message
you may encounter.
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Why is the site not working properly
with my computer?
This site is designed to work with Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5.0+. You can check what version you
have by clicking ‘Help’ on the top
line of the program, then ‘About’.
Older versions of Internet Explorer or other browser
programs may give unpredictable results because
they do not include up-to-date features and cannot
correctly utilize the features of this site. Internet
Explorer is a free program. You can download the
most up-to-date version for Windows or Macintosh
from Microsoft.
Due to the many varied computers, browsers and
internet connections, we cannot provide technical
assistance with other computer issues. Check with
your computer vendor or your internet service
provider for problems related to their products.
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Can I use WebTV or a countertop "internet
appliance"?
Unfortunately, you may not be able to access the
interactive features on our site without a regular
computer. Our site requires that you have Adobe
Acrobat Reader 4.05+ and use Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5.0+ as your browser. You will need to
check with your manufacturer or retailer to see
if you have the necessary features for full web
site functionality.
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Why can’t I view or print any
documentation?
You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.05 or higher
installed on your computer. If you do not, please
go to www.adobe.com. This is a standard program
used by many web sites for viewing and printing
information, and is free of charge.
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Additional
How do I contact SEC?
If you have additional questions or concerns,
please email feedback@serviceevaluation.com
or call SEC at 516-714-0323 and a Representative
will be happy to assist you. Our hours of operation
are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm, EST.
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