Applied Epic Reports

Mastering Applied Epic’s Retention Report and Why It’s Essential for Insurance Agencies

Studies show that it costs insurance agencies 7-9 times more to attract new clients than it does to just keep existing clients. Retaining a steady collection of clients is vital to agencies. In addition, when paired with rounding out current accounts, retaining clients is a great way to reduce acquisition costs and increase revenue.

To help you get a firm grasp on your insurance agency’s retention rate, let’s talk about how to measure retention and how you can effectively run the Retention Report in Applied Epic

The Formula for Measuring Retention

Let’s begin our deep dive by talking about what retention means. Retention is the percentage of clients or policies at the beginning of a time period—typically a year—that are kept at the end of that time period. It’s traditionally measured by taking the number at the end, subtracting the number of new clients, and dividing by the number at the beginning. Here’s what that formula looks like. 

Traditional Formula:
[(Ce – Cn) ÷ Cb] x 100

Where 
Ce is the # of clients at the end of the time period
Cn is the # of new clients during the time period
Cb is the # of clients at the beginning of the time period

Retention at the Client Level

Measuring retention at the client level can come with its set of challenges. First of all, tracking at the account level and not the policy level only shows a loss when the final policy cancels or nonrenews. There is no method for measuring premium loss as it happens in order to “stop the bleeding.”

Also, measuring client retention requires excellent maintenance of Client Accounts in Applied Epic. While you could bypass the Active/Inactive status and the Insured/Prospect types by using the Condition of Policies criteria on the Client List Report, an accurate Date Entered is essential. Unfortunately, most agencies find it difficult to achieve this, especially if they are entering Prospects long before they actually become Insured. 

Finally, measuring retention at the client level cannot be done through a single report. Here’s what you will need:

  • A Client list of all accounts entered before the start of the timeframe
  • A Client list of all new accounts entered during the timeframe
  • A Client list of all accounts entered on or before the last date of the timeframe.

If using the Client List is not an option, there is another way to measure your client retention from the policy level with some Excel skills. 

First, run a policy list/Book of Business for policies in force at the start of the time frame (effective Open-start day, expiration day after start-Open). Generate the report in Excel and remove duplicates for Account Lookup Code. Do the same for the last day of the time frame and new business during the time frame. If you don’t trust your data, do a VLOOKUP or pivot table to compare the start list with the end list to make sure that there are no missed expirations or starting policies that just haven’t been entered yet. 

Overall, to harness valuable insights about retention, you need to conduct a lot of manual work. But luckily, Applied Epic users have a built-in retention report that makes the process a whole lot easier!

Applied Epic's Built-In Retention Report

Applied features a handy Retention Report – Multi-Layouts* located in the main Policy section of Reports/Marketing. This report is part of the newer Report Pack. If you do not see it in your database, contact Applied and ask for it. They typically load it the same day as your request.

This report tracks retention by policy and is useful for seeing the losses as they occur, rather than waiting for a client to fully leave. It uses a similar formula as above, but instead of taking into account new policies, it measures those that are lost.

Epic’s Formula:

[(Total Policies – Lost Policies) ÷ Total Policies] x 100
Epic calculates this with both # of policies and estimated premium.

This report takes into consideration all policies that expired during the specified time frame and subtracts anything that is counted as Lost Business. The criteria for running this report are:

  • Expiration Date: -365 days through Today (or use a Fixed Date Range)
  • Policy Status: Exclude any quoting or error statuses, like NWQ, MKT, ECU. You are only looking for actual written policies that were either renewed or cancelled.


Out of the box, Epic only considers CAN – Cancelled – General, CIR – Cancelled – Insured’s Request, and CNP – Cancelled – Nonpay. If your agency uses other cancellation codes like NON – Nonrenewed by Carrier or CSD – Cancelled – Sold, then the report layouts must be updated (see below). Note: CRW – Cancelled – Rewritten to a New Carrier is not Lost Business and should not be counted as such.

The report comes with several versions of a Summary and Detailed layout, much like the Book of Business – Billed/Est – Multi-Layouts* report. Major sorts include Detail and Summary by Producer, PPE, and Branch. Like all reports in Epic, copy the layouts and create Major Sorts for Account Managers or any other options (Policy Type, etc).

A Word About Configuration

If you choose to use other Cancelled statuses, consider acknowledging controllable vs. uncontrollable losses. For example, clients who are deceased or closed their business are uncontrollable losses. Knowing these numbers and reasons helps inform your decisions. 

Also, ensure your cancellation statuses are clear enough that your staff is not confused about when to use each one. Cancelled – General gives no information about why the policy was lost. Avoid adding too many statuses to prevent decision fatigue. Create a cheat sheet of when to use each cancelled status.

Cancellation Workflow Considerations for a Retention Report

When cancelling a policy mid-term, make sure to cancel only the current term and error out any “renewal” (that will never be an in-force policy) that may have downloaded or renewed in Epic prior to the cancellation request/notice.

When cancelling a policy at renewal, make sure to renew the policy first and Cancel or Not Issue on the renewal term (cancel flat). Keep the expiring term as in-force with a valid status, since that policy was in effect for the whole term.

Never have a cancellation status on both the expiring term and the renewal. This will duplicate your lost business numbers and affect your calculated retention rate.

Keep Your Data Clean!

It’s always important to have good workflows and to monitor your data regularly. Review the Lost Business Report monthly and consider, was the policy really lost or was it rewritten to a new carrier? Review the Missed Expirations Report monthly: Are there policies that cancelled at renewal but were allowed to just expire? Create a “Cancelled but Status is not Updated” Report, then run a list of policies where the SSR Action = Cancel but status is not CAN, CIR, CNP, CRW, NON, etc.

Understanding and Updating Your Retention Report

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS copy to your My Reports before adjusting the layout! 

Totals and formulas are calculated using Underlying Math section at the bottom of each Major Sort and at the Report Totals and, as mentioned above, only contains subtotals of policies with CAN, CIR, and CNP statuses. You will need to add NON and any other lost business statuses used by your agency.

Applied Epic's Retention Report, Lost Business Snapshot

The Retention calculation section contains the following totals/formulas:

  • Total Premium/Policies are counted from the Detail section. This is a “normal” subtotal that is typical of Epic Reports.
  • Total Lost Premium/Policies – a Formula that is calculated from the Underlying Math section – adds up each Total field.
  • Total Less Lost Premium/Policies – a Formula that subtracts the Lost number from the Total number (this is the number that is retained).
  • Premium Retention % – a Formula that divides the Total Less Lost Premium/Policies by the original Total and multiplies by 100.
Applied Epic's Retention Report's Calculation

Don’t reinvent the wheel. Just copy and paste fields, and then update formulas as needed. Use the Field Properties to adjust font, formulas, and so forth.

Applied Epic's Retention Report Field Properties

Copy/Paste the fields in the Underlying Math section (use CAN) and adjust the criteria to other status codes.

Applied Epic's Retention Reports Formula Editor

Use the dropdown next to Fields to quickly locate Total Fields and Formula Fields (clicking on the field in the dropdown will highlight that field in the canvas).

Applied Epic's Retention Report, Total Fields

Use the Formula Builder to add Total and Formula fields to each formula.

Applied Epic's Retention Report Formula Builder for Script Modification
Applied Epic's Retention Report Formula Controls Description

Make the changes on one Detail layout first, then copy the layout and update the Major Sort. This is much easier than trying to update the formulas in every layout.

Summary layouts have the same concepts/formulas, they are just arranged differently. Update the formulas for one Summary and one Detail, and then copy from those.

Summary

Tracking your agency’s retention is a vital tool in your arsenal. It helps you keep tabs on trends and identify any issues with your clients or carriers. Measuring your retention rate is a complicated process no matter how you decide to measure it, but it’s worth it.

If you need assistance with the Retention Report or any other reports, be sure to check out our Applied Epic resources on our website and our YouTube channel. We have blogs, prerecorded webinars, and Consulting Corner webisodes available.

Kite Technology also offers a variety of Consulting Services, from migrations and training, to optimization, bookkeeping, and much more. Interested in expert Applied Epic support? Schedule a time to talk with us!

Picture of Jenny Honican

Jenny Honican

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Book of Business Report: A How-To Guide for Running this Essential Applied Epic Report

A major advantage of having an agency management system like Applied Epic is that you can wield reports for evaluation, decision making, identifying problems, and much more. One of the most powerful tools in your arsenal is the Book of Business report.

However, a lot of agencies we meet struggle with matching the data generated from this report with what they know to be true about their business. This is typically for two reasons: the report criteria are set incorrectly and data is missing and/or incorrect. 

To squeeze the most out of this report, let’s dig into the Book of Business report process: from which reports and criteria to run, to evaluating the output data. 

Which Book of Business Report Should You Run?

Your first step is to decide which Book of Business report to run. In the last 3 years, Applied developed a new Report Pack that included several options for layouts. My preference is the Book of Business – Billed/Est – Multi Layout, which is located in the Policy section of Reports/Marketing.

This report comes with several pre-configured Layouts, both Summary and Detail versions. Check or uncheck the Print box at the bottom of the Layouts portion of the open report. Out of the box, the Book of Business report comes with major groupings by ICO, PPE, Pol Type, Dept, Producer, First Producer, and Branch. These layouts are easy to copy (Actions > Copy Layout to). They are also straightforward to update to create a version that is grouped by Account Manager or Profit Center.

(Side note: If you want a refresher on some of the key terms in Applied Epic, we created a glossary you can reference.)

Considerations for Criteria

As for the criteria on the report, decide what you are looking for. Do you need policies written over the last year, whether or not they have already expired? Or do you instead need everything in force today? I prefer the latter since it gives a nice overall snapshot of what’s going on in your agency.

The best way to answer the question, “What is in force today?” is to use the Policy Expiration Date = Open – Today and Policy Effective Date = Tomorrow – Open. From there, consider what other criteria you may need. For example, you may only want active policy statuses (NEW, REN, REW). Sometimes, I include REI and SYN if I think an agency is not keeping its data clean (Important Note: these should always be updated back to NEW, REN, REW so your New Business report is not skewed).

Layouts for Your Reports

When running the Book of Business report, I typically select the Summary by PPE, Dept, and Producer, then add the Account Manager view. For a Detail layout, I select the Detail by Branch or by Producer or Account Manager.

The Summary by PPE quickly identifies any carriers that have more than one code being used as the Billing Company (look for Travelers, Progressive, etc). This layout can also be used to compare Billed and Estimated premium and commission to see if there are missing commission payments.

The Summary by Producer and Account Manager gives a quick look at the volume your staff is handling and will also show if you have policies not assigned. The Detail version of these reports will identify the individual policy errors.

Evaluating Your Data

Once you run the report, take a look at the different layouts, paying special attention to the Detail. If your agency totals don’t match what you expect, you will need to determine if your report is missing data. The Book of Business report runs based on Policy level Estimated and Billed Premium and Commission. If the policy downloads, the download should be updating estimated premium on the policy and line level. If the policy does not download, servicing staff should be manually entering it.

Epic has a built-in Commission/Premium Calculation tool that can be scheduled to run each day. If estimated premium and line commission percent are entered on the line level, the utility will calculate estimated commission and roll it up to the policy level for you.

Always make sure servicing staff enter the agency commission percent. Even better: enter company commission agreements so that your servicing staff only needs to check a box.

Identifying Errors by Opening the Monster Book of Business Report in Excel

If you’re familiar with Excel, download your monstrously big Book of Business report there. Once opened in Excel, you can add filters to look for data errors or create Pivot Tables to summarize.

When using this file for data cleaning, add in quoting statuses and remove the effective date to see your renewals. You can add data to the Detail layout (it doesn’t have to line up or be pretty, just put it in the Details section). Add Service Summary fields to catch SSR’s that are still In Process or Submitted or find policies that have been cancelled but still have an active policy status. Add Servicing roles to find blanks or former employees.

Harnessing the Book of Business Report for Agency Insights

Using the Book of Business report enhances many aspects of running your agency, including evaluation, decision making, identifying problems. The more comfortable you become with running this particular report, the greater your agency insights will become.

If you need more assistance with your Book of Business report or any other reports, be sure to check out our Applied Epic resources on our website and our YouTube channel. We have blogs, prerecorded webinars, and Consulting Corner webisodes available. We also offer Consulting Services, so schedule a time to talk with us!

Picture of Jenny Honican

Jenny Honican

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Data-Driven Performance Reviews: How Applied Epic Reports Can Help

It’s that time of year when agency management teams are working on performance reviews for their teams. If your agency uses Applied Epic, you are fortunate to have access to a wide range of customizable reports that provide valuable data about employee performance. With the flexibility to modify various criteria such as date ranges, activity codes, and employee selections, you can tailor each report to suit your agency’s specific workflow needs. These reports serve as invaluable tools for assessing employee productivity and adherence to your agency’s workflows. To initiate a report for a performance review for the current calendar year, simply adjust the date range to commence in January 2023, ensuring you have a comprehensive overview of the entire year’s data at your fingertips.

Applied Epic Reports for Performance Reviews

You can find these reports under Reports/Marketing> Activity. Please note that reports with an asterisk (*) behind the name are part of Epic’s new report pack. If your agency does not have these reports, please be sure to contact Applied and have them load the report pack into your database.

Submission Status by Premium Payable Report

This report will show you activities that are associated with activities per submission for premium payables per employee. You can filter the criteria for a certain date range and premium payable.

Standard Workflow – New Business – Policies Entered Report

This report will show you all new business policies entered per employee.

Activity Report

This report will show you all activities with a screenshot of the description. You can filter by activity codes, dates, employee, open or closed. It can give you an idea of the workload per employee assuming they enter and utilize activities.

Activity Analysis by Who/Owner Report*

This report is an overview of certain activity codes that you can choose, either open, closed or both, per employee within a date range, with a highlight on the activity code. This gives you a summary of total number of activities per employee.

Open Activities Analysis by Who/Owner Report*

This report will show how many days an activity has been opened and days overdue.

These reports under: Reports/Marketing>Transaction.

Producer Commission Report

This report will show you the commission for producers. Set the criteria for the year and you can view each producer and their commission for the year.

Accounting Productivity Report

This report shows the number of accounting functions performed per login.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the reports in Applied Epic that can provide valuable data for your performance reviews. Applied Epic has a wide range of reports that can be modified to help you tailor the level of detail to your specific needs. The flexibility to modify each report and layout empowers you to make the most of your data. If you have any questions about reporting in Applied Epic or would like to learn about any of our other Applied Epic Consulting Services, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are here to help!  

Picture of Brooke Perrone

Brooke Perrone

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Decoding Applied Epic Accounting: Your Comprehensive Glossary

Applied Epic’s accounting features introduce a range of terms that may vary from traditional accounting vocabularies or those in other agency management systems. For agencies newly adopting Epic for their accounting practices, unfamiliar terms can lead to uncertainties regarding process accuracy. To assist, we’ve provided a list of commonly used words and phrases in Applied Epic as they relate to various accounting workflows. Use this as a guide to help clarify any ambiguities in your agency’s accounting procedures. 

Applied Epic Accounting Glossary of Terms

Accounting Method

Configured based on how agency recognizes income and pays producers/brokers.

  • Cash – Agency recognizes income when it is received.
  • Accrual – Agency recognizes income when policy is billed/transacted.
  • Partially Paid – Agency pays producers/brokers when partial commission is received. This would include installments (either Direct or Agency Bill) or client down payments.
  • Fully Paid – Agency pays producers/brokers when full policy commission is received or when client pays premium or down payment in full.

Accounts Receivable

Any money owed to the agency by a client or Finance Company for Agency Bill policies.

Agency Bill

Policy premiums are paid to the agency by the client. The Agency retains their commission and forwards net premium and any applicable fees to the company/broker.

Applying Credits to Debits

Applying client payments and CFIN transactions to outstanding balances on client accounts.

Balance Sheet vs Income Statement

  • Balance Sheet – A report that shows all Asset, Liability, and Equity GL balances. Assets equal Liabilities + Equity. These GL balances perpetually roll year-to-year.
  • Income Statement – A report that shows all Income and Expense GL balances. At year end, net income moves to Retained Earnings on the Balance Sheet and all GL balances revert to $0 for the beginning of the new fiscal year.

CFIN vs Actions > Finance

  • CFIN – Finance company pays the company/broker.
  • Actions > Finance Transaction – Finance company pays the agency who then pays the company/broker.

Chart of Accounts

General Ledger (GL) accounts specifically coded for recording Assets, Liability, Equity, Income & Expense.

  • Regular – GL account codes that do not require sub-accounts (i.e., Accounts Receivable, Bank Accounts, Sweep, Equity accounts)
  • Title Accounts – Primary GL accounts that typically include Sub-Accounts (i.e., Income accounts, Payable accounts, Expense accounts)
  • Sub-Accounts – Breakout categories for your Title Accounts by entity (Carriers, Brokers, Expenses, etc.)

Direct Bill

Policy premiums are paid directly by the client to the company/broker. Company/Broker will forward commissions to the agency.

Direct Bill Commission Download

A way to receive commissions through IVANS which puts them into Download Suspense for processing to Direct Bill Reconciliations.

Direct Bill Download Suspense

Where downloaded commissions are waiting to be processed and recognized as actual transactions and income received to the agency.

General Ledger

  • Receipts – Where deposits are recorded. This can be client payments, Direct Bill commission, miscellaneous income items, return premium, or money received from a Finance Company.
  • Disbursements – Where agency payments are recorded, either electronically or by check. This could be Premium Payables, Vendor Payables, payroll, sweep payments, etc.
  • Journal Entry (JE)– Created when you need to move balances from one GL account to another.
    • System Generated Month-End Journal Entries (MJEs) – Configuration-driven Journal Entries that run automatically at month-end based off the completion of a specific workflow (Direct Bill Commission Receivable and Cash on Account Receipts tied to a Reconciliation, Invoiced Agency Bill items, Producer/Broker Commission Expense and Payable accounts).
    • Manually Entered – Journal Entries agency creates to correct GL account balances, or as a second option to record transfers between bank accounts, payroll, credit card payments, etc.
  • Reconciliations –
    • Direct Bill – Where to record commissions agency receives for direct bill policies through Download, Import, or manual entry.
    • Premium Payable – Where to pull in the transactions made on the client screen to pay net premium to company/broker. Creates a Disbursement when Finalized and Actions > Pay Statement.
    • Pr/Br Payables – To reconcile commissions due to a producer/broker.
    • Bank – To verify all activity entered in Epic matches activity in your bank account.
  • Direct Bill Import – A way to record Direct Bill commission received through an Excel mapping file that contains criteria from the commission statement.

Issuing Company (ICO)

The company that underwrites the policy being written. Think of it as the ‘paper the policy is written on.’ The NAICs are configured to the Issuing Company, which ensures Download operates properly.

Payables

Any items the agency needs to pay.

  • Vendor – Items owed to entities not related to policies. This can be agency expenses like electricity, rent, advertising, license renewals, loans, credit card, office expenses, etc.
  • Premium Payables – Carrier invoices for clients with agency bill policies.

Premium Payable Entity (PPE)

This can be a company or broker and is the one who pays commission to the agency and who the agency pays for Agency Bill items. A PPE company can be the same as an ICO, but it is important to check the policy to ensure if there is a difference.

Status of Accounts (aka General Ledger) Report

A report that shows all GL account activity as debits and credits with beginning and ending balance for each GL account. In standard accounting, this report is well known as a General Ledger report.

Conclusion

To properly utilize the accounting reports (or any report) in your Epic system, you need accurate data. To help maintain accurate data it is crucial to understand accounting workflows in Applied Epic, including its various terms and phrases. If you have any questions on the terminology defined above, or on Epic accounting in general, do not hesitate to reach out to us at consult@kitetechgroup.com. You can also visit our website to learn more about KiteTech’s Applied Epic Accounting and Outsourced Bookkeeping Services. Want to download and save this glossary as a PDF so you can easily refer to it as needed? Click here to download now. And be sure to check back next month for our next glossary of General Applied Epic vocabulary.

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Picture of Buffy Johnson

Buffy Johnson

Picture of Laura Fisher

Laura Fisher

Picture of Brooke Perrone

Brooke Perrone

Transaction Reports in Applied Epic (Part II)

Transaction Reports Part II

In this final installment of our Reports series, this article will highlight more Transaction reports that are most effective for agency management and daily operations. While we cannot review every report found under Transaction Reports, the ones listed below have proven to be most valuable when it comes to transaction-based data tracking.

Government Payables Report

If your agency pays government taxes/fees, this report will display outstanding as well as ones paid in the Government Payables Reconciliations area in the General Ledger. Use this to balance outstanding items that have not yet been paid.

Month-End Balancing Current Premium Payables*

This report is based off the Balancing Current Premium Payables report. This is a highly useful report to run at month-end to confirm your Payable Balances with your PPEs is in align with your GL Account Balance on the Balance Sheet. When run, any differences between the two will be highlighted for each out of balance PPE. Ensure that your Balance Sheet is correct and that all payments have been paid to carriers/brokers with this report.

Month-End Balancing Producer/Broker Payables*

This report is based off the Balancing Current Premium Payables report. This is a helpful report to run to balance your GL accounts by displaying outstanding items that have not yet been paid out to producers or brokers. When run, it will highlight the difference if the payable balance does not equal the GL Account Balance for each producer/broker and will display payables that are on the Balance Sheet even for previous periods. This report can only be used if your Epic system is configured to reconcile producer and/or broker payables. If this is not something currently activated in your system and you would like to start, go to Configure > Accounting > System Settings to turn this feature on.

Producer Commission

A Producer Commission report is used to review producer commission that is posted by month-end based on the producer’s payment method for Agency and Direct bill transactions. This is a great report to send to a producer’s My Reports for them to track their commission. You can modify the criteria to show data by month and send it to a producer’s Reports Quickview.

Production Report – Modified

This report is a production summary report with several different major sorting options. You can view columns for the transaction amount, agency commission, and Pr/Br commission sorted by Transaction types, Premium Payable, Policy/Line Type, Pr/Br, and/or Account Name. You can change the report criteria to run the report specifically based on what transaction data you want to see.

Unapplied Cash/Credit Report

This report should be run to identify if there are any client payments that have not been applied to an invoice, if credits to debits haven’t been applied, or if there is money due back to a client from an overpayment. It is recommended to run this report before closing the month.

Verify Transaction Commissions – Premium Payable Agreements

This report is used to identify discrepancies between the transacted commission information for premium payables and the company commission agreements in Epic. You can modify the criteria to show data by Agency Bill, Direct Bill, or both. You also can run the report by premium payable company or premium payable broker, or both.

Verify Transaction Commissions – Producer/Broker Agreements

This report is used to identify discrepancies between the transacted producer/broker commissions and the producer/broker commission agreements in Epic. You can modify the criteria to run the report by producer/broker to send to them individually for review.

Conclusion

Be sure to review all the available reports found under the Transactions section to ensure that you are running all the ones that best fit your agency’s needs. This is the last Reports section to review, so stay tuned for a complete downloadable booklet that will include the highlights off all the reports from our previous articles. 

If you have any questions on any of the reports we have reviewed or would like assistance configuring a report to your agency’s needs, feel free to reach out to our KiteTech Consulting team. We’re here to help!

 

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Picture of Buffy Johnson

Buffy Johnson

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Transaction Reports in Applied Epic (Part I)

As we near the conclusion of our Applied Epic Reports Series, this article will highlight the last section of Reports – Transaction Reports. Due to the large number of reports available in this section, we will be breaking this into two parts. Utilizing transaction reports assists with tracking client balances, general ledger payables, and more. We cover some of the most useful reports below, but also recommend checking out all reports available in that section to see if there are others that fit your agency’s needs.

Aged Outstanding Current Balances Report

When a transaction is created or a payment is applied to a client account, it creates a receivable entry that will show up on the Aged Outstanding Current Balances Report. This report shows an aged date to help you determine if a client still owes payment for a policy, if credits/debits need to be applied, or if a refund is due to the client. It is useful to run this report at least monthly so that outstanding items are taken care of in a timely manner. If a client has not paid for a policy transaction, their account could fall into Notice of Cancellation status, so this report can help track the aged date of items due.

Balancing Current Premium Payables

When it comes to agency bill transactions, you want to make sure that your agency has paid your carriers/brokers in a timely manner. To see what payables haven’t yet been created/reconciled for a determined time period, run this report to see what accounts still have open payables in the general ledger account. We recommend running this report quite frequently in order to make sure payments have not been missed and prevent Notice of Cancellations or E&O risk. 

Balancing Producer/Broker Payables

This report will only be useful for agencies who have the ‘reconcile producer and/or brokers’ option configured in their Epic system. If you utilize and reconcile Pr/Br Payables under General Ledger > Reconciliations, this report will show items that have not yet been reconciled and remain in the producer/broker payables GL account for the specific time period selected. This helps to ensure your producers and/or brokers have gotten paid for all accounts, and it is recommended to run this report when determining payroll for the month. To enable this reconciling option, go to Configure > Accounting > System Settings, then select the appropriate option that fits your agency needs. 

Commission Tracking Report

This report tracks agency commission for each policy by client to ensure that commission is received as expected. It will display every transaction for that policy in the policy term. You can also analyze premium and commission discrepancies that exceed a certain threshold. This report can be helpful to determine that all policies have estimated premium and commission amounts entered and that commissions have been reconciled for each policy. It will identify missing data and help determine that commissions have been received from the company or broker. It is useful to run this report at least monthly to ensure that commissions are being received and transacted in a timely manner.

Direct Bill Report

Use this report to view direct bill revenue that has been received or is still outstanding. This report has multiple criteria options depending on what kind of information you are looking for. If you select the Unpaid criteria, this will list items found in the Direct Bill Commissions reconciliation area. If you want to see commissions received, set your criteria to items Partially Paid, Fully Paid or Paid. If you want to see items that have been reconciled but do not have a receipt associated, select the Reconciled, Not Paid criteria before running the report. 

Earned Commissions Report

This report is a very helpful summary when wanting to identify total commissions earned by a company or broker. It summarizes the earned commission detail for each transaction for a policy and breaks it down in PPE order by premium earned, Pr/Br commission amount as well as agency commission earned. At the end of the report, a summary page is included for totals by PPE. It provides good insight as to how much the agency is earning from each company and broker and what the Pr/Br commissions are for a designated period. This is also a useful report for management to assess total sources of revenue by company and broker.

Conclusion

As mentioned throughout this article, many of the reports mentioned are most helpful when run frequently to keep the length of the report minimal and ensure your General Ledger remains balanced. When it comes to month or year-end balancing, reconciling outstanding balances and payables becomes more time consuming and confusing when you have 20+ pages per report. 

Our Agency Consulting team here at KiteTech, specializes in how to implement these reports, set up automatic report scheduling, and can also assist with balancing the General Ledger when the workload becomes too much. For questions or to discuss how to properly utilize any reports mentioned in the series, contact us today at consult@kitetechgroup.com. Check back next month for the Part II of Transaction Reports, which will conclude our Reports Series. 

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Picture of Buffy Johnson

Buffy Johnson

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Policy Reports in Applied Epic (Part II)

The second part of this installment will cover the remaining reports found under the Policy section. These reports can provide beneficial information, reduce E&O risk, and ensure policy workflows are being followed. Be sure to check out Part I of Policy Reports in case you missed it. As previously mentioned, make sure you have the new Report Pack downloaded from Applied to ensure you have access to all Reports available. We will not cover all reports found under this Policy section, but instead highlight the ones that are typically most used by multiple types of agency staff.

Expiration Report

This report can be very useful when shared with staff – either emailed monthly or sent to their Report Quickview. The Expiration Report lists policies that are due to expire within your set desired time range. This report will also show policies that already expired and were never renewed, allowing servicing staff to catch up on missed renewals. To prevent E&O risk, it is crucial to check each policy on the report to ensure there are no gaps in coverage. If a policy should remain cancelled/expired, the cancellation Service Summary Row should be entered with the line status changed.

New Business – Multi Layouts*

If you want to track policies with the NEW line status, use this report which will help track agency revenue. The multi-layouts option allows you to select how you want this report sorted – by ICO, PPE, Policy Type, Department, Producer, First Producer, or Branch.

Policies With No Transactions

It is important that all Agency Bill policies are transacted in order to ensure accurate reporting, revenue, and commissions. Use this report to find those policies that do not have transactions entered. This can also be a helpful report to regularly send to servicing staff, either emailed or sent to their Report Quickview.

Retention Report – Multi  Layouts*

If you want to track your agency’s retained business from the past year, use this report which will calculate your retention percentage by diving retained business by overall total business. The multi-layouts option allows you to sort by Premium Payable, Producer, Branch. This is useful report for management to be able to track how the agency performed for the overall year.

Verify Policy Commissions- Premium Payable Agreements & Producer/Broker Agreements

If a policy has an outdated agreement, or an agreement missing, this will cause out of balance commission reports. To ensure the correct agreements are being applied to a policy or account, use these two separate reports to help you find gaps in data or data that needs to be updated. The Premium Payable Agreements will compare the premium/commission on existing policies to the commission agreement that is listed on that policy. The Producer/Broker Agreements report does that same thing, only with producer and/or broker agreements on a policy.

While not every report under the Policy report section is highlighted on this two-part series, we recommend checking out all reports found under this section in case they can prove useful to your agency’s needs. In the next Reports installment, we will highlight Transaction reports which will also be a multi-part series, so be sure to check back as we conclude this series. If you have any questions regarding reports, we would love to help! Contact us at consult@kitetechgroup.com today!

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Policy Reports in Applied Epic (Part I)

In this installment of our Applied Epic reports series, we’ll go over some of the most helpful reports found under the Policy Reports tab. When you want to find specific information regarding a policy, the reports found under the Policy section will provide a myriad of data depending on what you are looking for. Many of these reports will help reduce your E&O risk and find gaps in data on an account. Since there are so many reports in this section, we will be splitting our review of Policy reports into two parts. As a reminder, if you do not already have the latest Report Pack installed, contact Applied to get those uploaded to your Epic database. Many of the reports we will review are from that pack.

*Audit Workflow – Expired Policies, Not Renewed*

This report provides a great resource to locate the policies that were never reviewed in Epic. Assuming that these policies should have been renewed, this report lists the expiration dates in the past. It can also point out rewritten policies that were not processed correctly. If a client’s policy was never renewed in Epic, it could mean the renewal process was never started causing a lapse in coverage. Use this report to reduce your E&O risk and find those missed renewals to ensure coverage has not lapsed by mistake.

Audit Data – AB policies with 0% Agency Commission*& Audit Data & DB policies with 0% Agency Commission*

Though these are two separate reports, the information they provide is similar. These reports will list policies that have been entered into Epic but are missing the Line commission (the agency’s commission) on the policy application. If the agency’s commission is zero, then the calculation for the producer/broker’s commissions will also be zero. This will cause your Production reports, Income statement, and any other transaction reports to be incorrect. Depending on the volume of your agency, this report should be run quite frequently.

Audit Data – Policies with Blank Pr/Br*

This report will identify policies where the line Pr/Br tab is blank. Blank Pr/Br will impact your Producer Commission Reports, and if your agency pays producer commission, it is crucial that there is a producer and/or broker commission amount listed on the Line Pr/Br tab. *Bonus Tip – if you are entering Pr/Br on a package policy, be sure to click ‘Apply to All Lines’ so that it is displayed on each line. This will ensure that, no matter the line selected when reconciling commission for that policy, the commission will be included.

*Audit Workflow – Policies with In Process SSRs* & Audit Workflow – Policies with Submitted SSR’s*

Again these are two different reports that provide similar information. To make certain that a workflow has been completed, you want the Service Summary Rows (SSRs) to end in Issued or Not Issued stage. When a SSR is left in the In Process or Submitted stage, it raises the question on whether that workflow has actually been completed. It will also prevent Download from updating a policy if left In Process. While Submitted stage typically mean that an application has been sent to the carrier (maybe for a quote or change in coverage), some agencies consider Submitted stage as Bound coverage. Depending on the date that it was submitted, that SSR could probably be moved to the Issued Stage. Reduce your E&O risk and make sure workflows are being fully completed with these reports.

Book of Business – Line Book & Book of Business – Policy Book

Depending on whether you want to see information by Line or by Policy, a Book of Business Report will detail an agency’s current book of policies. The Modify Criteria options allows you to filter information if needed or see everything on your book. While reports are typically run as PDFs, you can edit this layout to drop more information on the report and run as an Excel, which will provide an easier way of filtering information on the report and break down everything into its own column. Using a Book of Business report is a great way to find gaps in data by policy, like missing premium or commission, missing Producer/Account Manager, etc.

Binder Reports

There are multiple reports for Binder detail. The standard Binder Report will list all binders entered and will indicate their status. But if you want to find out the specific date a binder was closed, if binders were closed more than 30 days from system date, or confirm all open binders have been closed, there are specific reports filtered to find this information. Each of these reports can be found if you sort your screen by Based On, to bring these reports to the top of your screen.

Conclusion

While there are numerous reports available under the Policy section, the ones highlighted in this review can prove to be extremely valuable in finding gaps in data and reducing your E&O risk. Be sure to check back next month for Part II of the Policy Reports where we will highlight even more helpful reports. 

If you have any questions regarding the use of any of these reports or are interested in any of our other Agency Consulting Services, be sure to contact us today!

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Management and Opportunities Reports in Applied Epic

In our latest article of our Applied Epic Reports series, we will cover Management and Opportunities Reports. Management Reports in Applied Epic are a great resource for auditing. These reports primarily give you a more in-depth look at a user’s security or activity but there are a few hidden gems, which will also be reviewed. In addition to the Management reports offered in Epic, there are a few Opportunities Reports available to you as an owner or manager to monitor your agency’s sales leads.

Applied Epic Management Reports

Permission Detail, Security Group, User Detail and User Login Reports

The first group of reports we will review is a set of reports built around Logins and Security. These 4 reports are: Permission Detail, Security Group, User Detail, User Login Report.

  1. User Permissions Detail Report – you can decide which area or sub area of Epic you want to look at and report who either has been granted access or who is denied access.
  2. Security Group Report – enables you to report on all users within a group and the permissions that group gives each user.
  3. User Detail Report – is often used to document a user’s rights at the time of hire or termination from the company. It is a detailed look at that users group memberships, structure access, program access, and bank account access.
  4. User Login Report – has been used more since the onset of COVID. This report enables management to see who logged into the system and when. Layouts and Criteria for all these reports are rather straight forward.

Unrouted Attachments- Analysis Report

The next report is one from Applied’s latest report pack, the Unrouted Attachments Analysis Report. This report can be run at any time to analyze what items are still in a user’s unrouted attachments folder. This report will highlight bottlenecks in the Front-End Scanning process and which staff members have items unattached. This is a great report to review when you are concerned with items not being processed or processed in a timely fashion. The default criteria looks at all items and all employees an can be adjusted as desired.

Policy Checking Report

Another report that can be utilized to identify bottlenecks is the Policy Checking Report. The Policy Checking report lists the Policy Checking requests that have been sent for processing, with a description of each item, its owner, and its processing stage. This report can help you track the volume of Policy Checking usage in your system and monitor the time that Policy Checks take to complete. Running this report on a weekly basis is recommended, to identify any Policy Checks marked Ready that still need attention and to ensure timely completion of the process and efficient service to your clients.

Verify Policy Renewal Commission Agreements

The Verify Policy Renewal Commission Agreements Report displays each policy’s commission agreements before and after it was renewed using the “Renew” action. If the system has made any changes to the commission agreements, the report also gives the reason for these changes. Use this report to confirm that the correct commission agreement has defaulted on each policy. Unfortunately, if there were commission agreement changes on policies renewed by Download, those will not be included on this report. You can adjust the criteria to focus on a specific structure or even by producer.

In addition to these reports covered above if your agency utilizes Confidential Client Access, myEpic Workflows, or SMS features in Epic, there are additional reports that may be valuable to you here in the Management Reports section.

Applied Epic Opportunities Reports

Before you get started, make sure your sales team is entering and managing Opportunities in Epic. It is an area of Epic that is not widely used but provides valuable information about your pipeline.

From the prospect or client account, click Opportunities. Click the Add button to add a new opportunity. Enter all pertinent information. As the opportunity is worked, have your sales team progress it manually through your agency’s preconfigured sales stages by right clicking Change Stage. This can be done right from the Home Screen. Opportunities can also be entered and managed from the Applied Mobile app!

As Opportunities are won and lost, right click and Close Opportunity with Won/Lost, revenue, etc. Be sure to enter Sales Targets into your producers’ Employee Account (Lookup Employee, go to Account Detail, Sales tab) so they can see their progress on their home screen’s Dashboard.

Sales Report

The default criteria of the Sales Report searches for closed Opportunities that have been Won. The first time it is run, you will need to update the Actual Closed Date to an appropriate range (no longer than 1 fiscal year). For example, if you are looking at sales for 2022, enter an Actual Closed Date of Fixed date range 01/01/2022 – 12/31/2022.

Out of the box, the first part of the report is a detailed listing of won Opportunities, grouped first by the Opportunity owner, then by the month closed, with premium and revenue totals after each month and each producer. Calculated fields will compare the totals with Sales Targets entered in the Employee record. A summary section follows the detail, recapping each member of your sales team for each month of the year.

Pipeline Report

The default criteria for the Pipeline Report searches for Opportunities with a status of Open. The first section is a detailed listing of Opportunities still in your agency’s pipeline, grouped by Owner, then Stage, with Stage Duration, and Estimated Premium and Revenue columns. A summary follows grouping these open Opportunities by Owner, and an Average Duration and totals.

Hit Ratio Report

The default criteria for the Hit Ratio Report is all Opportunities in your database. If you would like only to see the current year’s Opportunities, modify the criteria as needed. This report will return a detailed list of all Opportunities by Owner, followed by a # Won and % Won, # Lost and % Lost, and Total Closed. A summary section follows.

Forecast Report

The default criteria for the Forecast Report searches for Opportunities with a status of Open. It is like the Pipeline Report, but rather than returning all open Opportunities, it is designed to be run for a specific time period. Select the criteria for the Target Close Date within your time range (month, quarter, etc.).

Conclusion

Agency Owners and Operations can use Management Reports to get insight on what rights their employees have, where bottlenecks in process may be occurring and to verify Policy Renewal Commission Agreements and Opportunities Reports to get a glimpse into sales, summarize won and lost leads, and see what is coming in the pipeline.

We also recommend reviewing our previous articles in our Reports Series listed below. If you have questions regarding the use of any of these reports or would like to learn more about how our Agency Consulting Services, can help your agency better-utilize Applied Epic, be sure to contact us today. We would love the opportunity to learn more about your agency and how we can help!

Picture of Laura Whaley

Laura Whaley

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Picture of Jenny Honican

Jenny Honican

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Interface Reports in Applied Epic

In our latest installment of our Applied Epic Reports series, we will review the Interface Reports. Interface Reports can be used in conjunction with your Communications Log or independently. Reports are available for Automated Download Invoices (ADI), Claims, Direct Bill Commission Download (DBCB), eDocs and Policies. The Communications Log is a consolidation of all these reports and will include all lines and products that download. For large agencies or agencies that download with many carriers the Communication Log can become quite lengthy and hard to work with.

Before we look at the reports in each category, know that within each download product type there is an error report. The error reports will tell you when a download was sent by a carrier in which a data field is not accepted by Epic. It is our suggestion to contact Applied anytime you find these in your reports. They will work with IVANS and Carrier partners if necessary to identify what the error was, correct it, and get the item resent. Now, let’s look how some of these other reports available.

Claims

The Claims received report enables the download administrator or processor to choose criteria relevant to the claims they would like to see. Criteria could be claims received on a certain account, assigned to a particular team member, or all claims received within a specific timeframe. Perhaps there is a natural disaster, and the agency is attempting to reach out to clients who have suffered a loss. The agency could use this report to find all clients who reported a claim within the event date(s) for a follow-up.

DBCD Reports

In additional the error report there are two other reports available to DBCD. The first is the Information Received report. This report will show DBCD received for suspended statements. Criteria can include date rate, specific transactions, carrier, and client among many others. The second report is the DBCD Received report. This report shows you which commissions were received within the specific session date(s).

eDocs

Criteria available for the eDocs received report Policy type, eDoc & Message type, and Policy type. Let’s say for example, your agency utilizes account service assistants for processing. The agency would like to have ‘Employee A’ pull a policy checklist for all policies received on commercial accounts beginning with A-L, ‘Employee B’ will be responsible for commercial accounts beginning with M-Z and ‘Employee C’ will handle all Personal Lines clients. You could set up a report that either generates daily or sent to each employee QuickView Reports, which reports which policies were downloaded within their alpha split.

Policies

There are 3 reports available for policies besides the error report. The first is Policies Exception report. This report specifically shows how many downloads were received within the criteria chosen that exceeds the agencies predetermined threshold for premium increase. This report could be useful in circumstances when the agency is seen an uptick in lost business. You suspect that a particular carrier is passing on large rate increases with little notice. Running this report will enable you to pinpoint a particular carrier or even a specific line of business. The second is Policies Information. This report is going to tell you if an issuing/billing company or commission agreement has been updated due to download. The third is the Policies Received report. This report is the most widely used report. Criteria for this report could include structure, servicing, policy type and transaction type among many others.

Conclusion

The reports found under the Interface tab would be helpful for anyone who manages download including your servicing staff. These reports enable your agency to set up reports for processors, so they only see their responsibility as well as research special circumstances within a date or carrier concern. We also recommend reviewing our previous articles about Account Reports, Activity Reports and General Ledger Reports. If you have questions regarding use of any of these reports or are interested in any of our other Agency Consulting Services, contact us today!

Picture of Laura Whaley

Laura Whaley

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

General Ledger Reports in Applied Epic

In this third installment of our Applied Epic reports series, we’ll go over some of the most helpful reports found under the General Ledger tab. The reports found under this tab are very helpful when it comes to month-end reporting and are recommended to run throughout a month to ensure you remain in balance. If you have a dedicated accounting person or department in your agency who handles bank reconciliation, it may be helpful to copy these reports to their My Reports so they can run them frequently and get them prepared to send to management for each month-end review.

Balance Sheet

Your GL accounts are broken out into different groups – Asset, Liability, Equity, Income & Expense, which are then broken down further into subaccounts. The Balance Sheet report will list the amounts that are in your agency’s asset, liability, and equity accounts for a specific period (you can modify the criteria to view the timeframe needed). Use this report to ensure that General Ledger is in balance. You can also modify the criteria on this report to include the subaccounts if needed.

General Ledger Register

If you want to see an overall view of what has occurred in the General Ledger area of Epic, run this report. It will provide a detailed overview of any receipts, disbursements, journal entries, voided entries, vouchers, etc. You can also set the criteria on this report to filter by specific GL accounts if needed.

Income Statement

While the Balance Sheet report reflects asset, liability and equity, the Income Statement report will provide details on agency net profit/loss, income, and expenses for a time period that you can filter in Modify Criteria. It will provide current and year-to-date figures and you can also choose whether to include or exclude the subaccount detail. It is important to note with this report that if the Income account(s) have a debit balance, the balances will display as a negative; if the Expense account(s) have a credit balance, the balances will also display as a negative.

Status of Accounts

As mentioned previously, there are multiple GL accounts within Epic to reflect deposits and disbursements. To ensure GL accounts remain in balance, we recommend running this report frequently. This report includes opening and ending balances, transactions affecting the balance, and the net change in the balance. For example, if you have recently migrated to Epic, you may still have outstanding transactions from your previous system. You would not transact on the client accounts again in Epic since they are already billed in your previous system, so you would take the outstanding balance for the Premium Payable Entity (PPE) and reflect that under an Opening Balance GL account in Epic. As you are paying funds to the PPE for those outstanding balances, you would apply those disbursements to that GL account which would chip away from that balance. You can then run this report, which would show you the opening balance, all the payments made so far, and what balance still remains.

Conclusion

The reports under the General Ledger tab will be very helpful for anyone who manages your accounting within your agency as well as for management to ensure that General Ledger figures remain in balance, especially when it comes to month-end reporting. We recommend reviewing all the other reports not mentioned as well by checking out our other articles about Account reports and Activity reports. If you have any questions regarding the use of any of these reports or are interested in any of our other Agency Consulting Services, be sure to contact us today!

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Activity Reports in Applied Epic

In this second article of our series on Applied Epic reports, we will review those found in the Activity report group. The default reports in the Activity group provide summaries, but selecting a single activity code in the criteria section allows you to perform a deep dive into its use. For example, if you use a “CALL” activity, but want to know if it’s used properly, you can filter just to that activity to review how it is being used. You may also want to include Activity Notes and/or Tasks to determine whether they are used correctly. Like the Account reports, most data fields can be selected within the Modify Criteria selection of the report detail.

Activity reports can be helpful in determining employee productivity and can also help management discern if more workflow training is needed. Since every interaction is recorded in activities, these reports allow a glimpse into the client base.

With one of the recent updates to Epic, you can also generate Marketing Options such as letters, emails, sticky notes, or SMS based on activities in a report. This could be used to target clients that you want to reach back out to for quoting or re-marketing. Maybe you want to have a quick touch point for new claims activities entered. The possibilities are endless!

Remember to always copy from the main report group to My Reports by clicking Actions > Copy Report To or right clicking the mouse.

Activity Reports in Applied Epic

Below we review some of the more beneficial Activity reports that you can use in Epic. Please note that reports with an asterisk (*) behind the name are part of Epic’s new report pack. If your agency does not have these reports, be sure to contact Applied and have them load the report pack into your databases.

Activity Report

This is the standard “out of the box” report that will provide you a list of activities. Grouped by Lookup Code, the columns provided on the report are the Activity Code and Description, the Who/Owner Code, Follow up Date, Association, Status, Entered On, and Entered By. It’s a good report to use if you just need to know if an activity code is being used, review notes entered, provide a flat number of open activities to evaluate agency workload, or provide a list of past due activities.

Activity Analysis by Who/Owner*

Applied has taken the Activity Report to the next level with the Activity Analysis by Who/Owner. Where the Activity Report is arranged by Lookup Code and returns the total number of activities, this report is arranged by Who/Owner and contains a summary line of number of activities and a breakdown of the number open and closed. Two layouts have been added to the end of the detailed report, including a Summary by Who/Owner of each activity code and a Summary of the total number of activities by Who/Owner.

PRO TIP: On the Layouts screen, copy the Detail by Who/Owner layout (highlight and click Actions > Copy Layout To) to the end of this report’s Layouts to have the Summaries print first.

Carrier Submission Hit Ratio – by Not Written Reason*

In order to utilized the functionality of this report, you must utilize the Marketing Module in Epic along with the Unsuccessful reasons. This report is based on the activity generated by Actions >

Submit to Carriers. The default activity code is SCAS. You can also include manually entered activity codes that are entered for quoting outside the Marketing Module. With that workflow in placey, you can use this report to determine the Hit Ratio and identify patterns with unsuccessful quotes by carrier. Start by entering the quoting activity codes and the carrier/broker in the Criteria section of the report. It will provide a detailed list of each quote and a summary at the end of the section.

Open Activities Analysis by Who/Owner*

Similar to the Activity Analysis by Who/Owner, this report gives a list of all open activities. An extra column on the far left provides Days Overdue. This provides insight into how long it takes employees to complete certain activities as well as finding out if activities are being closed in a timely manner. In addition to using this for follow up, it’s a good report to pull for staff supporting employees who are out of the office for an extended period.

Conclusion

These are only a sample of the various Applied Epic Activity reports that can be immensely helpful to your agency. If you missed last month’s article on Account Reports, be sure to check it out! If you have any questions regarding the use of any of these reports or are interested in any of our other Agency Consulting Services, be sure to contact us today!

Picture of Jenny Honican

Jenny Honican

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Account Reports in Applied Epic

Applied Epic offers an array of reports based on the Account Detail screens. While most reports are based on Client accounts, don’t forget that the Account report group consists of Employees, Companies, Brokers, and Vendors as well. Most data fields can be selected within the Modify Criteria selection of the report detail.

Data at the Account level enables agencies to aim their marketing to specific targets. The Account report group is useful for both cleaning up data and creating mailing lists. Export filtered lists into Excel for import into third-party email distribution platforms, or use Epic’s Marketing Options in the report’s Delivery Options section to both run the report and generate an email to clients.

Remember to always copy from the main report group to My Reports by clicking Actions > Copy Report To or right clicking the mouse.

Here are some useful Account Reports in Epic:

Audit - Current Clients With Blank Primary Contact Emails*

This report shows accounts where the Primary Contact has a blank email address. This is a useful report to use for cleanup within your Epic system. When the email address is listed for the Primary Contact, this allows more streamlined and automated communication. Criteria should be only active accounts with condition of policies being At least one current/renewed policy.

CSR Usage - Attachments Accessed*

If your agency utilizes CSR24, there is a shared documents feature which allows your clients to access documents that are attached in Epic. These documents can either be accessed by either the portal or mobile app, and you can determine which clients can see certain documents. Use this report to determine which clients are accessing the shared documents feature to improve client customer service. Modify the criteria based on the date attachments were accessed as well as the folder or sub folder accessed.

Company Commission Agreements & Producer/Broker Commission Agreements

Use both reports respectively to identify all Company and Producer/Broker Commission Agreements that have been established in your Epic system. Modify the agreement effective and expiration date criteria to match a current book of business criteria to view all current agreements.  Example:  Effective date = Open thru today’s date and Expiration date = Tomorrow’s date thru Open.

Current Clients, All Contacts - Multi Layouts*

This report will list all current clients, including their contact information, that are sorted by Classification. There are numerous criteria that you can set to filter your results, including department, number of claims, policy expiration date, where they live, etc. This report is useful for targeted marketing those specific clients based on their designated Classification.

Current Clients, Primary Contacts - Multi Layouts*

Like the previous mentioned report, only sorted by SIC and NAIC codes and targets business accounts based on those codes.

Active Accounts With No Active Policies

This report can be used for cleanup to locate active accounts that no longer have active policies on them.  Criteria should include all active clients with a policy condition of no current/renewed policies.  Once you have cleaned up the accounts, you can run this on a regular basis to identify accounts to inactivate.

These are only a sample of the various Epic reports that can be immensely helpful to your agency. There are numerous reports within Applied Epic that can be beneficial to your agency depending on the information that you are striving to achieve. From gaps in data, to workload management, to cleanup, there is a report that can provide the data you need. In this blog series, we’ll highlight a different section within Applied Epic’s Reports each month, so stay tuned to learn more about specific reports that your agency can leverage.

If you have any questions regarding the use of any of these reports, or are interested in learning more about KiteTech’s Agency Consulting Services, be sure to contact us today!

*NOTE – Any report with an asterisk ( * ) next to it is a part of the latest Applied 2021 Report Pack. If you have not already done so, be sure to contact Applied to request that this back be uploaded to your system to access these reports.

Picture of Kellie Halfpap

Kellie Halfpap

Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group

Applied Epic Post-Migration: Steps for Continued Success

Did your agency just migrate to Applied Epic, or is in the process of migrating now? Regardless of the platform you are migrating from, transitioning your team to an entirely new system can feel daunting. If you have already completed the training provided and finished transferring your data, you now may be asking yourself, ‘What should be my next step for success?’ We’d like to offer some recommendations on additional steps that you can take to help your staff be fully prepared to utilize Applied Epic effectively and help you experience a successful migration.

Configure Epic to Fit your Agency

Before your employees start navigating Applied Epic, it is essential to configure it properly to fit your agency’s needs. This includes setting up field defaults, required vs. desired fields, folder structures, activity codes and categories, system events, tasks on activities, etc. For example, you can configure specific activity codes to only be visible to a particular department, which reduces options and ensures employees choose the code that best fits that workflow. It is imperative to configure Epic properly as soon as possible because once your employees start to use the system, changing certain settings and functions will be more challenging.

Set up Reports

Reports are a great way to track information entered in Epic. Setting up various reports ahead of time can help you audit your data to make sure information is entered correctly and moved through the different workflow stages timely. Reports can also help employees stay up to date on upcoming renewals, track new and loss business, and help you determine if information is missing on accounts (e.g., Servicing Roles, Estimated Premium/Commission, Pr/Br, and Agency Commission). Once your reports are set up, you can automate delivery to your employees and departments at a specific time or make them available in their Reports Quick View. Expiration Reports, for example, would be a great report to send to your employees’ Reports Quick View as they can refer to this report at any time to see which accounts have policies coming up for renewal.

Create & Standardize Your Workflows

To ensure that your employees clearly understand how to utilize Epic, you must create and standardize your agency workflows. Standardized workflows serve as a valuable guide your employees can follow as they learn the Epic platform and provide a reference for when they need guidance on a particular function. To ensure your workflows will work for everyone within the agency, we recommend that you have a team that includes a member from each department work together to create them.

Provide Additional Training

It is important to remember that as your agency continues to learn and grow within Applied Epic, it will be essential to continue providing additional training to your employees to develop their skills. If a workflow needs to be updated or changed, or employees are struggling to follow workflows, additional training will ensure continued growth and efficiency. You can use reports and perform audits to find possible inconsistencies with workflows and areas where additional training is needed.

Be Patient with the Process

Migrating to a new system can be stressful for both management and employees. It may be tempting to take aspects of how you used your old system and try to apply them in Epic because that is what you are used to doing. Epic has its own unique functions that are different from your old system. Your agency’s workflows are also going to be different, so it is crucial to avoid copying how you navigated your old system in Epic as it will only cause frustration in the long run. Trust the learning process and know that while Epic is an entirely different system, eventually, the workflows and structure will ‘click,’ becoming easier and more comfortable to navigate. Be patient with the process, ask questions, and refer to your workflows every step of the way.

Configuring Epic, setting up reports, standardizing workflows, and providing continued training are essential tools to implement after migration and will set your agency up for success with the Applied Epic platform. It is important to remember that learning a new system takes time, but that daunting feeling will not last forever. By managing your team’s expectations, continuing to have patience, and trusting the process, your agency will be Applied Epic pros in no time.

For help applying these practices or to learn how to utilize Applied Epic more effectively in your agency, contact us at consult@kitetechgroup.com for a free consultation.

 

adam atwell

Adam Atwell

Cloud solutions architect

Adam is passionate about consulting with organizations across the country to help them develop and execute a cloud adoption strategy that meets their business needs and future objectives. Adam oversees and manages our company strategy for Microsoft 365 adoption and is responsible for future growth and development inside Microsoft 365 and other cloud technologies.