Real-Time Submission of MA Auto and Homeowner Apps from WinRater/SinglePoint to Peerless is temporarily unavailable. Both Boston Software and Peerless are aware of the situation and are working diligently to get the functionality back up and running.

Agents who attempt to submit an app to Peerless’ website, PLIQ, will receive an error message stating that the submission failed. For the moment, agents wishing to place their business with Peerless will need to enter their clients’ information directly into PLIQ. Real-Time Submission in WinRater/SinglePoint for all other carriers is unaffected.

Tower Group has fully acquired OneBeacon’s Personal Lines. To handle this change, Boston Software has made a few simple but important modifications to your WinRater program.

• All OneBeacon names and logos within WinRater and SinglePoint have changed. OneBeacon Auto is now labeled as Tower Group and OneBeacon OneChoice Home now appears as Tower OneChoice.
• WinRater Auto -  Underwriting Tab: WinRater uses prior carrier information in order to determine if a quote is new business or renewal. If the prior carrier was OneBeacon you will need to select “Tower” from the dropdown.
• WinRater Home - Credit Reports: you will be able to retrieve credit information within WinRater while performing home quoting as you always have. However, you must change your old OneBeacon password to your new Tower Group password.*

*You should have received a new Credit Retrieval password from Tower Group and instructions on how to update it in the Tower Agent Portal. Once this is done, see the instructions below on how to update the new password in WinRater so your credit retrieval workflow will not be interrupted.

Once a quote is opened, this is how to update your password in WinRater:
1) Click “Credit Reports Tab”
2) Click “Settings”
3) Enter your updated password
4) Click “Apply”

Please Note: only the password is changing for the Credit Retrieval. The producer code and User ID will remain the same.

Today we sent out our very first Rollout Report which details the latest features Boston Software is working on for you. We are excited to start this year off with so many new and exciting features which will simplify the quote to issue process. Each month we will be sending out a new Rollout Report with the intent of keeping you in the loop.

Didn’t get the Rollout Report? Check your spam folder and if you don’t see it there, contact us to be added to our email list.

Read February’s Rollout Report

We’ve run a BIG number of real-time transactions:

· 365,000+ The number of quotes calculated through SinglePoint in real time.

· 150,000+ The number of new business Apps submitted through SinglePoint in real time.

· 45,000+ The number of credit reports (for HO renewal scoring) retrieved in real time.

· 5,000+ The number of CSRs registered to SinglePoint software.

And that’s just from January through October of this year!

Thanks to suggestions from agents, we added a new feature within real-time submitting called “Submit Now” that gives you more flexibility and speed when submitting new business to your carriers.

The Submit Now feature allows you to gather 100% of the policy submission data (including all carrier-specific required information) from right within WinRater and transfer it to your carrier web site. Agents can now “skip” the SinglePoint App and proceed immediately to validation and issuance on the carrier web site.

But don’t worry, if you want to access the App for viewing, editing, emailing, or printing, you still can just as you always have.

As of September 1st, MAIP/CAR will require your MAIP ID to be included in the information sent by SinglePoint during submission. This ID is the same one that you use to log into the MAIP website.

In accordance with this new requirement, Boston Software has released an update for WinRater which adds a new “MAIP ID” field on the SinglePoint Settings screen’s “Carrier Credentials” tab (as pictured below). This field is in addition to the current “CAR Assigned Agency Number” and “CAR Assigned Sequence Number” fields which will remain the same.

Please visit: www.bostonsoftware.com/update and click on the ENTER button to download the available update. Once completed, WinRater will prompt you to enter your MAIP ID into this new field along with any other missing credentials for other carriers.

You will be able to “Ignore” the prompt and successfully submit to MAIP without having entered your ID until September 1st. However, WinRater will continue to prompt you upon startup and upon all attempted MAIP submissions until the field is filled. After September 1st, you will no longer be able to submit to MAIP unless you have entered the MAIP ID under the SinglePoint Settings tab.

WinRater/SinglePoint to N&D’s AgentPak system is off & running! Hundreds of Apps already uploaded!

We haven’t forgotten about Homeowners business! By plugging into SinglePoint, N&D agents can now:

· Take a HO quote in WinRater,

· Click SUBMIT in WinRater to create a SinglePoint New Business App,

· And instantly upload the App to N&D’s AgentPak system, with all the data pre-filled in the appropriate fields.

We released this new feature last week and agents are now experiencing the benefits: a faster, easier submission process for new N&D homeowners business.

This is a great way to eliminate double-entry of data and workflow inefficiencies.

If your agency did not receive a SoftSync email that included this new feature, just visit www.bostonsoftware.com/update and click on the ENTER button to begin downloading this upgrade.

Many of you have already been using SinglePoint for Real Time Submitting of Norfolk&Dedham Auto apps and the process is exactly the same for HO apps. So there isn’t much to learn! And of course, if you need help of any kind, just give us a call.

Plymouth Rock agents will now be able to perform real-time rating and submitting from 7:00 a.m. to Midnight, seven days a week. The expanded hours coincide with the RMV’s increased hours of online availability. Previously the RMV availability ended at 8:00 p.m. Enjoy!

Sometimes it’s better to provide facts & figures instead of constantly talking about how great a product is. So we’d like to show you some SinglePoint numbers that tell a great story:

• Since May 2008:
  - SinglePoint Submissions - over 70,000 Apps have been submitted to carriers for processing.
  - Averaged 3,000 submissions a week.
• Since February 2009:
  - Real Time Rating - over 124,000 quotes have been generated via SinglePoint real time rating.
  - Averaged 2,400 quotes a day.
• Number of CSR’s using SinglePoint: 6,000 (approximately)
• Number of carriers Plugged into SinglePoint: 15 (with more coming!)

For those agents that are not using SinglePoint or question its capabilities, take a look at the numbers.

SinglePoint WILL simplify your agency workflow by eliminating errors that are associated with re-entering of data, saving your agency CSR’s tons of time. Besides, they have better things to do… like selling higher coverage’s and offering support to your customers. Give us a call or visit our SinglePoint Learning Center for more details.

Great news! Last week Peerless and Safety Insurance plugged into SinglePoint! You can now submit New Business Auto & Home Apps from SinglePoint to Peerless Agents’ Portal, and Auto Apps from SinglePoint to Safety Express (Safety was already plugged in for Home Apps). We’re happy to announce that it’s been a great success for the first week, the Apps have already begun to pour in!