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Company Setup

Use Company Setup to enter information about Insurance Companies, Brokerage Companies, Finance Companies, and Fee Companies with which you do business.

Name

Field Name/ Group

What is this?

Name

Enter the company name and short name.

Allowed	Parent Company	Writing Company
No	ABC Insurance	ABC Writing
Yes	ABC Brokerage	One Writing
Yes	XYZ Brokerage	One Writing

The same short name can be used for an insurance, brokerage, finance or fee company, as long as it is not also used as a writing company for the same parent company.

Example: You can set up ABC for an insurance company and ABC for a brokerage company, but not ABC twice for the same type of company.

Short Name

NAIC

Enter the NAIC code, if available. This code is required for download. This code also prints as the company number on the Auto ID card.

Underwriting Office

Choose whether the company is a Producing Office or a Service Center. This selection is used for company upload.

Best Rating

Enter the A.M. Best Rating for this parent company.

Type

The type classification determines how company data is handled by the system. Use the following chart to determine the appropriate selection for each company added:

Select Type	If...
Insurance	You have an agency contract with the company and accounting is done directly with the company, instead of through a broker.
Brokerage	The company is a wholesaler, intermediary, MGA, or surplus lines agent through which your agency places business and to whom you pay premiums.
Finance	You finance policies with an outside company and you want to track the receivables due from that company.
Fee	You collect a tax or fee that must be paid to a state taxing agency or company other than the insurance or brokerage company.

Multi-Division Direct Bill Statement

Mark this option to create manual (DB Entry only) and downloaded Direct Bill Statements with multiple divisions on one statement. When this option is marked, Download Statements will use this default option. When you create a Direct Bill Statement you'll have the option of making it a multi-division statement.

This option appears only when “Use Interdivisional Accounting” option is marked (turned on) in the Accounting Options section of Agency Setup.

Direct Bill Statement - Auto Match Criteria

Select the matching criteria to use in the Direct Bill Commission Statement (deluxe) Auto Match process by company, to compare an AMS360 transaction to ones received in statement download.

Select the appropriate combination of matching criteria for this company. The selected criteria defaults to the Direct Bill Commission Statement form, Compare Transactions Received in Statement Download section for this company.

Neither the customer name nor the policy can be changed. They are automatically selected. Without first matching the customer name and then the policy, no other matches can be made since these two matching criteria are the first two levels of any transaction.

Customer Name
Policy
Writing Company
Effective Date
Line of Business / Charge Type
Transaction Type
Premium / Fee Amount
Agency Commission Amount

Stop Loss Carrier

Selecting this box designates this parent company as a Stop Loss Carrier

Inactive

If this box is selected, the company is flagged as Inactive.

Inactive companies do not appear in the list of available companies for assignment to new policies.

Company Utility

Clicking Company Utility opens the Company Utility form for the current company opened in Company Setup. This is a conversion process that establishes correct linkages between parent and writing companies on AMS360.

State Specific Co. Requirements

Clicking State Specific Co. Requirements opens the State Specific Company Information form for the current company opened in Company Setup. Use this to collect DMV Insurance Company Numbers as well as a Medical Notification Name & Address by Carrier and State.

Define an image to display in the Company Center

To show a company logo in the Company Center, click Browse and locate the graphic file. For specifics on the image requirements see Image Display.

If you add a logo here, it will also appear in Insurlink when the policy is written for this company.

Address

Click New to begin adding addresses for the company.

Field Name/Group

What is this?

Description

Enter a description that identifies the address being entered (Main Office, Agency Accounting, Claims). This is a required field.

Address

Complete the address, phone, and fax information, including punctuation, as you want it to appear for the address being entered.

Address Defaults

You can select one address to default for Checks, Forms, and in the search results list.

Alternately, you can enter three separate addresses, one for Checks, another for Forms, and a third for Center Display.

At least one address must be entered when the Address Default is set to Checks.

Remember, only a few ACORD forms support a full company address. If the address defaults into a form or check incorrectly, you can change it before saving and printing.

24-hour Claim

If there is a 24-hour claim telephone number for this address, enter it in this field. It appears in the Summary section of all views in the Company Center.

This number populates the Auto-ID card only when you choose the company as the card issuer.

Enter a company email address. This address appears as a link in all views in the Company Center. Use the link to initiate an email message.

Web address

Enter the company's web address. This address appears as a link in all views in the Company Center. Use the link to open the company's web page.

Billing Options

Setting these options correctly for your companies is EXTREMELY important! You first encountered these options in the Default Company Settings section of Agency Setup, where they were set for the agency as a whole.

In the Billing Options section of Company Setup, you need to make the decision to accept the agency defaults, or change the settings to conform with the way you do business with this particular company.

Vertafore recommends you read the topics Choosing a Direct Bill Invoicing Method - An Overview and Choosing an Agency Bill Invoicing Method - An Overview as prerequisites to reading this section of Company Setup.

Groups/Fields

What is this?

Line of Business

Set up company unique billing options for your Agency Bill and Direct Bill business for specific lines of business and/or all lines of business.

For downloaded policy transactions, single transaction import, or manually entered premiums, AMS360 looks for a billing option match in the order given below:

From Company Setup/Billing Options for a specific line of business. If no match found, then...
From Company Setup/Billing Options for All lines of business. If no match is found, then...
From Agency Setup/Default Company Settings.

Agency Bill

Bill Using Downloaded Premiums

Select Bill Using Downloaded Premiums if you want to Customer Center Bill downloaded policy transactions.

Transaction Type	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Downloaded	Downloaded transactions are flagged to allow billing in theCustomer Centerand are included in the premium totals.
Manually Entered Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.

Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums

Select Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums if you want to Customer Center Bill manually entered premiums.

Transaction Type	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Manually entered Premium	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as "Customer Center" and are included in the premium totals.
Downloaded	Downloaded transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.

Direct Bill

Customer Center

Select this option if you want to Customer Center bill your direct bill business. Then choose the appropriate premium billing option.

Premium Bill Option	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged to allow billing in the Customer Center and are included in the premium totals
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged to allow billing in the Customer Center and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.

Direct Bill Statement (Deluxe)

Choose this option if you want to bill your direct bill business by Direct Bill Statement. See a synopsis of this feature below:

Fully integrated direct bill statement tracking driven from the policy transactions.
Reconciles the direct bill statement to the policy transactions.
Tracks premium and unbilled premium at the policy transaction level.
Automatically (and forces user to) match direct bill downloaded statements to the direct bill statements generated transaction by transaction.
Used for Customer Center Billed reconciliation.
Generally takes more time to process unless the policy system is kept current.

Choose the Direct Bill Statement (Deluxe) option and then choose the appropriate premium billing option.

Premium Bill Option	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged to allow billing on a Direct Bill Statement and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged to allow billing on a Direct Bill Statement and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.

Direct Bill Entry

Choose this option if you want to bill your direct bill business by Direct Bill Entry. See a synopsis of this feature below. Choose the appropriate premium billing option.

Integrated at the policy level.
No reconciliation to the policy transactions.
Tracks billed statement premium at the policy level.
Requires manual keying of the data or direct bill download.
Does not support Customer Center Billed reconciliation.
Generally takes less time to process if you don't need integration, reconciliation, and you use direct bill download.

Choose the Direct Bill Entry option and then choose the appropriate premium billing option.

Premium Bill Option	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged to allow billing usingDirect Bill Entryand are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Manual and imported transaction are flagged to allow billing using Direct Bill Entry and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged as not billable and are not included in the premium totals.

Receipt Check from Company (basic policy information not necessary)

Choose this option if you only want to receipt the direct bill check from the company, without billing it. Then choose the appropriate premium billing option.

Premium Bill Option	Policy form, How Billed field option defaults to...
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged asReceipt Checkfrom company and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Downloaded Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged as Not Billable and are not included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Manual and imported transactions are flagged asReceipt Checkfrom company and are included in the premium totals.
Bill Using Manually Entered Premiums	Downloaded transactions are flagged as Not Billable and are not included in the premium totals.

What threshold amount would you like to use for direct bill reconciliation?

This threshold pertains only to the Direct Bill Statement option above, when choosing how you want to invoice your direct bill transactions.

This is a premium threshold, set by line of business (all or specific). When an amount is specified it determines when a policy transaction in the Direct Bill Statement Billed section of the Direct Bill Commission Statement is considered fully reconciled.

Reconciliation State	How does the direct bill reconciliation threshold affect direct bill statement billed transactions during reconciliation?
Fully Reconciled	When the difference between the premium, taxes and fees paid by the company, and the gross premium, fees and taxes are less than or equal to this threshold, the transaction defaults to fully reconciled in the direct bill commission statement. This can be changed.
Unreconciled	When the difference between the premium, taxes and fees paid by the company, and the gross premium, fees and taxes are more than this threshold, the transaction defaults to unreconciled in the direct bill commission statement. This can be changed.

Download Type

Depending on the type of download, you may occasionally have to reset this option prior to a company download.

Download Type

What is this?

Daily Download

Data received on a daily basis from your insurance carrier.

Daily Download is the default, and means that downloaded agency and direct bill transactions received for the current session, from this company, follow all of the defaults set above.

Initial Load

Normally, an Initial Load is a complete snapshot of all policies at a given point in time. Use to synchronize your system with the insurance carrier.

This means that downloaded agency and direct bill transactions received for the current session, from this company are flagged as not billable.

Reload

Due to an error in data download, a Reload may be necessary to correct the synchronization of your system with the insurance carrier.

This means that downloaded agency and direct Bill transactions received for the current session, from this company are flagged as not billable.

Commission Setup

Creating a Commission Default

The Commission Setup section lets you set up commission defaults by effective date. Commissions pull from the latest effective date for the insurance/brokerage company that is less than or equal to the effective date of the policy being billed.

From there, you can set up commissions using the following parameters:

Type of Business
Line of Business
Plan
Transaction
State

AMS360 then finds the closest commission match for the policy based on the parameter ranking set in Agency Setup.

You can create as many commission setup combinations as necessary for the selected company. If you subsequently receive revised commission schedules it is recommended that you add additional combinations with new effective dates, rather than editing existing commissions.

The first billing for a policy period uses commissions from setup. Subsequent policy billings use the commissions from the most recent billing transaction.

Don't forget to enter a general commission default record that applies to all lines of business, plans, and/or transactions. Consequently, when a specific match is not found, the general commission default applies.

To setup your commission schedule, do the following:

Click New on the Commission Setup section bar. This opens the data entry fields.
Enter the desired effective date for your commission default record.
Select any combination of line of business, plan, and/or transaction.
Select the Commission Method (% of Premium/Fees or Flat Rate), and the corresponding Percentage Rate or Commission Amount.
Click Add.

To use commissions set up for an existing parent company as a template for the current parent company, click Copy Commissions. This opens the Copy Company Commission form where you can select the parent company and effective date to copy from and the commission rows you wish to copy.

If this parent company has writing companies, you can set up commission defaults by writing company. For more information, see the Writing Company section in this topic.

Fields in Commission Setup

Field	What is this?
Effective Date	Select the date the commissions take effect. If you enter an effective date that matches an existing record, you receive a warning that the system cannot copy a duplicate entry.
Transaction	If the parent company is paid different commission based on type of transaction (New Business, Renew Policy or Rewrite), choose the transaction type.
Line of Business	If the parent company is paid different commission based on line of business (LOB), choose the line of business.
Plan	If the parent company is paid different commission based on a plan, select the plan.
Commission Method	Use to identify the method for calculating the parent company commission. Based on the method you select, the corresponding percent or amount field becomes active. % of Premium/Fees Flat Rate

Writing Company

In this section enter the writing companies associated with the selected parent company. Reasons for setting up a writing company include:

Proper reporting of the writing company name on forms such as binders and certificates.
Proper defaulting of commissions into billings based on the parent/writing company combination.
Writing companies are required for accurate downloading of policy records from companies that include a writing company as part of the transmitted record.

Field Name

What is this?

Name

Enter the name of the writing company

Short Name

Enter a Short Name for the writing company.

Allowed	Parent Company	Writing Company
No	ABC Insurance	ABC Writing
Yes	ABC Brokerage	One Writing
Yes	XYZ Brokerage	One Writing

The same Short Name can be used for a writing company, as long as it is not also used as the same parent company.

Example: You can set up ABC for an insurance company and ABC for a brokerage company, but not ABC twice for the same type of company.

NAIC

Enter the writing company's NAIC code. This code is required for download.

Stop Loss Carrier

Selecting this box designates this writing company as a Stop Loss Carrier.

Inactive

Use this field to indicate whether a writing company is active or inactive.

If a writing company has never been used in a transaction you can delete it. If it has transactions associated with it, inactivate it. This prevents it from appearing in drop-down lists throughout AMS360.

Best Rating

Enter the A.M. Best Rating for this writing company.

Commission Setup

It is important, when setting up a writing company, to be aware of the following points:

Commission schedules must be set up for a writing company for commissions to pull to a policy billing for that combination of parent/writing company. If no commissions are setup, the agency commission defaults to zero.
Commissions do not default from the parent company if the writing company does not have a commission schedule.
If the parent company is selected as the writing company, commissions default from the parent company commission setup.

Creating a Commission Default

The Commission Setup section lets you set up commission defaults by effective date. Commissions are pulled from the latest effective date for the insurance/brokerage writing company that is less than or equal to the effective date of the policy being billed.

From there, you can setup commissions using the following parameters:

Line of Business
Plan
Transaction

AMS360 then finds the closest commission match for the policy based on the parameter ranking set in Agency Setup.

You can create as many commission setup combinations as necessary for the selected writing company. If you subsequently receive revised commission schedules it is recommended that you add additional combinations with new effective dates, rather than editing existing commissions.

The first billing for a policy period uses commissions from setup. Subsequent policy billings use the commissions from the most recent billing transaction.

To use commissions setup for an existing writing company as a template for the current writing company, click Copy Commissions. This opens the Copy Company Commission form where you can select the writing company and effective date to copy from and the commission rows you wish to copy.

To set up your commission schedule, do the following:

Click New on the Commission Setup section bar. This opens the data entry fields.
Enter the desired effective date for your commission default record.
Select any combination of line of business, plan, and/or transaction.
Select the Commission Method (% of Premium/Fees or Flat Rate), and the corresponding Percentage Rate or Commission Amount.
Click Add.

Fields in Commission Setup

Field	What is this?
Effective Date	Select the date the commissions take effect.
Transaction	If the writing company is paid different commission based on type of transaction (New Business, Renew Policy or Rewrite), choose the transaction type.
Line of Business	If the writing company is paid different commission based on line of business (LOB), choose the line of business.
Plan	If the writing company is paid different commission based on a plan, select it the plan.
Commission Method	Use to identify the method for calculating the writing company commission. Based on the method you select, the corresponding Percent or Amount field becomes active. % of Premium/Fees Flat Rate

Master Agent Code Setup

Click New to add a Master Agent Code for this company.
Enter up to ten characters in the Master Agency Code field. This code must be unique within a company.
If applicable, add one or more sub agent codes for the master code.

You can delete Master Agent Codes that are no longer required. Deleting a master agent code deletes all attached sub agent codes under the master.

Company Unique Question Assignment

Use this section to create Company Unique Questions to gather underwriting and rating about the risk and assign them to specific lines of business. These questions are then included with the application for this insurance company and line of business. Set up the question once, and then use it for multiple companies and lines of business.

Company Unique Question Assignment is available for insurance companies only.

Assigning Questions to Lines of Business

Field Name	What is this?
Line of Business	Select the line of business to which you want to attach company unique questions.
Title	Enter the title as you want it to appear on the overflow page where these questions and answers are printed.

Assign Questions

Field Name	What is this?
Question	Select the question that you want to attach to this company and line of business.
Data Type	This field is informational only and was set up with the question. It defines the type of data required for the answer to the question (alpha/numeric, date).
Length	This field is informational only and was set up with the question. It defines the number of characters that can be entered for the answer to the question.

IVANS Codes

The IVANS codes are required for uploading policy information. The Upload process uses this code to identify the company edits to apply. Once set up in AMS360, the IVANS codes are available in a list when exporting policy information.

If you upload with this company your carrier will provide the codes for you to enter in this field.

Field Name/ Group

What is this?

Code

Enter the code given to you by your carrier. You can enter multiple codes for the same company, but each code must be unique. You have up to six characters to use for the code.

If you enter only one code it appears on the export data entry form when you export policy information. If more than one code exists, you can select the code from a list.

Description

Type a description that appears in the IVANS code list when you export policy information.

Hide

If this box is marked, the IVANS code does not appear in the drop-down list on the AL3 Export form. The default is unmarked.

Download Addresses

Field Name/ Group

What is this?

Address

Download Addresses are also called Origination Addresses or Company Machine Addresses. This address is required for download as it identifies the company with which you are downloading. Your company or their set up documentation provides you with this information.

You can enter the address or choose one from the list.

Each Download Address or Origination Address must be unique.

Default for Export

Select the types of business that you download from this company address. Your choices are Personal, Commercial, or Both.

If you assign an address to both personal and commercial business, no additional addresses can be entered for this company.

Download Options

Group/Field

What is this?

Download Option

Field

What is this?

Also use prior policy number

Select this option if you want a downloaded renewal with a different policy number to update the prior policy status to "Renewed." This is helpful when the policy number changes at renewal or with a rewrite.

Confirm with your company or in their documentation that they send the prior policy number in the downloaded data.

Upload Option

Field

What is this?

Upload personal name using commercial format

Select this option if you upload personal names using the ACORD commercial name format.

Some companies cannot accept a personal name format in upload. Check with your company before selecting this option.

File Transfer Protocol Setup

Use the following setup for internet certified carriers using FTP download. If you have questions, contact your company for assistance in completing this section.

Field	What is this?
Host Name	Enter the company's Internet host name or IP address, given to you by the company, for the download FTP server. Example: www.myftpdownloadcompany.com
Account	Enter the FTP Account given to you by the company. The account might be case sensitive.
Password	Enter the FTP Account password, given to you by the company. Asterisks appear as you type the password. The password might be case sensitive.
Directory	Enter the source directory for download provided by your company.

On File Receipt

Field	What is this?
Delete Source	Select this box to delete the source files from the host system following a successful download. Check with the company for their recommendation in setting this option.
Create Response File	Select this box to place an empty file in the source directory of the host system following a successful download. Check with the company for their recommendation in setting this option.

File Compression

This indicator determines how the files are received. Check with the company for the method that they use to compress files. Select one of the following options:

Field

What is this?

None

Select this option if the download files are not compressed.

PKZIP

Encrypted PKZIP

Enter a password if you select the Encrypted PKZIP option. Asterisks appear as you type the password.

The password can be case sensitive.

Retain Lines of Business not sent

These options control how AMS360 handles lines of business not sent in download. Lines of business that exist on a policy, but are not supported by (sent in) download are deleted if these option are not selected.

Option

What is this?

Retain Lines of Business not sent by Company

Select this option to retain any line of business that currently exists on the policy in AMS360, but not included in the download transaction.

It is important to manually verify that the Line of Business still exists and that there are no changes.

Retain Lines of Business not sent in Renewal

Select this option to retain any line of business that currently exists on the policy in AMS360, but not included in the download renewal (renewal, rewrite quote, renewal quote) transaction.

It is important to manually verify that the Line of Business still exists and that there are no changes.

You may also want to consult with your carrier before making these selections.

Company Setup

To set up a new company:

To modify an existing company: