Accounts in PolicyCenter and billing system

When integrated with a billing system, PolicyCenter propagates accounts to the billing system.

Both PolicyCenter and the billing system must have accounts. For accounts that both systems share, there must be a one-to-one mapping between accounts in both applications. However, the structure and fields in the account entity may differ between the two applications. Both PolicyCenter and BillingCenter have account entities.

When you complete the first submission for a new account, PolicyCenter sends a message to the billing system to creates an equivalent account. When an account changes, PolicyCenter propagates those changes to the billing system. In the BillingCenter integration, the new BillingCenter account has default values for certain fields such as billing and delinquency plans which require an initial value.

If you want to share an account between PolicyCenter and the billing system, you must create the account in PolicyCenter.

Subaccounts and invoice streams provide flexibility for billing policies on the account.

Subaccounts for billing

An account can have multiple subaccounts for billing policies on the account. For example, a company has one subaccount for paying workers’ compensation policies, and another subaccount for paying commercial auto premiums. An accountant at the company can easily see the billing information for each type of policy.

In the BillingCenter integration, subaccounts are accounts that mark the current account as their parent in BillingCenter.

In the default integration, PolicyCenter does not have a screen to specify a billing subaccount. The integration retrieves billing subaccounts from a billing system. In the default integration, the StandAloneBillingSystemPlugin simulates retrieving billing subaccounts from a billing system. The large sample data set has examples of billing subaccounts.

Note: Billing subaccounts are different from the parent and child account relationships that you can define on the Account File Related Accounts screen in PolicyCenter.

Invoice streams for an account

Each account or subaccount can have multiple invoice streams. The integration retrieves invoice streams from the billing system for the currently selected account. You can create a new invoice stream for an account. Invoice streams specify the following information:

Periodicity – How often to send an invoice, such as twice a month, monthly, or every other month.
Payment method – Specify a credit or debit card. Includes the card number, which is partially hidden in PolicyCenter. You can also wait for receipt of payment if PolicyCenter does not initiate the payment.
Day of month – When to send the invoice. For a twice-monthly stream, you specify two values for day of the month.
Due date or invoice date – Whether the day of month specifies the day that the invoice is due or the day to send the invoice.
Automatic or manual – Whether to automatically charge or debit the payment from the payment method.

The billing system sends a single invoice for all policies with the same invoice stream. For example, if a personal auto policy and a homeowners policy have the same invoice stream, the insured receives a single invoice for both policies. You can use invoice streams for automatic payments.

Service tier for an account

In the base configuration, you set the service tier in PolicyCenter. If you are integrated with BillingCenter 8.0 (or later), PolicyCenter propagates the service tier on an account to the service tier on the BillingCenter account. Every time a submission is bound and issued in PolicyCenter, PolicyCenter sends the service tier on the account to the BillingCenter account.