The agency operations glossary.
Plain-language definitions, practical examples, and the details a new team member should check. Find the term you need, then see where it fits in the work.
41 results to explore
Account manager
An account manager in an independent insurance agency owns the ongoing service of assigned clients: renewals, endorsements, certificates, billing questions, and carrier follow-up. The role often includes coordinating the renewal and helping clients understand their options. How that work is shared with a producer or CSR depends on the agency.
ACORD
ACORD, the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, is the nonprofit standards body for the insurance industry, founded in 1970. Agencies know it for ACORD forms: the standardized applications, certificates, and binders that carriers across the market accept, like the ACORD 125 commercial application or the ACORD 25 certificate of liability insurance.
Additional insured
An additional insured is a person or business provided coverage under another party's policy through the policy wording or an endorsement. The scope depends on that wording. In construction and service contracts, the hiring party may request additional insured status for liability connected with the contractor's work.
Agency bill vs direct bill
Agency bill and direct bill are the two ways premium gets collected on a policy. Under direct bill, the carrier invoices the insured directly and pays the agency its commission later, usually on a monthly statement. Under agency bill, the agency invoices the client, collects the premium, keeps its commission, and remits the net amount to the carrier or wholesaler.
Agency management system (AMS)
An agency management system (AMS) is the software an insurance agency uses to maintain client records, policies, documents, activities, and often accounting and commissions. Systems such as Applied Epic, HawkSoft, EZLynx, AMS360, Momentum (formerly NowCerts), and QQ Catalyst also offer workflow features and connections to other tools.
Binder
A binder is a temporary insurance contract that provides evidence of coverage before the policy is issued. Check the accepted terms, effective period, and authority for the particular risk. A request to bind is not the same as confirmation that coverage is in effect.
Binding coverage
Binding coverage means putting an insurance contract into effect through an authorized process. Accepting a quote or asking an agent to bind does not, by itself, establish that coverage has begun. The authority, required conditions, and agreed effective date and time determine the next steps.
Book of business
A book of business is the full set of clients and policies an agency or an individual producer manages, usually described by total written premium and the commission revenue it generates. It is the core asset of an independent agency: when an agency sells, the book and its retention are what the buyer is paying for.
Book roll
A book roll is the transfer of a block of policies from one carrier to another, usually processed policy by policy as each one comes up for renewal. Agencies roll books when a carrier exits a state or line, changes appetite, prices itself out of the market, or when a new carrier offers better terms for that class of business.
BOR letter (broker of record)
A broker of record (BOR) letter is a document signed by the insured requesting that a carrier recognize a different agency or broker as its representative. Carrier acceptance, effective dates, servicing rights, and commission treatment follow the carrier's process and agreements. A BOR request is different from a request to change coverage.
Carrier appetite
Carrier appetite is the set of risks a carrier actually wants to write right now: the industries, lines, sizes, and territories where it will quote competitively. It is narrower than what the carrier is licensed to write, and it moves with market conditions.
Carrier appointment
A carrier appointment identifies an authorized producer or agency relationship with an insurer where an appointment is required. The agency agreement sets the business relationship; state rules govern licensing and appointment requirements. An appointment alone does not tell you whether a person may bind a particular risk.
Carrier portal
A carrier portal is a website an insurer provides for authorized users to quote, issue, service, or view policies. The available tasks and permissions vary. For an agency working with several carriers, different forms, navigation, and authentication steps can make the same task feel different in each portal.
Certificate of insurance (COI)
A certificate of insurance (COI) is a one-page summary of a policy's coverage, issued as proof of insurance to a third party called the certificate holder. The most common version is the ACORD 25 for liability. A certificate is informational only: it does not amend the policy and grants the holder no coverage.
Commission statement
A commission statement is the carrier's periodic report, usually monthly, of what it owes the agency on direct bill business. It lists each policy that generated commission that period: insured name, policy number, premium, commission rate, and the amount paid. Agencies reconcile it against their management system to confirm they got paid on every policy they placed.
Comparative rater
A comparative rater is software that uses a set of applicant information to request pricing from multiple insurance carriers. It helps an agency compare available options while reducing repeated entry. Supported carriers, states, business lines, and steps through binding vary by product and connection.
CSR (customer service representative)
A CSR (customer service representative) helps an insurance agency service clients through certificate requests, policy changes, billing questions, claims handoffs, and renewal preparation. Titles overlap with account manager in some agencies. Responsibilities, licensing, and decision authority should be defined for the actual role.
Dec page (declarations page)
A declarations page, often called a dec page, summarizes policy-specific information such as the named insured, insurer, policy number, term, limits, deductibles, and premium. It may list forms and endorsements. It is a useful starting document, but the complete policy determines the coverage provided.
Endorsement
An endorsement is a written amendment to an insurance policy. It can add, remove, or change coverage, insureds, property, or terms, either at issuance or mid-term. Once issued, the endorsement is part of the policy contract and overrides the base form wherever the two conflict.
Errors and omissions (E&O)
Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance is professional liability insurance. An agency policy may address claims alleging that an error in professional services caused a financial loss. The policy wording, exclusions, reporting requirements, and circumstances determine whether a particular claim is covered.
Hard market
A hard market is the phase of the insurance cycle when premiums rise, underwriting tightens, and capacity shrinks. Carriers raise rates, cut limits, add exclusions, nonrenew business they no longer want, and pull out of whole states or classes. For agencies, it means far more remarketing and harder conversations at renewal.
Insurance intake
Insurance intake is the process of collecting the information needed to quote and write a policy: applicant details, operations, exposures, prior coverage, and loss history. It is the front door of new business. Weak intake shows up later as carrier follow-up questions, re-keyed data, and quotes built on wrong assumptions.
IVANS
IVANS is the connectivity network that moves data between insurance carriers and agency management systems. Its best-known service, IVANS Download, delivers policy, billing, and claims updates from carriers into the agency's AMS, so the system reflects what the carrier issued without anyone re-keying it. IVANS has been part of Applied Systems since 2013.
Loss ratio
A loss ratio compares incurred losses with earned premium for a defined period or group of business. A carrier report may include loss adjustment expenses or other adjustments in its calculation. Read the report's definition before comparing it with another figure.
Loss runs
Loss runs are claim-history reports supplied by a carrier or its authorized administrator. They commonly show claim dates, status, amounts paid, and outstanding reserves for the policies and period reported. Underwriters may request them when considering a commercial account.
MGA (managing general agent)
An MGA, or managing general agent, is an intermediary that a carrier grants underwriting authority: the power to price, quote, and often bind policies on the carrier's paper. Retail agencies use MGAs to reach niche or hard-to-place risks their direct carrier appointments will not write.
New business
New business is any policy an agency writes that is not a renewal of an existing policy: a brand-new client, or a new line of coverage for an existing client. Agencies track it separately from renewals because it measures growth, and because commission treatment can differ between the two.
Nonrenewal
A nonrenewal is a decision not to continue a policy for a new term. It differs from cancellation during the policy term. Notice requirements and available responses depend on the jurisdiction, line, and circumstances. For the agency, the priority is to confirm the effective date and arrange the next steps with the client.
NPN (National Producer Number)
A National Producer Number (NPN) is a unique NAIC identifier assigned during the licensing application process to individuals and business entities recorded in the Producer Database. It helps identify a producer across state records. Having an NPN does not, by itself, prove an active license or authority for a transaction.
Premium audit
A premium audit reviews actual exposures for a policy initially rated using estimates, such as payroll or sales. The carrier applies the policy's audit provisions to determine any adjustment. Higher or lower exposures do not always translate directly into an equal change in premium because policy terms and minimums can apply.
Producer
An insurance producer sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance within the authority of their role. Inside an agency, the title often refers to the person developing business and advising clients. The permitted activities and licensing requirements depend on the state and the work being performed.
Quote proposal
A quote proposal is the client-facing document an agency builds from carrier quotes. Where a quote is the carrier's price and terms delivered to the agent, the proposal packages one or more quotes for the buyer: premium, limits, deductibles, key exclusions, and what the agency recommends. It is how a stack of quotes becomes a decision the client can actually make.
Remarketing
Remarketing is shopping an existing client's policy to other carriers, usually at renewal. The agency gathers updated applications and loss runs, submits the risk to markets with appetite for it, and compares the results against the incumbent carrier's renewal terms.
Renewal
A renewal is the continuation of an insurance policy for another term, usually twelve months. The carrier issues renewal terms ahead of the expiration date, and the agency reviews the pricing and coverage, then either renews as offered, negotiates, or remarkets the account to other carriers.
Retention rate
Retention rate is the share of business an insurance agency keeps at renewal, usually measured over a year. Agencies track it three ways: policy retention (policies kept), client retention (accounts or households kept), and premium retention (renewal premium kept). The three can tell very different stories about the same book.
Soft market
A soft market describes conditions in which insurers compete more actively for business, with greater availability of coverage and potential pressure on rates. Conditions differ by line, location, and class, so one client may see more options while another still has limited market access.
Submission
A submission is the information an agency or broker provides to a carrier or market when requesting a quote. It may include applications, client details, schedules, loss runs, supplemental answers, and an explanation of the risk. The required format and contents depend on the carrier and business line.
Supplemental application
A supplemental application is a carrier-specific questionnaire required in addition to the standard ACORD application. Carriers use them for classes of business where the ACORD forms do not ask enough: contractors, restaurants, cyber, professional liability, and many others. A submission is not complete until every required supplemental is filled out and, usually, signed by the insured.
Surplus lines
Surplus lines insurance, also called excess and surplus or E&S, is coverage placed with non-admitted carriers: insurers not licensed in the insured's state but permitted to write risks the standard market declines. It exists for hard-to-place business: unusual operations, rough loss history, new ventures, or coverage admitted carriers simply will not offer.
Underwriting
Underwriting is how a carrier decides whether to write a risk, at what price, and on what terms. An underwriter, or an automated rating system, weighs the application, the loss history, and the carrier's appetite, then quotes, asks questions, or declines. Every submission an agency sends is competing for an underwriter's yes.
Wholesale broker
A wholesale broker is an intermediary between a retail insurance agency and carriers the agency cannot access directly, most often surplus lines markets. The retail agent keeps the client relationship. The wholesaler markets the risk to its carriers, negotiates terms, and handles the surplus lines paperwork.
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