Glossary · Insurance agency commissions
Real-time carrier interface
A real-time carrier interface lets agency staff query a carrier’s system from inside their agency management system and get an answer at once, for billing, claims, policy or loss run information, instead of waiting for the next download or logging in to the carrier’s portal.
What it means
Download arrives on its own schedule; real-time is asked for. Ivans describes its Ivans eServicing as letting agents “ping your carrier partners’ systems with just a click of a button to get all of the account status, billing, claims, policy and loss run information you need,” while they “stay in your management system the entire time.” In the 2018 IA Magazine guide to management systems, Vertafore describes TransactNOW, “which enables agencies to process business with participating carriers securely in real time.”
How it works: the request goes to the carrier as a message and the answer comes back while you wait. ACORD’s P&C data standards page says its XML standard “is constructed to support real-time requirements for business transactions via request and response messages.” Which carriers answer, and for which lines, depends on the carrier.
How it shows on a commission statement
Real-time is useful when a commission line looks wrong: a billing lookup can show whether the carrier recorded a cancellation or endorsement your system missed. It answers one policy at a time, though, so it explains a discrepancy you’ve found rather than finding them.
What Lapidar reads. Lapidar does not read AL3 files or connect to Ivans or to your management system’s download. It reads the statement files carriers let you save: CSV, XLSX and PDF.
Example
- Commission expected
- $180.00
- Commission on statement
- $0.00
- Real-time billing lookup
- Cancelled for nonpayment, Mar 3
- Policy status in agency system
- In force
Commonly confused
- Real-time vs download. Download is batch and one-way; real-time is a request and an answer.
- Real-time vs carrier portal. Same information, but asked from inside your system without a separate login.
Common mistakes to check
- Expecting real-time lookups to find discrepancies across a whole statement.
- Assuming a carrier that offers download also answers real-time inquiries.
- Fixing the commission question without updating the policy record the lookup showed was stale.
Questions
What is real-time in insurance agency software?
A live query to a carrier’s system from inside the agency management system, answered at once, for billing, claims, policy or loss run information.
What is the difference between real-time and download?
Download is one-way batch data the carrier sends on its own schedule. Real-time is a request you make and the carrier answers while you wait.
Does every carrier support real-time inquiry?
No. It depends on the carrier and the line, and on the route your management system uses.
Sources
- Ivans, Ivans eServicing product page. Retrieved October 13, 2026.
- IA Magazine, Guide Your Valuables: Leveraging Your AMS, May 2018. Retrieved October 13, 2026.
- ACORD, Property & Casualty Data Standards. Retrieved October 13, 2026.
Lapidar is commission reconciliation software for independent insurance agencies, in its founding pilot. Related: policy download.