Guidewire Policy Center

Guidewire PolicyCenter was?designed to empower property and casualty insurers to meet the needs of a rapidly changing industry with efficient underwriting and agile policy and product management. At its core, PolicyCenter stores information about a policy and manages a set of processes that, if completed?successfully, result in changes to the policy. Examples of policy changes are: creation of a new policy, renewal of?a policy for a new term, or cancellation of a policy. As a result of each policy transaction (such as adding an additional driver to an auto policy), the system determines the price of the transaction. If successfully completed,?PolicyCenter forwards this pricing information to a billing system. The pricing information is also important for?reporting to regulators.

Policy Life Cycle

Submissions - The goal of the submission process is to create a policy and have the policyholder accept it. After entering the?policyholder’s information, the producer gives a quote. If the policyholder agrees and accepts it, then the?producer binds the policy and sends it out with the accompanying documentation. The producer also forwards?the billing information to an external billing system (not shown in the diagram).

Policy Changes - Any changes to a policy can require additional evaluation on the part of an underwriter and result in a change to?the premium. A typical change might include additions to the policy (such as adding drivers or cars) or changes?to coverage limits and deductible amounts.

Renewals - The normal progression just before a policy expires is to renew it for another period of time—six to 12 months is?typical. After PolicyCenter renews a policy, it returns the policy to maintenance mode until the policy changes,expires, cancels, or renews again.

Cancellations and Reinstatements - You can also cancel policies. Before the cancellation processes completes, a cancellation can be rescinded. An?example is a producer mailing a cancellation notice for non-payment to a policyholder. If the policyholder?corrects this by submitting payment before the cancellation date then the policy can be rescinded with no break?in coverage.

Reinstatements - Reinstatements go hand in hand with cancellations and are a type of policy change that returns a canceled policy?to in-force status. The policy is in-force as of the reinstatement date. The reinstatement removes the cancellation?from the policy period since the period is no longer canceled. The expiration date remains the same.

Rewrites - When there are many errors are on a policy, it becomes necessary to rewrite it. Policies must first be canceled?before being rewritten.

Audits - The audit job lets the carrier verify information about the policyholder so that they can determine the accuracy of?premiums paid. The audit job provides final audit and premium reports.

PolicyCenter supports only final audit for the workers’ compensation line of business. You set up the method of?final audit (physical, voluntary, or by phone) when you create the workers’ compensation policy.

With premium reports, the policyholder is billed for premium based on periodic requests for actual basis?amounts, such as payroll. A deposit, usually a percentage of the estimated annual premium, is billed at the beginning of the policy. As each reporting period ends, the policyholder is billed based on the actual basis reported by?them.

PolicyCenter Integration Points

Legacy Policy Administration systems:?As users renew or change policies, you can import the policy data into?PolicyCenter.

Billing system:?When a user creates a policy, PolicyCenter exports billing information. PolicyCenter also?sends and receives information as the policy changes.

Claims system:?Information is sent to and from claim systems. The claims system can send information about?the number and type of claims against a policy. PolicyCenter sends policy data to the claims system, such as?policy effective dates which answer the question, “Was the policy in-force when this accident occurred?”

Print Issuance system:?This system produces policy forms and letters that need to be printed (issued).

Document Storage system:?This system stores documents that need to be tracked in a central repository.

Database Warehouse/Reporting system:?Use this system for reporting purposes.

Authentication system:?Users may need to be authenticated from other systems.

Contact Management or Address Book application:?It is often necessary to store and maintain contact information separately from PolicyCenter because users outside of PolicyCenter may need access to it. For information on how PolicyCenter integrates with a contact management system, see “Contact Management?System Integration” .

Rating Engine:?This external system rates a policy and sends the quote information back to PolicyCenter. It?also calculates the estimated annual premium in audits.

Department of Motor Vehicles:?This system allows agents to request and send driver information to the state.

VIN (Vehicle Identification) Service:?Use this system to look up VIN information. The default configuration?contains a demo plugin.

Producer Management System:?This central repository stores producer related information, such as producer?codes used in territories, and information about producers, such as their licensing.

Vendor Management system:?Carriers use a vendor management system to track vendor related information?that a carrier uses. An example of a vendor might be an outside audit company.

Sales Portal or application:?Some carriers may choose to separate the process of collecting account information and submission proposals from the actual issued policy.

Actuarial/Statistical system:?PolicyCenter can send data to a system for actuarial analysis.

State Insurance Bureaus/Department of Insurance:?This legal entity performs a number of duties including?tracking follow-up information for each policy. This entity also sends back suggested rates and experience?modification information. PAS systems may also send their proof of insurance.

Address Normalization and Validation services:?Provides normalization and validation against information?provided by the United States Postal Service (USPS). The USPS provides standardized abbreviations such as?ste for suite and ln for lane. It also lists the complete range of numeric addresses per street, street addresses?per ZIP code, ZIP codes per state.

Credit Rating system:?A policy administration system may periodically request information about an insured.?An example of a credit rating system is Dun and Bradstreet.