For cluster and network members
Commission reconciliation for agency cluster members
If you write through a cluster, the carrier pays the cluster and the cluster pays you, net of its share. This page is about checking that statement with Lapidar, and what it cannot see.
In short
- Lapidar has no field for a cluster’s share and does not read agency codes. You check the cluster’s statement against the net rate you should receive; a short line then shows up, but Lapidar can’t tell whether the carrier’s rate or the share was off.
- Lapidar works from files: a book export with one row per policy, your commission schedule (carrier, line, new or renewal, rate) and the statements carriers sent, as CSV, XLSX or a PDF with selectable text. Scanned PDFs can’t be read; there is no OCR.
- Every finding (missing, underpaid, overpaid, paid twice, chargeback, not in book, or unchecked when there is no rate) points to the statement page and row or the book row.
Two statements, one smaller number
As our entry on the insurance agency cluster describes, a member usually gets two layers of paper: the carrier’s statement, issued to the cluster’s agency code, and the cluster’s own statement to you, already net of its share. Many members only see the second. An error at either layer reaches you as one smaller number. The broader term, and the other names these groups go by, is in insurance aggregator.
The rate in your schedule is the net rate
Lapidar’s schedule holds one rate per carrier, line and new or renewal business, and has no separate field for a cluster’s share. To check the cluster’s statement, enter the rate you should receive after the share. With an invented carrier rate of 15% and a share of 20% of commission, that is 12% of premium; if your agreement takes the share from premium rather than commission, the arithmetic is different, so work from the agreement. A flat fee that is not charged per policy can’t be expressed as a rate.
When a line comes in short, Lapidar reports it as underpaid. It cannot tell you whether the carrier paid the cluster at the wrong rate or the cluster took the wrong share; only the carrier’s statement shows that, and the schedule holds one rate per carrier and line, so you check one layer at a time.
Multi-carrier statements
A cluster often sends one statement covering several carriers. If the file has a carrier column, Lapidar takes the carrier from each row; otherwise the whole file is assigned the one carrier you name at upload. Carrier names are matched as written (case aside), so they need to read the same in the statement, your book export and your schedule. Each line also needs a policy number and a commission amount; lines without a policy number are skipped and listed.
Agency codes
Lapidar matches by carrier and policy number and does not read agency codes. If you write some business with a carrier under the cluster’s code and some under your own appointment, at different rates, the schedule can’t tell the two apart under the same carrier name. Who owns the codes matters more when you leave the cluster than in a monthly check; the glossary entry covers that question.
After the check
You mark each finding open, raised or resolved, and print a report per carrier to send. Lapidar never contacts carriers and makes no entries in your agency management system; corrections go there by hand.
Every supported format and limit is on the product page; the output is on the sample report (invented data). Other kinds of agency: personal lines agencies, commercial lines agencies.
Frequently asked questions
Does Lapidar know my cluster’s share?
No. Enter the net rate you should receive after the share in your schedule. Lapidar then checks each line of the cluster’s statement against it.
Can Lapidar read my cluster’s statement?
If it is CSV, XLSX or a PDF with selectable text, and each line has a policy number and a commission amount. You match its columns once and Lapidar remembers them.
Does Lapidar use agency codes?
No. It matches lines to your book by carrier and policy number only.