Policy basics

Copying data between policies

PolicyCenter allows you to copy data from an existing policy or policy transaction to an open policy transaction. In the base configuration, this functionality is available in the personal auto line of business. By configuring PolicyCenter, you can add this functionality to other lines of business.

In personal auto, you may want to copy data between policies for one of the following reasons:

  • An agent added a car to the wrong personal auto policy. The agent can copy the car over to the correct policy without needing to reenter the information.
  • A family has a personal auto policy that covers several vehicles. A daughter moves out of the house, and her parents give her one of the vehicles. The daughter gets her own account and personal auto policy. The agent copies the vehicle from the parents’ policy to the daughter’s policy. The agent does not need to reenter the vehicle information in the daughter’s policy.
  • The daughter buy a new vehicle and returns the old vehicle to her parents. The agent reinstates the old vehicle by copying the vehicle from an earlier version of the parents’ or daughter’s policy onto a policy change for the parents’ policy.

Searching for policies and policy transactions from which to copy data

You can copy data if you are in one of the following types of policy transactions:

  • Submission
  • Policy change
  • Rewrite
  • Rewrite new account
  • Renewal

From within one of these policy transactions, you can search for both bound policies and policy transactions to copy data from. The search finds bound policies and policy transactions with the same product type as the current policy transaction. You can copy data from other policy terms or other policy transactions on the current policy.

When searching for policies or policy transactions to copy from, each search result represents a slice of the policy at a particular time. The slice contains the entities available from that slice of the policy.

For policy transactions, PolicyCenter displays the slice on the edit effective date of the policy transaction. For policy terms, PolicyCenter displays the last slice of the policy period.

When you select a policy transaction to copy from, PolicyCenter displays the slice on the edit effective date of the policy transaction. For policy terms, PolicyCenter displays the last slice of the policy period. For policy terms, you have an option to specify a date which represents the slice of the policy at that particular time. PolicyCenter displays the entities available from that slice of the policy.

Copy data and multi-version quoting policy transactions

You can copy data to and from multi-version quoting policy transactions.

  • Copy data to – When working in a multi-version quoting policy transaction, you can copy data to any version of that multi-version quoting policy transaction. PolicyCenter copies the data to the version that you are currently working in.

    You cannot copy data to all versions of a multi-version quoting policy transaction in one copy data action.

  • Copy data from – You can copy data from any single version of a multi-version quoting policy transaction.

Copy data and side-by-side quoting policy transactions

In one copy data action, you can copy data to a single version side-by-side quoting policy transaction. However, if you use copy data on a side-by-side quoting policy transaction, any base data you copy to the version you are working with gets copied to the other versions. This behavior is the same as making a change to the base data in the PolicyCenter user interface: PolicyCenter copies that change to the other versions.

Including child entities when copying data

In some cases, you can include the children of an entity when copying data. For example, when copying a vehicle, you can choose to copy all or selected coverages. The vehicle details, except for assigned drivers, are copied by default.

Copy data always includes certain child entities when copying the entity. For example, copy data always includes the following:

  • Personal vehicle modifiers – specify features of the vehicle such as whether the vehicle has a passive restraint system or anti-lock brakes. Copy data always copies vehicle modifiers because they are part of the vehicle.
  • Coverage terms – Are always copied when copying a coverage.

Configuring copy data for a line of business

In the base configuration, copy data is available in the personal auto line of business. You can modify the personal auto line to meet your business needs. You can also configure copy data in other lines of business.

Copy data enables you, the user, to quickly and accurately take information from one policy and copy it to a policy transaction for another policy. In addition, you can copy data from prior versions or policy transactions of a policy to the current policy transaction. Copy data enables copying information from a source period into a target period by providing the following:

  • A mechanism for searching and selecting the source period.
  • A user interface that controls which items to copy from the source period.
  • Copier and CompositeCopier classes that copy the information from the source period data into the target period. These classes are in the gw.api.copy namespace.

See also

Split and spin-off policies

PolicyCenter allows you to split an existing policy into two policies. PolicyCenter also allows you to spin-off a single policy from an existing policy.

In the base configuration, this functionality is available in the personal auto line of business. By configuring PolicyCenter, you can add this functionality to other lines of business.

Note: The ability to split and spin-off policies from an existing policy requires that copy data is configured for that line of business.

In personal auto, you may want to split or spin-off a policy for one of the following reasons:

  • Split – A couple gets divorced. Both spouses wish to remain with the insurer. The insurer creates two new accounts, and splits the coverables on the existing policy into coverables on policies in the new accounts. The split creates two submission policy transactions. The insurer cancels the original policy.
  • Spin-off – A son moves out of the house, and takes a car covered on his parents’ policy. The insurer creates a new account for the son, and moves the car from the parents’ policy to a new policy on the son’s account. Spin-off creates a single submission. The insurer does not cancel the original policy after spinning-off part of the policy.

Splitting or spinning-off a policy has the following features:

  • The data available to include on the split or spun-off submissions comes from the last slice of the bound policy.
  • PolicyCenter creates a link between the source policy and any submissions or policies split or spun-off.
  • The account that contains the split or spun-off policies can be the current account, a related account, or an arbitrary account.
  • The producer of record and the producer of service on the submission are both set to the current producer of service on the policy. You can change both of these during completion of the submission.
  • You can select the primary named insured from all named insureds on the account.
  • The new submissions are of the same product as the source policy.
  • You cannot create new submissions with a company contact as the primary named insured if the product does not support company contacts.

Configuring split and spin-off policies

This topic describes how to configure split and spin-off policies. A line of business that provides the ability to split and spin-off policies requires that copy data be configured for that line of business.

Object model

A source policy and the policies split or spun-off from it are connected by fields in the object model. The DividedPolicies array on the source policy provides access to policies split or spun-off from the source policy. The DividedSourcePolicy foreign key points from a split or spun-off policy back to the source policy. A split or spun-off policy can have only a single source policy as shown in the following diagram.

Gosu classes

The gw.product.DividePolicySelection Gosu class collects basic information for creating the submission for a split policy. The basic information includes a ProducerSelection object, the QuoteType, and an AccountContact to create the PrimaryNamedInsured.

After collecting the basic policy information, the createSubmission method creates a new submission. Next in the initializeSubmission method, a PolicyPeriodCopier object copies policy data to the submission. Split policies have two DividePoliciesSelection objects, one for each submission. These objects are independent and are not directly connected.

Earned premium

The Earned Premium is the portion of premium that applies to the expired part of the policy period. In other words, the amount of premium that has been earned as of the current date. For reporting policies, prior to final audit, the calculation includes the earned-but-unreported (EBUR) amount. For package policies, earned premium is shown for each line of business. You cannot edit the value of this field.

Click Calculate Earned Amount as of different date to see the earned premium on a different date. This does not affect the calculation on the Summary screen.

See also

Loss ratio

The Loss Ratio represents the total loss incurred for claims divided by the current earned premium. The claim system provides the claims amount. If enabled, the built-in integration with ClaimCenter provides the total loss incurred. If you are not integrated with a claim system, the loss ratio is always 0.

The loss ratio fields are not automatically updated each time you display the Summary screen. Click Recalculate Loss Ratio to update these fields.

The equation for loss ratio, expressed as a percentage, is:

Loss Ratio = 100 * Total Loss Incurred / Earned Premium

Policy object model overview

The following object model diagram shows some of the basic relationships of policy objects. This diagram focuses on the entities that interact with the Policy entity.

Note: See the Data Dictionary to see a complete list of all properties in the entities. The diagram and entity descriptions contain a partial list, highlighting those that may be of interest to you.


Policy entity

A policy is a contract of insurance that describes the term, coverage, premiums, and deductible. A policy protects the insured from accidental loss. A policy also lists the people or properties being insured against loss. If an insurer offers a policy and an insured accepts the terms in the policy, it becomes bound and is an enforceable legal document. Policies are defined by dates or periods of time. For example, your auto policy is in force from January 1st to June 30th. These are called policy periods.

The Policy has access to individual note types through derived properties such as creditworthyNotes and generalNotes.

The main foreign keys to Policy are:

  • Document
  • NoteSearchCriteria
  • DocumentSearchCriteria
  • PolicyPeriod
  • Job
  • PriorPolicy
  • LossHistoryEntry
  • UserRoleAssignment
  • Note

    • Job entity

    The Job entity contains these subtypes: Audit, Cancellation, Issuance, PolicyChange, Reinstatement, Renewal, Rewrite, and Submission. Each policy transaction processes a policy in a different way. The Submission, Rewrite, and Renewal jobs (policy transactions) create new policy periods and new policy terms. You can access all the jobs for a policy from the Jobs array.

    Other entities associated with policies

    The Note and Document entities have foreign keys to Account, Policy, Job, and PolicyPeriod. The Message entity has foreign keys to Account, Policy, PolicyPeriod.

    Entities such as Note, Message, and Document have foreign key references to Policy because they span the life of the policy, not just a time period.

    The PriorPolicy entity contains information about the prior policy.

    The LossHistoryEntry entity contains information about prior policy losses.

    The ProducerCode entity identifies the producer of service and has fields such as ProducerStatus and Description. It also has a foreign key to PreferredUnderwriter.

    Policy term and policy period entities

    The following illustration shows some of the entity relationships for the PolicyTerm and PolicyPeriod entities. The PolicyTerm and PolicyPeriod entities represent different information about the contractual period of a policy.



    Policy term entity

    The PolicyTerm entity represents a policy term, or one contractual period for the policy. The contractual period extends from the date the policy goes into effect (the effective date) to the date it expires (the expiration date). For example, if a homeowners policy has a year long period starting on January 1, calendar year 2013 is one policy term.

    There is only one PolicyTerm entity for each contractual period. The fields on the PolicyTerm entity apply to the whole contractual period. Unlike the PolicyPeriod entity, the PolicyTerm entity and its subentities are not revisioned.

    PolicyCenter creates a new PolicyTerm whenever PolicyCenter completely recreates the policy contract. PolicyCenter completely recreates the policy contract with a new policy submission, a renewal, or a rewrite of an existing contract. PolicyCenter does not create a new PolicyTerm when you amend a policy contract with a policy change job. The PolicyTerm has a foreign key to the Policy. The PolicyTerm and Policy entities have arrays of PolicyPeriod entities.

    Policy period entity

    The PolicyPeriod entity stores information for a specific revision of the contractual period of a policy. A revision occurs anytime a job occurs on a policy. A submission creates the first revision. Each additional transaction on the policy (such as a policy change) creates a new revision. Therefore, a policy almost always has multiple revisions, with one PolicyPeriod entity for each revision. During the contractual period, only one PolicyPeriod entity is in effect at a time. The PeriodStart and PeriodEnd properties contain the start and end dates of the contractual period.

    Each PolicyPeriod entity is the root of a complex graph of subentities such as policy lines, vehicles, coverages, and many others. These subentities have EffectiveDate and ExpirationDate fields which specify when the entity becomes effective and when it expires. The EffectiveDate and ExpirationDate are bounded by the contractual period (represented by the PeriodStart and PeriodEnd fields on the PolicyPeriod entity).

    PolicyCenter creates a new revision when you process a policy change that adds a car to the policy. The EffectiveDate for the car is several months into contractual period, and the ExpirationDate extends to the end of the period. PolicyCenter clones a new PolicyPeriod entity and its subentities and adds an entity for the new car. The contractual period now has two PolicyPeriod entities. The new PolicyPeriod entity is in effect. PolicyCenter preserves the old PolicyPeriod entity as a historical record of the policy.

    Each PolicyPeriod has a Status which is a typekey to PolicyPeriodStatus. The PolicyPeriodStatus typecodes include values such as Binding, Canceling, Quoted, and Withdrawn. See the Data Dictionary for the complete list of typecodes.

    When you start a new policy transaction (job) or create a new revision, PolicyCenter creates a PolicyPeriod. For a short amount of time during initialization, the policy period is in Temporary status. However, if an error occurs during initialization of the job or policy period, the policy period can remain in Temporary status. This policy period may persist in the database. Because the initialization did not complete, a policy period that is in Temporary status may contain invalid data. In your code, be sure to check for the Temporary status on PolicyPeriod and to avoid using data from policy periods with this status.

    See also

    Policy line entity

    A policy can be monoline or multi-line. A monoline policy contains a single type of insurance, such as personal auto. A multi-line policy contains more than one type of insurance, such as a commercial package policy with property and general liability. PolicyLine contains subtypes which include: BusinessOwnersLine, PersonalAutoLine, and WorkersCompLine.

    The PolicyPeriod entity has boolean fields (such as BOPLineExists or CPLineExists) for each policy line. The boolean field indicates whether or not that policy line exists on the policy period. If the policy line exists, then the BOPLine or CPLine field, for example, allows you to access the policy line.

    Workflow entity

    The Workflow entity has more than one subtype, but the one that pertains to PolicyPeriod is PolicyPeriodWorkflow. PolicyPeriodWorkflow has a foreign key to the policy period associated with this workflow.

    Job entity

    The Job entity has subtypes of Audit, Cancellation, Issuance, PolicyChange, Reinstatement, Renewal, Rewrite, and Submission. It contains foreign key references to Policy and other entities.

    Info bar in policy file

    In the policy file, use the Info bar at the top of the screen to quickly view main information about the policy.

    The first item indicates where you are. In this example, you are in the policy file. The second item displays the policy type. The third item displays the primary named insured for the policy. The fourth item displays the account number. If you click that link, PolicyCenter takes you to the Account File for the insured. The next item is the policy number. Depending on where you are in the policy file, this too can be a link. The final item displays the policy status. In this example, you can see that the policy is in force and when it is due to expire. Other status messages include information on whether a submission needs approval, or who the underwriter is.

    Actions menu in policy file

    When viewing the policy file, use the Actions menu to start an action to the policy. Actions on the policy include starting contextually appropriate policy transactions on the policy. The Actions menu is contextual and displays only the actions that apply to the policy at that time. For example, if a policy is scheduled for cancellation, then one of the options available to you would be to rescind the scheduled cancellation.

    Policy contract in policy file

    The Policy Info screen in the policy file contains policy information that is part of the legally bound policy contract. The links in this section vary by line of business although all share certain steps, such as Policy Info, Forms, and Payment.

    Tools menu in policy file

    The Tools menu contains links to supporting information that apply to the policy. This menu is context-sensitive.

    Items in the Tools menu can include:

    • Summary – View the contents of the policy file summarized on one screen. The screen also includes information regarding current activities, policy transactions, and policy transactions in progress.
    • Billing – View overall balance and balances for individual policy periods. You can also view the payment schedule.
    • Contacts – View contacts that have a role on the policy. For each contact, you can view basic contact information and the roles the contact plays on the policy.
    • Participants – This screen lists the users that interact with the policy by the role that they perform on the policy. The screen also shows the assigned group that the user belongs to. You can add or remove participants. For existing roles, you can change the user who performs that role.
    • Notes – Search and view notes related to the policy transaction or policy.
    • Documents – Search and view any attached documents related to the policy transaction or policy.
    • Policy Transactions – View summary information about all policy transactions that have occurred on the policy. The list includes policy transactions that have modified the policy and policy transactions that are in-progress, withdrawn, not taken, or non-renewed. You can also compare policy transactions.
    • Risk Analysis – View any issues that may affect the policy. This section includes underwriting referral reasons, underwriting issues, claims, prior policies, or prior losses. You can also add, close, or reopen underwriting referral reasons.
    • History – Search and view historical events that pertain to the policy. You can filter history events by the following:
      • User
      • Timestamp – Specify From and Until dates.
      • Related To – This drop-down list allows you to filter events for a specific policy transaction or to show all events.

      The History screen displays the following information for history events: Type, User, Event Timestamp, Description, Job, Original Value, and New Value. In the base configuration, submission, renewal and other policy transactions log history events. For more information, see Configuring job history events.

    Policy Summary in policy file

    General use

    The screen summarizes information about a policy, providing useful information for underwriters and other people who make decisions about policies. For example, it provides all the information you need when deciding to renew a policy.

    In this screen, you can:

    • Change, cancel, or renew a policy
    • Review the financials of this policy
    • Check the loss ratio on this account
    • Review or add notes about the account
    • Check latest policy terms, transactions and claims

    See also

    How to access

    This summary screen is available:

    • In the Policy tab
    • From any screen that contains the reference to a policy, for example Account Holder Summary, or Account Summary
    • Through search results

    Panels in this screen

    Details
    Displays information about the policy, so that you can make sure you are looking at the right one. You can:
    • Go to the Account Holder Summary window by clicking the link in the Primary Named Insured field.
    • Depending on the status of this policy, you can perform different actions in the New Transaction menu. For example, you can change, cancel, or renew the policy.
    Term Financials

    Displays financial information related to this policy term only, such as total premium for this term. You can check the loss ratio for this policy. To get the latest information, click Recalculate Loss Ratio.

    In final audit of a workers compensation policy, there is more info in this panel about what the earned premium will be. Seeing the estimated premium, the underwriter can better determine the value of this policy.

    If the policy is a commercial package there is no earned premium in each policy, but earned premium exists in the package.

    Current Activities
    Displays the last five activities for this policy. It displays open activities first, starting with the highest priority and latest. You can open an activity by clicking its subject. If there are more than five activities, you can view them all by clicking View more.
    Pending Policy Transactions

    Displays the last five policy transactions which are still open. You can:

    • Open a transaction by clicking its number.
    • If there are more than five policy transactions, you can view them all by clicking View more.
    Claims

    If PolicyCenter is integrated with a claim system, displays the status of the latest five open claims for this account holder. (For example, if integrated with Guidewire ClaimCenter, PolicyCenter will get the information from ClaimCenter.) You can use this panel to answer questions or decide what to do about a request from your customer. You can view more details about the claim by clicking its number. This action redirects you to your claim system.

    If there are more than five claims, you can view them all by clicking View more.

    Completed Policy Transactions

    Displays the last five policy transactions which are completed. You can:

    • Open a transaction by clicking its number.
    • If there are more than five policy transactions, you can view them all by clicking View more.
    Account

    Displays information about the account that holds this policy. You can:

    • Go to the account page by clicking the account name
    • See how many in-force policies this account has
    • See how many open claims this account has
    Billing
    If PolicyCenter is integrated with a billing system, displays a summary of billing information—how much they owe, and how much they have paid. You can use this to let the customer know when their next invoice is due, or if you received their last payment. If integrated with Guidewire BillingCenter, PolicyCenter will get the information from BillingCenter.
    Contacts
    Displays the contacts for this policy. You can open a contact by clicking their name. You can also see their roles in the policy, so that you know who to call about a claim, or to complete an activity. If there are more than three contacts, you can view them all by clicking View more.
    Producer

    Displays the names and codes of producers related to this policy.

    If there are more than five producers, you can view them all by clicking View more.

    Notes
    Displays three latest notes. You can review past notes and add new ones by clicking New Note. If there are more than three notes, you can view them by clicking View more.

    Copy data from one policy to another

    About this task

    You can copy data from other policy periods or other policy transactions on the current policy. To copy policy data, you must have the Copy policy data permission. The code for this permission is copypolicydata.

    Procedure

    1. Start or navigate to a policy transaction and line of business that supports copy data. For example, in a personal auto submission policy transaction you can copy data from another policy.
    2. Select Actions > Copy Data.
      PolicyCenter displays the Copy Policy Search Policies screen. This screen allows you to search for policies or policy transactions to copy data from. By default, the Account Number field is set to the account number of the target policy.
    3. Make a selection from the Search For drop-down list.
      Select Search For > Policy to search for a policy. Enter information about the primary insured. You can also search on the account and policy numbers. You can specify an As of Date to constrain the search results to policy terms in effect on that date.

      Select Search For > Policy Change, Renewal, Rewrite, Rewrite New Account, or Submission to search for a policy transaction. Enter information about the primary insured. You can also search on the account, policy, and policy transaction numbers.

      PolicyCenter retrieves both open and completed policy transactions. Completed policy transactions include expired and withdrawn policy transactions. You can optionally select whether to search by effective date or creation date. You must specify whether you want to retrieve all works orders, or policy transactions within a date range. PolicyCenter returns a list of matching policy transactions in the specified date range.
      Note: You can copy data from other policy periods or other policy transactions on the current policy.
    4. Click Search to display the list of Search Results.
    5. Click Select to select data to copy from the Search Results.
      PolicyCenter displays the Select data to copy from screen. This screen allows you to choose which data to copy from the selected policy or policy transaction.

      For policy transactions, PolicyCenter displays the slice on the edit effective date. For policy terms, PolicyCenter displays the last slice of the policy period. For policy terms, you can specify an As of Date on this screen. If you enter an As of Date, the screen displays the entities available to copy as of that date, or slice.

    6. Select data. In the Personal Auto Line tab, you can select the following types of data to copy:
      • Drivers
      • Vehicles – The copy includes modifiers. You can choose to copy all or selected vehicle coverages. You can choose to copy additional interests.
      • PA Coverages
      • Exclusions
      • Conditions
    7. Click the Notes tab to copy all or selected notes.

    Split an existing policy into two policies

    About this task

    These instructions are for splitting a policy. The steps for spinning-off a policy are similar but create a single submission instead of two.

    You must have the Split or Spin Policies permission to view Split Policy into Two and Spin-off Policy from this One from the Actions menu. The code for this permission is splitpolicy.

    Procedure

    1. Navigate to an existing policy in a line of business that supports split or spin-off policies. In the base configuration, the personal auto line of business support split and spin-off policies.
    2. Select Actions > Split Policy into Two.
      PolicyCenter displays the Split Policy screen with Submission #1 on the left and Submission #2 on the right. Each submission has the following fields:

      Field

      Description

      Account Number

      Required. Click the account picker icon to choose an account by using the Search Accounts screen.

      Name

      After you select an Account Number, this field displays the name of the account holder on the selected account.

      Quote Type

      Required. Select Quick Quote or Full Application. Default value is Full Application.

      Default Effective Date

      Required. Default value is the current date.

      Primary Named Insured

      Required. Select the primary named insured for the policy. The selection lists all named insureds on the account. Default value is the account holder.

      Select data to include on new submission

      This section displays the policy data configured for copy data in the current line of business. (Notes are not available to copy when splitting or spinning-off policies.)

      In personal auto, you can select to include drivers, vehicles, coverages, exclusions, and conditions in the new submission.
    3. Make your selections in each submission, and click Create Submissions.
      PolicyCenter displays the Split Policies Complete screen. This screen has links to original policy and to the two submissions split off from it.