SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic
Do the Work
SESSION HANDOUT
Applied Client Network
www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Prepared for Applied Client Network
Applied Client Network
2340 S. River Road, Suite 311
Des Plaines, IL 60018
Phone: 220-220-1444 Fax: 224-220-1443
Copyright  2014 by Applied Client Network, Inc., 2340 S. River Road, Suite 311, Des Plaines, IL 60018. Protection claimed in all
forms and matters of copyrightable material and information now allowed by law or hereafter granted including both electronic and
conventional distribution of herein products. Reproduction or transmission unless authorized by Applied Client Network is prohibited.
All rights reserved. Specific product information regarding Applied Systems’ The Agency Manager and Vision, as well as other
products copyrighted and mentioned within (ex: Microsoft, Excel, etc.) are the product of the individual company and no endorsement
or ownership of product should be implied by its mention and use. All workflows are suggested and common workflows. Users of
this material agree that Applied Client Network cannot be held liable for any omissions or errors within the guide.
Original Author:
Jacqueline Glick Beneficial Insurance Services, Philadelphia, PA
Target Audience:
Accountant/Bookkeeper
Producer
CSR
Trainer
Carrier
Vendor
X
IT Manager/Systems Coordinator
ALL
X
Operations
Other: (describe)
X
Principal/Owner
Seminar Type: Servicing & Workflows
Seminar Level: Intermediate: An Intermediate level class takes the concepts
originated from a basic level course, and adds more layers or parallel concepts. For
functional courses, these classes will require the participant or attendee to have some
basis to work from as they are learning new facets of the agency management system or
software program.
Class Description: This session will review how workflows can be greatly simplified with
proper Applied Epic Setup. Greatly reduce your activity usage and focus your staff back
on the client and not on documenting.
Learning Outcomes:
•
•
•
Understand Epic’s capacity to automate workflows
Review Configuration and setup options which impact workflow development
Gain knowledge on how to simplify current workflows to better utilize staff time.
Assumptions:
Epic Version 6.0 and above
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 2
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Table of Contents
Set up Epic to eliminate extra steps, extra documentation you do not need. ................ 4
SETTING A DEFAULT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................ 5
TASK EXAMPLES: ..................................................................................................... 6
TURN OFF EVENTS (please!) .................................................................................... 9
USING CATEGORIES .............................................................................................. 10
USING POLICY ACTIONS ....................................................................................... 11
Work “holistically”, not transactionally ........................................................................ 12
Transition Staff work from system documentation to “customer focused” service ...... 13
Additional Items to Consider: ..................................................................................... 13
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 3
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Set up Epic to eliminate extra steps, extra documentation you do not
need.
GOAL: Program as much of your workflow as possible into Epic thru
CONFIGURE options. Activities (Event, Category, Activity Code)
programming/Set-up contributes significantly to streamlining workflows
UNDERSTAND
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
System Events can be turned on/off based on need. Do not need to use
them all. Associate the preferred processes (activities) with the event and
create a default when appropriate.
Activities – can be required/not required – don’t force completion unless
you need.
Default activity descriptions can be set up to facilitate quick documentation
and standardization.
Default Activity settings/behaviors to save staff time and manual
keystrokes. (Default activity as open or closed – default closing options
successful/unsuccessful/blank)
Use Tasks to build tracking of a “service cycle” .
System-Generated Attachments – consider turning off manual
documentation (i.e. activity completion) for items that Epic documents
automatically for you.
Don’t forget Categories – you can group workflows together quickly by
either the types of processes (sales, service, operations, etc.) or by
department/service group (Personal, Commercial, Claims, Producers, etc.).
Benefits ease of reporting, but also great for presenting activity codes to
specialized teams/ groups (Claims, Producers).
Set up User Field Defaults
Review Policy Actions and how they can be reported. (Can cut down on
use of activity requirements.)
BENEFITS:
•
•
•
•
•
Cuts workflow training dramatically.
Reduces staff time spent documenting Epic
Automates some of the worksteps, removing the need for human touch.
Use of Tasks will allow multiple team members to be involved and work
concurrently on a service item.
Creates uniformity, guides your staff through the preferred process.
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 4
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
SETTING A DEFAULT DESCRIPTION
Example: Binding Activity
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 5
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
TASK EXAMPLES:
NOTE: You can kick off these pre-programmed renewal tasks from a report
of your expiring policies using the POLICY LIST REPORT.
Remember:
• Tasks can have different owners by type (role) or person
• Start and Due Dates for tasks can be set to run consecutively or
concurrently.
COMMERCIAL RENEWAL WORKFLOW
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 6
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
EXAMPLE:
TASKS – BENEFITS RENEWAL WORKFLOW
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 7
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
EXAMPLE:
TASKS – PERSONAL RENEWAL WORKFLOW
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 8
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
TURN OFF EVENTS (please!)
EXAMPLE: Auto ID Card
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 9
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
USING CATEGORIES
Present more manageable lists of activities for specialized groups
EXAMPLE:
Producers (Prospecting)
Consider using for claims, risk management, Personal Lines, etc.
Don’t forget to set up USER FIELD DEFAULTS for ease of use ….
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 10
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
USING POLICY ACTIONS
EXAMPLE: Generate Agency Reports
NEW BUSINESS
Action:
Stage:
Policy Status:
New
Submitted or Issued
New
Entry Required
POLICY SOURCE – WHERE DID WE GET THIS POLICY?
PREMIUM
REVENUE
EPIC FIELD
SOURCE on Policy
detail
Estimated Premium
on Policy Tab
Estimated Revenue
on Policy Tab
PRODUCER
PRODUCER on
PRODUCER/Billing
tab
DESCRIPTION OF RISK BOUND
Service Summary
Row Description
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 11
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Work “holistically”, not transactionally
GOAL: Have one activity for entire service item. Document the service item,
rather than all the individual steps
UNDERSTAND:
Ability to add multiple attachments, notes to one activity.
BENEFIT: One place to track (and retrieve!) the entire service process and all
related items instead of having to look at all of the transaction steps.
EXAMPLE: Endorsements (Change request)
TRANSACTIONALLY - A Few of the Possible Activities – many of you use a combination
of these.
• Insured request
• Request attached (if received via email)
• Request submitted
• Endorsement Received
• Endorsement Attachment (if received via email or scanned)
• Endorsement Confirmation to Insured (emailed)
• Endorsement Confirmation Attachment
HOLISTICALLY
• One Activity code for the change – all emails, etc. attached to this item. All notes in one
place. When endorsement is received/checked in, notation made, and it is closed.
(Your challenge will be to determine all the possible ways that people can do changes in
your agency – and make sure that the workflow presents a CHANGE activity. The
activity codes will not be the same.)
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 12
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
Transition Staff work from system documentation to “customer focused”
service
GOAL:
Every workflow should meet one of these 3 criteria (or scrap it, and
replace it with one that does).
• Does it bring value to the client?
• Is it needed for critical agency reporting?
• Does it help us manage our risk of doing business? (E&O)
UNDERSTAND:
•
Adapting what you did in other systems will not allow you to take full
advantage of Epic.
•
Epic CONFIGURE Options are critical, and should be reviewed in depth on
a regular basis. Are there features turned on you do not need? (Vice
versa..did you turn something off when you first went live, that you could
use to track info..)
•
Many workflows can be handled effectively with MINIMAL use of activity
codes
•
Review how many workflows can be started automatically without staff
having to log in an activity.. (Great example is renewals)
•
Know the different functionality available in and EX REPORT vs. a POLICY
LIST REPORT.
HUGE BENEFIT: Keep Staff focused on tasks that bring value to the agency.
Free up time to focus staff on new tasks that add value to the client relationship –
and/or generate revenue to the organization.
Additional Items to Consider:
•
Use the ON DEMAND Activity Timeline to build the service cycle to schedule out
and meet service agreements/standards, e.g. 120 day renewal review cycle.
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 13
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org
SESSION HANDOUT
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work
•
Define Further Actions to allow Epic to perform some of the workflow steps, e.g.,
send a communication (email, fax or mail), send a 2nd request, kick off another
workflow and more.
•
Visit Applied University at
https://www.appliedsystems.com/media/epictraining/home.asp for live and
recorded educational sessions on workflow configuration.
•
If you want to send a text message to your client’s cell phone and have a record
of it in Epic – use their Cell phone number as their email address with the
following extensions based on their provider.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
AT&T – [email protected]
Verizon – [email protected]
T-Mobile – [email protected]
Sprint PCS - [email protected]
Virgin Mobile – [email protected]
US Cellular – [email protected]
Nextel - [email protected]
Boost - [email protected]
Alltel – [email protected]
Let Go of Workflows- Let Applied Epic do the Work // PAGE 14
Applied Client Network | www.appliedclientnetwork.org