2.5.128 Core Enhancements

Managing Custom Client Data (CustomClient Workflow Container)

A new CustomClient workflow container has been introduced. In addition to holding the content maintained through the OWClient Standard Workflow Container, the CustomClient container allows the user to create fields, panels, grids, and screens to capture and display custom client data.

Custom client fields, panels, grids, and screens can be configured within the CustomClient container and then added to the policy submission workflow to allow users to reference additional client information during the submission process. Once values are saved in these custom fields, they are mapped to all future workflow submissions where the same Individual or Company client is selected.

The following field control types are supported for custom client data in the CustomClient workflow container.

• Checkbox
• Checkbox Group
• Combo Box
• Date Picker
• Drop Down
• Include/Exclude
• Multi-Select
• Radio Button
• Rich Text
• Text Area
• Textbox
• Textbox (Decimal)
• Textbox (Email)
• Textbox (Integer)

This excludes the File Upload field control type.

There are three instances where client data is retrieved from the Client record and used in the policy.

• When selecting a client on a New Business transaction.
• When changing the client on a New Business transaction.

• When creating a new Policy Transaction.

  Note that when creating a Policy Transaction, the system always pulls client information from the Client record, (ignoring the Field Mapping Rules - Copy settings, and therefore never copying from the source transaction).

Notes:

The system does not block the user from creating an unsupported field Control Type in the CustomClient workflow container. However, doing so will cause unexpected behaviors or errors to occur.

After making changes to the CustomClient workflow container, Policy workflows that are receiving content from the shared CustomClient container must also be re-published to propagate the changes to the submission workflow.

Only a single custom Client workflow is supported by the system. It is recommended to use the provided CustomClient workflow container, and not create another custom workflow container with Client as the Functional Area.

• For details on the CustomClient workflow container, see the CustomClient Workflow Container section.

Apply Sequencing to Field Evaluation Rules

The ability to specify sequencing for Field Evaluation Rules is now supported. This allows the user to better control the order in which individual rules are evaluated in relation to other Field Evaluation Rules configured within the submission workflow.

A new field called Sequence has been added to the General Information panel on the Field Evaluation Rule Management page. This is a mandatory field which is preloaded with the default value of zero for new configurations. For all existing rules configured before this feature, the default value has been set to 1 so that the system continues to evaluate them in the same order it did prior to this enhancement.

To apply sequencing, replace the default value with an integer value that represents the sequence order in which the Field Evaluation Rule should be evaluated. Continue with all other rules as needed.

Tip: It is advisable to leave gaps between the sequence numbers, such as 5, 10, 15. This allows new items to be added to the list at a later date, inserted between existing items. Otherwise, the sequence numbers of existing items must be changed to allow for the new addition.

Sequencing is now also supported for fields that are added to Field Evaluation Rules through the Fields panel. These fields are automatically sequenced by the system in increments of ten (10, 20, 30, etc) in the order in which they were selected in through the Bulk Add option in the Available Fields window. The sequence numbers for these fields can be edited as needed.

When viewing the Field Evaluation Rules list panel, the rules are listed in ascending order first by sequence number, then alphabetically. Note that Field Evaluation Rule sequence numbers are not displayed in the Workflow Dependency Tool.

• For details on Field Evaluation Rules, see the Managing Field Evaluation Rules section.

Changes to Out Of Sequence Transactions and Billing

Previously, the system did not fully support integrations on the Calculate Quote action for OOS transactions, for integrations configured in the workflow container. The system has now been enhanced to allow integration configurations to work properly with Out of Sequence Endorsement and Adjustment transactions, and all associated replacement transactions.

In addition, the Out of Sequence Endorsement and Adjustment process will send the following information to the billing module:

• All charges associated to the OOS transaction.
• All charges associated to the Offset transaction as a result of the OOS transaction.
• The Premium Earnings.

• For details on the changes to Out of Sequence Transactions, see the Out of Sequence Changes section.

Manually Index Cross-Policy Data Configuration Fields

Cross-Policy Data Fields are automatically indexed at specific actions throughout the policy lifecycle. However, when introducing a new configuration, any transactions that were created prior to the introduction of the Cross-Policy Data Field are not indexed. Similarly, any correction made to one or more Associated Fields are not re-indexed for existing transactions. In order to trigger indexing for existing transactions, a data maintenance script was required.

The ability to schedule an indexing job for Cross-Policy Data Configurations is now supported. A new button called Schedule Indexing has been added to the Cross-Policy Data Configuration page for all new and existing configurations. Clicking this button opens the Schedule Indexing for Cross-Policy Data Fields window, which allows the user to assign the Start Date and Start Time for an indexing job for that particular configuration.

• For details on the manual indexing feature, see the Cross-Policy Data Configurations section.

New Billing Fields Added to OWPolicyCommon Standard Container

Two new billing fields have been added to the OWPolicyCommon standard container. The Policy Outstanding Amount and Policy Remaining Unpaid Amount fields have been introduced to the Billing Information panel, in order to track the policy's total outstanding amounts to date and ensure that all Renewals are only Bound if the policy outstanding amounts associated to all previous terms are fully paid.

These fields are automatically updated by the system and must be added to a Cross-Policy Data Configuration in order to be updated correctly.

• For details on the Policy Outstanding Amount and Policy Remaining Unpaid Amount fields, see the OWPolicyCommon Standard Container section.
• For details on setting up Cross-Policy Data Configurations, see the Cross Policy Data Configurations section.

Claim Number Generation Configuration

Previously, a sequential claim number was assigned to each Notice of Intent submitted through the claims module. However, not all Notice of Intent submissions necessarily become valid claim submissions.

The ability to specify one or more claim Statuses or Status Sub-Statuses to determine whether the system generates and assigns a Claim Number is now supported. An Include/Exclude field containing all Statuses and Sub-Statuses configured within the claims module has been added to the Claim Number Generation panel on the General Settings - Sequence Numbering page to control this feature. Note that Notice of Intent is selected by default, but can be removed using the Include/Exclude control.

• For details on claim number generation, see the General Settings - Claim Numbering section.

Viewing Generated Bill to Party Statements

Previously, statements that were generated for a bill to party were not accessible through the UI and could only be viewed when sending emails. A new Statements page is now available in the Bill to Parties section of the billing module in the Bridge Specialty Suite. Users with the appropriate ViewBilltoParty security right are now able to view a list of generated statements for the current bill to party. Clicking on the File Name link downloads a PDF copy of the statement to the user's local machine.

• For details on viewing Bill to Party Statements, see the Statements section.

Invoice Distributor Commission Amounts for Canceled Policy Transactions

Previously, when a policy transaction was canceled, the only way to invoice the Distributor commission amount(s) was through an Offset transaction in the Outstanding Invoices page of the Bill to Party menu. While this functionality covers the majority of business cases, it can also occur that a policy transaction is canceled before any payable(s) have been logged within the billing module. In this scenario, the Distributor may or may not have yet been identified as a Bill to Party.

To allow users to collect the Distributor commission amount(s) for a Cancellation transaction before premium amounts have been collected, the Billing Adjustments feature has been enhanced. A new adjustment Category called Distributor Adjustment has been added to the General Information panel of the Billing Adjustments page. When selected, the Adjusted Party dropdown field is populated with a list of all Bill to Parties of type Distributor that have an active General Ledger Account.

Upon posting the Billing Adjustment the system determines whether the Distributor has been identified as a Bill to Party as part of an earlier policy transaction. If yes, the Distributor's billing cycle is updated with the adjustment amount. If not, the system automatically creates the Distributor as a Bill to Party and creates a new billing cycle for the adjustment amount. In either case, the current system date is identified as the billing start date for the adjustment amount.

• For details on billing adjustments, see the Billing Adjustments section.

New Optional Invoice Type Column Added to Invoices Report

A new optional Invoice Type(s) column can be added to the Invoices Report in the billing module. Users can add the new column by right-clicking in the column header section, clicking Select Columns, then clicking on the Invoice Type(s) option. Click Apply Changes to save the column selection.

The Invoice Type is identified based on the type of Charges associated to the invoice. If the invoice contains more than one charge type, a comma-separated list of the Charge Types is displayed.

• For details on the Invoices Report, see the Invoices Report section.

New General Ledger Account Options & Logic

Upon posting a Batch Receipt in the billing module, the system automatically generates the corresponding General Ledger Report entries. To support separate Deductible Invoicing, the following three General Ledger Account types have now been added to the system.

• Advanced Premium
• Agency Bill Accounts Receivable
• Deductible Accounts Receivable

Furthermore, the Accounts Receivable account has been relabeled to Premium Accounts Receivable to distinguish between different types of General Ledger accounts.

Each time a payment is applied against a premium invoice, an On Account Balance, or a deductible invoice, a General Ledger debit entry is entered for the Bank Account associated to the Batch Receipt. The account for the corresponding General Ledger credit entry is determined based on the invoice details.

• If the Bill to Party type is either Direct (Client) or Insurer, the General Ledger credit entry is recorded in the Premium Accounts Receivable account.
• If the payment is applied against an On Account Balance, the General Ledger credit entry is recorded in the Advanced Premium account.
• If the Bill to Party type is Distributor, the General Ledger credit entry is recorded in the Agency Bill Account Receivables account.

• For details on configuring a General Ledger Report, see the Managing General Ledger Accounts section.
• For details on General Ledger Entries Report, see the General Ledger Entries Report section.

Managing General Ledger Account Codes

Policy field codes can now be used as placeholders to set G/L Codes for General Ledger Accounts when creating new G/L entries for Bound policies.

When creating a new General Ledger Account in the General Information panel, enter the placeholder [[GLCodefield1]] in the G/L Code field, where "GLCodefield1" is the field code of the policy custom field. If an invalid placeholder is entered, the code will remain as a string and will not return the appropriate value. Special characters are not supported for G/L Code values. Note that any special characters (including underscores, periods, and non-alphabetical characters), are not supported. If a special character is included in the policy custom field, the system displays a warning message.

Users can enter multiple field codes, individually enclosed in square brackets, within the placeholder. Each code must include the appropriate opening and closing brackets ( [[ ]] ), or the system will display a warning message.

• For details on setting the G/L codes as custom policy field values, see the Managing General Ledger Accounts section.

General Ledger Account Reporting

The General Ledger documentation has been updated to reflect the available G/L accounts and entries based on the generation event.

As multiple new G/L accounts have been added to the billing module, the existing G/L accounts documentation now includes a description of each General Ledger Account and a sub-section describing the entries created.

• For details on General Ledger Accounts, see the General Ledger (Accounts) and the General Ledger Report Entry Generation Events sections.

New General Ledger Accounts for Invoice Entries

Two new General Ledger Account types have been added to the billing module in order to better track the billed amounts captured upon generating an invoice.

The Invoiced Taxes and Invoiced Commission Expense accounts are now available when managing General Ledger Accounts and the appropriate entries are added when generating an invoice. In addition, a Distributor lookup field has been added to the General Ledger Account modal when creating the Invoiced Commission Expense account type, in order to add the distributor associated to the invoice.

When an invoice is generated and the Book Policy Premium field is set to Policy Bind and the invoiced charges are of type Premium, the system creates the following entries in the Invoiced Taxes account:

• Credit: A tax payable entry for the sum of the tax charges, per tax type, for the tax type associated to the invoice.
• Debit: A debit entry for the sum of the tax charges associated to the invoice.

In addition to the above G/L entries, when an invoice is generated for the Bill to Party of type Distributor, the system creates the following entries in the Invoiced Commission Expense account:

• Credit: A credit entry of Commission Payable - Distributor is added for the total commission charge amounts, per distributor.
• Debit: A debit entry of Invoiced Commission Expense - Distributor is created for the sum of the total commission charges, per distributor, associated to the invoice.

• For details on using the new G/L accounts, see the General Ledger Accounts section.

New General Ledger Accounts for Write-Offs

Two new General Ledger Account types have been added to the billing module in order to track the Premium - Write Off entries separately from Deductible - Write Off entries.

The Write-Offs/Bad Debt G/L account has been renamed to Write Off - Premium and the following two accounts have been introduced:

• Write Off - Deductible
• Write Off - Other

Note that policy field placeholders can be entered in the G/L Code field and will display the appropriate field value when generated for Write Off - Premium accounts.

When Invoiced Charges are of type Premium, the system creates the following entries:

• Debit: A debit entry for the Write Off - Premium account for the amount of the invoiced Premium charges upon write off.
• Credit: A credit entry for the Premium Accounts Receivable account when the Bill to Party is of type Insured.
• Credit: A credit entry for the Agency Bill Accounts Receivable account when the Bill to Party is of type Distributor.

When the Invoiced Charges are of type Deductible, the system creates the following entries:

• Debit: A debit entry for the Write Off - Deductible account for the amount of the invoiced Deductible charges upon write off.
• Credit: A credit entry for the Deductible Accounts Receivable account for the amount of the invoiced Deductible charges upon write off.

In the event that there are multiple types of invoiced charges being written off, the system will create the following entries:

• Debit: A debit entry for the Write Off - Other account for the amount of the invoiced charges of any type upon write off.
• Credit: A credit entry is created for the Agency Bill Accounts Receivable account if the Bill to Party is of type Distributor.
• Credit: A credit entry is created for the Premium Accounts Receivable account if the Bill to Party is of type Assured.

• For details on generating entries for the new G/L accounts, see the General Ledger Accounts section.

New General Ledger Account Entries for Offset Transactions

Previously, the system did not generate General Ledger entries for Offset transactions. Following this release, when posting a Batch Receipt of type Offset, the system creates the following entries:

In the Clearing G/L account, a debit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced policy term when an Offset transaction is created.

When the invoiced charges are of type Premium, the system creates the following entries:

In the Agency Bill Accounts Receivable account:

• Credit: A credit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced charges of type Premium when an Offset transaction is created, if the Bill to Party associated to the invoice is of type Distributor.

In the Premium Accounts Receivable account:

• Credit: A credit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced charges of type Premium when an Offset transaction is created, if the Bill to Party associated to the invoice is of type Insured.

When the invoiced charges are of type Deductible, the system creates the following:

In the Deductible Accounts Receivable account:

• Credit: A credit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced charges of type Deductible upon creating an Offset transaction.

When the invoiced charges are of type Claim Payment, the system creates the following:

In the Paid Claims Receivable account:

• Credit: A credit entry is created for the amount of invoiced charges of type Claim Payment upon creating an Offset transaction.

Note that when reversing a Batch Receipt of type Offset, debit entries are created in the Clearing account, while credit entries are created for the Agency Bill Accounts Receivable, Premium Accounts Receivable, Deductible Accounts Receivable, and Paid Claims Receivable G/L accounts.

• For details on the Offset G/L entries, see the General Ledger Accounts section.

New General Ledger Account Entries for Adjustments and Deductible Recovery

Previously, the system did not generate General Ledger entries for Billing Adjustments and Deductible Recovery. Following this release, when generating a Deductible invoice, the system creates the following entries:

For Deductible Recovery entries, a new G/L account type of Clearing - Claims Payable has been added. When generating an invoice of type Deductible, where the total invoice outstanding amount is negative, the system will create the following:

• Credit: A credit entry in the Clearing - Claims Payable account.
• Debit: A debit entry in the Deductible Recovery - Indemnity account when Deductible - Indemnity charges are selected on the invoice.
• Debit: A debit entry in the Deductible Recovery - Expense account when Deductible - Expense charges are selected on the invoice.

When generating an invoice of type Deductible, where the total invoice outstanding amount is positive, the system will create the following:

• Debit: A debit entry in the Deductible Accounts Receivables account.
• Credit: A credit entry in the Deductible Recovery - Indemnity account when Deductible - Indemnity charges are selected on the invoice.
• Credit: A credit entry in the Deductible Recovery - Expense account when Deductible - Expense charges are selected on the invoice.

When generating an invoice with charges of type Billing Adjustment and when the Adjustment Category is Distributor the system generates the following entry for the Agency Bill Accounts Receivables account:

• Debit: A debit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced charges of type Billing Adjustment when the Adjustment Category is Distributor.
• Credit: A credit entry is created for the amount of the invoiced charges of type Billing Adjustment and the Adjustment Category is Distributor.

Upon posting a cash receipt for an invoice with charges of type Billing Adjustment and when the Adjustment Category is Distributor the system generates the following entry for the Agency Bill Accounts Receivables account:

• Credit: A credit entry is created for the total amount of the invoiced charges of type Billing Adjustment when posting a cash receipt, if the Adjustment Category is Distributor.
• Debit: A debit entry is created for the total amount of the invoiced charges of type Billing Adjustment when posting a cash receipt, if the Adjustment Category is Distributor.

• For details on the Billing Adjustment and Deductible Recovery G/L entries, see the General Ledger Accounts section.

New General Ledger Account Entries for Reinstatement Transactions

The system is now generating General Ledger entries for Reinstatement transactions. Following this release, when a Reinstatement is Bound and the Book Policy Premium On setting is set to Bind for the policy's Billing Entity, the system creates the following entries.

Debit entries are created for the following accounts:

• The Agency Bill Account Receivables account for the amount of the Cancellation receivables less the sum of the Clearing amount and On Account amounts associated to the policy term, when the Billing Option is set to Agency.
• The Premium Account Receivables account for the amount of the Cancellation receivables less the sum of the Clearing amount and On Account amounts associated to the policy term, when the Billing Option is set to Direct.
• The Commission Expense G/L account for the sum of commission charges, per Premium Type, associated to the policy Reinstatement transaction.
• The Clearing G/L account for the Cancellation Clearing amounts less the On Account amount associated to the policy term.

Credit entries are created in the following accounts:

• The Written Premium G/L account for the sum of charges gross amount, per Premium Type, for the associated policy Reinstatement premium type.
• The Tax Payable G/L account for the sum of charges gross amount, per Tax Type, for the associated policy Reinstatement tax type.

• The Accounts Payable Distributor G/L account for the sum of commission charges, per Distributor, for the associated policy Reinstatement distributor, when the policy term's Billing Option is set to Direct.

  If the Billing Option is set to Agency, this entry is not created.

Note that if the Book Premium On setting is set to Invoice Generation, these entries are not created.

• For details on the Reinstatement G/L entries, see the General Ledger Accounts section.

Booking Premium Accounts Receivable Amounts

Previously, all charges including charges of type Premium were logged in the appropriate General Ledger account upon the Invoice Generation event. There was no alternative option available.

To help licensees better control the booking of written Premium, the system now supports the alternate option of logging charges of type Premium in the appropriate General Ledger accounts once the source transaction transitions into Bound status.

As a result of this feature, the Managing General Ledgers menu item in the Billing Entity Menu has been relabeled General Ledger, with two sub-menu options: Settings and Accounts. The Settings page contains the option to change the newly introduced Book Policy Premium on field from Invoice Generation (the default value) to Policy Bind. The Accounts page contains the previously supported General Ledger Account List panel, where the user can manage General Ledger accounts.

Note that this option is only supported for charges of type Premium. All other General Ledger entries continue to be generated upon the Invoice Generation event.

• For details on this feature, see the Managing General Ledger Settings section.

Marking Distributor Debit Payables as Paid

Previously, users were unable to mark Distributor debit payables as Paid. However, there are business scenarios where cancellation transactions are created and the agent must return the Commission amount back to the insurer.

Now, users can mark Debit Payables as Paid via the Distributor Payables page. When a cancellation transaction is invoiced and the Refund Batch is marked as Ready for Payment, it will appear in the Distributor Payable Journal. Select the invoice with the cancelled policy and click Mark as Paid. The Payment modal is displayed where the user can enter the financial details of the bank account. Once submitted, the invoice transitions to Paid status.

Once the debit payable is in Paid status, the appropriate G/L entries are made in the Bank Account - Account Name Debit and Accounts Payable - Distributor reports, if configured.

The previous validation message that prevented users from marking these payables as paid has been removed.

• For details on marking Distributor payables as Paid, see the Distributor Payables section.

Invoice Type and Assured Names Columns Listed on Outstanding Invoices Grid

Two new columns, Invoice Type and Assured Names, have been added to the Outstanding Invoices grid on the Receipt Allocation Invoice modal of the Receipt Details Allocation page. The Invoice Type column displays the Charge type, however, does not display the Account Balance Allocation. The Assured Names column displays the names of the Assureds associated to the receipt. Multiple Assureds will be comma-separated.

The Invoice Type is automatically set based on the invoice payment association as follows:

• If the Invoice is associated to Premium charges only, the Invoice Type is Premium Activity.
• If the Invoice is associated to Deductible charges only, the Invoice Type is Deductible.
• If the Invoice is associated to Claim Payment charges only, the Invoice Type is Claim Payment.
• If the Invoice is associated to Billing Adjustment charges only, the Invoice Type is Billing Adjustment.

Note that if the invoice is associated to more than one Charge Type, the Invoice Type is left empty.

Upon clicking Add in the Invoice Allocations panel, the Invoices modal is displayed. By default these additional columns are hidden, and can be displayed on the Outstanding Invoices grid by right-clicking on the column headers to display the contextual menu. Click Select Columns to display the additional columns to be added and select Invoice Type and Assured Names, then click Apply Changes to reload the grid with the newly added columns.

• For details on viewing Outstanding Invoices, see the Managing Invoices for Cash or Refund Receipts section.