Meet Our Project Champions

Our Project Coordinator and Project Champions from various functional departments play an integral part in the development of the new core system. This month, our Coordinator and four of our Champions share their perspective on their roles and on the core system.

While I am the Claims champion, we have subject matter experts for auto, workers’ comp, and commercial claims at the Claims working sessions. My role is to make sure that the Claims Team working on the project is on time and on target. I also attend the Personal Lines, Billings, and the Champions meetings to make sure that Claims has a comprehensive view of the project.

For me, one of the most challenging things is the time difference between us and our vendor partner, Insuresoft, who is six hours ahead. This means all of the work sessions are scheduled in the mornings, so we try to make sure we are very well-prepared when the group meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 10-11 a.m.

Once the new system is operational, the claims process will be much faster, more streamlined, and more efficient since we’ll have a single system instead of working with several different systems, like we currently do. There are existing interfaces with the bill audit company (Corvel), vehicle damage estimating (CCC), and salvage company (Copart), that should be functioning at the ‘go-live’ date.

Balancing time between the core system project and my regular workload can be difficult. Luckily, I have an excellent team who supports me, as well as each other, and they also have taken on a lot of the day-to-day functions. How everyone can help support me is by going to my team for the regular business items, they are more than capable and happy to assist. This will help alleviate some of my time so I can focus on the core system project.

My role is to provide technical support on how information is structured and populated in the core system.

Even before we started working on the core system, IS began migrating 30 years of information into Insuresofts’ data warehouse (also known as the HUB). The data was cleansed, validated, and ready to be migrated into the new core system when the time comes. It was challenging as we had to overcome decision made on how our database was populated and mapped in our current policy management systems using systems from the past.

Once the core system is up and running, claims adjusting can be done using a single system instead of multiple systems. Overall, the company will experience higher work efficiencies, more accurate information, timely delivery of reports on a regular basis, and the ability to bring new products onboard faster.

The IS department is also responsible for maintaining our legacy production applications while we build and transition to the new core system, so it’s extremely important for us to set our priorities. For us, production comes first. Fortunately, we have a great production team that has keeps things running smoothly, which allows us to focus on the core system.

The IS department has expanded to include the Application Analyst (BAs) and I am working to organize the department to better serve the business units. How you can show your support is to reach out directly to my team members for ongoing technical and functional support, which will allow me to focus on the core system project.

My role on the core project is to assist the team during our two weekly meetings by taking notes, creating tasks, and assigning appropriate due dates to remain on schedule. For me, the real work happens between sessions. There’s a lot of research, coordinating, reviewing, and writing to get our documents ready for the next meeting. Our functional leads, Deb and Lynn, are then able to focus on problem areas to help us complete our specifications. Those discussions are also helping us learn more about the logic and best practices behind the Diamond system.

The biggest challenge for me is the four to five-hour time difference with both Insuresoft and our third-party vendors. Mornings are designated for core project and some days there are non-stop meetings. Since Champions attend all Insuresoft work sessions, there’s little time left for the prep work, so I am very grateful to our Personal Lines team for their cooperation, attention to detail, and reliability.

I’m in a unique position because the core project has been a part of my regular work since the detailed requirements phase in 2017. During this time, I also worked on projects to improve Personal Lines production processes and later, Compliance. I catch up on some of my other work on weekends which is what everyone else on the Personal Lines team is doing.

The Diamond system will replace SDS, Decision Maker, Clarify, and ImageRight. My hope is that the new system will make all of our jobs easier with a single system and real-time processing. I also hope that agents will try our new system, see how much we’ve improved our business processes, and place more business with us.

Everyone has pitched in whenever we’ve asked for help and that’s the reason we’re able to complete our tasks and stay on schedule. I personally appreciate the kind words and encouragement I’ve received from our DTRIC folks. That’s the best support I could ask for!

I lead the billing meetings from the DTRIC perspective and ensure the billing team meets all of Insursoft’s requests.

As far as challenges go, time is always a factor with this project. Getting project deliverables accomplished on time while keeping up with normal work responsibilities has required extra hours extending workdays.

The new system will allow DTRIC to grow and operate more efficiently. From a billing perspective, it would allow us to gain efficiency and accuracy through automation of some processes, as well as through working with a single integrated system as opposed to the five we currently use. From a policyholder and agency perspective, we would be able to provide additional payment plan options and more ways to pay. Additionally, customers and agents would have more online access to their policy information.

I’d personally like to compliment the Personal Lines underwriting and Claims teams for all the time and incredible effort they have invested into the core system project. You can provide your support by helping out when any of the project team members ask for assistance. I also believe that we should all understand that this is a unique time for our company as we build the new core system. Things may not run exactly the same as they have in the past, but the new system will allow us to grow and be competitive.

As DTRIC’s Project Coordinator, I try to attend all core systems meetings to be able to coordinate the tasks, schedule, and resources of DTRIC’s functional areas and IT with Insuresoft’s project management team. I’m in a unique situation as the Project Coordinator position is temporary and I was rehired specifically for this project. I’m fortunate to be able to be 100% dedicated to the core system project.

Time has been the greatest challenge for me as well as everyone on this project. The Champions have been so focused in meeting their deadlines even with the tight timeline and not having dedicated resources.

I can remember when DTRIC first started, and we implemented SDS. Back then, we thought it was great. But since our systems have not been updated, many components are out of compliance. With all the new technology, I can see DTRIC expanding and being able to compete successfully with the other local carriers.

Everyone at DTRIC has been supportive from the beginning and with this type of support the Project will be a success!