Applied Epic workflows

An Applied Epic Checklist to Start the Year Right

December 9, 2020 by Kellie Halfpap Leave a Comment

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

November 11, 2020 by Kellie Halfpap Leave a Comment

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.

Automating Your Workflows: Tips on Optimizing the Use of Applied Epic Download

October 27, 2020 by Kellie Halfpap Leave a Comment

The Download feature in Applied Epic is one that can automate tasks and create efficiencies in multiple areas: policy applications, transactions, activities, attachments, for example. While it does require some time to properly configure how Download will influence each of these components, once set up, you will find that having certain functions automated for you saves time and creates efficiency in your daily workload. Here are some features of Download and how they can prove beneficial when implemented into your workflows:

Consider Instant Download Versus Scheduled Download

It is standard to schedule Download to occur one to two times per day, the most common being once in the morning and once in the evening after work hours. Alternatively, you can implement Instant Download, which will pull updates from carriers as they occur throughout the day. Instant Download is particularly useful when it comes to important events like claims or reinstatements. In these cases, it is more beneficial to the insured and you as the Account Manager if Download updates a change to the account in real-time versus at a scheduled time, as it keeps their account the most up to date. Instant Download also takes away the large batches that often come with a scheduled Download: when Downloads are only occurring once or twice a day, the system can get clogged and take longer to process; however, when using Instant Download, they are processing in smaller batches as changes or updates occur, which takes less time to process.

Create Separate Download Transaction Codes from Agency Bill Transaction Codes

To keep an account updated and accurate, consider setting up separate Download transaction codes. Most of the time with Agency Bill, you would be billing the full annualized premium amount, applied to the Annualized field at the Policy or Line levels. But with Direct Bill, it is often difficult to determine if the amounts listed on a statement is for a total annualized premium, an endorsement, an installment, or just commission received. You can configure Epic to have the “Policy” download update your Annualized Premium and have a separate set of Direct Bill transaction codes that do not affect your Annualized Premium. This is a great way to prevent issues with transactions downloaded that may be classified as a renewal but are actually an installment, for example.

Configure EDOCs With Your Agency’s Naming Conventions & Folder Structure

When using EDOCs to attach policy documents, most of the time, the description is ‘Downloaded Policy’ or something similar. You can override the attachment descriptions to match your agency’s naming conventions by pulling in field defaults for Policy type, Effective Date, Policy Number, etc. However, it is important to note that this would not work for endorsements, as EDOC cannot decipher which Service Summary Row to pull the description from. It is also beneficial to set EDOCs to attach documents to the appropriate folder and subfolder, saving you from re-routing the attachments to the correct locations.

For the Activities screen, setting up unique EDOC activity codes that further specify what that activity contains is an easy way to distinguish what is coming in through EDOCs, saving you from clicking through activities to figure out what each is. For example, you can set up an ECLA code for downloaded Claims, an EREN code for downloaded Renewals, or an EPOL code for downloaded policies. You can even put descriptions on these codes like ‘Claims Document Download,’ which provides even more detail about each activity before opening it. Utilizing unique codes and descriptions makes searching for a specific document or activity easier as well.

Implement the Use of Download Activities Instead of Communication Log

While you are most likely used to a printed or emailed PDF Communication Log of what Download has imported each day, you might want to consider using Activities instead. Download Activities is especially important if you utilize the Instant Download feature – a Communication Log generated multiple times throughout the day would not be efficient for the system or your Account Managers. While you can change the report to run at a specific time rather than after each time a Download occurs, Activities will ultimately prove to be easier to manage, and they mirror the same information on the Communication Log.

With most employees now working from home, Download Activities is more practical than printing a daily Communication Log. It is better to keep the information in the system rather than having each Account Manager have multiple printed pages or PDFs to sort through and manage. Activities are also a great way to schedule your time and workload – if you cannot get to a particular activity or account that day, you can easily change the follow-up date on your Home Screen.

Setup Tasks on Download Activities

Though Download does provide a streamlined way to get through your daily workload by processing changes and attaching documents for you, it is still essential that the Account Manager review certain activities Download generates before closing them. Setting tasks on Download Activities provides a checklist for the Account Managers to ensure what Download processed is accurate and complete with no further actions needed for that workflow. Setting tasks prevents any E&O exposures as, while Download is a fantastic feature, it is still important to double-check your work.

To accommodate these Download features, you may find that some workflows may need to be updated, or additional training is necessary. However, proper configuration of each of these tools will lead to more efficiency within Applied Epic. Implementing Download can help you attach documents to accounts faster, provide an improved view of your daily activities and workload, and can update accounts instantly as changes occur. For more information or help setting up Download for your agency, contact us at consult@kitetechgroup.com for a free consultation.

Developing Standardized Agency Workflows

September 22, 2020 by Lauren Roberts Leave a Comment

If you are among the many agencies utilizing the Applied Epic platform, do you know there are a myriad of configurations and uses that you can set to make it work uniquely to your agency’s needs? Even if you are implementing the workflows set by Applied Epic or have developed your own, there will come a time when you need to step back and make sure that those workflows are still working and proving beneficial to your agency. Updating and standardizing your workflows is an important part of running your agency efficiently while also ensuring that information is entered into your database accurately. If you are trying to determine if your workflows are already standardized, or if it is time to update them, it is helpful to evaluate your agency using questions such as:

Are your employees efficient?
Are you getting accurate reports from Epic?
Can you or anyone else follow behind them and understand their work?

If you answered no to any of these questions, then it is time to seriously consider standardizing your agency workflows and doing so will come with many benefits: First of all, standardized workflows can create efficiency when you streamline functions in Configure. An excellent example of this would be having only one activity open per workflow. Second, standardization allows each person in your agency to follow behind someone and understand where they are at in a workflow. Finally, you can prevent harmful E&O exposures by ensuring the workflow requires steps to be followed, such as attaching documents or updating the application properly. Many agencies find that inaccurate reporting is often directly related to the agency workflows. For example, if you are reporting on Estimated Premium and Commission, that needs to be instructed in the workflow. Otherwise, employees may be skipping that field if it is not required in Epic.

When you are ready to develop your workflows, it is important to choose the right team to get the job done. Your team needs to be efficient and open-minded, and you may want a representative from each department for times where you may need more than one activity code per event. Include member(s) of management who will determine what reports are required, and someone who has hands-on working knowledge of Applied Epic, such as an account manager.

Once you have your team in place, you can apply some best practices to the development of your workflows. Remember, adapting what you “used to do” will not allow you to take full advantage of Epic efficiencies.

A great starting point would be in Configure. To automate a workflow, you need to understand Epic Configuration of Events, Activities, and Tasks. You will also need to re-evaluate the Configure setup periodically, especially when there are major Epic updates. Start with Events and identify which ones are associated to activities and how those activities are being generated and used. Determine whether you need an activity to generate for documentation, follow up, or reporting purposes only. Keep in mind that you can set activities to generate in the background or even be kept hidden when you need them only for reporting purposes. Configure your activities with field defaults, follow updates, tasks, and further actions for additional automation.

Next, determine how you will structure your workflow manual. It is best that you categorize your workflows by department and/or process. For example, you may have separate workflows for Personal Lines Renewals – Downloaded and Personal Lines Renewals – Not Downloaded. It is possible that some workflows can be used by multiple departments as well, so be sure to involve representatives from each department, so you do not make changes that negatively impact the other departments.

Finally, remember it is essential to audit your data and employees once you have trained and implemented the standardized workflows. Without auditing, you will be unable to determine whether the workflows that you worked so hard to create are even being followed or understood. Be sure to check out Kite Technology’s webinars for more information on Auditing and Reporting for System Integrity.

Standardizing workflows is a beneficial tool to ensure your agency is getting the best use out of Applied Epic and that information is inputting accurately. It creates efficiency with configured streamlined functions, prevents potential E&O exposures, and allows for employees to easily pick up and work on an account, no matter if it is theirs or another colleagues. If you would like more information about developing your agency’s workflows, email us at consult@kitetechgroup.com or visit us online at https://www.kitetechgroup.com/insurance-consulting.