BC80_AGBL010_IntroToAGB Introduction Bill

Introduction to Agency Bill
10 December 2014

2
© Guidewire Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not distribute without permission.
Lesson objectives
• By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
- Describe the similarities and differences between direct bill
and agency bill
- Explain the fundamental differences between statement bill
and account current
- Explain why a carrier would change the billing method on a
policy
This lesson uses the notes section for additional explanation and information.
To view the notes in PowerPoint, choose ViewNormal or ViewNotes Page.
If you choose to print the notes for the lesson, be sure to select "Print hidden slides."

3
Lesson outline
• Agency bill basics
• Agency bill cycles
• Changing policy billing method

4
Review – direct bill
1. Carrier sends invoice to
account
invoice
payment
commission
2. Account sends
payment to carrier
3. Carrier sends
commission to
producer

5
Review – two methods for agency bill
1) Statement
2) Invoice
4) Net payment
3) Payment
1) Promise
... and...
invoice
3) Net payment
2) Payment
Statement Bill Account Current
Producer tasks
done outside
BillingCenter

6
Why agency bill?
• Can focus more on core aspects of business
(pricing policies competitively, processing claims
efficiently) and less on collecting overdue amounts
• Can promote better relationship and provide better
service to producers
• Retains entire payment for a period of time, which
can be invested for greater revenue
• Maintains stronger relationship with insured,
resulting in likelihood of additional policies and
more renewals, therefore greater commissions
• Can provide "high touch" customer service
The producer
The carrier

7
Impact on carrier
• More human involvement in billing process
- Majority of agency bill activity requires end-user activity
- Agency bill representative is assigned to each producer
• Additional responsibility of verifying producer activity
- Producers do not always collect correct amounts or retain
correct commission
• Additional workflow logic
- Manages production of
required documents, such as statements, promise reminders,
and past due notices
- Manages producer delinquencies
- Producer responsible for handling delinquent accounts

8
Agency bill representatives
• Agency bill requires a carrier to have agency bill
representatives who apply payments against each
producer’s statement or promise
Agency bill
representative
Which account? Which policy? Is there
a payment mismatch? Was the correct
commission taken out ?

9
My Agency Items screen
• Agency bill reps can see all outstanding issues for
producers they are responsible for
• Producer tab provides access to Payments, Promises,
Exceptions, Open Items, and Suspense Items screens
Only the agency bill rep for a given producer
can see agency items for that producer on
My Agency Items page on Desktop

10
Agency bill plans
• An agency bill plan is a named series of values that
controls the process of agency billing
• An agency bill producer must have an agency bill plan
Standard Agency Bill Plan
Cycle Close Day of Month
Adjust to Business Day Logic: Exact Day
Day of Month: 15
Terms
Payment Terms (days): 45
Statements
Send statement after cycle close: Yes

11
Producer handles all account interactions
• Producer invoices
the accounts and
receives the
payments
• In BillingCenter,
these are for
documentation only:
Send invoice
Receive payment
Account
Payment plan
Billing plan Delinquency plan
• Payment plan is used for agency bill cycles
- Determines item amounts and placement

12
Lesson outline

13
Agency bill cycles
• An agency bill cycle is a series of steps to process net
premiums for a given producer
- Producer deducts commission before sending payment to
carrier
Agency bill
cycle
Net payment Net payment
Statement Promise

14
Agency bill cycles analogous to invoices
• Agency bill cycles are similar to direct bill invoices
- Cycles have planned status when billing instruction received
- Each invoice item is assigned to one cycle
- Batch processes advance status of cycle

15
Agency bill cycles support both methods:
statement bill and account current
• Every cycle has:
- One statement,
which lists invoice
items from one or
more policies
- One workflow
instance, which
generates
documents as
required
• Every cycle may
have a maximum of
one promise
statement promise workflow
Promise
Reminder
Past Due
Notice
Dunning 1
Letter
Dunning 2
Letter

16
Billing method is on policy period
• When a billing instruction is received, BillingCenter creates
invoices (direct bill) or updates/creates cycles (agency bill)
Agency Bill: false
Producer: Broker A
Broker A
Agency Bill: true
Producer: Broker B
Broker B

17
Lesson outline

18
Agency bill / direct bill conversions
• Changing billing method on a policy between direct bill and
agency bill is unrestricted
- Conversion changes the
payer of invoice items
- Billing status and paid status
of invoice items do not restrict
conversion
• Unrestricted conversions possible
because of close alignment of
invoice items between direct bill
and agency bill

19
Reasons for changing billing method
• Underwriting error
• Agency goes out of business
• Carrier dissatisfied with producer
- Producer’s policies converted to direct bill
• Insured dissatisfied with carrier
- Insured chooses to switch to agency bill

20
Lesson objectives review
You should now be able to:
- Describe the similarities and differences between direct bill
and agency bill
- Explain the fundamental differences between statement bill
and account current
- Explain why a carrier would change the billing method on a
policy

21
Review questions
1. In direct bill, the lead time for invoices is specified in the
billing plan. What plan and field defines this for agency
bill?
2. What are the two methods supported for agency bill?
Name one difference between the two methods.
3. A direct bill invoice is similar to what agency bill object?
4. What plan determines how often agencies bill their
customers?

22
Notices
Copyright © 2001-2014 Guidewire Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
Guidewire, Guidewire Software, Guidewire ClaimCenter, Guidewire PolicyCenter, Guidewire
BillingCenter, Guidewire Reinsurance Management, Guidewire ContactManager, Guidewire
Vendor Data Management, Guidewire Client Data Management, Guidewire Rating
Management, Guidewire InsuranceSuite, Guidewire ContactCenter, Guidewire Studio,
Guidewire Product Designer, Guidewire Live, Guidewire DataHub, Guidewire InfoCenter,
Guidewire Standard Reporting, Guidewire ExampleCenter, Guidewire Account Manager
Portal, Guidewire Claim Portal, Guidewire Policyholder Portal, ClaimCenter, BillingCenter,
PolicyCenter, InsuranceSuite, Gosu, Deliver Insurance Your Way, and the Guidewire logo
are trademarks, service marks, or registered trademarks of Guidewire Software, Inc. in the
United States and/or other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This material is confidential and proprietary to Guidewire and subject to the
confidentiality terms in the applicable license agreement and/or separate
nondisclosure agreement.
This file and the contents herein are the property of Guidewire Software, Inc. Use of this
course material is restricted to students officially registered in this specific Guidewire-
instructed course, or for other use expressly authorized by Guidewire. Replication or
distribution of this course material in electronic, paper, or other format is prohibited without
express permission from Guidewire.
Guidewire products are protected by one or more United States patents.

BC80_AGBL010_IntroToAGB Introduction Bill

More Related Content

Similar to BC80_AGBL010_IntroToAGB Introduction Bill (19)

Recently uploaded (20)

BC80_AGBL010_IntroToAGB Introduction Bill

Editor's Notes