The Bridge insurance software system handles quoting, rating, policy issuance, billing, and claims, with a range of reporting options. Each area of the system can be configured to meet specific requirements. This section is a high-level overview of the various features and the process of configuring and using the system.
Each Bridge licensee has a dedicated environment. Each environment begins as an almost blank slate, with just a licensee head-office, an administrator account, and the default security roles. These are the foundations for building an infinite range of custom insurance products.
The core of the company hierarchy are the Licensee Offices. The entire licensee organization can be represented, divided into branches and subsidiary offices. Each office can have its own users and resources, with each user having an Administrative Level that controls access across companies within the hierarchy.
Insurer Companies are created to represent each insurer or underwriter who will be providing coverage for policies. Insurer companies are attached to policies during the submission process, providing access to manage those policies.
Distributor Companies represent the distributors, brokers, or agents who arrange the insurance coverage, generally earning a commission for each policy. Distributors may be creating submissions on behalf of the clients, or serving as intermediaries. A distributor is selected during creation of a submission, providing access to manage those submissions. A distributor company can also be defined as a Bill To Party for the purpose of invoicing.
Clients are the final assured companies or individuals for each policy. Clients are associated to individual distributor companies, who have access to manage policies for their clients. The client records can be created in the system in advance, or can be created during the submission process. A client can be defined as a Bill To Party when created in advance, or if the client is created with a submission they will be automatically defined as a Bill To Party when a payment plan is selected for the submission.
Each company can have multiple users, except for Individual Clients who have one user account per client. Each user has access to data and resources according to their company type and account settings. Access to all features is controlled by security rights, which are grouped into security roles. One or more security roles are assigned to user accounts, defining what they are capable of doing within the system.
The Bridge system is highly customizable. The Custom Labels feature allows almost every line of text in the system to be changed, allowing for translated versions or just alternate terms. The color scheme can be changed to match corporate branding, while custom graphics and content can be applied to headers, footers, side panels, and more.
Multiple Portals can be created, providing users with alternate views of the system. Each portal can have its own color scheme and branding, allowing one environment to appear as multiple different websites.
Portals are commonly created to provide custom access for clients or distributors, distributor companies may have branded portals exclusive to their clients, or certain products may have their own portals.
Additional resources are required for the integrated billing system.
General Ledger Accounts can be created and mapped to an outside accounting system. Once associated to other resources in the system, transactions will be tracked automatically.
Bank Accounts can be configured for association to receipts and general ledger accounts.
Adjustment Types can be created to link specific adjustments to the appropriate general ledger accounts.