A pile of documents nobody has quite checked
The risk was bound three weeks ago. Now the insurer's documents arrive: a schedule, a list of endorsements, an employer's liability certificate, perhaps a policy wording reference. Somebody has to check that the insured name is right, the address is right, the sums insured match what the client declared, the excesses match the quote, the endorsements are the ones agreed and nothing extra has appeared.
In a busy month, that check becomes a skim. The documents are forwarded to the client with a covering email, and the tray of 'to be checked' grows. Errors surface later, when the client reads the schedule closely, or when a claim is made and the schedule says something different from the quote.
Why document checking falls behind
The check is pure comparison, but the two sides live in different places. The agreed terms are in the quote PDF, the handler's email to the insurer and any changes negotiated on the phone. The issued documents are in a different PDF with a different layout. Nothing in the broking system holds the agreed terms as data that can be checked against.
So it is a reading job, and reading jobs are the first to be squeezed when renewals and new business pile up. Many offices have a rule that documents are checked before issue. Few can show how often that rule is actually followed.
What an unchecked schedule can lead to
- Wrong names or addresses on a schedule, found by the client and corrected in a hurry.
- Endorsements added by the insurer that were never agreed, sitting unnoticed until a claim.
- Sums insured that do not match the client's declaration.
- Documents sent out late because they are waiting in a checking queue.
- No record that a check was ever done.
A comparison that runs when documents land
- At binding, the agreed terms are saved to the case in structure: insured details, sums insured, limits, excesses, endorsements and any special terms, taken from the approved quote and the binding instruction.
- When the insurer's documents arrive by email, portal download or post scan, they are matched to the case automatically.
- The documents are read and the same fields are extracted, each linked to the page it came from.
- The two sets are compared and every difference is listed: a changed excess, an unexpected endorsement, a missing section, a misspelled name.
- The handler sees a short list of differences rather than a whole document, and decides for each one whether it is correct, needs the client's view or needs to go back to the insurer.
- Queries to the insurer are drafted from the list, and the case is held until they are resolved.
- Once cleared, the check is recorded with the handler's name and date, and the documents are released to the client.
The tool never decides a difference is acceptable. It makes sure nobody has to find the differences by reading every page.
Before and after on a typical schedule
| Check | By eye | With the comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Insured name and address | Usually checked | Compared automatically |
| Sums insured | Checked if time | Compared against declaration |
| Excesses | Often skimmed | Compared per section |
| Endorsements | Easy to miss one | Every added or missing one listed |
| Evidence of the check | None | Named, dated record on the case |
How the checking tray changes
The tray empties. Handlers deal with a handful of real differences rather than reading page after page, and documents go to the client sooner. When compliance asks whether documents are checked before issue, there is a record for every policy rather than an office rule nobody can evidence.
Is this happening in your office?
- There is a backlog of insurer documents waiting to be checked.
- Clients have spotted errors on schedules before you did.
- Nobody can show which documents were checked and by whom.
- Agreed terms only exist in the quote PDF and a few emails.