Patent Abstract:
Described is a method and apparatus for automatically quoting, processing, maintaining, claim processing, billing, and renewing life, health and related coverages for clients, especially group clients—without duplicative data entry. An integrated computer system contains several processing modules. The Quoting Engine module produces quotes, maintains and describes coverages available, rates the insurance, and generates a proposal. The Soldcase module administers sales and commission data and provides information regarding the selected coverage to other modules. An Advanced Relational Database Information System module provides billing and premium processing, and administers the payment of commissions. A Document Generator module produces documents such as policies and certificates. A Claims module performs claim adjudication, claim history, and claim payment. The Renewal module automatically monitors and updates information regarding the client and the insurance to determine if renewed coverage should be sold to the client and, if so, at what price.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for quoting, administering, maintaining, claim processing, and renewing life, health and related coverages for clients, especially group clients. Significantly, the method may be employed so that information regarding any aspect of the insurance transaction need only be entered once, minimizing the risk of error and providing additional security for the information. The method also supports a Management Information System tool for providing timely and accurate information on quotes, sales, claim status, and client administration. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   Insurance administration benefits from computerized processing by minimizing the risks of lost and mishandled information as well as reducing the cost of doing business. Because of the multiple combinations of insurance products available, it is very important to prepare accurate proposals and illustrations of insurance products for each prospective client. Computerized processing is of assistance in this area as well. 
   In most insurance companies, requests for insurance quotes are typically processed on paper through a sales office and then sent to a corporate office for additional processing. The processing of these papers results in time delays, multiple requests for information, and the increased risk of error in collecting or processing information. 
   Previous processes have been produced to provide proposals in a group insurance setting. These products were inefficient, restrictive and time consuming for the users. Among the problems with previous quoting programs were the lack of comprehensive coverage databases and the inability to transfer information amongst the several departments within the insurance company. 
   Group insurance products generally have a renewal cycle of one to three years. As a result of this cycle, the need to provide not only temporal information about a group insurance transaction, but also information that spans a time interval, is critical. The paper-based processing of this information is cumbersome and expensive. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   This system uses thin client architecture to improve the speed and accuracy of the entire insurance operation. To overcome the complexity of the calculation in a requested quote and to speed up the operation of presenting a proposal, the processes are divided into server and client processes. Quote information is entered at the client level and complex calculations to generate the quote are performed at the server through a Wide Area Network (“WAN”). This configuration results in the ability to produce on-line quotes using rule based quoting logic and completing the process in seconds. This system also eliminates the need for human interaction beyond the collection of information by the sales representative. 
   The present invention is a method and apparatus for automatically quoting, processing, maintaining, claim processing, and renewing life, health and related coverages. It comprises an integrated computer system containing several processing modules. The processing module into which data concerning the group is initially entered is the quoting engine (“QE”) module. The QE module includes a process for maintaining and describing the coverages available to the group. The QE module also contains processes for rating the insurance and generating a proposal for the client. 
   Another processing module within the system is a Soldcase module. The soldcase module administers sales and commission data and provides information regarding the selected coverage to other modules within the system. 
   Another module within the system is an Advanced Relational Database Information System (“ARDIS”) module. The ARDIS module processes billing, premium processing, administering of payment of commissions and other general administrative functions. 
   A Document Generator module is another module within the system, which is employed to produce documents such as policies and certificates in compliance with state and federal laws. A Claims module adjudicates new claims, maintains claim histories, and issues funds to designated recipients. 
   The final module within the system is the Renewal module. The Renewal module monitors and updates information regarding the client and the insurance to determine if renewed coverage should be sold to the client and, if so, at what price. The introduction of a Renewal module within the general administrative computer system represents a significant improvement over prior art insurance methods. The Renewal module greatly reduces the amount of time necessary to generate a renewal quote and through automation, greatly decreases the number of manually generated renewals. 
   The described method is capable of providing not only temporal information regarding a transaction, but also information that spans the life of the insurance product through the employment of a relational database to handle large amounts of data over the contract term. This feature of the invention is especially useful in instances where the client is a group. Furthermore, each module within the method fully communicates with each other module. Accordingly, information entered into a module is utilized throughout the transaction within the insurance company. Since information must only be entered once, fewer insurance company representatives need come in contact with the information, providing greater security for the information. 
   It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage that minimizes the amount of information that must be gathered by individuals to administer insurance. 
   It is a further object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage that minimizes the duplication of manually entered information. 
   It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage that monitors client information over the life of the coverage and automatically produces information pertaining to the renewal of the policy. 
   It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage that improves the speed and accuracy of the insurance operation and increases the overall quality of the products purchased by the insurance consumer. 
   It is another object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus for quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage that minimizes the number of employees that have access to client information, increasing the level of security for that information. 
   These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a diagram that shows the flow of information through the claimed method and the output generated thereby; 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  represent a flowchart of the Request for Quote process within the Quoting Engine (“QE”) module; 
       FIGS. 3A and 3B  are a flowchart of the coverage process within the QE module; 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the rating calculation process within the QE module; 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of the proposal process within the QE module; 
       FIGS. 6A and 6B  are a flowchart of the Soldcase process within the Soldcase module; 
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart of the billing process within the ARDIS module; 
       FIG. 8  is a flowchart of the premium process within the ARDIS module; 
       FIGS. 9A and 9B  are a flowchart of the commission process within the ARDIS module; 
       FIG. 10  is a flowchart of the document generation process within the Document Generator module; 
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart of the claims process within the Claims module; 
       FIG. 12  is a flowchart of the renewal download process within the Renewal module; 
       FIGS. 13A and 13B  are a flowchart of the renewal process within the Renewal module; and 
       FIG. 14  is a schematic of the hardware constituting the apparatus of the invention and employed in the method of the invention. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   The flow of information through the method of quoting, issuing, claims processing, and administering insurance coverage  10  of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 1 . It indicates that between the collection of data and the creation of documents representing the transaction, data is processed in some combination of six different modules; a Quoting Engine (“QE”) module  100 , a Soldcase module  200 , an Advanced Relational Database Information System (“ARDIS”) module  300 , a Document Generator module  400 , a Claims module  500 , and a Renewal module  600 . The names given the modules and the accompanying steps performed by the modules are not intended to be rigidly applied, but are intended only to provide an example of the claimed method. Variations on the organization of the method  10  are anticipated and intended to be claimed herein. 
   The method  10  is to be employed by an insurance company  2 , also referred to as the user. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the broker  12  contacts the prospective client  14 , usually a group, to obtain relevant information. Although the method  10  may be employed for individual insurance administration, it is described generally herein as a method for administering group insurance. Once the necessary information is entered into the QE module  100 , the QE module  100  then generates the premium rate and an appropriate proposal  18  is sent to the prospective client  14 . 
   Once the client  14  accepts the proposal  18 , the sales representative  16 , who may be any employee of the insurance company  2 , enters additional information about the transaction, such as commission, producer and binder amount information, into the Soldcase module  200 . The Soldcase module  200  retrieves all the relevant information from the QE module  100  along with additional information provided by the sales representative  16  to generate a sales entry and assigns a policy number to the transaction. This policy number is subsequently transferred to the ARDIS module  300 , which includes a database. The Soldcase module  200  also generates the approval letter  20 , if the client  14  has requested a letter. The Soldcase module  200  then transfers client information, coverage information, sold rate, sold premium and binder amount in addition to the policy information to the ARDIS module  300 . 
   Once the product has been sold to the client  14 , the ARDIS module  300  then retrieves the relevant information and creates necessary entries into the database to administer the client&#39;s account. The ARDIS module  300  is used to maintain the information throughout the life of the product and to provide certificate, commission, premium and member information to the Document Generator module  400 , lockbox, account department and various subsystems, respectively. The Document Generator module  400  retrieves all of the necessary information from the ARDIS module  300  databases, generates contracts and certificates  28 , and maintains an electronic copy of those documents. 
   The Claim module  500  receives information from the ARDIS module  300  once the case is issued. The information is passed from the ARDIS tables to the various claim tables through a middleware interface that synchronizes the data. The Claims module  500  adjudicates new claims, maintains claim histories, and issues funds to designated recipients 
   The Renewal module  600  retrieves the policy data from the ARDIS module  300  databases for a client  14  whose policy is scheduled to expire in the near future. This information is sent to the renewal underwriting department  30  for further renewal processing and, at the same time, may create a renewal letter (not shown) for the client  14 . Based on the information collected by the underwriting department  30 , the QE module  100  generates the renewal premium rate, which is then fed back to the Renewal module  600  and ARDIS module  300  databases. The Renewal module  600  retrieves the necessary information from the ARDIS module  300  and QE module  100  databases to provide the renewal proposal  32 . This information could include revised census details used to generate the revised renewal rate. Once the client  14  renews the product, the renewal module  600  updates the necessary information in the ARDIS module  300  database for continued administration, including updated premium billing rates and commission adjustments. The Renewal module  600  also generates the renewal letter (not shown) that is sent to the client  14 ; the Document Generator module  400  again will maintain the electronic copy of the renewed contract. 
   The flow of information through the method  10  is shown in more detail in  FIGS. 2–12 . The initial steps in the method  10  include the processing of information in the QE module  100 . Among the steps taken in the QE module  100  are the Request For Quote (“RFQ”) process  102 , the coverage maintenance process  130 , the rating process  150  and the proposal process  179 . The initial information may be gathered in any form, such as paper, e-mail, facsimile or other medium as requested by the client  14 . 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B  depict the steps required by the RFQ process  102  within the QE module  100 . This portion of the QE module  100  accepts employer information  106 , including employer identification and industry information, from the client  14  or sales representative  16  and validates the employer information  106 . If the employer identification in the employer information  106  duplicates employer identification in an employer database  304 , then the RFQ process  102  displays a message asking the user to assign a different employer identification. After validating the employer information  106 , the RFQ process  102  of the QE module  100  accepts the Standard Industrial Classification code (“SIC code”)  108 , which is then validated in step  109  against a SIC database  306 . If the SIC code  108  is not available in the SIC database  306 , then it asks the user to enter a valid SIC code  108  for the employer&#39;s industry. 
   Throughout this description of the method  10 , reference is made to several databases. In practice, each database may be a section of a larger database and information stored in a general database may be stored in an individual accessible database. 
   After validating the SIC code  108 , the RFQ process  102  accepts the quote information  110  and stores it in a general database  310  (not shown) of the ARDIS module  300 . The quote information  110  includes group information, group industry code, quote-effective date, estimated proposed lives, prior carrier, and other standard industry information. The RFQ process  102  then accepts distributor information  112 . In step  114 , the RFQ process  102  validates distributor information  112  with the distributor database  308  and retrieves information regarding the region information  116 , sales information  120  and marketing information  124  from the general database  310  or the sales representative  16 . The information is validated in steps  118 ,  122  and  126 , and the information regarding the parties to whom the proposal is to be distributed is entered in step  128 . The QE module  100  stores the entered information (i.e. the entered information regarding the parties to whom the proposal is to be distributed) into the quote database  302  and the employer database  304 . 
     FIGS. 3A and 3B  illustrate the detail data flow of an example of the coverage maintenance process  130  for the QE module  100 . The method  10  may be used for a variety of different coverages, and the examples given are not intended to show the scope of the utility of the method  10 , but are only exemplary. The coverage maintenance process  130  accepts coverage information  132  and plan information  134  from the sales representative  16  and prompts the user determines if the entered coverage is ‘LIFE’; if so, the program logic then allows the user to enter the dependents information  136 . The coverage maintenance process  130  determines if the entered coverage is ‘DENTAL’ or ‘Voluntary DENTAL’ in step  138 ; and, if so, in step  139 , it then checks whether the census has been entered. If the census has not been entered, the process  130  allows the user to enter the census summary  140 . Once the plan information  134  has been entered, then it allows the user to enter class information  142 . For ‘LIFE’ and ‘Voluntary LIFE’ coverages, as determined in step  143 , the coverage maintenance process  130  allows the user to alter coverage amounts  144 . Once the coverage information  132 , plan information  134  and class information  142  have been entered and validated, the coverage maintenance process  130  stores all the data in the coverage, rating and benefit tables of the general database  310 . 
   If the entered coverage is Long Term Disability (“LTD”) as determined in step  147 , the coverage maintenance process  130  checks whether there is an associated record needed for Long Term Disability Cost Containment (“LTDCC”) or not depending on the entered values in step  148 . If such a record is needed, the coverage maintenance process  130  automatically creates the record  150 . If the entered coverage is ‘DENTAL’ as determined in step  151 , the coverage maintenance process  130  then checks for the plan type in step  152 . If the plan type is PPO and is quoted for multi-area as determined in step  153 , then a second record for the indemnity option  154  is automatically created. This information is then validated. 
   After validation is complete, the coverage maintenance process  130  checks the underwriting guidelines and determines the quote type for the information that has been entered in step  156 . Typical types of quotes might be “Super Express” (SE), Custom (CU) or Decline (DE). The SE and DE quote types are completely automated within the system, automatically generating in seconds a proposal  18  or a letter declining coverage (not shown), respectively. If the quote type is determined to be CU, the information is further analyzed to determine whether a proposal  18  or letter declining coverage will be sent to the client  14 . Among the considerations employed in determining the quote type are custom business rules and other information supplied by the underwriting department  30 , actuarial department (not shown) and compliance department (not shown). 
     FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the rating process  160  within the QE module  100 . Once the user selects a quote sequence  162 , the rating process  160  displays all the non-rated options under that quote in step  163 . It allows the user to select multiple options  164  at the same time. It loops through all the selected options beginning with step  165 . If the rating is successful as determined in step  166 , then it determines the quote type for that option in step  168 . If the quote type changes to CU, as determined in step  169 , all the rules for that quote type are displayed in step  170 . The process  160  allows the underwriting department  30  to change some of the values and recalculates the quoted rates. After calculating and entering the premium rates in step  172 , the rating process  160  allows the user to print the rating worksheet  174 , ending the loop for that option in step  176 . If, for some reason, the calculation fails, then it displays a message in step  178  so the sales representative  16  or other insurance company representative can change the information accordingly and re-rate the option. Once the option has been rated, the process  10  does not allow any changes to the quoted information. 
     FIG. 5  is a flowchart of the proposal process  179  within the QE module  100 . Once a user selects a quote sequence  162 , the proposal process  179  displays all the rated options as well as the decline options under that quote in step  180 . It allows the user to select multiple options at the same time in step  181  and loops through each option starting in step  182 . If the proposal process  179  declines an option in step  187 , a letter  26  notifying the client  14  of the denial is generated. The proposal process  179  determines the type of coverage, eg. DENTAL, in steps  183  and  184  and asks for additional information for those coverages in steps  185  and  186 . If an appropriate proposal  18  is generated in step  188  and validated in step  189 , then the proposal  18  is transmitted to the broker  12  and the client  14  by mail, fax, e-mail, or other medium. As with all input information, all output of the method  10  may be in any form as requested by the client  14 . If, for some reason, the proposal process  179  does not generate a proposal  18 , then it displays a proper message in step  190  so the sales representative  16  can change the information accordingly and re-generate the proposal  18 . Following the generation of the proposal  18  or display of the message  190 , the loop ends in step  192 . 
     FIGS. 6A and 6B  are a flowchart of the Soldcase module process  202 . Once a user selects employer information  106 , the soldcase process  202  displays all the proposed options for that client  14  in step  204 . The user then selects the appropriate option in step  207  and verifies the checklist in step  209 . Once the information is validated, the soldcase process  202  stores all the data in the appropriate database tables and updates the soldcase status to ‘work in progress’ at step  212 . 
   The process  202  then loops through all the coverages associated with the selected option beginning at step  214 . It may ask for additional information for each of the coverages in step  216 . It may also ask for the commission and producer details in step  218 , storing this information during step  219  into the appropriate database tables in the general database  310 . After validating the data, the soldcase process  202  checks whether the user wants to approve the coverage in step  221  allowing the user to approve the coverage in step  222 , ending the loop at step  223 . If the coverages are not approved as determined in step  225 , the system displays an appropriate message at step  224 . If all the coverages are approved for that group, the process  202  allows the user to submit or approve the checklist at step  226  and updates the status of the policy to ‘approved’ in step  228 . After approval, the user can enter the policy information  230 , store the policy data in step  232 , and transfer this information to the ARDIS module  300  in step  234 . The soldcase process  202  also determines whether an approval letter has been requested in step  235  and generates the approval letter  20 , if it has been requested. The policy data is then stored in the general database tables  310  in the ARDIS module  300  in step  236 . 
     FIG. 7  is a flowchart of the billing process  312  within the ARDIS module  300 . The billing process  312  supports manual as well as automatic billing. A user can request a specific bill at step  313  and provide a manual billing request  314 ; otherwise, automatic billing is designed to occur on all the bills that are due based on their billing periods such as on the 10 th  or 20 th  day of the month as determined in steps  315  and  316 . The automatic billing generates a bill request in step  318  that is similar to the manual billing request entered in step  314 . 
   The billing process  312  determines whether the request is to draw the bill  319  or to reprint the bill in step  320 . If the request is to draw a bill, the billing process  312  in step  321  seeks the bill in the billing table of the general database  310 . If it finds a bill, the past term bill is deleted from the billing table in step  322  and a new billing record is created in the billing table in step  324  to replace the existing past term bill. If no past term bill exists, the billing process  312  creates a new record in the billing table in step  324 . It uses employer information, coverage information, rate information, enrollment information and premium information from the general database  310  to generate a billing record. After creating the record in the table, it generates a bill in step  326  by accessing the billing data  327 . If the bill is a virtual bill as determined in step  328 , the billing process  312  rolls back all the database changes in step  330  and stores the billing information in the archived database in step  332 . If the request is made to reprint the bill in step  333 , then it generates a bill  336  based on current bill information. If the request is made for a specimen bill in step  334 , the process only displays the bill on the screen in step  335 . 
     FIG. 8  is a flowchart of the premium process  338  within the ARDIS module  300 . This process supports manual premium processing as well as automatic premium processing and determines which method is to be applied in steps  339  and  340 . In manual processing, a user can enter the payment manually in step  341  when the payment is received from the customer at  342 . In the automatic process, the ARDIS module  300  receives premium data  344  from the bank via an electronic media in step  345 . Once the payment has been received in step  346 , the process verifies and validates the data that was received in steps  348  and  349 . If the received data is not valid, the user contacts the bank and asks for the new data in step  350 . 
   After completing the initial steps of manual or automatic premium processing, the process  338  then applies all the premium data to the billing location in step  352 . If the payment received is within the tolerance limit as determined in step  353 —i.e. the difference of bill due amount and the payment received—the premium process  338  marks the corresponding bill as paid in step  354 . Otherwise, the payment is applied to the suspense account in step  355 . If the payment received is more than the bill amount, as determined in step  357 , the difference is added to the suspense account in step  355 . The process  338  also handles the reversal of premium. In the case where a reversal is required as determined in step  356 , the process  338  marks the bill as a reversal in step  358  and moves the premium amount to the suspense account or another billing location in step  360  depending on the situation. In each instance, data from the premium process  338  is transferred to the general database  310  in the ARDIS module  300  in step  362 . 
     FIGS. 9A and 9B  are a flowchart of the commission process  363  within the ARDIS module  300 . The commission process  363  is preferably executed periodically in a batch process and keeps track of each batch cycle. It picks all the paid premiums for which the commissions have not been accounted during previous batch cycles in step  364 . In step  365 , the commission process  363  retrieves the payment data from the premium payment table in the general database  310  and determines whether the premiums on the policy are submitted gross or net of commissions in step  366 . If the policy is gross, then the commission process  363  retrieves scale, percentage of the scale and year-to-date premium information from the general database  310  in step  368 . The commission process  363  also calculates the commission based on the information retrieved in step  368 . It stores the calculated commission in the commission table and creates an entry into the general ledger in step  370 . For the net policy, the process  363  stores in the commission table in step  372  the commission amount withheld by the producer. In each case, the commission data is stored in step  374 . These steps are repeated for each unaccounted policy with the final step of the loop being step  376 . 
   The commission process  363  then calculates the gross commission for each producer in step  377  and prepares the commission statement  378  which is printed in step  379 . The process  363  also creates and prints the commission check for the producer in steps  382  and  383  if the commission amount is greater than a predefined amount as determined in step  381 . Once the statements and/or checks have been generated, the printed output is mailed to the appropriate recipients in step  384 . 
     FIG. 10  is a flowchart of the document generation process  402 . The caseworker  22  requests the policy and certificate generation in step  404 . Based on the caseworker&#39;s requests, the process  402  generates the appropriate document in step  405  and, optionally, prints the document in step  406 . In step  407 , the process  402  allows the user to compare the newly generated document with an old document, as in the case of renewal coverage, and allows the user to change the generated document as required. If the generated document is a policy, as determined in step  408 , step  410  of the process  402  generates a letter and the contract along with an image of the policy. If the generated document is determined to be a certificate in step  408 , the process  402  uploads the certificate to the imaging system and generates the appropriate booklets in step  412 . The generated document or documents are transmitted to the client  14  and/or sales representative  16 . 
     FIG. 11  is a flowchart of the claim module process  502  employed in the Claim module  500 . The claim module process may provide claim processing for various products through different claim sub-modules. Each claim sub-module would apply the claim module process  502 . 
   Once a claim is received it is electronically imaged in step  504  and the data is stored in step  506  to a claim database  508 . Upon receipt of the claim, verification is made that all required documentation is attached in step  510 . If any documentation is missing, a request is sent to the appropriate party in step  512  requesting the missing information. The claim is then reviewed in step  514  and verification is then made that all required information is included in the documentation in step  516 . If any information is missing, a request is sent to the appropriate party in step  518  requesting the missing information. Additional information that is relevant to the claim, but that is not submitted with the claim may be entered in step  520  and stored in the claim database  508 . The claim is then analyzed to determine whether the claim will be approved or denied in step  522 . If the claim is determined to be approved in step  524 , payment or a waiver is generated in step  526  and the appropriate documents, including checks  24 , are transmitted in step  528 . If the claim is determined to be denied in step  524 , a denial letter is generated in step  530  and transmitted in step  532 . 
     FIGS. 12 ,  13 A and  13 B are flowcharts of the processes employed in the Renewal module  600 . The Renewal module utilizes two major processes: the renewal download process  604  shown in  FIG. 12  and the actual renewal process  606  shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B . 
   The renewal download process  604  is shown in  FIG. 12 . In step  608 , the renewal download process  604  downloads existing data either from the ARDIS module general database  310  or from the legacy mainframe system, depending on the age of the group. If the data is downloaded from the ARDIS database, as determined in step  610 , the process  604  retrieves groups whose anniversary date is 90 days before the renewal date, as determined in step  611 . If the data is downloaded from the mainframe system, as determined in step  612 , the process  604  retrieves groups whose anniversary date is 120 days before the renewal date, as determined in step  613 . Once the data has been downloaded and validated, the process  604  stores the updated data in the renewal database in step  614 . After storing the data in the database, the process checks whether the client  14  is a self billed group in step  615 , or a list bill group in step  617 . If it is a self billed group, the process  604  determines the contribution of the client  14 . If the contribution is 100% as determined in step  618 , then it checks whether the eligibility letter  622  has already been received in step  620 . If the eligibility letter  622  has not been received, then it generates the eligibility letter  622  in step  621 . If the eligibility letter  622  has already been received, then it checks for the participation. If the contribution is less than 75% as determined in step  624 , the process  604  then generates the participation letter  625  in step  626 . If the participation is not greater than 75%, the loop ends in step  628 . If the contribution is less than 100% as determined in step  618 , then the process  604  checks whether the census letter  630  has been received in step  629 . If not, then it generates the census letter  630  in step  632  and the loop ends in step  628 . 
   If the group is list billed as determined in step  617 , then the process  604  checks for the contribution. If the contribution is not 100% as determined in step  619 , then it checks whether an eligibility letter  622  has been received in step  620 . If not, then it generates an eligibility letter  622  in step  621 ; otherwise, it checks whether the participation is less than 75% in step  621 . If the participation is less than 75%, then the process  604  generates the participation letter  625  in step  626  and the loop ends at step  628 . 
   The renewal process  606  is shown in  FIGS. 13A and 13B . During the renewal process  606  all the data is downloaded, verified and the renewal rates are calculated. After downloading the data in step  634 , the process  606  identifies the renewal status for each downloaded renewal. The renewal process  606  also allows the underwriting department  30  to change the renewal rate after the closure in step  669 . If the underwriting department  30  elects to revise the rates, the revised rates are entered in step  670  and the updated renewal status is stored in step  672 . The underwriting department  30  can then either close the transaction or revise the rates in step  674 , but in that case, the user must update the renewal rate into the corresponding ARDIS module general database  310  or in the mainframe system manually in step  676  and store the changes in the database  310 . 
   As can be seen from the foregoing, throughout the method  10 , no information must be entered into the method  10  more than once, and the information may be built upon throughout the method  10 . Furthermore, no entered information need be made available to insurance company personnel other than as needed, preserving the security of the information. 
     FIG. 14  shows a preferred configuration of apparatus  700  for quoting, issuing, and administering insurance coverage for a group. Other configurations are contemplated and the following described configuration is not intended to be limiting, but only exemplary. 
   Two servers  702  and  704  house the test and production databases, respectively, and are connected through a Fiber Distributed Data Interface (“FDDI”) ring  706 . The production database server  704  contains the group client information and is used for production processing. A program development staff primarily uses the test database server  702  to modify existing programs and develop new programs. A similar server configuration exists for the local area network based file servers  708  and  710  which support test and production functions, respectively. This configuration allows the development staff to perform functional testing and the quality assurance and customer acceptance personnel to test developed software to ensure new programs satisfy the standards, quality and functionality before being employed on the production servers. 
   The sales office  712  has at least one workstation  714  connected to the production database  704  through a series of metaframe servers  716  using a frame relay network  718 . Each sales office workstation  714  is connected to a local printer  720  for the production of proposals  18  and other necessary documents. A facsimile server  722  is used to send generated documents to the client  14  as well as to receive information from the client  14 . 
   As shown in  FIG. 14 , the data center  724  has much of the hardware used in the method  10 , and other hardware is located at a home office location  726 . The home office  726  and data center  724  may be in a single or several locations. Hardware within the home office  726  includes a workstation  728  that is used to print commission checks; an imaging server  730  that is used to create images of generated legal documents; and a users workstation  732  that is used to enter client information, renewal information, and other data not gathered at the sales office  712 . The images of the generated legal documents produced by the imaging server  730  are uploaded to the image database, which is stored on the image database computer  734 , shown as an I.B.M. AS-400. As with the sales office  712 , the workstations within the home office  726  are connected to a local laser printer  736 . 
   In addition to the above hardware, additional servers are employed to facilitate the transfer and storage of information. An e-mail server  738 , shown as a NOTES/e-mail server, is used to exchange internal e-mail messages between workstations. A transfer server  740  is used to receive premium data from the lock box  742  via modem  743 , which is then uploaded to the database  704 . Optionally, the hardware may be connected to an existing mainframe  744  for the provision of historical information. Ideally, such a connection will be temporary and the mainframe  744  will be phased out of the apparatus  700  configuration. 
   Thus it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at least all of its stated objectives.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6