GOALS

The GOALS (Georgia Online Application Licensing System) licensing management system is designed to expedite the issuance of professional licenses across the state of Georgia and provide an improved online experience. The new solution’s benefits and launch schedule for each profession are outlined below.

Thank you very much for your business.

Professional Licensing Boards Division
Office of Secretary of State

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Account Management provides a single point of access to your GOALS Profile. Licensees no longer have to maintain multiple logins to access their individual and business licenses.

The single access point enables quick and easy management of all Businesses, Locations, Licenses, Applications, Employees, and Associated Contacts.

A Business Account can now have multiple authorized Contacts, allowing Business Owners to provide selective license management access to key staff members.

Role-based granular permission controls provide additional security, and permissions are automatically controlled by the Role for the logged-in user of any given Business.

Active users will not need to re-verify their contact information if it is already set up in GOALS. Only inactive contacts are required to complete a verification.  

A user does not have to request additional permissions. Each user will continue to access their account information as before. However, by consolidating accounts, users can now access and manage all associated accounts and licenses from a single dashboard.

While PLB is not introducing new policies as a result of Account Management, new attestations will be required when adding principal contacts, adding secondary contacts, and creating new business accounts.   

Individuals will only have one user account (their individual account) that they would use to login to the GOALS portal (so each person will have only one username and password). When they log in with their individual accounts, they will be able to access one or more associated business accounts.

GOALS provides guidance via help text throughout the license management process. For detailed written instructions, please refer to our Quick Reference Guides (QRGs).

With the Account Management update, users can either apply for a business license using an existing business account or create a new business account and then apply for a business license.

Steps for applying for a license with an existing business account:

Click on Licenses > Apply for a License > Choose Business under the question Which type of License you are applying for? > Select the business you want to apply License for from the Apply as dropdown > Select Yes or No to the question Are you applying for a new Facility/Location? > Continue

Steps for applying for a license with a new business account:

Click on Create Business Account > Select the Ownership type from the Ownership type drop down > Fill in the required information > Continue > Accept the terms and conditions > Submit > Business account is now created > Click on Licenses > Apply for a License > Choose the Business under Which type of License you are applying for? > Select the business for which you want to apply for a license from the Apply as dropdown > Select Yes or No for the question Are you applying for a new Facility/Location? > Continue

A role specifies the relationship between a contact and an account. Users may be assigned to a Basic Contact, Principal Business Contact, Secondary Business Contact, and Authorized Business agent.

The Basic Contact is a placeholder role for existing contacts whose role specific to the license/business is not already established. Basic Contacts can renew the license with which they are associated and request to upgrade to a different role.

The Principal Business Contact is an individual authorized to apply, renew, reinstate, or amend any license or application on behalf of the Owner/Corporation. 

The Secondary Business Contact is an individual authorized to renew any license applications on behalf of the Owner/Corporation.

The Authorized Business Agent (ABA) is an individual authorized to perform duties and renew licenses on behalf of the facility license holder.

A role specifies the relationship between a contact and an account. The role assigned to the contact determines which permissions and activities that contact can perform on the account. Four types of roles were introduced with GOALS Account Management.

• Principal Business Contact: An owner is given the principal role, though not all principal contacts are owners. An owner can appoint another individual or individuals as the Principal Business contact(s) to fulfill the duties on their behalf.
  • Level: Set up at the Business Account Level
    • Permissions: Apply for new License, Renew, Reinstate, Amend,  Add/Remove Secondary Roles, Add/Remove ABA
    • Access: Ability to manage all licenses under the Business Account

• Secondary Business Contact: A contact is assigned a secondary role by the Principal contact. This role allows viewing and renewing all licenses and applications associated with a business account.
  • Level: Set up at the Business Account Level
    • Permissions: Renew
    • Access: Can only renew any license(s) under the Business Account

• Basic Contact: A contact is assigned a basic role only if there is insufficient information in the legacy system (MLO) to determine the true role of the contact for a given account. The basic contact continues to stay associated with the same licenses and can renew the license in GOALS. The Basic Contact is the only role that can request Principal Access
  • Level: Set up at the Facility Account Level
    • Permissions: Renew, Request for Principal Access
    • Access: Limited to licenses associated with the Facility Account

• Authorized Business Agent (ABA) Role: Authorized Business Agent is a common name indicating a Designee/Supervisor/Manager/FDFCC/Qualifying Agent of that particular license
  • Level: Set up at the Facility Account Level
    • Permissions: Renew, with the exception of a few license types in which the ABA can Apply for a new License, Reinstate, and Amend
    • Access: Limited to licenses associated with the Facility Account

• Principal Individual Contact: Every contact is automatically assigned a Principal Individual Contact role upon registration. Likewise, existing individual License holders are automatically assigned a Principal Individual Contact role. This role allows them to have complete access to manage their individual licenses. Note: This role is not relevant to current business license holders
  • Level: Not Applicable
    • Permissions: Apply for New License, Renew, Reinstate, Amend
    • Access: Full access to individual licenses

No, not every role change requires a full application. For certain License Types where an Authorized Business Agent (ABA) is required, changing the ABA requires a Change of ABA (Designee) Amendment. All other role changes can be requested and managed by the Principal Contact. 

No. According to PLB regulations, only one Authorized Business Agent is permitted per license.
*Please Note - For Cosmo and Barber, PLB does not require an ABA to be added as part of the Owner/ABA information page

If your Change of ABA (Designee) application is approved by PLB, the necessary adjustments will be made in GOALS reflecting the change request. The new ABA will be granted access to the license, and the previous ABA will lose access if their role is limited to being the ABA.

GOALS sends notifications to ABAs when they are added to a business account. However, no notifications are sent to ABAs when they are removed.

The Authorized Business Agent (ABA) is a general term that includes roles such as Designee, Supervisor, Manager, FDFCC, or Qualifying Agent for the license type. The following license types will require an Authorized Business Agent as per Georgia Professional Licensing Board regulations: 

• License Types already in GOALS- Used Motor Vehicle Dealer, UMVD Temporary Site Permit, Supplemental Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealer, Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealer, Auctioneer Company Non-Resident, Auctioneer Company, Exempt Auction Company, Crematory, Funeral Establishment, Nursing Home Training Site, Company - In-House Security, Company - Security, Company - Private Detective/Security, and Company - Private Detective.

If your license type does not require an Authorized Business Agent (ABA), you can leave this field blank. Optionally, you can capture the names of any individuals who manage your license account.

For certain License Types (such as Cemetery & Funeral Establishments, User Motor Vehicle Dealer, Used Motor Vehicle Parts Dealer) where an ABA is always required, removing the ABA makes the license invalid. To change or remove the ABA for those cases in which the ABA is always required will require an amendment (the Change of FDFCC or Change of Designee).

Another owner will not automatically assume the vacant ABA role. To change or remove an ABA, an amendment (the Change of FDFCC or Change of Designee) must be submitted.

Prerequisites apply only to specific license types, such as Funeral Establishment and Crematory. When an applicant adds a funeral director license as a prerequisite for these license types, the funeral director automatically becomes the ABA for that license.

There are no restrictions on the number of users assigned to any role. There is only one restriction at the license level, as per the Georgia Professional Licensing Board policy: there can be only one Authorized Business Agent / ABA assigned for a given License.

All contacts associated with your business are displayed on the My Business page.
The navigation path is: My Businesses > View button under the All Businesses section > Associated Contacts.

A Principal Business Contact can add or remove Secondary and fellow Principal Business Contacts. However, if the fellow Principal Business Contact is an owner (Indicated with a checkbox under the owner column), a ‘Change of Ownership’ amendment would be required.

An amendment refers to any change or update to an existing license under the Professional Licensing Board. Common amendments include:

• Change of Name
• Change of Location
• Change of Ownership

Login > Click on Licenses tab > Scroll down to find the license you wish to amend > Click on the three dots next to license and select Amend License.

No, amendments can only be completed one at a time. However, there is an option to initiate both a Change of Name and a Change of Location at the same time.

During the application process, newly added owners display in green, and recently removed owners display in red.

Yes, the GOALS system supports cross-platform login across desktops, laptops, and mobile devices (Apple and Android).

It is recommended to always use the latest versions of these browsers: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Microsoft Edge.

No, there are no changes to device requirements required for the implementation of GOALS Account Management.

The PLB Call Center can provide assistance Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM EST at 404-424-9966.

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