About forms

PolicyCenter uses a form to represent a part of the policy contract. These aspects can include any and all of the following:

Form Type	Description
Declaration sheets	Forms that provide an index or summary of all exposures, coverages, and in some cases forms.
Policy definition forms	Forms that PolicyCenter associates with the policy, with a specific line of business, or coverages or coverables you select. Policy definition forms have language that defines – from a legal perspective – who is the insured, who is the insurer, and so on. Policy definition forms typically have a set of standard coverages that additional forms either amend or remove.
Coverage endorsements	Forms that add, remove, or clarify some type of coverage. For example, a Hired Auto Coverage Form might add hired auto coverage to a policy definition form that did not originally specify it.
Exclusion forms	Forms that limit coverages. For example, a Mold and Fungus Exclusion Form can limit coverage on a homeowner's policy. If included, it is possible that the policy does not cover any damage due to mold and fungus or perhaps cover it only to a certain amount.
Manuscript forms	Forms that are blank by default. The insurer can enter custom or special legal terms for the policy.

The insurance industry calls some types of forms endorsements if they extend the base policy contract form with additional language. Additionally, certain insurers call the policy change process in general endorsing the policy, because typical changes involve adding endorsements to the policy. Whether called forms or endorsements, forms are part of the legal contract between the insurer and the insured. In PolicyCenter, endorsements are simply one type of contract form.

As PolicyCenter issues a policy, it sends print requests for forms to the issuance system. These forms physically document the policy. Forms might exist in electronic form only, and the issuance system emails or faxes them to the insured. The issuance or document production system manages the actual content of a form.

Note: PolicyCenter does not store form content.

Differences between forms and document templates

PolicyCenter cannot add a form to a policy outside the context of a policy transaction. PolicyCenter can infer forms during any type of transaction. However, forms that PolicyCenter infers during audit policy transactions do not appear in the policy file after the transaction completes.

Outside the context of a transaction, you can use document templates for creating policy-related attachments. Both forms and document templates can initiate the creation of a document within the issuance system. The issuance system can upload the document to PolicyCenter, or PolicyCenter can contain a reference to that document. Forms and document templates have different tools and functionality associated with them.

In PolicyCenter, the issuance system creates forms as part of the completion of a transaction.
PolicyCenter can create document templates at any time in the policy life-cycle.
Forms or document templates can be the basis of documents. Documents are the contents of either the form or document template. You can access documents directly from PolicyCenter after the issuance system creates them.