As posted above, new upgrades always show up with the statement where the Q miles hits each 10K level. I have had them this year in Feb and March and expect more when the April month closes today.

Shareholder, I did both your question 1 and 2 last year when all my points went into AC instead of both CP and AC. I was told they run the caculations every Sunday and when I passed into 100K, SE showed up the next Monday on my boarding pass and in the phone system.
I have had no problem using Elite certs last year or this year as I had some left over. I was told the regular rules apply on the cert you use. So Elite ones could only be 72 hrs in advance, NA only etc and you may need two for some flights. I tried to use them on short hauls that would not be so busy. Busy flights or long hauls I always used the SE at time of Res upgrades.