Conference 7.286::digital

    Send your suggestion by DECmail to: Robert Dill @MSO. He's the
    Asst Treasurer and has operational responsibility for IS. However,
    I'm not sure if IS handles this directly or not. Policy like this
    would probably have to be set by the US Savings and Treasury committee.
    
    Bob Mc

ESSP accounting is really quite simple, probably not warranting 
the level of detail you seek.  Your pay stub shows your current deduction,
and the year-to-date column shows your current balance (not the year-to-date
amount).  As you are allowed (as I recall) only one change in withholding
level during any six month period, the only remaining change to you
withholding level is the supplemental deduction, which applies only
if you elect withholding at the full 10% level.
So the key is to track the year-to-date column, and you'll see how much
you have set aside.  Compare that to the stock prices at start and end
of period, and you'll know (within a share or two) how many you'll
be buying on the first of June and December.

- tom]

        Re: .2
        
> So the key is to track the year-to-date column, and you'll see how much
> you have set aside.
        
        That covers everything, except the balance left in your account
        after shares were bought from the last period.  [.0 talked about
        a situation where no money was set aside for a period but one
        share was purchased.]  Sure, this can be calculated, but it
        requires information from pay stubs and stock purchase price
        information going back to the time a person started the program.
        It should be real easy for investor services to print this one
        number on the forms they send out twice a year. 
        
        					B.J.

    If you watch your stub closely you will see that several weeks after
    a purchase the residual amount left after the last period's purchase
    is added to the "year to date" total along with that week's deduction.
                                            
    This is usually done 4-6 weeks after the purchase date. If you note
    the amount of your normal deduction (ie. $20 a week) you will note
    your year to date go up in increments of that amount (ie. 20, 40,
    60, 80) for several weeks then you will one week see it go up some
    larger odd ammount (ie. from 80 to 127.34) this is the addition
    of your normal $20 deduction plus the $27.34 left from last period.
    
    				Hope this helps,
    				Dick

    Aha!  I see.  So the 'year-to-date' column is actually your total
    balance in the investor services account.  I didn't know that. 
    Thanks for the explanation.  I withdraw my original suggestion.

        Of course, this suggests that it would be reasonable to ask
        that we receive ACCURATE information on how to interpret the
        various columns on the pay stub, particularly if fields that
        are labelled "Year-to-Date" are really something else.
        
        Tom

    Why is it that on a purchase date...like Dec.1, I called Inv. Serv.
    to sell my stocks, according to the procedure in the brochure, and
    I kept getting
    
    "The system is unavailable. Thank-you"    Click!!!!!
    
    This has happened more than just the last time too. It took me 3
    days to sell my stocks. Is there any other way to sell them, rather
    than go through the phone system??
    

    You can obtain a green Employee Stock Purchase Plan Authorization
    To Sell Shares (yep, that's the title) card, fill it in, and send
    it into INVESTOR SERVICES. No postage required. You can even date
    it for the future (like buy shares on June 1 and sell ALL shares
    on June 2). The card is usually available somewhere around the
    personnel services area of each site.
    
    jack

        In addition to mailing the "green card", you can hand-deliver
        it to Investor Services at Powder Mill Road in Maynard.  Of
        course, if you don't live in the "greater Maynard" area, that
        may not be convenient, so mailing a pre-dated card would be
        better for many people.
        
        Tom

    We in the UK send elextronic mail to:
    
    INVESTOR SERVICES @ MSO
    
    Seems to work fine.
    
    

        If you're using ALL-IN-1 to send mail to INVESTOR SERVICES @MSO,
        you can ask for a return receipt when you fill in the address
        headers, or by modifying the header (MH) before you send it.
        
        If you're using DECmail or VAXmail, you can get a return receipt
        (at least with the current releases of the Message Router) by
        including the text "<RR>" in the Subject: line of the message. 
        
        Tom

    Re: .11
    
>        If you're using DECmail or VAXmail, you can get a return receipt
>        (at least with the current releases of the Message Router) by
>        including the text "<RR>" in the Subject: line of the message. 

    But VAXmail to VAXmail doesn't use message router, does it?
    
    -  David

    In the UK, how do you signal the "signature" of a joint tenant in
    the shares, if one exists? The green card requires both signatures.
    Does electronic mail nulify this requirement?
    
    Does IS require any specific "form" for the mail message?
    
    jack

        Re: .12 -- By default, VAXmail to VAXmail will use the MAIL-11
        protocols, rather than the Message Router.  (I haven't done any
        experiments to determine how you might "fool" VAXmail into sending
        to VAXmail via the Message Router, but I suspect there may be a
        way to format the address string passed into the MRGATE to get
        this to happen.)  The "<RR>" return-receipt request mechanism
        is not supported by MAIL-11.
        
        However, sending to "INVESTOR SERVICES @MSO" would typically
        be done from VAXmail by addressing the message 
        
        	TO:	MTS::"MSO::INVESTOR SERVICES"
        
        (or to MTS$::, if that's the way your system has the logical name
        set up, or to ROUTER::MRGATE::, where "ROUTER" is the actual name
        of a nearby node that runs the MRGATE software, if your system
        manager hasn't defined an MTS or MTS$ logical name for your use). 
        
        Tom
        	

        Off the original topic, I know, but apropos of .12 -- to send
        from VAXmail to VAXmail via the Message Router, address the
        mail as follows:
        
        	TO: MTS::"MRGATE::node::user"
        
        (proviso about MTS logical as before) or
        
        	TO: router::MRGATE::"MRGATE::node::user"
        
        For this to work correctly, the "router" node has to have the
        right address for the destination node in the Message Router
        tables; these appear to be maintained independently of the
        "router" node's DECnet database, and may or may not be up to
        date.
        
        Tom

         I sent an MTS ALL-IN-1 message to INVESTOR SERVICES @ MSO
         late Monday afternoon, marked with Delivery Receipt and Read
         Receipt.  So far - nothing back at all (24 hours later). 

         Anyone know if you *can't* send mail via MTS to these folks
         for some reason?? 

         Al 

    re .16
    
    They prefer to receive mail via the router. 1) the router puts the
    trace information in the header and it isn't too easy to fake that
    via a hack. 2) the systems that use are not on the network for
    security reasons. To read VAXmail, they would have to log into a
    general purpose system.
    
    Whether or not they answer a "RR" request or if the person receiving
    the message even knows what it means, is open to speculation.
    
    Bob Mc

        Re: .17 -- The delivery "return receipt" request is handled by the
        Message Router software, transparently to the person who is
        receiving the message.  As I indicated in an earlier note, if
        you're using ALL-IN-1 to prepare the mail message, you can request
        the delivery receipt when you fill in the message header form, or
        change the message header after you've written the message but
        before you've mailed it.  (Once you've sent it off, it's too late
        to request the delivery receipt.) With ALL-IN-1, you can also
        request a "read receipt" that is returned to you if the person
        reading the message is using ALL-IN-1 to read it.  (To the best of
        my knowledge, the other mail user agents [VAXmail, DECmail] don't
        understand about "read receipts" and will not return one.) 
        
        If you're using VAXmail or DECmail to create the message, putting
        the "<RR>" text in the "Subject:" field gets you a delivery
        "return receipt" when the message is delivered by the message
        router software at the recipient's facility (e.g., MSO). 
        
        Since the "return receipt" comes back to you through the MTS
        (Message Transport Services) system, it can take a while, but if
        the message got delivered, the receipt will come back. You may not
        get the "read receipt", as the user's mail agent may not support
        it, or the user may decide to prevent it being sent to you. 
        
        Tom

        More Re: .17 -- If they log into a normal "timesharing" account to
        access ALL-IN-1, and the account can accept VAXmail, then they can
        read the VAXmail from within ALL-IN-1; they don't need to run
        VAXmail to get read the messages (but they do have to know how to
        use ALL-IN-1 well enough to know about the "V" option in
        Electronic Messaging). 
        
        Tom

    Or from VMS mail, you can send it as follows (assuming that someone
    on your local non-MTS node has been kind enuff to set this up for
    you...)
    
    
    MAIL>S
    To:  MTS$::"MSO::INVESTOR SERVICES"
    	.
    	.
    	.
    

	Lou "Who has a really special relationship with MTS" Northern

                   I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                         Date:      04-May-1988 02:47pm GMT
                                         From:      Earl MASON @GEC 
                                                    MASON AT @AMIS1A1@GVAMRC@GEO 
                                         Dept:      FINANCE
                                         Tel No:    821-4701

TO: See Below

Subject: EUROPEAN INVESTOR SERVICES




    *********************************************************
    ** THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM MICHAEL EWING AND EARL MASON **
    *********************************************************

In response to your requests and feedback to the Investor Services
Working Group about delivery of ESPP and RSOP, we are pleased to make
the following announcements : 


1.  NEW EUROPEAN INVESTOR SERVICES GROUP

    Established within the rebilling company (DEIbv) in Utrecht as
part of the Area Treasury responsibility, this group will act as the
European focal point and provide major support to the countries in
resolving ESPP/RSOP problems, thereby improving the effectiveness and
delivery of these plans. 

2.  SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS FROM JUNE 1988

    a.  European Investor Services will facilitate the implementation 
        of Touch-Tone (a direct communication to the Investor Services
        database) for selling ESPP shares in all countries, having 
        been successfully piloted in Geneva, Belgium and Finland.

    b.  RSOP Touch-Tone facility for country administrators, to 
        enable on-line enquiry of account status plus immediate 
        execution and confirmation of simultaneous purchase and sale 
        orders.

   c.   Sale proceeds will continue to be dispatched by US$ checks, but 
        Investor Services will send them on working day 2 after the 
        sale date instead of day 5, thus gaining 3 working days.

   d.   New Investor Services database to resolve truncation and 
        addressing problems.

   e.   Automatic confirmation of All-in-1 messages sent to Investor 
        Services @MSO.

   f.   European Investor Services will provide a "hotline" service to 
        support the Country ESPP and RSOP administrators.

   g.   Advance of option price funds from DEIbv to Massachusetts to 
        ensure timely issue of new ESPP shares.

   h.   Monthly invoices for RSOP exercises to be dispatched from 
        Investor Services to subsidiaries by the 15th day of each 
        month.


Please communicate these changes to your CMT/SMT members and to the
appropriate people within your functions. 

More details about these enhancements, and the actions which you will
need to take in the countries, will be communicated in a separate
message. 

We hope you agree that these actions by the Finance and Human
Resource functions are a positive response to your concerns, and we
take this opportunity to thank Paul Kellerd and the members of his
Working Group for their efforts.

We look forward to your support in ensuring the success of these
delivery enhancements to employees. 

                        
Regards,


Michael EWING                              Earl MASON

/en.

        Re: .20 -- That's essentially what I said in reply .14.  Did
        you read it?
        
        Tom

    re .19
    
    What I was driving at, Tom, is that these folks spend most of
    their time working on a system that isn't connected to the
    network. There is a lot of personal, sensitive, information in
    their database, and keeping the system of the net is the best
    security. What this means, is that most of them don't log into
    a gp timesharing system.
    
    Heck, when my wife was a temp there, I had to explain that you
    typed 'MAIL' at the > prompt to read VAXmail. Some of them have
    never used any system other than their menu-driven IS system.
    
    Bob Mc

    I have been called redundant before,
    
    	Doesn't bother me a whole lot.
    
    	And tom tom tom, dear tom (I feel like I know you like I know
    	my own brother...  I won't say if that is good or bad) 
    
    	*sigh* what can i say?
    
    	Since I am using a batch notes extractor for a lot of my reading
    	(network response time don't you know?), yes there is a distinct
    	possibility that I was just trying to give a little helping
    	hand, and may have missed your particular missive.  These things
    	happen.
    
    	Sometimes even MY redundancy is non-intentional...
    	Sometimes even MY redundancy is non-intentional...
    	Sometimes even MY redundancy is non-intentional...


    	Apologies to everybody... On ME!
        
    		Lou "Who wonders why he bothers to try and help?" Northern
                         
                                        

    
    I have suggested that Investor Services enhance the employee stock
    purchase plan by provide a "sell at" feature for employees in addition
    to or instead of the current sell process.
    
    I'd even be willing to pay more than the currently low comission for
    such a feature.  I find it very troublesome to track the stock on a
    daily basis when I want to sell my ESPP shares and do not like the
    uncertainty of issuing a sell order that is executed the next day at
    perhaps a very different price than when I issued the sell order.
    
    When I made the suggestion to Mr. Blain Carroll of Investor Services,
    he asserted that Digital was not in the brokerage business and suggested
    that I could accomplish the same thing today by requesting my ESPP
    shares in certificate form and then using my own broker.
    
    My take on this is that Digital is in the business of satisfying the
    customer and that we should all be focusing on the customer.  In this
    case, I and all other Digital employees are Investor Services
    customers.  Since there is no way to electronically transfer stock
    certificates, the delay of mailing a certificate to me and then me
    mailing my certificate to my broker represents the risk of losing
    timely market opportunities.
    
    As Mr. Carroll explained the process, Investor Services currently
    batches the sell orders together and sends them to Merrill Lynch.  If a
    "sell at" function were to be implemented, I see no effective
    difference in the way such a system would operate.  Instead of one sell
    order, several would be issued with the prices to sell at or an at
    market price.  Technologically, there should be no barriers on Investor
    Services part to implementing such a system and certainly no barriers
    on the part of any broker.  Merrill Lynch or another broker might even
    be willing to undertake the whole system in order to keep Digital's
    business.
    
    Steve Owens
    
             

Steve,

   While I would also like to see such a service, I tend to agree that it
would be very difficult to manage, and is not I.S. main function.

   There are plenty of Discount brokerage houses out there that will provide
you with this capability.   Yes, they will cost you more, but you have 
already agreed that you would be willing to pay for the service.

   Whenever I but shares via the ESPP, I send a quick E-mail to Investor
Services @ MSO stating "Please issue all shares".   The certificates arrive
in about a week.

   I then send then to my broker, who places them in my account.  I can now
sell (or option) at any price point I decide on.

   If your issue is being able to sell the stock instantly when ESPP buys
them, then you can call your broker and sell short (established credit 
required).   You will then have the option of buying back the shares later
(since you were banking that price would go down) or surrendering your
ESPP certificates when they arrive.

   In the meantime, people who have no interest in playing the market can
continue to take advantage of the almost non-existant commissions that I.S.
charges to sell their ESPP stocks.

                                        Bob

    The "sell" orders to Merill-Lynch are probably generated by some COBOL
    program. A "sell at" would probably involve a small amount of
    additional code. *That's* not the problem. The problem is probably that
    IS doesn't want to set any precedents.
    
    Ken