The Agency Online
Copyright and Terms and Conditions
The Rough Notes Company, Inc., is dedicated to the educational advancement of insurance professionals. It is our conviction that the insurance scholar should be provided with accurate industry knowledge.
The information provided in this Web site is designed to provide accurate and useful information in regard to the subject matter covered and to provide one possible interpretation of the policy or coverage issue. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional service.
Insurance history shows that court decisions and new policy versions may alter the original intent of policy form or coverage language. Although every reasonable effort has been made to verify the accuracy of items carried in this publication, readers are urged to check independently on matters of specific interest or concern. The Rough Notes Company, Inc., makes no warranties or guarantees regarding the accuracy of the information contained in this Web site.
The following analyses contain references to the sources of the forms or programs being analyzed, such as (but not limited to) Association for Cooperative Research and Development (ACORD), American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS), and Insurance Services Office (ISO). The references appear only in conjunction with our independent analyses of these forms. This Web site is not sponsored or endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with any of the publishers’ works that are analyzed. Any appearance of actual form language (i.e., excerpts) is intended only for analytical purpose and is a fair use of the language. The applicable form publishers should be contacted directly for information on securing rights to [and] use of their forms.
© 2000-2006 The Rough Notes Company, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this Web site may be reproduced, translated, stored in a database or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other means, except as expressly permitted by the publisher. For permission contact
Samuel W. Berman.Written permission is granted for our customers as follows:
1. Business Building Letters may be used by customers as formats for both internal and external written communication.
2. Risk Survey/Commercial and Risk Survey/Personal Questionnaires and Checklists may be copied and used by insurance agencies to develop checklists and surveys for use with their clients, customers and prospects.
3. PF&M, Coverages Applicable and Insurance Words selections may be copied and pasted into documents as illustrations. This type of usage must include a reference to the source.
4. e-marketing for Agents may be used on the agent’s Web site or newsletter without attributing it to The Rough Notes Company, Inc. However, the articles may not be shown attributing them to any party other than The Rough Notes Company, Inc.
5. ACORD applications are available for use, subject to the copyrights of ACORD.
Contact us
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Do you have questions or need help that has not been answered here?
Do you have comments, suggestions or feedback?
Please feel free to contact us.
E-mail: rnc@roughnotes.com
Phone: 1-800-428-4384
Fax: 1 (317) 816-1000 or 1 (800) 321-1909.
Our hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard or Daylight Savings Time
Mail: The Rough Notes Company, Inc.
11690 Technology Drive
Carmel. Indiana 46032-5600
Frequently Asked Questions
"How to Insure" Training and Continuing Education Courses
Insurance Words and Their Meanings
Specialty Insurance Bulletin Board
General Questions What are the Search options?
Two different search mechanisms are available to you.
Access Global Search by clicking the oval ‘search’ button on the Home Page of The Agency Online. The Global Search queries the broadest number of products simultaneously and is the quickest and easiest way to find the most information in the least amount of time.
Multiple Product Searches are possible by holding down the control key while clicking and highlighting the desired product(s). Simply insert your search word or phrase and go! The frame on the right side of the screen lists the results of your search, including titles.
Access Specific Search by clicking the ‘Edit / Find (on This Page)’ option on your browser tool bar. This navigation tool is used to find specific words or phrases in the ‘active frame’ currently in use. In some cases, you may have a right and left frame open at the same time. A mouse click inside a frame makes that frame ‘active’.
Note: You have two frames open. The frame on the left is the Table of Contents. The frame on the right displays your search results. By using the ‘specific search’, you can perform searches in either frame simply by making that frame ‘active’.
Example: You want to find information on ‘deductible’ in the Commercial Property Coverage form. Select 'Commercial Property Coverage form' from the left side bar. Place your cursor anywhere on the opened coverage form and click. Now, go to 'Edit' on the top tool bar, then 'Find (on This Page)' and insert the word ‘deductible’ as the word you want to find. Click 'find next' until the appropriate selection is found.
Rough Notes Magazine additional search.
The Rough Notes Magazine can also be searched by topics. Choose the topic(s) by holding down the control key while you click. Then enter the word(s) and click search. The frame on the right side of the screen lists the results of the search by topic.
What is the best way to return to a previous screen?
The ‘back browser arrow’ allows you to back up, page by page.
I'm in a specific product and now want to look at another product. What is the shortest route to do so?
Choose any product on the Agency Online navigation bar and click on it. The Agency Online navigation bar appears as multi-colored tabs.
I've read an article and I want to print it out but when I print, the table of contents prints, not the article. How do I print the article?
Place your cursor anywhere on the article you are reading and click to activate the screen. You will now be able to print the article.
PRODUCT QUESTIONS
ACORD
How do the ACORD forms integrate with the rest of Agency Online?
The Agency Online definitions link directly to the applicable ACORD forms for easy reference when discussing a new coverage with a customer. The PF&M ACORD section also has a direct link so you don’t have to leave the Agency Online program to search for another document.
Business Building Letters There are so many great letters to choose from. How do I find the right one easily? This product contains five sections. 1. Prospecting includes letters useful when pursuing new accounts. The letters are separated into four categories: General, Commercial, Personal and Life and Financial Services. 2. Account Development consists of letters helpful in maintaining and retaining your present clients. These include Relationship Building, Commercial, Personal and Life & Financial Services. These letters assist you in writing more lines of business for each account. To the extent possible, this means no more single policy accounts! 3. Account Activity includes letters helpful in general servicing of your accounts. These include new policies, renewal policies, policy endorsements and changes, claims, cancellations, billings and other transactions. Nothing should ever leave your office without being accompanied by a personal letter. Use these letters to build your relationship and add a personal touch! 4. Agency Special Events includes letters concerning agency announcements, staff changes, carrier changes, anniversaries and the like. Sharing information regularly with your clients helps them know you better. 5. Client Special Events consists of letters used to recognize clients’ birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. Show your interest in the personal events in your customers' lives and not just in their insurance policies and coverages. If you are consistently using letters from one particular area, you may want to print the table of contents frame on the left side of the screen for that section. However, keep in mind that there are over 300 letters in this section! Helpful hint. The 'right letter’ you need may be in a different section. For example, the letter you really need may be in 'Account Development' instead of in 'Prospecting.' Take a look at all the letters to determine what is available. How do I make the best use of these letters? First, add them to your own letter library by highlighting the letter and then using your top tool bar with Edit / Copy / Paste to place them in your Word system. Then edit them so they sound like your own letter. Finally, identify them for easy reference and use in the future. Then review your current sales and service procedures and incorporate these letters into the workflow. Instead of simply mailing a renewal policy to your customer, send a ‘thank you note’ along with it. Be sure to ask for a referral while you’re at it! Remember, make every contact a positive one!
Coverages Applicable If I hyperlink from Coverages Applicable to PF&M, how do I get back to Coverages Applicable? Simply use the ‘back browser arrow’ located in the upper left-hand corner of your tool bar. My risk is not listed in the index. What category should I use? If you know the SIC or NAICS code, review the index and find a risk with a similar SIC or NAICS code. Then use the category that applies to that similar risk. If all you have is the classification, locate a similar risk in the index and use that category. Why do similar definitions appear within different categories? Some insurance exposures and coverages are constant and do not change between categories. Buildings burn, people get hurt and accidents happen. Each individual category is complete and you can limit your review to that category and not have to jump from category to category to get the information you need. Why should I hyperlink to PF&M after reviewing the coverage description in Coverages Applicable? The information provided in Coverages Applicable is limited, relatively brief and does not provide all information needed. PF&M provides in depth and specific coverage analyses.
We suggest that you introduce articles on your website one or two at a time. This enables you to periodically present fresh material to your customers and this encourages them to visit your website regularly. If you coordinate the articles with an emphasis product, this can be very helpful in cross selling. How do I get to this product and then use it? Review the instructions on the e-Marketing for Agents site. Then, have your office Computer Administrator or IT person e-mail Bruce Hicks at The Rough Notes Company, Inc. at
"How to Insure" Training and Continuing Education Courses
I entered my Agency OnLine user name and password and was told that I’m not registered. What do I do now?
The Agency OnLine user name and password is for use by all individuals in the agency. When one person is taking a training course, he or she must be able to have some privacy. Just as with a good book, you need to be able to stop and start, mark a particularly interesting section and be able to return to it for review. The only way to allow for this individually is to have a separate registration within the "How to Insure" courses section.
You need to register once and then use that user name and password every time you return to the How to Insure Courses. You must still use your Agency Online user name and password to access Agency OnLine.
How many "How to Insure" courses are there?
Initially, there will be ten commercial courses. A number of personal lines courses will be introduced at a later date.
Why are there more "How to Insure" Training courses than Continuing Education Courses?
Some courses have less appeal than others. For this reason, they do not support the cost of filing for continuing education credit at this time. If an Agency OnLine customer wants to develop a continuing education course using the "How to Insure" material as part of it, please contact The Rough Notes Company, Inc for more information.
Insurance Marketplace IMP has two search options. Which one is easier to use?
Choose the first option, ‘Select from Listed Companies,’ if you know the company you want information about. Simply scroll down to find the company, highlight it and hit 'search.'
If you are looking for a specific coverage in a particular state, use the second option, ‘Select by Category and State.’ For example, snowmobiles in Vermont are found by entering ‘S’ in the ‘Select by Category’ field and then scrolling down to snowmobiles. You will find a few snowmobile options. In the state field, scroll down to Vermont and then hit 'go!'
The Global Search accessible from the home page does not include The Insurance Marketplace because it is a different Web site.
Insurance Words and Their Meanings What are the ‘search’ options with this product?
Two simple search options are available.
1. The Global Search from the Agency Online home page. The instructions are in The Agency Online General Information.
2. A Specific word search from the Insurance Words home page. Simply click on the ‘search’ button and follow the prompts.
When is Insurance Words and Their Meanings updated?
This site is updated at least annually. New words, updated definitions and new glossaries are published every January.
PF&M What material does PF&M have that I can use for selling?
Many sections have brochure wording and endorsement checklists that are helpful and can be used when calling on clients.
Does PF&M address only ISO Coverages?
No. Most of the ISO forms are discussed, as well as many of the AAIS coverage forms. In addition, a number of specialty coverage analyses, based on different company coverage forms, are also included. Examples are educators' legal, aircraft and various ocean marine coverages.
I want to use some proposal wording in my agency’s sales materials. Is there some way to do that easily?
The same procedure for this application applies to copying any material from The Agency Online.
Proposal language in PF&M is easily accessible as a category in the Table of Contents and also by using the burgundy color oval button at the lower right-hand side of the PF&M screen.
Highlight the desired proposal wording with the cursor. Then hit control-c or Edit / Copy, using your browser tool bar. Open the specific document you want to copy, for example, into Word and use control-v or Edit / Paste to paste, using the browser tool bar. Edit the language to suit your purposes and then save it as your new document.
There is so much information! Where do I start?
Remember the two search options explained in the first section. Specific searches can be accomplished in either the table of contents in the left frame or in content in the right frame.
Can I use this information to develop a continuing education course?
Some of our material has been used in a number of courses. Please contact us to discuss the details.
The checklist was designed to '"cover all the bases.'" The entire default checklist prints so you can simply check the recommended coverages and then have the clients initial to accept or reject them. Signature lines are at the bottom of the form for both you and your client to sign and date. The checklist shows both the coverages recommended and those that were not and the insured's acceptance or rejection of each. When you handle it in this manner, it covers most of the normal coverage questions and reduces the agent's E&O exposure. Be sure to keep the completed and signed checklists on file when you are done using them!
Depending on the need or application, there are quite a few. However, the pre-renewal survey can be used every year to keep current with all essential coverages.
Rough Notes Magazine How do I "search" in the Rough Notes magazine?
The same two search options apply. Refer to The Agency Online General Information above for Global Search and Specific Search information and procedures.
In addition, once you are at the magazine home page, you have an additional search option by following the same process as with Global Search. This option allows for specific searches of features, columns or departments.
Refer to the Global Search instructions in the general information section above.
Specialty Insurance Bulletin Board
Stay "in the know" on a daily basis about new products and product enhancements, company appointments, changing contact information, special interest events and conferences, as well as CE courses.
Keep your information on our fast-paced industry up to date - attract new business opportunities through The Insurance Marketplace Specialty Lines Insurance Bulletin Board.
As an added feature, all Insurance Marketplace listees can provide updated information throughout the year for posting on the Specialty Lines Insurance Bulletin Board for:
Knowledge is power.