Agents who activated commercial lines download three years ago indicated frustration with missing or overwritten data and turned off the download in their agencies. Since then, ASCnet’s Interface Committee has been instrumental in identifying key issues and working with industry groups—ACT and AUGIE—to fix them. With defined data and better testing procedures now in place, it is time to take a second look at commercial lines download.

The most important aspect of accepting commercial lines download is your ability to redirect staff time from data entry to client servicing, which will have a positive impact on your bottom line.

Addressing the Issues

Donna Barr, past ASCnet Interface Committee chair, began an ASCnet working group in 2003 to identify issues related to commercial lines download. Agent participants of the working group were asked to look at the download in their agencies and report what data was correct, incorrect, or just plain missing. Among other data, the participants reported lost driver schedules on the commercial auto policy and incorrect or missing additional insureds and loss payees on the businessowners and general liability policies. This information was aggregated by line of business and isolated by carrier.

Given the industry-specific nature of the issues, a working group of agents, carriers and vendors was formed in 2004 with ACT—Agents Council for Technology—to address each one. Barr and AMSUG’s Cyndy Smith originally chaired the group. Working together, the group defined minimum data sets for five lines of commercial business: automobile, businessowners, general liability, property and workers compensation. Testing guides and checklists were developed so that carriers could pilot download with a select group of agents.

During the piloting phase, agents work with a checklist to determine that the downloaded data is mapped correctly, e.g., drivers are listed correctly on a commercial auto policy. Correct and incorrect data mappings are recorded on the checklist and submitted to the carrier as feedback. Carriers then attempt to fix problems before releasing the download to its agency force.

Guide for Implementation

With the ACT work completed, the group resumed to develop education and training materials working with the ACORD-User Groups Information Exchange, or AUGIE. AUGIE released the Commercial Lines Download Agency Start-Up Guide in March. This guide can be obtained at AUGIE’s Web site at www.acordadvantage.org/augie. This guide provides an overview of how to implement successful commercial lines download in the agency.

Applied is now working with these guides. When a new carrier comes on board for commercial lines download certification, Applied informs them of the ACT and AUGIE implementation guides, and asks the carriers to obtain the guidelines, including minimum data sets, from ACORD. During the certification process, Applied will check for the minimum data. Applied is also asking carriers to test the download with pilot agencies before releasing it to its agency force. In this way, mapping issues can be identified in a live environment (not limited to test data) before the download is released to the entire agency force. Because the implementation guide is a guide and not a standard, carriers will be certified even if they are not sending all of the data. The information not being downloaded will be posted and communicated to the agents so they know what to expect from their download.

If carriers are recertifying a line of business, Applied is also referring them to the minimum data sets and asking the carrier to test the download with pilot agents before general release to its agency force.

With all of these changes in place, I encourage you to reference AUGIE’s Commercial Lines Download Agency Start-Up Guide and see about implementing download in your agency again. It is worth taking a second look to spend less time manually updating your client’s data and getting back to the fun part of our business—talking to our clients and servicing their needs.

Lisa Parry Becker, ASCnet Interface Committee Chair, is vice president of William B. Parry & Son, Ltd. in Langhorne, Pa

© Copyright. ASCnet. Fall, 2006