Bridge User Guide - Introduction

Bridge
User Guide - Introduction
Version 2.4.87

Version 2.4.87Bridge User GuideUser Guide - Introduction

Table of Contents

Introduction

Guide

System Overview

System Setup

Managing Companies and Users

Portals and Custom Labels

Billing Setup

Product Setup

Resources

Master Covers

Submission Workflow

Submission Screen

Submission Process

Transactions

Other Features

Billing System

Billing Process

Reports

Claims System

Claims Screen

Other Features

Accessing the System

Self-Registration

Simplified Client Registration

Standard Client Registration

Logging In Using an Access E-mail

Normal Login

Resetting a Password

Logging Off

Screen Layout

Home Page

Profile

Using Calendar Lookups

Using Include/Exclude Controls

Using Dynamic File Upload Controls

Using Grids

Organizing Data in Grids

Filtering Grid Data

Sorting Grid Data

Grouping Grid Data

Configuring Grids

Configuring Grid Columns

Saving Custom Grid Configurations

Importing Grid Data

Exporting Grid Data

Navigating Multiple Pages of Grid Data

Grids in the Submission Form

Child Grids

Adding and Editing Grid Data Using a Detail Window

Adding and Editing Grid Data Using Tabbed Screens

Premium Grids

Index

Version 2.4.87Bridge User GuideUser Guide - Introduction

Introduction

Welcome to the Bridge insurance access portal. The system provides a full workflow, from the administration of products and coverage, to the submission and management of individual policies.

This guide is for all types of users, detailing the login process, personal account maintenance, and features common throughout the system.

/ Note: Access to all data and features in the system are controlled by the user accounts. The type of account you have, and the security rights and roles assigned to it, will affect the following:

The ability to see and use features to view, create, edit, or delete data.
The ability to see and use data created by other users. You should always be able to use data you created yourself, unless your account has been changed to remove access.

Guide

Click a link to jump to the appropriate section.

System Overview / A high-level overview of the entire Bridge system.
Accessing the System / Logging in and out of the system, as well as changing your password and resetting a forgotten password.
Screen Layout / An introduction to the layout of the screen and common screen elements.
Home Page / Viewing the Home Page and using the optional features.
Profile / Managing your personal information, company information, and system options.
Using Calendar Lookups / Selecting precise dates from the built-in calendars.
Using Include/Exclude Controls / Selecting options between included and excluded lists.
Using Dynamic File Upload Controls / Uploading files to specific fields within a workflow.
Using Grids / Using grids to filter and sort data, configuring grids, and navigation of both windowed and tabbed grids.

Version 2.4.87Bridge User GuideUser Guide - Introduction

System Overview

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.

System Setup

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.

Managing Companies and Users

The core of the company hierarchy are the LicenseeOffices. 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.

Portals and Custom Labels

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.

Billing Setup

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.

Version 2.4.87Bridge User GuideUser Guide - Introduction

Product Setup

At the core of the system are the Products. Each product is a collection of resources and settings that defines the user interface, rates, and rules for creating a submission and booking a policy.

The Workflow is the user interface for the product, providing multiple screens of forms and tables for the user to create a submission. Each workflow is comprised of fields as the smallest component, which are collected into panels, which are grouped into screens, which are attached to steps in the workflow definition. Special tabbed workflows can be created and assigned to grids, providing a series of tabbed screens for entering large amounts of data into grids.

The Master Cover is the definition of the product, where the resources and workflow are attached, and settings are defined.

Resources

Resources are the building blocks for workflows and products. They can be reused across multiple products.

Premium Types / A premium type defines a single source of calculated premium. Each type may represent a separate type of charge on the final invoice.
Clauses / Clauses are blocks of text that can be pulled into the policy. These clauses may be legal information, notices or warnings, or just additional details on the coverage.
Triggers / Triggers are conditional structures used throughout the system. Each trigger can have one or more conditions based on system or submission data, and will evaluate as True if the conditions are met, or False if they are not. Triggers can be set to control many aspects of the system, such as the availability of content in the workflow or optional text in printed documents.
Reference Data / Certain features and fields require lists of options or entire tables of data.
Option Lists are simple lists used to define the choices available in dropdown fields, checkbox groups, or radio button groups.
Lookup Tables are grids of data ranging from simple two-dimensional tables to complex data structures with layers and versioning. These are used in special searchable fields or advanced calculations.
Document Templates / The system can send out emails and produce printed documentation. These use templates that can pull in system, policy, billing, and claims data at the time the email or document is generated.
Payment Plans / A range of payment plans can be configured and made available to users.

Workflows are assembled from the following components.

Fields / Each field is a single element in the workflow where the user can provide information or select from available options. There are a variety of field types such as text and number fields, date fields with built-in calendars, and fields where the user can select one or more options.
Certain types of field can contain formulas that may simply display system information, or may perform complex calculations using functions and conditional logic. These are referred to as Calculated Fields.
Panels / Fields are grouped together in panels. A panel may be simple form that displays the fields in a specific order, or may be a grid that can accept multiple entries added through a pop-up window.
Grids can be structured in hierarchies, where selecting an entry will open additional grids for related data.
Screens / Each screen is an individual page in the workflow, containing one or more panels.
Workflows / This is the top level of the workflow configuration. Screens are added to the workflow and can be organized into steps. The user navigates through the screens to complete the submission.
A workflow must be published to make it available within the system. If any component of the workflow is changed, the workflow must be published again for the changes to take effect.
Integrations / The Bridge system can integrate with external systems. These can be configured to activate at specific points in the submission process.
Overrides / Within a workflow, all fields, panels, and screens have default settings that define how the component behaves, including whether it is displayed or hidden and whether it can be edited. Overrides can be created to change the default settings depending on factors such as triggers, the status of the submission, or even the user's account settings.

Master Covers

The Master Cover is the definition of the product. The related companies, resources, and workflow are attached to the master cover, and all supporting settings are configured. Once complete, the users can create submissions for the insurance product.

A new master cover will be in Draft status, where the initial configuration is done. The master cover can be set to Test status, allowing sample submissions to be created in order to test the configuration. All settings can still be edited in Test status, allowing adjustments without returning to Draft status. Setting the master cover to Live statusdeletes all test submissions and makes the product available for users.

The master cover configuration is divided into pages, accessed through a navigation widget to the left of the page. The settings include the following areas:

Distributor and Insurer companies are attached to the master cover. The Distributor for a submission is selected during the initial creation of the submission, while Insurer companies are assigned during the quoting process, depending on their settings in the master cover.

At least one Quote Option must be defined, but additional options can be created to provide the user with a range of choices. Quote options can have different settings including rates, limits, and deductibles, or even different insuring companies. Payment plans can be associated to quote options, to be selected by the user when choosing a quote. Quote options can be organized into groups with special controls on how to present the options to the user.

Rates are defined to calculate the appropriate premium for the submission. Multiple rates can be defined per premium type, allowing flat rates, percentages, multipliers, and other adjustments to be combined, producing a final total premium.

Taxes and Fees can be applied to collect additional premium for taxes and various fees.

Limits, Deductibles, and Insuring Conditions can be defined for the product.

The submission process takes input from the user, and can pass through several stages and statuses before eventually being bound as a policy. The rules to assess the data and guide the changes are created as Validations. For example, a validation may just display a warning, or could send the submission into referral, requiring review by a user from the insuring company. A range of controls are available.

The email and document templates can be attached to the master cover with additional settings that control when they will be available to the user, or even created automatically.

Finally, for Pay-As-You-Gobusiness, a payment page can be configured for the user to make credit card payments on binding the policy.

Other pages include general settings that control policy numbering and dates (ranges, backdating tolerance, etc.), calculations and rounding, option lists for use with various features, among others.

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Submission Workflow

Once the product is ready, users can create submissions.

Submission Screen

The submission screen is made up of a central area where the workflow screens are displayed for the user to enter the submission details.

To the left and right are the Widgets, which provide additional submission information and controls.

There are two ways to navigate through the screens in a workflow. At the bottom of the page are Next and Previous buttons which will step through the screens in sequential order. The Submission Screens widget displays the steps in the workflow, where clicking on a step displays the individual screens within that step, and clicking on a screen navigates directly to that screen.

The steps in the workflow and the progress through the workflow are displayed in the progress bar at the top of the page.

Submission Process

The submission process starts with selecting a product. Next, the user selects one of the distributor companies available for the product. For either the product or distributor, if there is only one option available it is selected automatically.

Once the distributor is selected, the user can select a client from those owned by the distributor, create a new client, or defer the client selection to a later time. The submission cannot be bound until a client has been chosen, however.

The submission screen opens with the New Business transaction type in Incomplete status. This is the starting point for all new policies.

The user navigates through the workflow filling in details. As the user moves between screens, the system may review and validate the information. Any errors or notifications will appear at the top of the screen, and the user may need to correct certain information before being able to proceed.

Some validations may require that the submission be reviewed by the underwriter. In these cases, the status will change to either Underwriting Required or Referred. A representative of the underwriter company can review the information and either accept the details and issue a quote, or decline the submission. The validations may also prevent the user from binding the submission themselves, but the Request Bind option in the Actions widget will allow them to request that an administrator review the submission and bind it.

Once enough information has been provided and the validations have passed, the system can produce quotes. This may happen automatically as the user moves through the workflow, or it can be activated manually using the Calculate Quote option in the Actions widget.

The Premium widget displays the lowest valid quote, and clicking the Quote Summary link displays a list of the available quotes. The preferred quote can be selected, or users with administrator access can customize the quotes. Once a quote is selected, a payment plan can be chosen, and a breakdown of the scheduled payments is displayed.

Once the quote and payment plan are selected, the submission can be bound. This books the insurance coverage and creates the appropriate premium charges, ready for invoicing.

Transactions

Once a policy is bound, additional transactions can be created to adjust the coverage or renew the policy. These are separate transactions initiated from the Actions widget when viewing the source transaction, which may be the original New Business policy or another transaction related to the policy.