POWER BROKER offers both two way “round robin” and one way “push” integration capabilities with PowerQuote®.   This means that you can take the existing policy information, merge it over into the PowerQuote® software, obtain a quote and then write it back into Power Broker without having to re-key the information.  Or it means that you may start a brand-new customer quote in PowerQuote®, then push the quote back into Power Broker as a new Customer and Policy without having to first do any setup entries in Power Broker.  These features eliminate redundant, time-consuming double data entry and in the process also eliminate data entry errors that occur when duplicating effort.

Before you can begin using these features you must purchase the PowerQuote® integration feature, install the key file that we will send to you that enables the integration and complete the initial installation.

In Power Broker, click on Help – then About Power Broker for Windows, to determine which features within Power Broker you currently own.




Configuring Power Broker for Integration
In Power Broker complete the Utilities – Define Your Company Information – Software Directories screen. You need to identify the path for PowerQuote® plus the startup file as shown below under Windows Software.

Please Note: PowerQuote® need not be installed on the same drive as Power Broker; nor should it be installed in Power Broker BRO directory.

The above example indicates that the PowerQuote® software is found on the Q: drive in a directory called POWERS~1\POWERQ~1.  The Startup File name must also be entered, which is POWERQ~1.EXE.   Note that the actual directories are abbreviated to 8 character length. 

You can also set the default for the Rating Services which is found under Tables – User Preference – More Settings.  Enter a ‘1’ to make PowerQuote®  your default Rating Software program.



USING THE VARIOUS INTERFACE FEATURES

From within the Policy Screens – Automobile and Habitational, click on the Rating Services tab found in the left side, Policy Options Bar.  This displays the Rating Services Sub-Menu as displayed below.  Option number 1 is used for PowerQuote® integration.

You may also access PowerQuote® on Habitational and Automobile policy screen via the icon indicated with the arrow in screen image below.

PowerQuote® 2 way Integration

PowerQuote® 2 way takes the information from Power Broker and moves it into PowerQuote® in order to obtain a quote.

When you select this option, you must have a policy, property location, property information, driver(s), vehicle(s) and coverage’s added first. If you do not have the Power Broker screens completed in full you will not obtain a correct quote and the system will generate error messages.

Once you have completed your quote in PowerQuote® and are exiting that software, the program prompts you -

At this point you can say ‘Yes’ to bring the new quote back into Power Broker or say ‘No’ and the Power Broker policy screen will remain ‘as is’.  PowerQuote® software will close and you will be back in Power Broker on your policy.  If you have said ‘Yes’ to save the quote back,  Power Broker prompts you –

‘S’ – the quote will only save overtop of the existing policy if the Insurer codes are the same. If you select ‘S’ and the new carrier does not match the carrier shown in the Power Broker policy screen, Power Broker will automatically create a new Binder policy. If the Insurer code you have shown in Power Broker is not a standard CSIO code, (eg. ECO shown instead of ECON) as long as you have your CSIO Insurance Company Table set up correctly then the quote will write overtop. The correct setup for the CSIO Insurance Company table is –

the first CSIO Code can be any code that you wish, CSIO Code #2 must be a proper CSIO code. (as shown below)

If the Insurer code that PowerQuote® uses is not a valid CSIO code and you have asked the system to write the quote back into Power Broker.  Power Broker will create a Binder policy showing the Insurer code as ‘??????’. You will then need to correct the Insurer code on your main policy screen.

‘C’ – will automatically create a new Binder policy in the Power Broker policy screen and it pulls in the information you had provided in PowerQuote®.

‘Esc’ – will not write anything back into Power Broker.

(1)  Launch PowerQuote®

This function assumes you have previously rated the policy (by running ‘2 Way’) and saved the quote in PowerQuote® and now you want to retrieve it. You could have also created the quote outside of Power Broker running PowerQuote® from your Desktop.

When PowerQuote® opens it lands on a browse screen showing all of the quotes for your currently selected client.  Select the quote that you want. PowerQuote® will ask if you want to save the quote back into the Broker Management System, say ‘Yes’.   Power Broker will ask if you want to Save overtop, Create new Binder or Escape.  Selection of one of these items performs the same way as previously mentioned.

(2) Launch PowerQuote® with Integration

This option is identical to selecting PowerQuote® two way Integration from the Rating Services menu.

You could also create a quote outside of Power Broker and save it, and then back in Power Broker execute the ‘launch’ function to have the quote write back as a new policy. This would save you setting up a Customer and Policy unnecessarily in the event the client did not accept the quote.

(3) Retrieve saved PowerQuote®

This option is a One-Way “Push” feature that allows you to start the Prospecting / Quoting process in PowerQuote® for brand new business and then save that quote as a brand-new Customer / Policy in Power Broker without having to first set anything up in Power Broker.  After saving the new Quote, come into Power Broker and select this option #3, found on both the Automobile and Habitational Policies screen.  The following screen will appear.

If the customer already exists in Power Broker, you may enter the customer’s code.  You may display the entire Customer Table by entering an error into the Customer Code field, for instance a  /  or a  .  and press <Enter>.  You will be asked if you want to create a new customer with this code, say No, then the entire Customer Table appears for you to select from.  Any time you enter a brand new customer code, the system assumes that you want to create a new customer record using this code, but you must confirm with a <Yes> before the new record is created.

Finally click on the <Save> button to save the currently highlighted quote to Power Broker as a new binder policy.  The policy is assigned the next sequential binder number, and if you look at the Main Policy Screen below, you will see that you need to fill in the accounting information such as:  commission and tax percent, commission split, producer code and whether agency or direct bill.  The complete policy detail information as entered in PowerQuote®, now appears in the Vehicle, Driver, Coverages, etc. screen.



Sometimes people will save a quote to Power Broker several times, or save a quote that they do not intend to turn into a policy.  Use the <Delete> button to remove any unwanted quotes from the “Integration – Save Quoting Software Policy to Power Broker Screen”.

4) Write Policy to Integration File

A few brokerages have said that it takes too long for the PowerQuote® to open up, so as a result we developed this fourth option.  Click on this option writes the current policy into a data file and places it in a spot where PowerQuote® wants it.  PowerQuote® is not launched, rather PowerQuote® is already open on your desktop.  On the PowerQuote® Navagation Bar, click on  Integration Icon to display a list of policies that you have sent from Power Broker using the “Write Policy to Integration File” option.





Additional Information

On the Utilities Menu, “Define Your Company Information” option, “EDI Options / Misc. Options” page there are 2 additional questions that effect PowerQuote® integration.

The first is the question, ‘Perform Duplicate Driver Number Check prior to launching Rating Software (Y/N):’ If you have this marked as ‘Yes’, the system will not allow you to process a quote for any policy where you have duplicate drivers shown. You can print off the report found under Utilities – Reports – Duplicate Driver Assignment Report and then correct the data, or you have the option to turn this feature off.   In essence all convictions listed against this customer must be properly assigned to a driver number as shown on the drivers database.

If you turn this check off, you will need to verify that the claims and convictions history associated with each  driver is correct, in order for you to obtain a proper quote. 

The second question is “Retrieve Claims and Convictions in PowerQuote Integration (Y/N):”.  So little data is entered describing the Claim or the Conviction in the quoting process, compared to the amount that is required in the Broker Management System, that we feel it is not worthwhile to use this option.  One brokerage insisted that this option be provided because they wanted at least a base on each Claim and Conviction to be put into Power Broker whenever they wrote brand-new business and used the one way integration to move it from PowerQuote® into Power Broker.