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- What is
 ?
-
is a Web-based software application that was designed by insurance
professionals for the application, underwriting, issuance,
and servicing of all forms of surety products.
-
is designed so that members of the bond department have control
over every aspect of what is created and displayed on the
Web. This gives the bond department the ability to function
independently -- without having to wait in line for
service from their IT department.
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- How does
work?
- There are five main components of the
system:
- System and Bond Administration -- the
administrator (usually a lead underwriter) controls who has
access to the system both internally and externally, and they
control exactly which components each user may access within
the system. The administrator is also in charge of setting
up new bonds to be used by the system. With ’s
clear and logical browser-based administration screens, virtually
any computer-literate person can be trained within a matter
of days to be an
administrator.
- Bond Application -- Using any computer with a Web
browser and Internet/LAN access to the system, agents or internal
service personnel simply enter the information on ’s
easy-to-follow application screens. When they are finished,
they simply submit the application to the system for review.
- Underwriting --
features a Decision Engine™ that automatically analyzes
submitted applications according to a set of decision rules
established by the
administrator at the time the bond was initially set up. The
submitted application is either AUTO ACCEPTED, AUTO REJECTED
or REFERRED based upon these rules. REFERRED bonds trigger
an email to be sent to the underwriter designated by the
administrator. The underwriter, via their browser, can review
all of the submitted information, make appropriate diary entries,
and then APPROVE or REJECT the bond.
- Issuance -- Once approved, the system allows the
issuing agent to print out the bond documentation. Each bond
is printed not only with your company's specific bond number,
but is associated with a unique
transaction number, ensuring that the bond can only be used
for the specific purpose for which it was issued
- Riders, Renewals, Cancellations, and Reinstatements
-- Once approved, the underwriting department members are
the only individuals authorized to make changes to the bond
records for riders, renewals, cancellations, and reinstatements.
All changes to bonds are logged by the system. At any time
authorized users can review a particular bond's entire history.
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- When you say the
system handles surety bond application, underwriting, issuance,
and service, exactly what do you mean by this?
- We want to emphasize the point that
is a full-featured, stand-alone browser-based application that
can handle the entire process required to process and service
bonds.
is the only system on the market designed so that bond department
personnel can set up bond applications with specific pricing
rules, underwriting rules, and payment methods.
- We are totally dedicated to the surety industry, and our years
of experience combined with invaluable input and suggestions
from our surety customers is reflected in our final product.
As a result,
offers the ability to apply surcharges where appropriate, gather
statistics used for SAA reporting, and many, many other important
details.
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- What are some of the benefits of the
system?
- Dramatically reduce the cost of issuing and servicing
all bonds with particularly dramatic savings realized from high
volume/low premium bonds.
- Significantly reduce workload for underwriters by eliminating
incomplete application information.
utilizes a comprehensive system of error checking to ensure
that required fields are filled in and common items (i.e. phone
numbers, etc.) are complete and formatted correctly.
- Significantly reduce your operating overhead.
- Many sureties are still issuing and manually managing
individual Powers-of-Attorney. With ,
every POA is uniquely identified with a particular transaction.
- Many sureties and their agents are manually storing, maintaining,
and filling out bond forms. With ,
this cost is eliminated.
- Many sureties are still manually processing renewals of
large volume bonds.
handles this automatically.
- Many sureties are manually sending out renewal reports
to agents. automatically
puts manual renewal bond notices in each agent's queue.
- Plus much, much, more!
- Increase your speed to market with new bond products.
Opportunities for new bond products are occurring more and more
frequently. As soon as you know what you want to offer for sale,
you can have a new bond up on the
system in under one hour (in most cases). What a competitive
advantage!
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- Our IT department is very busy and they don’t have much time
to help us -- won’t this system be just another burden on them?
-
is designed so that computer-literate members of the bond department
can control every aspect of what is created and displayed on
the Web without relying on your IT department. The
IT department can now spend time on the areas they are most
interested in -- infrastructure, hardware, and security.
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- How does your system handle changes to bonds once the bond has
been created?
-
has an easy-to-use underwriting screen where authorized personnel
can perform all standard bond functions such as CANCELLATIONS,
REINSTATEMENTS, RENEWALS, PREMIUM BEARING RIDERS, and NON-PREMIUM
BEARING RIDERS.
- The system can also be integrated with any of your mainframe
support systems such as Accounting or Claims so that information
from
and your support system can easily be exchanged.
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- Can you use credit cards to pay for bonds?
- Yes.
has an option for credit card integration. The system can be
configured so that bonds which have been AUTO-ACCEPTED will
process credit card information automatically. Of course, you
need to have an account with a credit card provider.
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- Can you use credit scoring in your analysis?
- Yes.
has an option for credit scoring. Your company would need an
account with our provider. However, since every company has
different requirements and service agreements with multiple
credit score providers, this feature will be customized for
your company's particular requirements for an additional fee.
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- What equipment or other software do I need to use this system?
- Company personnel and agents need a computer with access
to an internal LAN or the Internet, Microsoft Internet Explorer
5.01 or higher, and Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or higher.
- Bond administrators need to have installed on their
computer Adobe Acrobat Professional 5.0. A flatbed scanner (large
enough for legal size) is also recommended.
- Web Server(s): Windows 2003 Server running IIS and
.NET Framework, ActivePDF Toolkit Professional.
- SQL Server(s): Windows 2003 Server, Microsoft SQL Server
2003, plus any software necessary to facilitate communication
between a customer's existing mainframe systems and .
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- What equipment do my agents or field personnel need to use this
system?
- A computer with access to the Internet and Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5.0 or higher.
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- What type of computer skills do you need to maintain and operate
this system?
- Basic computer literacy is required. Personnel familiar with
the features of Microsoft Office will be as comfortable with
the easy-to-use functions of .
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- Since you are sending application information over the Internet,
how do you secure this information?
- The connection is established using the industry-standard
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. We can also accommodate
higher levels of security should your organization require it.
Please contact us with your specific question.
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- What equipment do our agents or field personnel need to print
the bonds?
- Simply use the local printer connected to the computer you
are using! Other than a self-loading Active X control that is
installed the very first time a computer prints a bond, no special
software is required.
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- We have a specialized bond numbering scheme -- how does your
system accommodate this?
-
is architected so that accommodating special requirements is
very cost-effective. We are able to accommodate a variety of
schemes with minimal effort. Call us with your needs, and we
will provide direct answers to your specific questions.
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- What benefits would implementing this system have for my agencies?
- Agencies can view all of the bonds they have issued. The information
can be sorted by bond number, issuance date, obligee name, or
a variety of other fields. In this manner, agents can rapidly
search for specific information about a particular bond.
- Agency personnel would enjoy all the easy-to-use features
of
without having to purchase and install any specialized
software. They can use any computer with a Web browser and a
connection to the Internet. Easy for them to use; easy for you
to deploy and support.
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- What happens if an agent tries to change information on a bond
that has already been issued?
- Once a bond has been issued, agents CANNOT change any information
on the bond. While they can view application information at
any time, agents will need to work directly with your underwriting
department to modify any submitted information.
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- How does your system calculate premiums?
- AUTO-ACCEPTED BONDS and REFERRED BONDS display a screen showing
the total premium due for the bond. These premiums are calculated
from rate tables that the bond administrator creates and maintains.
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- What is so special about ?
-
utilizes a unique methodology we call ScreenFlow™. In every
other Web-based system, costly IT personnel write the Web pages,
create the databases to store the data, write the queries for
the AUTO-ACCEPT and AUTO-REJECT rules, and prepare the printed
output.
has been designed so that an average computer-literate person
can perform all these functions. The name we assign this individual
is the bond administrator. ’s
ScreenFlow™ is a process of permitting the bond administrator
to simply type in the questions they want asked, arrange them
in the order to be asked, set the values for the AUTO-ACCEPT
and AUTO-REJECT rules, scan any forms to be completed and highlight
the areas where information from the database is to be placed.
Finally, the Administrator presses a submit button.
then proceeds to create the database entries, design the Web
page, and format the bond output. Fast, easy, and simple!
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- What are the steps to set up a completely new bond in ?
- To add a new bond, the bond department simply follows the
easy steps below:
- Identify bond type
- Select state bond will be issued in
- Set penalty amount
- Select risk type (which sets premium to be charged)
- Set the application questions to be asked
- Set the auto-approve criteria
- Set the auto-reject criteria
- Select the documents required to issue the bond
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- Do you need to buy a forms library for use with ?
- No. Every company already has all the forms they use, typically
in MS Word or in a PDF file. Using your existing forms, simply
overlay the unique
field names in the proper locations on the form using Adobe
Acrobat Professional. You then save this form to our library
to use at any time with any bond.
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- What optional features are available with ?
- Security - Single Server Login Capability using LDAP
- Description of option: If your company utilizes Microsoft
Active Directory, Netscape Directory Server, Novell Directory
Service or any LDAP Version 2 or 3 compliant database to
authenticate your users,
can integrate with those existing servers to control user
login so that a single server login capability can be achieved
throughout your organization for all internal or external
users.
- Source Code Licensing Option
- Description of option: If your organization wishes to integrate
completely within your current applications, we offer the
option of purchasing the source code for the product to be
used solely within your organization. The source code fee
is solely for the source code; all other server licensing
and transaction fees apply. If you purchase the source code,
you do not need to pay for the maintenance fee.
- Source Code Escrowing Option
- Description of option: Escrowing of source code is an important
component in sound IT infrastructure management. In this option,
source code is escrowed with our preferred third party agent,
DSI Technologies. DSI Technologies is the premier provider
of these services in the world. As a service to our customers,
we offer to escrow the source code and any publicly released
updates with DSI at their Level A service level.
- Import Existing Bond Database Converter License
- Description of option: An additional module for importing
existing bond data into
- Credit Card Processing Module License
- Description of Option: An additional customer specific
module, this module provides the ability to process credit
card transactions. The customization fee for this module does
NOT include any fees for the set-up, use, or maintenance of
the actual credit card processing account with Credit Card
International. This fee is only for the license to utilize
the e-SURETY module for the connectivity and processing of
the credit cards through your designated provider.
- Credit Score Reporting Module License
- Description of Option: An additional customer specific module
that provides the ability to send applicant information to
your preferred credit reporting agency to obtain credit score
information. The fee for this module does NOT include any
fees for the set-up, use, or maintenance of the customer's
account with any credit reporting service. This fee is only
for the creation of a customer specific module to utilize
within the
application for the connectivity, capture, and use of the
credit score within .
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