Agencies establish agency
standards, procedures and workflow in order to streamline, systematize
and make their own operations more productive and effective, but also in
support of their brand, which ultimately leads to profitability and
achievement of revenue goals.
Agency
standards should always stem from the organizational statements of
vision, mission, values and purpose. These statements are expressions of
who the agency is, why they're in business and how they expect their
stakeholders to be treated as a result of the core organizational
knowledge.
If your
agency doesn't have these key organizational statements in place, that's
where you should start. Once established, then start back here to set
anout to define "how you want things done" through your agency
standards, procedures and workflows.
To help you know what each of these three things are, let's define them for you briefly.
Agency Standards
are the expected and acceptable level of performance in every core
function of the agency's operation because performance builds the
agency's brand.
Agency Standard Example:
Every
account with combined annual revenues of $XXXX or above will receive an
annual review outside XXX days from expiration of the lead or largest
policy in the account.
Procedures
define how the Agency Standards are to be achieved by defining who is
responsible for accomplishing what needs to be done, in what timing and
to what standard.
Annual Review Meeting Preparation Procedure Example:
The
account manager is responsible for preparing the documents necessary to
complete the annual review, which should include: the account summary,
any loss history from the current year, risk management reports,
schedules of vehicles/equipment and any other items requested by the
producer in order to prepare for the meeting. These items should be
received three to five days in advance of the producer's scheduled
meeting with the client.
Workflows
are the actual steps necessary to complete the functional items
included in the procedure. The clicks and drags in your management
system, where items are stored, how they are stored, naming conventions,
timing...all the things that are minutely specific to completing the
procedure. The things that make up your workflows can often come from
the HELP file of your agency management system (AMS), usually even
location specific to where the workflow tasks occur while working in the
AMS. Quite often, these HELP files are text-based and one can simply
copy and paste the workflow into your agency documentation or simply
always refer your staff to the HELP file for up-to-the-minute guidance
on how to complete the workflow.
Inside
your workflows, your organization will still need to establish naming
conventions for documents and other file documentation attachments,
where specific things are to be filed, when they are to be
purge/shredded and other electronic asset management, but many of the
“clicks and drags" of how to accomplish the minute detail of your
standards and procedures isn't quite as necessary when your AMS has a
robust HELP file and all staff know to utilize it as the standard for
how to efficiently operate inside it.
The Agency Procedure Development Toolkit
is
available free of charge, to our members. To access this toolkit select
the box below after logging in as a member of Big I Oklahoma.
Free Member Toolkit
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