I just got an email from Jim Barry, our Project Manager, about the progress we are making on the new WinRater, SinglePoint, and Real Time Rating.  Some of it you might not understand, but it will give you an idea of the level of activity and progress we are making.  Hopefully you’ll find it as interesting and encouraging as I did:

Steve is working on the iterative functions such as driver and vehicle information.
Resolved password requirements with data-transfer partners, the resolution will become the method we will use for all partners.
Test environments are pending with data-transfer partners.
Steve has fixed 5 of the 8 bugs identified during testing, they will be included in the build done this week.
Had discussions and sent documentation to 8 carriers regarding SinglePoint upload. Scheduling follow up calls as we get closer to implementation.

Anurag continues to develop the business requirements and develop the initial design for Real Time Rating.
Auto 2008 - Delivery date for version to be ready for QA testing is Monday 2/18, Agent Beta testing begins 2/25

Rates for 15 of the 19 carriers have been entered - Tom
Testing has been completed on 6 of the 15 - Tom
Data base conversion developed and in testing - Galina
Forms conversion continues - Carol
Deployment modifications in progress - Carol, Danny, Craig

You’ll soon be hearing a lot about our new SinglePoint software. It will make it easy to submit ACORD New Business Applications to any auto carrier and MAIP.

We had been building SinglePoint for a while, but when the Commissioner made her decision to proceed with Managed Competition we really kicked it into gear. We realized it was going to be difficult for agents to quote and submit business in this new environment. Agents were going to need a better method than re-keying quote data into different carrier web sites.

So we built SinglePoint and we included it as part of the new WinRater Comparative Auto Rating Software. Agents will be able to get an accurate quote for all their carriers, select the carrier (or MAIP) they want to submit to, and launch SinglePoint where all the rating data will prefill onto an ACORD new-business app. Agents can complete the app and click “Upload” to transfer all the data to the carrier site for verification and issuance.

We believe agents will be so busy they won’t be able to use a different workflow for each company. That’s why we created SinglePoint. The workflow will be the same for all carriers and MAIP. CSRs won’t have to learn different keystrokes and work-arounds for different carriers and rekey customer information. A standardized submission process is an absolute necessity.

We expect a number of carriers to be plugged into SinglePoint right at the start in April, with all others jumping onboard shortly thereafter.