Managing attachments effectively in Applied Epic is crucial for maintaining data integrity and ensuring smooth operations within an insurance agency. With proper organization, agencies can avoid the risks of misplaced documents and potential legal complications.

In this article, we will explore practical strategies for managing attachments and dive into best practices for handling attachments in a way that protects your agency and your clients.

1. Where do I start? Start with a naming convention. It’s important that this is used consistently throughout the agency to help everyone stay organized. Our naming convention is Term – Line – Description. For Example: 24-25 CGL – policy.

2. How can I make sure that the staff follows processes correctly? Audit and reporting are critical steps in maintaining data integrity. We use the client attachment report to see a few things. First and foremost, it’s used to see how many attachments each person is making. This is a great indicator of who is not documenting the system and who is overly attaching. Second, the report shows the name and attachment point of each attachment. You can see if it was attached to the client, activity, policy, line, etc., and you can see how it was labeled.

3. If an attachment is stored in the wrong place or labeled wrong, can it be corrected? Once something has been attached, it cannot be removed. It can be marked as inactive but it cannot be deleted. This is to protect you. You are able to move attachments — one at a time or in bulk — to another place. You can move them to another account or within the same account to another attachment point. Remember that even if you move them, they are still attached to the original location, just inactive. The label can be amended at any time and any number of times. You can edit the name and add to the attachment points using Actions > Edit Attachment Detail.

4. Should all attachments be in folders? In our agency, the use of folders is driven by the following logic: If the document applies to multiple policies or multiple terms, then there is likely a folder for it. We do not use the out-of-the-box folder set. Folders are created uniquely for companies, clients, brokers and employees. This way the folder set available in each area is appropriate for that area. Some examples are: Audits, New Business Diagnostics, Supplemental Applications, Replacement Cost Estimator, Photos, etc.

5. What do I need to know about the implementation of folders? Before you implement the use of folders, decide what you want from them and what they should be labeled. Once there are attachments in the folder you cannot delete them. You can rename one, but you cannot remove it. Once you have decided and created the folders, communicate the folder structure and the logic for use to your team.

6. What is the most important item in controlling the organization of your attachments? Communicating your expectations to your teams is the most important thing. Publishing a reference document so everyone can see it in writing is paramount. You cannot expect anyone to do what you want them to if you don’t tell them what you want. Word of mouth communications can be changed and twisted as it passes from person to person. Without a published document there is no way that people can be self-reliant and find the answers they need for themselves.

For many of us, attachments are the lifeblood and legal protection for our agencies against errors and omissions. The documentation of the file in the digital age is more important than ever.

In our ever-litigious society, more savvy law firms are getting to our workflows and expectations. Having documentation is becoming more important, but that alone isn’t enough. You must be able to find it once it is there. Creating a clear expectation in writing to which you can refer people is critical. You cannot expect someone to follow, nor can you hold them accountable for, a workflow or guideline that you have not clearly communicated.