AgentSync Manage Glossary

Understand key terminology used in AgentSync and the insurance industry.

We have a few glossaries on this page.  Please click below to find the glossary you are most interested in exploring.  By clicking the link below, you will be brought to the correct glossary section.

1. Insurance Terminology
2. AgentSync Terminology

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• Affiliation - There are 21 states that require the agency to file an affiliation for either the DRLP only or in some states for every agent selling insurance products in their state under an agreement with the agency.  All but three states use the term "affiliation" for this relationship between the agency and a contracted agent while FL and TX label them a "designation" or "appointment" and CA labels them an "endorsement."
• Captive/Exclusive Agents - A captive or exclusive insurance agency works for and sells for one carrier only. A captive agency receives support from their associated carrier through advertising, location, and referrals but a captive agency is limited in what policies and products the agents can sell.
• Co-Code (Company Code) - A co-code, also known as a company code, is a five-digit number assigned to all insurance companies by the NAIC for filing financial data. Carrier appointments include the co-code of the specific carrier that the individual/firm is appointed within the state.
• Designated Home State - If an adjuster lives in a “non-licensing state,” meaning that their resident state doesn’t license adjusters, they can choose a designated home state to serve as their resident state. All adjusters with a designated home state are required to complete the pre-licensing and educational requirements of their selected home state. 

• Detailed Report - The detail report allows a user to view all information for a single producer, company, or agency, such as demographic information (name, address), license information (states licensed, license number, status, and lines of authority), appointment information (company appointments, effective date, termination date, and termination reason) and any reported regulatory actions. The detailed report can be requested with the data being returned as an XML which allows the data to be compatible with all computer networks, data structures, and operating systems.
• DRLP - A designated responsible licensed producer (DRLP) is a producer assigned by a business entity to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of the state. While each state’s policies differ around DRLPs, most states allow for more than one DRLP, and the DRLP must hold all lines of authority that the business entity they represent hold. Some states refer to the DRLP as Designated Responsible Person.

• FEIN -An acronym for Federal Employer Identification Number, the FEIN is a 9-digit number assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to identify a business operating in the US for tax purposes. All companies that have employees, are structured as a corporation or partnership, or file certain tax returns for small businesses must have a FEIN.💡Read: What is a FEIN?
• Inactive Licenses - Can indicate a license that has lapsed due to failure to renew on time or failure to have an active appointment or affiliation (in states that require it) but can also be a license that the state has rescinded due to some regulatory action. 
• Independent Agencies - An independent agency is able to contract agents underneath them to sell the products of multiple insurance carriers.
• Insurance Agency -An insurance agency is an individual or company made of agents who solicit and sell insurance on behalf of one or more carriers. There are two types of insurance agencies: captive/exclusive agencies who sell policies from one insurance carrier and independent agencies who sell policies and products from multiple insurance carriers.
• Insurance Adjuster - An individual who evaluates coverage and determines the amount of loss suffered. Generally, there are three types of adjuster licenses: company (or staff), independent, and public.
• Insurance Carrier - An insurance carrier is the company that provides the insurance coverage. While many individuals go to an agency to purchase insurance, it’s the insurance carriers that hire underwriters, handle insurance claims, and issue payments. An individual or firm must be both licensed by the state and appointed in the state by any insurance carrier whose products they want to sell.
• Insurance Core Lines - Core lines refers to the so-called “core” limited lines of authority:
  • Car Rental
  • Credit
  • Crop
  • Travel

• Insurance Producer - An individual or firm that is licensed to sell the typical lines of insurance in a state. Sometimes also referred to as an Agent/Agency.
• Just-in-Time Appointments - In those states that permit JIT appointments, carriers may wait to file the appointment until after the first piece of business is generated by a new producer. The appointment request must then be submitted to the state insurance department (DOI) within a specified period of time.
• Line of Authority (LOA) - A line of authority (LOA) is a general area of insurance where producers can be authorized to do business.
• Major Lines -The NAIC’s Producer Licensing Model Act (PLMA) defines the six major lines of authority for insurance as follows:
  • Life
  • Accident and Health or Sickness
  • Property
  • Casualty
  • Variable Life and Variable Annuity
  • Personal Lines

• MGA/MGU - A Managing General Agent (MGA) is a type of wholesale broker that sits between a licensed agency/agent and the insurer in the Insurance Distribution Channel. MGAs, like most wholesale brokers, recruit agencies and agents to sell the insurance products of one or more insurance carriers. This includes assisting the agency/agent with obtaining the required licenses. However, unlike a typical agency that would perform these services, an MGA also takes on some of a carrier’s responsibilities such as binding coverage, underwriting and pricing, settling claims, and appointing retail agents in a certain region.

• NAIC - The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) is the U.S. regulatory support association governed by insurance regulators from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 5 U.S. territories. Through NAIC, state regulators establish standards and best practices, conduct peer review, and coordinate regulatory oversight. NIPR partners closely with NAIC as an independent non-profit affiliate.

• NIPR - The National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) is a non-profit partnership with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to streamline licensing data and compliance services for insurance professionals. NIPR serves as a centralized resource of producer licensing information for all 50 states, D.C., and U.S. territories, as well as an electronic communication network to apply for licenses, appointments, and terminations.

• NPN - An NPN (National Producer Number) is a unique identifier assigned to producers through the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners). The NPN is the primary tracker of insurance-related activities for both agents and entities.
• PDB (Producer Database) - The Producer Database (PDB) is the single source of truth for producer licensing information from participating state insurance departments. Currently, all 50 states, Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, are included on the PDB. The PDB contains and regularly updates agent demographic information, updated license information, appointment information, and reported regulatory information. *Not every state posts everything to PDB.

• Personal Lines of Insurance - Personal lines of insurance protect individuals against the financial losses that result from various personal risks. Examples of personal insurance coverage include protection from financial risk related to death, injury, or property loss.

• Registry Appointment - A term coined by AgentSync to identify appointments in states that don’t require or accept appointment transactions but do require the carrier to track all agents selling on behalf of the carrier in their state and be prepared to send that list upon request from the state.
• Reinstatement Period - A reinstatement period is a grace period for an agent whose license has lapsed due to failure to renew or meet continuing education requirements. If the agent meets the criteria to renew during the reinstatement time frame, the agent can apply to reinstate their license. State rules vary greatly based on the renewal period time frame and what requirements are.
• Retaliatory Fee - A state’s insurance department may impose a fee upon insurance professionals in another state to match what that state charges its residents for licenses. This is called a retaliatory fee (a higher or additional fee).

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• Account: An object (or tab) in AgentSync used to track agencies or firms.  Accounts can also sync with NIPR - simply enter the NPN on the account page to initiate the daily sync.

• Affiliations: An object (or tab) in AgentSync used to manually track affiliations between agents and agencies.

• Agent ID: An object (or tab) to track agent IDs and associated hierarchies.  
• AgentSync Attempt
• AgentSync Status
• AgentSync Success
• AgentSync Tracking
• Agent Type
• Audit Log: Located on each page that is synced or was synced with NIPR - the audit log has the raw data associated with the daily sync.  Usually used for auditing purposes by the AgentSync support team.
• Carrier Appointment: An object (or tab) that displays all carrier appointments associated with your agents and agencies.  This information comes from the NIPR daily sync.  For agency customers, you may not see your producer's registry appointments.  However, if you are a carrier, you will be able to access the registry appointments that you appointed on behalf of the producer.
• Company Record: An object (or tab) that our carrier customers configure for underwriting companies to be used in NIPR appointment and termination call outs.
• Company State Settings: An object (or tab) used by our carrier customers that holds state specific information for an underwriting company.

• CoCode
• Contact: An object (or tab) in AgentSync used to track internal or external agents.  Contacts can sync with NIPR - simply enter the NPN on the contact page to initiate the daily sync.
• Custom Line of Authority (LOA) Category: In some states, health is labeled as "Accident, Health and Sickness" and in other states its just "Health."  AgentSync created custom LOA categories that standardize unique LOA names for easier reporting.
• Estimated NIPR Fee
• Estimated State Fee
• FEIN ID
• NIPR Company Name
• NIPR State Domicile
• NIPR Transaction: This is your "receipt" after applying for/renewing a license in AgentSync or appointing/terminating a producer.  The NIPR transaction page holds all data associated with the specific transaction - including transaction number, reported NIPR/state fees, and submission date/time.
• NIPR Transaction Batch: Submitting multiple transactions at once?  The transaction batch groups and categorizes all those individual transactions for easier viewing and reporting.  
• Owners, Partners, Officers, and Directors: Many agency licenses require at least one owner, partner, officer, and director. The instructions linked above will show how to manually add the required information for your agency's owners, partners, officers and directors.

• Producer Assignment:  Keeping track of what and where your producers are able to sell can be challenging and manual. That's where your producer assignment comes in. 

  Your producer assignment does the following:

  • Calculate the percentage of licenses your producer has (through the NPN sync) verses the ones you would like them to have (based on the assignment)
  • Determine which state specific questions your agent is required to submit (if this feature is turned on)
• Producer Compliance Scorecard
• Producer Detail
• Producer Licensing
• Producer Non-Uniform Question
• Regulatory Action
• Reinstatement
• Related NIPR Address
• Related Producer
  
• Related Producer Tracking
• Reported NIPR Fee
• Reported State Fees
• Scorecard Type
• User: An object (or tab) in AgentSync, also known as the people tab.  ISV customers may use the user tab to sync with NIPR.  This option makes the most sense if all agents have a Salesforce license.  Just like the contact and account tab, simply enter the NPN on the user (or people) page to initiate the daily sync.