Company Setup

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

To set up a new company:

  1. Open the Company Center.
  2. Click New Company.

To modify an existing company:

  1. In the Company Center, search for and select a company.
  2. On the Views menu, click Overview.
  3. In the toolbar, click Edit Company.
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.

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.

Email

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.

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:

  1. From Company Setup/Billing Options for a specific line of business. If no match found, then...
  2. From Company Setup/Billing Options for All lines of business. If no match is found, then...
  3. 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

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.

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:

  1. Fully integrated direct bill statement tracking driven from the policy transactions.
  2. Reconciles the direct bill statement to the policy transactions.
  3. Tracks premium and unbilled premium at the policy transaction level.
  4. Automatically (and forces user to) match direct bill downloaded statements to the direct bill statements generated transaction by transaction.
  5. Used for Customer Center Billed reconciliation.
  6. 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.

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.

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.

  1. Integrated at the policy level.
  2. No reconciliation to the policy transactions.
  3. Tracks billed statement premium at the policy level.
  4. Requires manual keying of the data or direct bill download.
  5. Does not support Customer Center Billed reconciliation.
  6. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Use this section to assign one or more plans created in Company Plan Setup to this company. A Plan must be assigned to a Company before it can be selected in a Policy.

To assign a plan to a company:

  1. Click New on the Plan Assignments section bar. This opens the data entry area.
  2. Select the desired company plan from the Available Company Plans drop-down list.
  3. Click Add.
  4. Repeat steps #1 through #3 until all plans pertaining to this company have been added.
 

Download companies frequently use plans.  Verify the use of plans with the company (or their setup documentation).

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:

  1. Click New on the Commission Setup section bar. This opens the data entry fields.
  2. Enter the desired effective date for your commission default record.
  3. Select any combination of line of business, plan, and/or transaction.
  4. Select the Commission Method (% of Premium/Fees or Flat Rate), and the corresponding Percentage Rate or Commission Amount.
  5. 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.

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

To use commission parameters from an existing company form as a template in creating commissions for this company, click Copy Company Commissions.

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.

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.

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.

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 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:

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

To use commission parameters from an existing company form as a template in creating commissions for this company, click Copy Company Commissions.

  1. Click New to add a Master Agent Code for this company.
  2. Enter up to ten characters in the Master Agency Code field. This code must be unique within a company.
  3. 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.

Sub agent codes must be unique within a company. If you need to set up an employee's sub agent code on more than one master agent code within the company, you might need to set up the employee multiple times in the Employee Center.

To add a Sub Agent Code when creating a Master Agent Code:

  1. After typing in the Master Agent Code, select the Sub Agent Code Setup sub-section.
  2. Click New on the Sub Agent Code Setup section bar. The data entry form appears.
  3. Select the appropriate employee from the Agent Name drop-down list. This list includes all employees for which the Licensed Agent box is marked in the General section of the Employee form.
  4. Type the desired sub agent code (up to 8 characters).
  5. Click Add.
  6. Click New to continue adding sub agent codes for this master code. When finished, click Add on the Master Agent Code section.

In this section enter the name, address, and phone numbers for individuals associated with the company. See List Setup for information on adding company personnel positions.

  1. Click New on the Personnel section title bar. This opens the data entry form.
  2. Enter the person's name in the Name field (required).
  3. Enter the remaining optional information. For Company Address, you can do either of the following:
    • Get Company Address - If you select the company description from the list, the company address pre-fills.
    • Or you can enter the company address for this person if it is different than the regular addresses set up for this company in the Address section.
  4. Click Add.
  5. Repeat steps #1 through #3 until all company personnel are added.

If you are a large agency with different employees, companies, vendors and brokers at different locations you have the ability to limit lists based on Employee Business Unit assignment.

Agency Setup has a new Business Unit Setup section for setting up filtering on employee, vendor, company, and broker lists based on business unit.

This feature filters lists only, not security.

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.
  1. Open the Company Unique Question Assignment section.
  2. Click the Question Setup link. This takes you to the User Defined Company Unique Question Setup form. Create the questions for this company.
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.

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.
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.
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

Select this option if the download files are compressed using PKZIP© from PKWARE.

Encrypted PKZIP

Select this option if the download files are compressed and encrypted using PKZIP© from PKWARE.

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.

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