Often, the insurance underwriters stay late that last day of the month to enter new policies. This means that IT staff have a very small window to execute the applications critical to successful and error-free closing of the accounting books. IT staff had to run and baby sit the applications – one application requiring manual operation took over three hours to complete, another that uploads premium and claim information to the data warehouse took up to six hours.
AutoMate Speeds Report Generation and Distribution for a Major Insurer Contact: Chris Prime Title: Developer Company: Medmarc Insurance Group Background Medmarc Insurance Group is the leader in the medical products liability insurance industry. The company operates as an insurer offering liability insurance protection to life sciences technology companies. Medmarc has a monthly close process whereby underwriters write policies up until the close of business for the month. Once all underwriting is completed, the IT staff have to run a series of applications that close out all insurance claims for the month and create historical entries for the claims and policies in the corporate data warehouse. The Challenge Often, the insurance underwriters stay late that last day of the month to enter new policies. This means that IT staff have a very small window to execute the applications critical to successful and error-free closing of the accounting books. IT staff had to run and baby sit the applications - one application requiring manual operation took over three hours to complete, another that uploads premium and claim information to the data warehouse took up to six hours. In the past, IT staff would work well into the morning hours after the month's close, and still not finish loading the data warehouse. Consequently, the company's executives could not access any reports on the company's financial performance for the month. The anxious executives simply had to wait for IT staff to complete the updates before they get critical information on financial performance, loss run statements, and potential new markets. The Solution Chris Prime, Developer at Medmarc, realized that he needed to automate the applications relating to monthly close in order to speed up and streamline the process. He envisioned a process that would start immediately upon the close of business on the last day of the month and run unattended throughout the night. He also envisioned a process that would automatically notify the appropriate IT staff by email in the event of an application malfunction. After thoroughly researching software products capable of automating his process, Chris chose AutoMate by Network Automation, Inc. According to Chris, "AutoMate has all the features required for automating any process, as well as a comprehensive toolset for monitoring and notifying staff about the status of processes and applications. After considering all the alternatives, it really was an easy decision for me to choose AutoMate." The Benefit The main benefit from automation is faster report creation and delivery to key executives. Now, the executives receive critical reports by email automatically and in a timely fashion. Moreover, the IT department is assured that the process will proceed error-free. As Chris says, "We often had problems when the process was manual because the staff would forget a step which would require the process to be completely restarted. This would mean an entire day's work lost by the company." Also, in terms of quality of life, things are much better for the IT staff - no more staying up throughout the night to generate the reports. Chris estimates that AutoMate is saving Medmarc at least three employee-days a month. Now that Chris realizes the full potential of AutoMate, he is using it for much more. Already, AutoMate is helping Medmarc comply with a myriad of agency and governmental rules and regulations. Chris uses AutoMate to aggregate and collate extensive reports demanded by regulators, often without prior notice. AutoMate pulls information from a range of sources including Crystal Reports and Microsoft word and creates one seamless Adobe Acrobat file that contains all the information required. This allows Medmarc to leverage existing applications and work processes that maintain up-to-date data, but still provide regulators with only the information that pertains to their demands. And Chris has big plans for AutoMate in the upcoming year. He plans to set up an automation server that would automate many manual processes associated with Medmarc's Great Plains financial systems, as well as the Infinity system the company uses for all policy, claims, and premium information. Chris says that he will implement another five to six critical applications using AutoMate next year alone. ... [download for more]
