Understanding Applied Epic Terminology: A User-Friendly Glossary
Building on our previous Applied Epic Accounting Glossary blog, we’re now diving into a more general glossary of terms. We’ve put together this list to help clear up some confusing terms and answer common questions that often puzzle Epic users. While it’s not an exhaustive list, we hope this glossary can serve as a valuable resource designed to address those puzzling terms found within Applied Epic.
General Applied Epic Glossary of Terms
Access Button
Our favorite “button”! Located on the navy blue Options bar, the Access button allows you to filter areas of Epic (Activities, Attachments, Transactions, etc.) by the policy term. It makes searching for information so much easier. Pro Tip: attach everything to the workflow activity and use the Access button to filter items by workflow (New Business, Renewal, Endorsement, etc.).
Account Type
Epic holds insureds and prospects in the same database and they cannot be deleted, so when entering a new client make sure you have all boxes checked on the Locate screen to avoid duplicates.
- Insured – Active clients with in-force policies
- Prospect – Potential clients with or without policy quotes
Activities
- Workflow Activity – The activity used for documentation and follow up for the workflow. For example, if renewing use RENR, if adding a new policy use APOL. Make all notes and attach all documents to this activity. Avoid using activities like CALL or APPT – keep all your notes together.
- System Generated Activity – These are activities that are generated by performing an Action in Epic For example, Actions > Renew will give you the RENR activity. Using system generated activities keeps users from having to ask, “Which activity should I use?” and keeps everything consistent within the agency.
- Manual Activity – Use these when you are not ready to perform an action in Epic. For example, if a client is calling about a potential change but is not ready to endorse, use PEND – Pending Change to document the conversation(s). Keep your manual activities filtered by using Categories to prevent decision fatigue for your users.
Contacts
The screen in Epic that stores the people and entities associated with the account. These can be named insureds, but can also be holders, key employees, etc. Right click on the contact’s name to assign it as the Main Business Contact or the Primary Contact.
- Main Business Contact – this should be the business itself and will appear on all ACORD forms.
- Primary Contact – this should always be a person, specifically the primary person to speak to about the account or policies.
Interface
Also called “Download”. Carriers send policy data, eDocs and messages (both PDF versions of documents and messages from the carrier in the form of activities), claims data, and direct bill commission transactions to a mailbox managed by IVANS, and Epic in turn retrieves this information from it.
Marketing
There are three areas in Epic that may be referred to as “Marketing”:
- Reports/Marketing – run a report to generate a letter, send an email template, add an activity or sticky note, or send an SMS to clients. You can do this in the Marketing Options section of the Delivery Options screen of the report.
- Marketing Module – in the Policies screen, used to market multiple lines of business to multiple carriers.
- Applied Marketing Automation – an additional product offering from Applied that allows your agency to send email content (both ready-made and create-your-own) to clients.
Opportunities
Epic’s built-in sales manager. Use this area to track potential sales. Set up sales goals in the Employee Account and track them through the Dashboard available on the Home screen.
Policy Status
The policy status identifies where the line of business is in the policy life cycle. It drives your reports and should help you distinguish between Quotes, Active policies, and Cancelled policies – whether Lost or Retained.
Renewals Manager
A dynamic version of the Expiration Report and a great alternative to paper. Use this to keep track of renewals, updating the Renewal Stage along the way so that you and your colleagues can pick right up where you left off.
Suspense
Also called download suspense, this is a section in the Procedures area where users with security access can process items that have been retrieved from the agency’s IVANS mailbox but for various reasons have not automatically attached to the account or policy in Epic.
Task
While the Activity represents the workflow, the Tasks within it break it down further. Agencies can use Tasks as a step-by-step checklist for the workflow or a one-off assignment to a team member. Assigning a task to someone else retains your ownership of the Activity, and places it on both users’ Home screens.
Conclusion
We hope that this glossary has shed light on the terminology used throughout Applied Epic and will help you navigate this powerful platform. If your agency uses Applied Epic Accounting, be sure to also review our Applied Epic Accounting Glossary. If you have further questions or need additional clarification on any terms or concepts, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at consult@kitetechgroup.com or via our contact form. Our team is here to help!
Jenny Honican
Agency Consultant
Kite Technology Group
