Firm Associations
Numerous states require carriers and firms to track and manage agent-to-agency affiliations. Some states allow firms to share an appointment with affiliated individual producers, allowing the agents to conduct business under the firm's appointment and potentially reducing a carrier's appointment fees in those states.
Use the Firm Associations data section of an individual producer record to review information about an individual's active and inactive associations or affiliations with an agency or brokerage.
To review a producer's Firm Associations, click the Firm Associations link in the Quick Links box of an individual producer record that is open in the Review/Update Producer page.
The Firm Associations data section displays a table listing an individual producer's active or inactive individual-to-firm associations or affiliations, grouped first by firm and then by association state(s). It includes the following fields and controls:
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Add New Firm Association: Click to open the Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page, where you can add a new firm association for a selected individual producer.
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Association States (): For each firm association listed, click the node to expand the record row to display the states in which the agent-to-firm association is recorded and related information. Click the node () again to collapse the record row and hide the association state information. Includes the following fields and controls:
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Add New Association State: Click to open the Add Individual Firm Association/Association State page, where you can add a new association state to the selected individual-to-firm association.
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State (): For each association state listed, click the node to expand the record row to display the active qualifications (license lines or LOA) held by the firm and the affiliated agent in the selected association state. Click the node () again to collapse the record row and hide the state LOA information. Fields include the following:
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Active Qualifications for[FirmName]: Displays the active qualifications held by the firm in the selected association state.
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Active Qualifications for[IndividualName]: Displays the active qualifications held by the affiliated individual in the selected association state.
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Association Type: For each association state listed, displays the relationship of the individual to the firm in the selected association state.
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Position: For each association state listed, displays the employment title of the individual with the firm in the selected association state.
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Begin Date: For each association state listed, displays the date on which the individual became associated with the firm in the selected association state.
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End Date: For each inactive association state listed, displays the date on which the association between the individual and the firm became inactive in the selected association state.
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State Registered: For each association state listed, displays Yes if the individual-to-firm association is recorded with the department of insurance in the selected association state; displays No if the individual-to-firm association is not recorded with the department of insurance in the selected association state (i.e., recorded only in your company's internal records).
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Terminate: Click to open the Terminate Individual Firm Association State page, where you can inactivate the individual-to-firm association in the selected association state.
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EIN: For each individual-to-firm association listed, displays the firm's Federal Employer Identifier Number.
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Firm: For each individual-to-firm association listed, displays the firm's name as a blue hypertext link. Click the link to open the firm's record in the Review/Update Producer page.
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Begin Date: For each individual-to-firm association listed, displays the date on which the association became effective (i.e., the date of the oldest state association)..
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End Date: For each inactive individual-to-firm association listed, displays the date on which the association became inactive (i.e., the date on which the last state association became inactive).
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Correct Association Data: Click to open the Correct State Association Data page, where you can hard-correct or "data fix" individual-to-firm association information in a selected association state.
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: 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: 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 the selected individual's producer's record and the firm record. For more information, see Add Appointments.
Note: Producer information stored in the Firm Associations data section is subject to automatic, system updating if your company is using both PLM Producer Manager and Producer Express and the system has been Vertafore-configured to use the indirect appointments functionality. Under certain conditions, the system automatically can add a firm association instead of submitting a direct, state appointment request for an individual producer whose affiliated firm already is appointed in an indirect appointment state. For more information, see the Tips on Details.
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
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.
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.
Firm associations 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.
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.