Add Associations

Use the Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page to add a "record-only" affiliation between an individual producer (e.g., agent or broker) and a firm producer (e.g., agency or brokerage).

To open the Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page, choose one of the following methods:

  • From the Licensing menu, select Associations, and then select Add Associations. Then, perform a Producer Search for both the individual and the firm producer whose association information you want to correct.

  • With the record of an individual producer open in the Review/Update Producer page, in the Firm Associations data section click the Add New Firm Association link. Then, perform a Producer Search for the firm producer to associate with the selected individual producer.

  • With the record of a firm producer open in the Review/Update Producer page, in the Individual Associations data section click the Add New Individual Association link. Then, perform a Producer Search for the individual producer to associate with the selected firm producer.

  • With the record of an individual producer open in the Review/Update Producer page, in the Firm Associations data section click the Add New Association State link. Then, perform a Producer Search for the firm producer to associate with the selected individual producer.

  • With the record of a firm producer open in the Review/Update Producer page, in the Individual Associations data section click the Add New Individual Association or State Association  link. Then, perform a Producer Search for the individual producer to associate with the selected firm producer.

The Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page contains the following sections:

Warnings

All data that is added or updated using this page will apply only to the affected record in Producer Manager. The data will not be transmitted directly from Producer Manager to states nor update state records.

Notes

Note: Firm associations recorded on the Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page automatically will update the Firm Associations data section of the individual producer record and the Individual Associations data section of the firm producer record.

Note: When a producer holds at least one active individual-to-firm association in a state, the Status field in the Details data section of the producer's record will hold a value of Active. This condition persists even after the producer no longer holds an active state appointment. To set the Status field to Inactive, you must terminate all active appointments and individual-to-firm associations. For more information, see Review/Update Producer, Terminate Appointments, and Terminate Associations.

Note: In a state selected in the Active Qualifications section, where either a firm or individual producer does not hold an active LOA, the following message will appear: "No Active Qualification exists." Otherwise the system displays the value of an active LOA as derived from the Qualification Type field in the Qualifications data section of the producer's record.

Note: The values available in the Association Type and Position dropdown menus can be user-configured on the Maintain Codes page by users with administrative permissions. Set values for the Association Type dropdown menu using the INDV_ORG_ASSC_ASSC_CD code group. Set values for the Position dropdown menu using the INDV_ORG_ASSC_POS_CD code group. For more information, see Maintain Codes.

Note: Individuals recorded in Producer Manager as being actively associated with a firm may be selected to be included on a shared firm appointment request submitted to Arkansas. A shared appointment requires the selection of at least one affiliated (associated) individual producer, typically an agency principal. Once a firm's shared appointment request is submitted, the shared appointment automatically will populate the Appointments data section of selected individual's producer's record and the firm record. For more information, see Add Appointments.

Note: When you add an association between an individual producer and a firm, and the associated firm has an active agreement, the system automatically will add an indirect agreement with the associated firm to the Agreements data section of the individual producer's record. Note, however, that if you terminate the association, the system will not automatically inactivate the individual producer's indirect agreement with the associated firm.

Tips

You may use the Association Maintenance service in Compliance Express to register, maintain, or terminate individual agent-to-agency affiliations ("firm affiliations" or "associations") with certain states. Using the service, a firm affiliation transaction is submitted electronically to a selected state department of insurance and updates state records. The Association Maintenance service is available on the Service Requests page under the Express Services menu. For more information, refer to the Compliance Express online help.

Firm association information can be loaded to a batch of producer records through a custom data load, performed by Vertafore Managed Services. For more information, consult your Vertafore representative.

Individual-to-firm affiliations recorded in the Associations data section is just one way to track producer relationships in Producer Manager. Depending on your business objectives, you may also use Business Units, Agreements, External System IDs, and Locations and Departments to logically group and record business connections among individual and firm producers.

To research specific state regulations regarding individual-to-firm affiliations, we recommend Sircon Regulatory Reference Library, an online reference tool that maintains updated information on state insurance rules and requirements. For more information, contact your Vertafore representative.

Run the Individual Associations Inquiry to obtain a report of individual producers affiliated with a specific firm as recorded in Producer Manager. Or, you may review a selected firm's individual-to-firm associations (affiliations) as officially registered in a selected "Sircon State" by running the Firm Status Inquiry in Compliance Express. The Firm Status Inquiry is available from the Inquiries page under the Express Services menu. For more information, refer to the Compliance Express online help.