download certification

Certification is the process of verifying that the ACORD AL3 or XML data that your company sends to your agencies and brokers complies with ACORD and CSIO standards and will not damage any databases on the management system.

Our certification process is widely recognized as the most rigorous and trusted in the industry. Carriers typically pursue certification through us first, as it makes successful certification with other agency-management systems far more straightforward.

Reasons for Obtaining Certification

• Certification is a requirement whenever you make changes that impact the way data is sent to your agencies and brokers, such as when you:

  • Start download on a new line of business
  • Introduce download to Applied Systems agents
  • Implement a new policy-writing system
  • Implement a new translator
  • Make major changes to your existing processing systems
  
  

Getting Started

• Contact the Applied Systems Support Certification Team via email at interfaceservices@appliedsystems.com

  Your company will need to execute and sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with us in order to obtain the Applied Systems download interface specifications and mappings.

  IVANS communication services are also required for activation. Contact IVANS for more information on IVANS download mailboxing services and IVANS Transformation Station. Call 800-548-2690, or visit www.ivans.com.

  
  

Certification Costs

• We offer our certification services free of charge. However, you might incur costs for:

  • Membership in ACORD
  • Membership in IVANS and transmission fees
  • Development
  • Hiring a third party reformatting vendor to help map systems and create the ACORD AL3 or XML files
  
  

Preparing the Initial Submission

• Certification is an iterative process. You send us the output from your system for import into our agency management systems; we check the file for adherence to the standards and data integrity through the import process. We suggest you do the following before submitting your initial file:

  1. Determine your production roll out date and plan accordingly
  2. Verify that all relevant data is being sent in the ACORD AL3 or XML file
  3. Test to verify that all information related to the policy is sent; in particular, test or compare dec page data with what appears in the agency system
  4. Verify that all transaction types are included: New Business, Renewals, Endorsements, Cancellations, Reinstatements, etc.
  
  

Certification Timeline

• As a general rule, you should allow 90 to 120 days for certification once we receive the first file.

  An interface product specialist will be assigned to your company to review the file and serve as your main contact throughout the certification process. Since each of our specialists works with six to eight different companies at any one time, we cannot guarantee immediate turnaround. So it is important to plan ahead and allow enough time for the process.

  Generally, our interface product specialist will review the initial file and provide a written response within two to three weeks of receiving it. The specialist verifies:

  • ACORD AL3 and XML data is received correctly
  • Data follows ACORD standards including hierarchies, headers and data element content
  • Data that is sent imports correctly into TAM, Vision, DORIS and Epic

  The response will include a list of issues for you to address. The length of time you take to correct any issues or errors and resubmit a file will impact the total time for certification.

  Each file submission and review constitutes a round. Typically, it takes three to four rounds to complete your certification.

  
  

Final Certification

• On completion, we will list your company and lines of business on the Applied Systems Interface Status Report and Real Time Reference Guides that we update monthly.  This alerts agencies that you are ready to do business electronically with them.