Applied Epic Tips

Tips and Tricks for Accounting in Applied Epic

There are many different methods and best practices to implement when it comes to Accounting in Applied Epic. In the first of our accounting series, we discussed Agency Bill and Premium Payables; in the second how to reconcile Direct Bill if your agency was on a Cash basis. In the last of this Accounting series, we will review various tips and tricks that may prove useful to furthering efficiency, ensuring accurate reporting, and getting full utilization out your investment into your Epic system.

Change your Default Month/Month End Processes

It’s important to close the month at the end of each accounting month, however, did you know that you don’t have to close on the last day of the month? If you move the default month to the new month, it will stop users from entering any further data in your closing accounting month. Procedures > Accounting > Month End then Actions > Change Default Month. Now you can continue to finish out the closing month without users entering new data. For extra security, you can also lock the month, however, you will have to unlock each time you need to enter something in the prior month. We recommend having a goal of completing your month end processes by the first few business days of the month. Don’t forget to Actions > Close Month, not Finalize!

Communicate within Epic

Many accounting departments rely on paper or email correspondence with servicing staff for things like agency bill invoices, check requests, policy information errors, etc. You can maintain better data and keep documents secured by utilizing activities in Epic to relay that information. There are a few options for utilizing activities for accounting. You can generate an activity from the Generate Invoices event and use that activity to attach invoices from the carrier or broker. Default that activity who/owner to the accounting staff so that they are not only notified that an invoice needs to be paid, but they can quickly access the invoice needed to send with the premium. You can even add multiple choices for different types of invoices. For example, $ABI – Agency Bill Invoice, $RET – Return Premium Invoice, $FIN – Financed Invoice. Another option would be to generate these activities manually. The servicing staff would enter the activity and attach all necessary documents for the accounting staff to access and process. Accounting can use these activities to follow up on payments from the client, carrier or finance company as well.

Go Paperless in Accounting

Another way to maintain accurate data and create efficiency in accounting is to attach ALL documents in Epic upon receipt. Attach items such as commission statements to the carrier/broker. You can even generate an activity when you attach those items so that you know there is a statement that needs to be entered or reconciled in General Ledger. Attach other documents such as vendor invoices, commission agreements, and any other items pertaining to accounting to the company or broker in Epic.

Be sure to label your documents with standard naming conventions. This will create efficiency when you are searching or researching documents. Using naming conventions throughout your accounting processes will increase that searchability and also provide some organization. For example, if you receive a direct bill commission via direct deposit, label the receipt “EFT Travelers May 2022 DB Comm”. Then when attaching the statement label it Travelers May 2022 DB Comm Stmt $1500.00. Lastly, in the Direct Bill Reconciliation, label the reconciliation Travelers May 2022 DB Comm. Notice how each description is very similar but has additional details based on where it is entered. Remember that some information is already generated in Epic, so you won’t need to type it in. An example would be the effective date of a deposit.

Get Better Data with Configure, Required/Desired Fields, and Utilities

There are many tools within Epic that can increase the accuracy and completion of data that can effect your accounting processes. Here are a few that can help:

– Require Pr/Br Commission

Configure > Policy > System Settings > Commissionable Producer/Broker Requirement. This function will ensure a Pr/Br is entered before a policy can be closed.

– Pr/Br Commission Agreements

Configure > Policy > System Settings > Pr/Br Commission Agreements. Here you have 2 options. If the producer/broker has multiple valid agreements you can choose to “Use the prior term’s commission agreement (if valid) upon renewal. This will stop Epic from choosing an agreement at renewal and is specifically beneficial when there is a split agreement between producers.

– Commission/Premium Calculations

Configure > Policy > Commission/Premium Calculations. Turn this function on to calculate any premium/commission at the line level and add it up to the policy level. This minimizes data entry if you have users enter estimated premium and commission only at the first line level of a policy. If you enter the agency commission percent and the estimated premium at the line level, this function will also calculate the estimated commission for you.

– Required/Desired Fields

If you’re having issues getting data entered into certain fields in Epic, right click on the field and select Desired or Required. Desired will highlight the field in yellow drawing the user’s attention to it. Required fields are highlighted in red and the user cannot exit that window before entering data into that field. Be careful when requiring, because the user may not always have the data available when completing certain processes.

– Pr/Br Reassignment Utility

If you have recently created or updated Pr/Br Commission agreements, you can use this utility to assign agreements that are new or updated as long as there is an existing Pr/Br listed on the policy. It is similar to a workload reassignment but with a few different options. This can also be used to cleanup old agreements or reassign books to a new producer or house producer code.

We hope that our Applied Epic accounting series has been helpful to you as you expand on using the accounting functionality in Epic. The KiteTech Agency Consulting Team is here to help if you have any questions about Applied Epic accounting or any of our other consulting services. We have a variety of engagements that are customized to meet your insurance agency’s unique needs. To learn more, please contact us to schedule a conversation. 

Lauren Roberts

Lauren Roberts

Director of Agency Consulting
Kite Technology Group

Our Favorite Epic Highlights from Applied Net 2021

Though attending Applied Net in person offers a much more interactive approach to the conference, the best part about it being virtual is the fact that it makes it easier to attend multiple sessions back-to-back and re-watch them to gain full understanding of the subject matter. This year, Applied Net was once again filled with fantastic sessions full of knowledgeable material to help enhance your Applied Epic experience. There were many new updates, features and capabilities being rolled out this year. Below we share some of the Epic highlights we’re most excited about and what you can expect from Epic with the recent updates that have been released:

1. Expanded Email Templates

One update that we were most excited to see was the enhanced functionality of the Email Templates. Prior to this latest release, this feature was very limited. Now you can create an email template directly from Outlook which attaches to the client file in Epic. There is also an option to add an email template with Marketing reports. You can set up these templates with your agency’s branding as well as configure templates based on certain workflows to streamline email messaging.

2. EZLynx – Applied Merger

It was announced earlier this year that Applied was acquiring EZLynx, which would bring greater automation in carrier rating and broaden marketing opportunities for agencies. This is integrated with Applied Epic, and it was announced at AppliedNet that by December, there will be 100 Carrier options. EZLynx is a popular rater especially for Personal Lines producers, so this further enhance the comparative rating experience.

3. Indio Submission Activities

Agencies using the Indio integration will now have a more seamless flow between Epic and Indio marketed submissions with the new activity update. You can now enable submissions created in Indio to be associated to Epic activities. When a submission in Indio is updated (for example: submitted, accepted, declined), you will be able to see this status on the activity screen. Viewing the status of a marketed account in Epic, and the ability to push information back and forth between the two platforms, streamlines discussion and workflows between Account Managers and Sales Personnel.

4. Applied Epic Benefits

Many exciting updates came to Applied Epic specifically for the Benefits Department. In the past, Epic was very limited to the type of Benefits-related information that you could put in an application. Now, there are Benefits-specific details in the Accounts Detail section that will then trickle down to the policy. You will also be able to enter $0 premium when reconciling Direct Bill commission statements – previously, you had to enter a non-zero amount in the premium field, which did not provide accurate reporting. 

Now, the reports generated will be much more accurate as you will not have a stand-in premium in those fields. Lastly, you will be able to turn on Direct Bill Download for Benefits/Life & Health policies, which will certainly save time by reducing the need to manually input commission statements and reducing your E&O exposure. You will need to contact the carriers you want to receive downloaded commission statements from and ensure you system is set up correctly to receive them.

5. Expanded Sales Automation

Sales Automation is a built-in Epic integration and a very helpful tool for managing your sales pipeline and set your goals for the year. But not every agency is set up for a standard calendar year. Now you can configure your Epic system by selecting Fiscal or non-calendar year if that is your agency’s preference. This will allow a more accurate picture of your sales goals and provides a further tailors Epic to your agency’s needs.

The wonderful thing about Applied Epic is that it’s always evolving and finding ways to improve and expand its capabilities to fit the needs of its agency user base. Applied Net this year once more offered opportunities to grow your knowledge and learn more features and unique ways to enable Applied Epic to meet the needs of your agency. At KiteTech, we always look forward to learning new processes and best practices that we can then pass on to our clients. If you would like to learn more about our Epic Consulting Services and how we can help you get the most from your Applied Epic system, contact us at consult@kitetechgroup.com to schedule a free consultation!

Kellie Uhlhorn

Kellie Uhlhorn

Agency Consultant

Applied Epic Integrations – Further Enhancing Your Agency’s Efficiency

One of the many benefits of being an Applied Epic user is the number of integrated platforms developed to enhance your Epic experience and boost your agency’s virtual efficiency. The insurance industry has become much more sophisticated through technology and online processes, so it is vital for your agency to keep up with this trend. Whether you are Management, an Account Manager, or a Producer, there are integrations that you can incorporate with your daily workload. But with so many now available, you may be asking, which one(s) is best for my agency?  Below, we’ll review a number of Applied Epic integrations that agencies can take advantage of to help them operate more efficiently and serve their clients better.

CSR24 & Applied MobileInsured

CSR24 and MobileInsured are no-brainers when it comes to Applied Epic integrations that your agency can benefit from. CSR24 brings convenience to Account Managers and clients by providing document and policy management in a portal that is accessible at any time. Clients can request changes to a policy, initiate and track claims, and request or even generate their own insurance certificates. MobileInsured furthers the accessibility by providing a personalized mobile app customizable for each client and your agency.  

Ensuring your clients are consistently receiving top-notch customer service is crucial for your agency’s continued success. If you want to be able to route calls faster, record those calls to ensure quality service, and reduce E&O risk, blueButler may be the solution for you. It gives you the ability to see client information from Epic when a call comes in. You can make notes and associate that call directly to a policy, contact, or activity within Epic. Management can create tags, scripts, and checklists for consistency in call workflows. It can also show you daily call activity and the recorded audio to ensure the service provided is always precise and meets agency standards.  

When it comes to renewals and remarketing policies, carriers often require their own separate application completed on top of other supplementals to provide a quote. Asking a client to fill out multiple applications can be time-consuming and frustrating, and trying to keep track of each application also comes with its challenges. Indio helps reduce the risk of E&O exposures while saving you time by automating data to populate across multiple carrier applications, custom forms, and questionnaires located in their 15,000+ application library. Within Indio, you can easily track changes in exposures or receive a notification when a client fills out or submits requested information. Clients can even flag questions that they need assistance with, which will notify the Account Manager directly. Agencies have found a higher return rate and faster turnaround time of applications from clients due to the ease of use of this product.  

Marketing your agency and the services you offer is a vital process for maintaining a strong book of business and ensures your clients and prospects are receiving up-to-date industry content. Marketing Automation allows you to create, send and track email campaigns to target a specific audience. You will have the ability to send a myriad of content found in the Marketing Automation library containing both PNC and benefits materials. You can pull contact information directly from Applied Epic and track your campaigns’ open and click rates. Marketing automation is a great way to regularly stay in front of your clients while also providing them with valuable information.  

For an agency to operate and provide exceptional service to its clients, it’s essential that sales and servicing staff work together efficiently. Applied Epic for Salesforce offers a seamless operation by allowing producers to sell and market on the CRM platform and transfer the data directly into Epic. The Account Manager can then track and keep up with the status of a client account. The dashboard within Salesforce allows you to keep track of sales and performance with detailed reports and enables you to remain up to date on your book of business and opportunities. Attachments, activities, opportunities, and more can be created in either Salesforce or Applied Epic and pushed to the other platform ensuring sales and service are working with current information. If Producers don’t have an Applied Epic license or use it often, having Salesforce is a great way to keep their Account Managers in the loop regarding where they are in the stages of selling and marketing for a specific client.  

Created to eliminate the traditional “spreadsheeting” process and reduce E&O risks, Benefits Designer allows you to build custom proposals and compare different benefits plans all within one system. Premiums and rates are calculated automatically for you, and you can update costs in real-time to present a side-by-side comparison of coverage based on client budget and needs. Relevant information can be transferred directly into the policy application within Epic, reducing manual entry even more. Numerous plans can be created based on client structure, whether they are self-funded, fully insured, or community rated.  

eSignature Solutions

Reduce the need for physical paperwork and decrease wait time by incorporating an eSignature platform into your agency’s operations. Programs like DocuSign and RightSignature help you manage agreements and contracts by providing the ability to prepare and sign them all online. Send and receive signed documents without sacrificing security compliance. These two specific products also transfer signed documents right into Epic, which will notify you via an Activity. 

No matter the role you play in your agency, there is an Applied Epic integration that can benefit you and your agency. With the bi-directional integration that each platform offers, you are reducing your E&O exposure and saving time by cutting out the need for manual and duplicate entry. Our KiteTech Consultants are here to help you optimize your Applied Epic system and assist you in deciding which platform(s) would benefit your agency the most. Contact us today at consult@kitetechgroup.com for a free consultation.

An Applied Epic Checklist to Start the Year Right

As you look ahead into 2021, you may be wondering if there are specific procedures you should be implementing to set your insurance agency up for success and optimize your Applied Epic system. Below we share a few recommendations on items that we feel are important to check off this time of year.

Run Expiration Reports

This is the time of year when many employees are taking time off, so it is imperative to make sure they are aware of all policies that are renewing this month or in early January. Even if employees regularly receive Expiration reports, sending out more frequent reminders during the holiday season will help ensure expiring policies are addressed, which will, in turn, help you avoid a possible E&O exposure.

Employee Performance Reviews

This is typically a great time to meet with your employees and review their performance over the past year. If you have implemented employee auditing practices, you should review the results and utilize them for performance reviews. Auditing reports can be a crucial tool in determining which employees are doing a great job or require more guidance and training.

Clean-up Outstanding Balances and Premium Payables

Insurance Companies and clients will also have limited staff this time of year due to the holidays. Run an Aged Outstanding Current Balances report to view all outstanding client balances and send out statements early to avoid trying to collect or pay multiple outstanding invoices after the new year. Apply Debits and Credits throughout the month to get those cleaned up for Year-End. Running the Balancing Current Premium Payables report will help clean up any manually reversed transactions and identify any transactions that may be outstanding to the carrier or return premium to the agency for the year. This accounting step is especially important if your fiscal year ends in December.

System Clean-Up and Workflow Review

If you have specific configurations and workflows set up for your agency, this may be a good time to review them to ensure they still make sense for your agency processes and procedures. Start a discussion with your employees or use the employee audits (if implementing) to see if there are any gaps in workflow procedures that you should amend to increase efficiency.

New Product Research

Now is also an excellent time to research new products that integrate with Applied Epic. Programs like Indio, DocuSign, blueButler, or Salesforce can be great software additions to increase your agency’s efficiency and productivity. If most of your employees work remotely, these products can make that operation more seamless by automating certain processes. Learn how these products could benefit your agency. For example, Indio has a great feature that will copy duplicate information across multiple carrier applications saving you or the client from re-writing the same information over and over.

Checking off these items will set your agency up for continued success going into the new year. It is important to run reports periodically this month to make sure you address upcoming renewals and handle any outstanding balances. Touching base with employees and reviewing workflows will ensure continued efficiency within Applied Epic. Finally, take some time to research new products that can prove beneficial for further automating practices that save time and keep remote work seamless. If you would like assistance or guidance with any of these recommendations or would like to learn how we can help your agency utilize Applied Epic more effectively, contact us at consult@kitetechgroup.com.

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.