System Functionality Comparison Old versus New
Advertising Regulation Electronic Files (AREF)
System Functionality Comparison
Old versus New
Last Update: September 2015
For immediate assistance, please contact us at
FINRA_ADV@
Or
The FINRA Call Center (800) 321-6273
(Monday-Friday, 8 A.M.-6 P.M. Eastern Time)
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 2
Overview of the Advertising Regulation Electronic Files (AREF) System ................................... 3
Overview of the New / Enhanced Features................................................................................. 3
Getting Support/Giving Feedback .............................................................................................. 3
Navigating to the AREF Home Page .............................................................................................. 4
The AREF Home Page.................................................................................................................... 5
The Submissions List ...................................................................................................................... 6
Document Search ........................................................................................................................ 7
The Registration Information Form ................................................................................................ 8
The New Communication Form ................................................................................................... 10
New Communication Form ¨C Overview ................................................................................... 10
A.
Header Area ................................................................................................................ 10
B.
General Section........................................................................................................... 11
C.
Product Section ........................................................................................................... 12
D.
Registered Principal Section....................................................................................... 12
E.
Registered Representative Section ............................................................................. 13
F.
Additional Information/FINRA Communications Section......................................... 14
G.
Action Area................................................................................................................. 15
The Submission Process ........................................................................................................... 15
Confirmation Page ................................................................................................................ 15
The Clone Feature ................................................................................................................. 16
Fee Statement ................................................................................................................................ 17
Appendices .................................................................................................................................... 18
Appendix A:
Increased the Number of File Formats that can be Attached .......................... 18
Appendix B:
Sample Email Notification upon Registration for AREF ................................ 19
Appendix C:
Sample Email Notification when there is a new Review Letter on AREF...... 20
Appendix D:
Submission List - Column Sorting & Filtering ............................................... 21
Page 2 of 22
Overview of the Advertising Regulation Electronic Files (AREF) System
This document is targeted for existing users of the current AREF application. Our intent is to provide
an easy to follow guide to help you quickly identify and use the changes and new features coming
with the NEW AREF. Should you have additional questions, please refer to the full Navigation Guide,
a link to that document can be found on the same page where you found this document.
The current AREF system has been running in pretty much the same fashion since 2002 when it was
implemented within the Regulation Filings Application (RFA).
? AREF, accessed through Firm Gateway under the Firms & Filings tab (or directly via
), has allowed FINRA-regulated firms to submit information to be
reviewed by the FINRA Advertising Regulation Department and to receive FINRA review letters
through a secure website.
? In AREF users can:
o Submit filings for communications with the public.
o View and download communications sent between FINRA¡¯s Advertising Regulation
Department and the firm.
o Search the system to view and download archived FINRA generated letters.
? AREF Users must obtain a user ID and password from their firm¡¯s designated EWS Super Account
Administrator (SAA) prior to accessing the system.
Overview of the New / Enhanced Features
?
FINRA has made several enhancements to AREF based on user feedback including:
o A new look and feel for the AREF User Interface (more consistent with other FINRA firm
facing applications).
o Expanded formats that can be used to submit documents for review (no longer .pdf files
only).
o Ten-fold increase in the file size for documents being uploaded (from 50 MB to 500 MB
per file).
o Elimination of the restriction on the number of attachments that can be uploaded with a
submission.
o The ability to save a New Communication Form as a draft prior to actually submitting it.
o A new document search to allow for searching the content of all text-based documents
submitted by the firm or generated by FINRA.
Getting Support/Giving Feedback
To provide feedback or get answers for your questions about the new AREF features, the FINRA
Advertising Regulation Department is available and is very interested in receiving your feedback.
If you have feedback or questions after using AREF, please contact us through our distribution list:
FINRA_ADV@.
Page 3 of 22
Navigating to the AREF Home Page
There are 2 ways to gain access to the current AREF Home Page:
? Go directly to RFA by logging in using . This option will not work
beyond 9/26/2015.
? Log into FINRA¡¯s Firm Gateway using and then choosing Advertising
Regulation as shown below. As of 9/28/2015, this is the only way to log into AREF.
AREF can be reached from FINRA¡¯s Firm Gateway Home tab in one of two ways:
1) Select the Forms &
Filings tab from the
Home tab, click on
Advertising
Regulation, and
then click the Open
Filing button to
reach the AREF
Home page.
Or
2) Create a Quicklink
to AREF: click on
Edit in My
Quicklinks and
select Submit an
Advertisement.
The AREF Quicklink will
then appear on the Firm
Gateway home tab.
Click the Submit an
Advertisement
Quicklink to go to the
AREF Home page.
Page 4 of 22
The AREF Home Page
While looking fairly similar to the current AREF Home Page, the NEW AREF Home Page operates very
differently. Let¡¯s start with a summary of the available actions.
In the current AREF, users use a set of side navigation tabs to select the action to perform.
The following actions were accessible using these tabs:
1) General Information: this tab has been incorporated into the NEW AREF Home Page (see below for
a sample of the new page).
2) Submissions *: provides a list of previously submitted filings including comment letters, review
status confirmations and pending filings awaiting review. This action tab has been incorporated into
the NEW AREF Home Page.
3) Registration Information *: this page allows you to enter your contact information or update it at
any time. Note: The first time you accessed the current system, you were automatically directed to
the Registration Information page the first time you select a tab. On the NEW AREF Home Page you
will see your contact information in the upper right area. Your current contact information will be
accessible and should be visible on the NEW AREF Home Page. If you are a new user or need to
update your information, click on the Registration Information tab to provide your current contact
information.
4) New Communication *: this form allows firms to submit a .pdf of the advertisement piece to FINRA
for review. On the NEW AREF Communication form, users are permitted to upload documents in a
variety of file formats (refer to Appendix A for the current list), and each file can be up to 500 MB (a
ten-fold increase in size over the current system).
5) Fee Statement *: allows properly-entitled users to view / download their firm¡¯s advertising charges
over the prior 36 months.
6) Payment Info: Deprecated; no longer available.
7) Job Status: Deprecated; no longer available.
In addition, the current AREF pages have the following 3 tabs across the top of the page:
1) Help: link to a help document. This link has been incorporated into the NEW AREF Home Page.
2) Logout: ends the logged in users session. This link will be in the outer most Firm Gateway header.
3) Home: navigates user to the AREF Home page. This is replaced by a link (AREF Home Page) that will
appear near the top of each page and form in the New AREF system.
* - We will be discussing how to perform these actions in further detail throughout the remainder of
this document.
Page 5 of 22
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