Contracting (Client Organizations)
- Former user (Deleted)
- Barb Boothe
Introduction to Contracting
As a partner organization, you can use the APEXA portal to establish and manage contracts. The term “Contract” refers to the relationship between parties within APEXA. For example, an “Advisor—MGA –Carrier” contract means the contractual relationship between the Advisor, MGA and Carrier.
You can only request a contract with the entity directly above you in the contracting chain. If you need a package to stop at a party in the contracting chain, a requirement for that party needs to be added to the package. APEXA requires a relationship to be established at every level of the hierarchy. For example, in a Carrier> MGA> AGA> Advisor contractual relationship, there must be a contract between:
- Carrier – MGA
- MGA – AGA
- AGA – Advisor
- MGA – AGA – Advisor
- Carrier – MGA – AGA
- Carrier – MGA – AGA – Advisor
The contractual relationship has to be built from the bottom up. For example, in a Carrier > MGA> Corporation > Advisor relationship, the Advisor to Corporation relationship is established first, then the MGA to Corporation to Advisor and then the Carrier to MGA to Corporation to Advisor.
Some Corporations may act as a MGA in one contractual relationship but act as an AGA in another contractual relationship. In this scenario, you can indicate which profile you wish to view. To view more information about switching between profiles, please refer to Multiple Profiles.
The entire contractual relationship chain from the Carrier to the Advisor (inclusive) cannot exceed more than 6 entities.
Contract Communication
General Comments
Throughout the contracting process, the Comments section reflects the ongoing communication between parties involved in the contract, both before and after the contract is finalized. Each comment appears in a separate box with the name of the user who created the comment and the user who last modified it. A date and time stamp will be available when a comment is created or modified. Comments manually added by users will be of the comment type “General.”
- Navigate to the Contract on which you wish to comment.
- Scroll to the bottom of the contract screen.
- Click the Comment button in the right-hand corner.
- Enter your comment text.
- From the Privilege list, select the level of visibility you wish to set for the comment.
- Optionally, attach a relevant document to the comment by selecting Browse and locating the appropriate file.
- Select the Save button to save your comment.
- To edit a comment, select the
icon. To delete a comment, select the
icon.
System-Generated Comments
There are actions on the system that automatically generate a comment on a case. These comments are identified by type, based on the action that generated the comment, as follows:
System Action | Comment Type |
Contract is consolidated | Consolidate |
Contract is denied | Deny |
Contract is placed into downgraded status | Downgrade |
Contract is reinstated after a denial | Reinstate |
Contract is reactivated after a termination | Reactivate |
Contract is terminated | Terminate |
Contract is upgraded after a downgrade | Upgrade |
Contract is placed into vested status | Vest |
- Navigate to the Contract on which you wish to view comments.
- Scroll to the bottom of the contract screen.
- Enter text (to search actual text of your comment), OR
- Use Filter to search by “Comment Type” (see chart above for explanation of comment types).
Contract Lock
During the contracting process, all parties in the contracting chain will be able to see the contract. However, a contract can only be edited by a single user at one time regardless of who is responsible for the record. If the contract is with another party, your ability to edit the contract is limited. You can only add comments to a contract record if it is locked by another user. To view more information on how to add a comment, please refer to Contract Communication.
If a contract is locked by a party within your organization as you are viewing the contract, you will see the email address of the user who has the contract locked in the contract header. If necessary, you can contact the person who locked the contract. However, if the contract is locked by a party outside your organization, you will only see the party name (e.g. “MGA ABC”).
Contract Requests
APEXA allows Advisors, Corporations and partner organizations to request contracts from the parties above them. An entity can request a direct contract with you, or can request a contract with another entity through the contract they have with you (this does not apply to Carriers). Advisors and Corporations can also request to transfer their existing Carrier contracts from one entity to another.
Two-Party Contract Request
When a Corporation or Advisor below you requests a new contract with you, a new contract request record will be created.
You can manage incoming contract requests by setting a trigger for new contract requests. See Task Administration for information about creating triggers.
With a two-party contract request, the request type will be “New Contract.” You will have the option to Accept or Deny the contract request. Selecting “Accept” will create a new contract in pending status. See Screening and Establishing the Contract below for next steps. Selecting “Deny” will close the request, but will allow you to send comments back to the Advisor or Corporation detailing the reasons for your denial. A denied request will persist in your and the Advisor’s/Corporation’s contract request history.
Before accepting the request, you may wish to screen the Advisor or Corporation (see Screening for more information).
Automated credit and criminal checks (when applicable) will not be automatically initiated until the contract request is accepted, the package has been added, and the contract is sent to the advisor. See Credit History and Criminal Background Check History, respectively, for information about credit and criminal checks.
- Select Contract Requests from the left-hand navigation pane.
- Select Request History from the resulting sub-menu.
- Any resolved requests will have a status of “Completed” and any new requests will have a status of “Pending.” There is a search bar under the “Requests” heading which will allow you to search by party name, request type, or status. For example, you can search for Pending requests by entering “Pending” into the Search bar across the top.
- Select the Accept or Deny button.
- Enter comments (if desired), and click Submit.
After you have accepted a contract request, a contract in “Pending” status is created and an application ID is generated (see screenshot below). If you deny a contract request, the request will remain in the Contract Request > Request History area of the system, and clicking on the denied request will allow you to view the comments entered on the request at time of denial.
The application ID is automatically generated by the system when a contract request is accepted and serves as the unique identifier for the contract in APEXA.
Multiple-Party Contract Request (MGA Only)
As an MGA, you will facilitate contracts between Advisors/Corporations and the Carriers above you. If an Advisor or Corporation already has a contract with your MGA, but wishes to pursue a new Carrier contract, that Advisor or Corporation will submit a multiple-party request.
- Select Contract Requests from the left-hand navigation pane.
- Select Request History from the resulting sub-menu.
- Multiple-party contract requests will have a type of “New through Existing Relationship.” To view more information about the request, click on the Request ID.
- The request will detail which parties the advisor wishes to contract with in the header. In the screenshot below, you can see the Advisor (green box) was the initiator of the contract request, and the MGA (blue box) received the contract request. The Request itself was for the Advisor to be able to contract with the Carrier (red box) through the Advisor’s existing relationship with the MGA.
- To accept the request, select the Accept button.
- On the Accept Request screen, you will be given the option to:
- Select the appropriate third party – if you have a direct relationship with them. Parties you have an existing relationship with will be available within the drop-down menu; simply click the arrow and select the party, assuming you have a contractual relationship with the company the Advisor is seeking to do business with.
- Request a contract – if you do not have a direct relationship with the third party and wish to. This will allow you to initiate a new two-party contract request between your corporation and the new corporation. Once the new contract request is approved, you can return to the Advisor’s contract request and approve it, selecting the newly available party.
- Select another Corporation, with whom you have a direct relationship, to facilitate the request. This would be an option if you confirm with the Advisor that an alternate company, other than the one they were looking to contract with, would be able to satisfy their requirements.
- Enter Comments if desired.
- Click Submit.
- After accepting the contract request, the new 3-party contract is created. See Screening and Establishing the Contract to proceed.
Addition of Advisors to a Corporation’s Contract
If a Corporation already has a contract with you, but wishes to add Advisors below their Corporation (with whom they have already established a contract), the Corporation will submit a request to add Advisor(s).
- Open the contract request to view the advisor to be added, the party that initiated the request (the Corporation) and the target of the request.
- To accept the request, select the Accept button.
- On the Accept Request screen, you will be given the option to:
- Select the appropriate third party – if you have a direct relationship with them. Parties you have an existing relationship with will be available within the drop-down menu; simply click the arrow and select the party, assuming you have a contractual relationship with the company the Advisor is seeking to do business with.
- Request a contract – if you do not have a direct relationship with the third party and wish to. This will allow you to initiate a new two-party contract request between your corporation and the new corporation. Once the new contract request is approved, you can return to the Advisor’s contract request and approve it, selecting the newly available party.
- Select another Corporation, with whom you have a direct relationship, to facilitate the request. This would be an option if you confirm with the Advisor that an alternate company, other than the one they were looking to contract with, would be able to satisfy their requirements..
- Enter Comments if desired.
- Click Submit.
- After accepting the contract request, the new 4-party contract is created. See Screening and Establishing the Contract to proceed.
Screening – Advisors
You may wish to screen an Advisor at any time in the contracting process. To screen an Advisor, click their hyperlinked name (see screenshot below) in the contract header or use the Advisor search screen (see Searches).
The Advisor’s profile will allow you to view the following screens.
Profile
Corporation Associations
List of Corporations to which the Advisor belongs, the type of business, the business number and the overall health of that Corporate record.
Licences
Summary information about all licences currently listed on the Advisor’s profile, including the health of each record. The document associated with the license is available for viewing from this page. To view additional information about that licence record, click on the 
icon. Clicking on the licence number will bring you to the licence history page, which will detail the history of that licence record.
E&O Coverages
Summary information about all E&O Coverages currently listed on the Advisor’s profile, including the health of each record. The document associated with the E&O is available for viewing from this page. To view additional information about that E&O record, click on the
icon. Clicking on the E&O Certificate/Policy number will bring you to the E&O history page, which will detail the history of that E&O record.
Addresses
Confirmation that the Advisor has (or has not) provided the 5 years of residential and business history.
Phones
Displays Home and Business (if applicable) phone number(s) provided by the Advisor.
Employment History
Displays the Advisor’s employment history records.
Insurance History
Displays the Advisor’s insurance history records.
References
Confirmation that the Advisor has (or has not) provided all 3 references required.
Education History
Displays the highest education level attained by the Advisor
Designations
Displays any professional designations provided by the Advisor
Debt
List of any current, public debts that are logged against the Advisor – note: historical debt information is not available.
Depending on when you view the Advisor’s record, credit information may not yet be available when initially screening an Advisor. See Contract Requests for more information.
Contracts
The system will display a list of contracts for the Advisor, which will include any contract in which you are implicated, contracts that have been terminated, downgraded or denied (along with a reason), contracts on which a public debt has been logged and contracts under public monitoring.
The system will also display monitoring history for the Advisor – which will contain all instances of public monitoring for the duration of the time the Advisor has been on the system (regardless of if the monitoring is current or not).
Profile History
This section of the profile will allow you to view snapshots of the advisor’s ASQ over time, including the date each version was signed, and any supporting documents which were provided at that time. A snapshot is created any time a valid change is made to an advisor’s profile, and at attestation. This includes changes or additions made to the following sections:
- Employment
- Designation
- Insurance History
- Licence/Licence Type
- Compliance
- Company Info
- Profile details - name, date of birth, address, phone numbers
- Open the Advisor’s profile that you wish to screen and select Profile History from the lower, left-hand Advisor Menu.
- Select the pdf hyperlink of the snapshot you wish to view.
- To view additional documents provided as part of the ASQ, click on the Uploaded Documents icon
. - The system will display a list of questions for which documents have been provided, along with the answer the Advisor provided to that question. To open the document(s), select the document icon.
Credit History
This screen will allow you to view both the initial credit check results and any changes in credit score or credit monitoring triggers received for the Advisor thereafter.
Depending on when you view the Advisor’s record, credit information may not yet be available when initially screening an Advisor. See Contract Requests for more information.
The initial credit report is a series of pieces of information (see Appendix B – full credit report for a full output). You can find more information on an item by selecting the
icon beside that line item.
If a credit score change or a credit trigger is received by APEXA, that trigger will appear under the appropriate section, with a “Date Added” corresponding with the date the item was received by the system.
You can manage incoming credit triggers and changes in credit score by setting a trigger for these events. See Task Administration for information about creating triggers.
Criminal Background Check History
This screen will allow you to view the criminal check history for the Advisor, including the date of each criminal background check and the result.
Automated Criminal Background Checks
APEXA automatically runs a criminal background check, through the provider Sterling Backcheck, if an Advisor is entering into a net new contractual relationship with a partner organization, and no criminal background check has been performed in the past year. For shareholders owning 20% or more of a corporation, they will be subjected to a check if their corporation enters into a net new contractual relationship with a partner organization, and no criminal background check has been performed in the past year.
Manual Criminal Background Checks
If a partner organization wishes to run a criminal background check, but the criteria above are not met, they can choose to manually request a criminal background check. The cost for this check will be billed back to the partner organization.
Criminal Background Check Results
A criminal background check can return one of the following results:
- Clear: no releasable convictions have been found in the CPIC database
- Not Clear: one or more releasable convictions have been found in the CPIC database. BackCheck will issue another report, usually within a couple of business days, indicating if the advisor fully & accurately disclosed those convictions.
- Not Clear – Accurate: the conviction(s) disclosed by the applicant are a complete and accurate depiction of the record found within the CPIC database.
- Not Clear – Inaccurate: the conviction(s) disclosed by the applicant are not a complete and accurate depiction of the record found within the CPIC database.
- Unable to complete: It is too close to tell between multiple applicants using conventional data and fingerprints are required to accurately identify the candidate – please note that this scenario is rare.
If a result of “Not Clear”, or “Not Clear – Inaccurate” has been returned on an automated criminal background check, any partner with access to that Advisor will have the option to perform an additional zero-in check to gather more information about the result. The zero-in request allows the partner organization to communicate to the Advisor or shareholder the results of the test, and then the request allows them to try the criminal background check again. If a user at your organization has selected a manual criminal background check, and a result of “Not Clear”, or “Not Clear – Inaccurate” is returned, only users at your organization will have the option to perform a zero in check (others will be able to view the results, but not request additional checks, as these are performed at a cost to your organization).
If someone has made a zero-in request, the zero-in request date will be displayed below the original request results.
Back Office Codes
This screen will allow you to view any of the codes, specific to your organization, that were provided for this Advisor. For example, you may have a Jonny Smith with code 1234 and a John Smith with a code 2345 in your back office. When John onboards, these two profiles are merged into a single APEXA profile. You would then see both 1234 and 2345 on the Back Office Codes screen.
Screening – Corporations
You may wish to screen an Advisor at any time in the contracting process. To screen a Corporation, click the Corporation’s hyperlinked name (see screenshot below) in the contract header or use the Advisor search screen (see Searches).
After clicking the Corporation’s name, you will be directed to the Corporate profile, where you can view the following screens (by clicking on the corresponding lower, left-hand menu item).
Profile
Shareholders
You can view the shareholders listed for the Corporation, along with their percent share and profile health. Clicking on a shareholder will allow you to screen that individual – see Screening – Advisors for more details about what information is available.
Licences
You can view summary information about all licences currently listed on the Corporation’s profile, including the health of each record. The document associated with the license is available for viewing from this page. To view additional information about that licence record, click on the
icon. Clicking on the licence number will bring you to the licence history page, which will detail the history of that licence record.
E&O Coverages
You can view summary information about all E&O Coverages currently listed on the Corporation’s profile, including the health of each record. The document associated with the E&O is available for viewing from this page. To view additional information about that E&O record, click on the
icon. Clicking on the E&O Certificate/Policy number will bring you to the E&O history page, which will detail the history of that E&O record.
Addresses
You are able to verify that the representative of the Corporation has (or has not) provided the 5 years of Corporate address history required.
Contracted Advisors
This button (visible just above the Profile section) will bring you to a list of Advisors who are contracted with you, through this Corporation.
Phones
Displays Home and Business (if applicable) phone number(s) provided by the Corporation.
Debt
You can view any current, public debts that are logged against the Corporation (please note: historical debt information is not available).
Contracts
The system will display a list of contracts for the Corporation, which will include any contract in which you are implicated, contracts which have been terminated or denied (along with a reason), contracts on which a public debt has been logged, and contracts under public monitoring.
The system will also display monitoring history for the Corporation – which will contain all instances of public monitoring for the duration of the time the Advisor has been on the system (regardless of if the monitoring is current or not).
Back Office Codes
This screen will allow you to view any of the codes, specific to your organization, that were provided for this Advisor. For example, you may have a Jonny Smith with code 1234 and a John Smith with a code 2345 in your back office. When John onboards, these two profiles are merged into a single APEXA profile. You would then see both 1234 and 2345 on the Back Office Codes screen.
Assigning a Contract
Once a contract request has been accepted, and the contract has been created, you can assign the contract to yourself or to any other user within your organization, provided you have the proper permissions. Users may find it useful to search for all contracts that have been assigned to them, and this may serve as your tool for assigning work within APEXA.
- On the contract you wish to assign, select the Assign To button.
- Select the appropriate employee from the drop down and click Ok or click Assign to Me.
Establishing the Contract
Selecting Roles for Each Party
After you have accepted the contract request, and the contract has been created, you will be required to indicate the role each party will play on the contract.
Available roles are determined by dependant cases and the role of the contracting party above the current party. If you are unable to assign a role to a party, assign a role to the party at the top of the contracting chain, and work your way down.
- On the newly created contract, you will see all the contracting parties listed in the right-hand column of the contract header. Each party will have a
icon next to the party name. - To assign a role to a contracting party, select the
icon next to the party’s name. - Select the appropriate role (MGA, AGA, Corporation, Sub-Corporation or Advisor) from the role drop-down.
- Click Save to save your selection.
- Once a role has been selected, the role will appear beside that party (to replace the “Pending” that was there prior).
Adding the Contracting Package
After you have identified the role each party will play in the contracting chain, your next step is to add a contracting package to the contract. This package will be sent down to the Advisor/Corporation to fulfill their requirements and then will proceed up the chain to establish the contract. For example, in a three-party contract between a Carrier, and MGA, and an Advisor, the MGA would add a Carrier contract package, and assign the contract to the Advisor. The Advisor would complete any requirements, and then send the contract up the chain for approval.
- Within the contract you wish to add the contract package to, select the Add Contract button.
- Select the package you wish to add from the Packages drop down list.Note – this is a list of all the active contract packages associated with the primary organization (owner) of the contract, sorted by type (see Packages for more information). The Package Types available will depend on your role in the contracting chain, as well as your relationship with the other parties in the chain.
- After you have selected a package, you will see a summary of the contents of that package. If you are satisfied with your selection, click Save.
After a package has been added, you will see the requirements appear on the contract in the form of tabs below the contract header.
Outstanding requirements are marked with an
icon. In most cases, your next step is to send the contract down to the advisor (see Sending the Contracting Package). If there is an
icon on the Additional Signatures tab, your package may require additional signatures (see Additional Signatures, below).
Adding an Additional Package
During the contracting process (or at any time after the contract has been established), you may wish to gather additional information from an advisor or corporation. For this purpose, you can use a requirements package (see Packages for more information on types of packages and instructions on creating a requirements package).
- On the contract you with to add the package, select Add Package.
- Select the package you wish to add and click Save.
- To send the new requirements down to the Advisor or Corporation, select the Send button from below the contract header and click Backward.
Viewing packages on a contract
After a package has been added, you will see the requirements appear on the contract in the form of tabs below the contract header.
To see which package(s) have been added, select Packages under the Contract Menu on the left.
There you will be able to see which packages were added, when and by which APEXA client.
If you have permission to View Assets, selecting the package name will open a pop-up window to show the requirements included in the package.
If you have permission to Edit Assets, selecting the Open Revision button in the pop-up window will open the actual package under Assets, where you can make changes to the package requirements for future use. (See Package Revision for details on editing packages.) Editing a package after it has been added to a contract does not change the requirements on the contract.
Removing packages from a contract
Contract/Transfer packages
If you attach an incorrect contract or transfer package to a contract container, you will need to reset the entire contract in order to correct that. This can be done at anytime that the contract is in pending status. The reset button will be grayed out for MGAs if the contract is currently sitting with the carrier. Carriers can either reset the contract or send it back to the MGA to do it.
Resetting a contract returns a container to it's initial state, eliminating the roles identified for the various parties and removing all requirements previously established. Any comments will remain and, for audit purposes, the system will automatically add a reset comment indicating the date of reset and the client who completed the action.
Resetting a contract is a two-step process.
Select the reset contract button found below the contract header.
In the window that appears, select the reset button to confirm your intention to reset the contract.
After a contract has been reset, begin by selecting roles for each party and continue following the steps to set the contract up.
Requirement/Maintenance packages
Requirement and maintenance packages can be removed up until the time when all requirements included in that package have been completed. To remove a requirement or maintenance package, select the trash can icon on the right.
Additional Signatures
In certain circumstances a Corporation or Advisor outside of the contracting chain may need to sign a document (e.g. transfer of business from one Advisor to another). Or an agreement can include optional signatures, for situations where they may be required (e.g. if a Corporation has more than one shareholder, then the agreement owner wants more than one shareholder to sign).
If you have agreements with additional signers, these will have been created for you by APEXA and available for use when you created your packages (see Packages for more information). When a package with an agreement containing an additional signature (or multiple additional signatures) is added to a contract, the party who added the contract is responsible for defining the additional signer.
It is important to manage any Additional Signatures BEFORE sending the contract back to the advisor or corporation.
- If a package contains an agreement with additional signers, the “Additional Signatures” tab will indicate an outstanding requirement. Select the Additional Signatures tab.
- If you do not require the additional signer(s) in this case, you can delete the additional signer(s) by selecting the
icon beside the signature line. - If there are multiple additional signatures, delete them from the bottom up.
- To add information about the additional signer, select the pencil icon to the right of the signature line. Provide the information about the additional signer in the resulting pop-up window and click Save.
When the contract comes back to the MGA (after the Advisor and/or Corporation have completed their requirements), you will be able to click the Invite button next to the Additional Signature(s) to send an email, indicating that their signature is required. You will be required to communicate the Signing PIN separately through a second email or phone call. The signer will need the Signing PIN to login to APEXA and to access the agreement.
The following steps will only work if your company is the current party on the contract.
- On the Additional Signatures tab, make note of the agreement name under the Document heading.
- On the Agreements tab, click the Reset button to the right of that agreement. This will remove any existing signatures (if any) and return any Additional Signatures to their original state.
- Properly manage the Additional Signatures according to the steps above.
If you had previously sent the contract back to the advisor or corporation for signing, and they are signers on the impacted agreement, you will need to send it back again. The advisor or corporation will only need to re-sign the one agreement - all other requirements completed previously will remain fulfilled.
If you have been asked to be an Additional Signer for a contract, please follow these steps.
- Open the “Signature is Required” email, sent from notification@apexa.ca.
- Click “Begin Signing”.
- Within the newly opened “External Signer Login” page, enter the email address through which you received the “Signature is Required” email.
- Enter the PIN, which would have been provided to you by the Partner Organization that invited you to sign the contract. If you did not receive a PIN, contact a member of the organization.
- Click Login to proceed.
- Enter your Title, First Name, Last Name, Corporation, and click “Save”.
- Once your Signer Information has been saved, you will be able to click “Sign Document”, to view the contract agreement and esign the form.
- If you would rather delegate the document signing to another individual, click “Assign to someone else”, and enter the other individual’s Email, Title, First Name, Last Name, and Corporation. Note: if you have assigned the signing authority to another individual, they will receive the “Signature is Required” email, but will need to be provided with the PIN in order to proceed.
Sending the Contracting Package
After a package has been added, you will see the requirements appear on the contract in the form of tabs below the contract header. Outstanding requirements are marked with an icon, and these will prevent the approval of the contract, until they are satisfied. In most cases, your next step is to send the contract down to the Advisor.
If you require some additional information from the Advisor, you can add additional questions to a contracting package after you have applied it to contract by adding them to the questions tab.
Note that these questions and their answers will NOT appear in the signed agreement.
You can also add multiple packages to a single contract; see Adding an Additional Package for more information.
- On the contract you with to send to the Advisor/Corporation, select Send and select Backward from the resulting drop down.
Fulfilling the Contract Requirements
Now that the contract has been sent to the Advisor or Corporation, they will have to fulfill all of the requirements of the contracting package before sending it back to you (the button is unavailable until all criteria are met). There are also a set of minimum requirements built into the system that will prevent an Advisor from submitting the contract back to you. In the following events, the system will prevent a user from sending the contract to another party:
- No first or last name provided or no Corporate name is provided
- Date of birth not provided
- Highest level of education not provided
- Answers to the CLHIA questionnaire not provided
- No phone number provided
- 5 years of residential address history not provided
- Current business address (if different from above) not provided
- No licence information provided (unless sponsorship requested)
- Resident licence is expired (unless sponsorship requested)
- No E&O coverage is provided (unless sponsorship requested or “applying for E&O” selected)
- All E&O coverage is expired (no active certificate exists)
These requirements will be communicated to you as a red flag when viewing the contract, as indicated below. The text within the flag will vary depending on the specific circumstances.
Yellow flags on the contracting screen will notify you of items that you may wish to consider when deciding to approve a contract, but will not prevent you from doing so. Again, the text within the flag will vary depending on the specific circumstances.
If you wish to gather information after the contracting package has been sent, you can add additional “requirement” type packages to the case. See Adding an Additional Package for more information.
If the Advisor/Corporation has met all the package requirements, and all the items above have been addressed, the Advisor/Corporation can submit the contract back to you.
Reviewing the Contract
Once you have received the contract back from the Advisor/Corporation, you will want to review all the requirements, tab by tab. A description of each tab, and any action required, follows.
Questions Tab
This tab shows all the questions that were included in the package, along with the answers provided by the Advisor/Corporation. You will be able to view the answers to questions asked on this tab, and if an answer provided requires additional information you could add an additional requirements package and send the request back down to the Advisor/Corporation (see Adding an Additional Package for more information).
For all Advisor-related contracting packages, a question is automatically appended to the contract asking the Advisor to certify that his/her ASQ is up-to-date. A profile snapshot (ASQ) is generated at the time at which they fulfill this requirement. To view this snapshot, access the Questions tab, locate the ASQ-related question, and locate the pdf icon.
Banking Information Tab
If an Advisor wishes to defer payment to the Corporation above them, they need to complete a package that has been created to allow the “No Banking Information Required” option. For more information, see Packages.
A contract may stipulate that it is a requirement for the Advisor/Corporation to define their preferred method of payment. Once this information has been provided, you will be able to view it under the Banking tab. You can download a copy of the void cheque (if applicable) that has been submitted and see the status of the verification of that cheque by APEXA.
There may be circumstances in which an Advisor or Corporation’s banking information has been “Verified” by APEXA, but the name on the banking information provided did not match the name listed on the profile. Your organization should set up a trigger to receive this information (and follow-up with the Advisor as necessary) – see Triggers for more information on creating triggers.
Additional Information Tab
If the package settings have indicated that the Advisor’s SIN is required (defined when the package was created), the SIN would appear on the additional information tab.
The Advisor’s SIN is only visible to users who have been granted permission to view it.
Additional Signatures Tab
This tab is only relevant if there are additional signers on the package. For information about this tab, see Additional Signatures.
Documents Tab
This tab lists all agreements and documents that were included in the package (at the time the package was created). You will see that the Advisor/Corporation has “read and accepted” any documents and has signed any agreements that are part of the package. If an additional signer is required, you can now send the invitation to that user to sign the document – refer to Additional Signatures Tab, above.
For completing the contract (including signing the contract as a representative of your organization), see Signing the Agreement, below.
Denying/Cancelling pending contracts
Denying a pending contract
At any time after you have accepted a contract request, but before you approve a contract, you can choose to deny the contract. For example, after reviewing the advisor’s credit information, if you do not wish to proceed, the contract can be denied. When denying a contract, you must select a reason code from an available list. It is important to select the most appropriate reason code for the denial. Denied contracts and the reason for the denial is visible to all clients that have access to view the advisor or corporation profile.
Contracts can only be denied if your organization is the current party on the contract. The current party is identified by an arrow next to the party name in the contract header. After a contract is denied, the advisor or corporation will receive an email letting them know.
- On the contract you wish to deny, select the Actions drop down and choose Deny.
- Select a Reason for the contract denial (this will appear on the Advisor’s public profile).
- Provide Notes about the denial (optional)
- Upload documentation about the denial (optional)
- Select Ok
Important Note
MGAs have the ability to deny a carrier contract only before the contract has been forwarded to the carrier for the first time. Once a contract has been forwarded, only the carrier can deny it.
If an MGA denies a carrier contract, that contract can NOT be reinstated.
Reinstating a denied contract
There may be instances when you deny an application, but then later decide to accept it. Rather than ask the advisor or the corporation to go through the entire process again, you can choose to reinstate an application (within 60 days of the denial).
- Open the denied contract and select the Actions button from the list of buttons below the header.
- Select Reinstate from the resulting drop down.
- If you wish to back-date the reinstatement, adjust the Status Date to indicate the date the reinstatement is effective. If the reinstatement is not backdated, skip this step.
- Add a Note about the reinstatement (optional).
- Attach a supporting document (optional).
- Select Ok.
Cancelling a pending contract
If you mistakenly accept a contract request or create a duplicate contract container, you may opt to cancel the contract. Similar to denied contracts, cancelled contracts are also visible to all clients who have access to view the advisor or corporation profile. However, no reason code is necessary since all clients understand that a cancelled contract is one that was created in error.
A contract may be cancelled at anytime while in pending status and regardless of who is the current party. No notification is sent to the advisor or corporation for a cancelled contract.
Important Note
Cancelling a contract is an irreversible action.
Cancelling a contract is a two-step process.
Select the cancel contract button found below the contract header.
In the window that appears, confirm your intention to cancel the contract by entering "cancel" in the input field and then select the cancel contract button.
For audit purposes, the system will automatically add a comment to any cancelled contract indicating the date of cancellation and the client who completed that action.
Dependent/Facilitating contracts
In order to maintain the integrity of dependent/facilitating contracts and active relationships in the system, a contract cannot be cancelled without first cancelling/terminating or denying dependent contracts. If there are dependent contracts, the user will be presented with a window to indicate which contract(s) must first be cancelled with direct links to those contract(s).
In the example below, CIL MGA tried to cancel a two-party contract they had with the advisor.
Finalizing the Contract
Signing the Agreement
Prior to approving the contract, you will need to sign the agreement. A document is ready for you to sign if all of the following is true:
- Your organization is listed as the current party (located in the contract header)
- All the parties below you have signed the contract
- All the non-document requirements are completed
Once the agreement has been signed, you will see a pdf of the signed agreement and the contract is now ready to be approved.
- Select the Agreements tab
- You will see a Sign as Primary button available for any agreement you are required to sign. Click the Sign as Primary button.
- A note indicating that you are being Redirected to Silanis will appear – the document may take some time to load.
- You will see Click to Sign anywhere your signature is required. Click here to sign the document on behalf of your organization, and follow the onscreen prompts to finalize the signing process.
- The system will ask you to confirm your signature – click Ok
Assigning Contract Codes
You can assign Selling Codes, FundServ Codes or Corporate Codes to a contract – Carriers are also able to add Branch codes to a contract (see Carrier Branch Codes).
- Select Contract Codes from the lower left-hand Contract Menu.
- Click the Add button in the right-hand corner.
- Select the appropriate type from the Type drop down.
- Enter the code in the Code field.
- Select a Status.
- Enter a Description of the code (optional).
- Click Save.
Approving a Contract
Once all the requirements have been fulfilled by all parties, and you wish to establish a contract, you need to approve the contract. If you do not wish to approve the contract, you can deny (see Denying a Pending Contract).
If there are any outstanding requirements, you will not be able to approve a contract.
- Open the contract you wish to approve.
- Select Actions from below the contract header and select Approve from the drop down.
- Enter the Effective Date of the contract.
- Add a Note (optional).
- Attach a related document (optional).
- Click Ok.
Related Contracts (MGA Only)
Third Party
The steps described above create a contract between your organization and the Advisor/Corporation. There will be cases, however, where a related contract will be facilitated through your contract (see Multiple-Party Contract Request). As the MGA in the contracting chain, you will first establish the relationship between your organization and the Advisor/Corporation, and then establish Carrier contracts with the Advisor/Corporation through your MGA.
In order to build out the hierarchy properly, contracts must exist at every level of the chain, as follows:
- Advisor – MGA1 (Contract 001)
- MGA1 – Carrier1 (Contract 002)
- Advisor – MGA1 – Carrier1 (Contract 003)
If an Advisor wants a contract with Carrier1 in the example above, your organization (MGA1) must first have a contract with Carrier1 (contract 002). If you do not have a relationship with Carrier1, you will have to request a contract (see Requesting a Contract). Then you need to establish the contract between you and the Advisor (Contract 001) – which is the process described above (see Two-Party Contract Request). Once Contract 001 and Contract 002 have been established, Contract 003 can be established. This contract is considered a “related contract” to contract 001.
With Your Organization
You can also add a two-party related contract between yourself and the Corporation or Advisor. In this case, you will be establishing a subsequent contract, in addition to the contract(s) you already have with this Advisor or Corporation.
- Open the contract for which you wish to create a related contract. Select Related Contracts from the lower left-hand menu.
- Select the Add New Contract button from the right-hand corner. Since you are creating a new subsequent related contract, between your organization and the original Advisor/Corporation, select your organization as the primary party.
- Click Create.
- The newly created, related contract will be displayed.
- Proceed as with a new contract – see Establishing the Contract.
- Open the contract for which you wish to create a related contract. Select Related Contracts from the lower left-hand menu.
- Select the Add New Contract button from the right-hand corner.
- Select the primary party for the new contract (is the contract with your organization or are you facilitating a contract with a third party for someone below you). Since, in this example, you are facilitating a contract between a party you have a current contract with and another party, select “Third Party”.
- Select the third party from the drop-down.
- Click Create.
- The newly created, related contract will be displayed.
- Proceed as with a new contract – see Establishing the Contract. Note: since you have added a third party related contract (step 3), you will see a list of contracting packages that the third party has made available for your use when establishing a contract on their behalf.
If you are setting up a related case that is a “third party” type (step 3, above), you will not be the party to approve the contract. After you have signed the contract, you will be required to forward the contract up to the next party above you in the contracting chain.
If the advisor’s profile fails to meet the minimum requirements (e.g. they have no E&O Coverage or their licence is expired), you cannot send the contract up the contracting chain until the advisor’s profile is in good standing.
Once you have completed your requirements (see Requesting a Contract) and you have signed the agreement(s) (see Finalizing the Contract), you are ready to send the contract up the contracting chain.
- After the party below you has completed their requirements, and you have completed your requirements, select the Send button below the contract header.
- Select Forward to send it up the contracting chain.
Carrier Branch Codes
If you are acting as a Carrier in the contracting hierarchy, you will have the ability to assign branch codes to any MGA, AGA or Corporation contracts. As these parties submit contracts to your organization, the MGA will be asked to select the appropriate branch code for that contract from the list you have provided.
- Have the contract for the appropriate MGA, AGA or Corporation open.
- Select Branches from the Contract Menu on the left.
- Click the Edit button in the right-hand corner.
- Enter the branch for this contract into the Branch and Code fields, as appropriate. (Only one field is required, if your company only needs one.)
- Click Save.
If your organization does not issue a branch code for any of these entities, then they do not need to be added and the MGA, AGA or Corporation. The MGA will be able to send you contracts without selecting a code.
Once a Carrier has assigned their branch code to a contract, the MGA, AGA or Corporation will be required to select one of the codes from among all their contracts, before they submit a contract to the carrier.
- Select the Branches button from below the contract header.
- You will be asked to define the MGA branch and/or code, the AGA branch and/or code and the Corporation branch and/or code as applicable to the contract. The drop down will display the Application ID (unique identifier for the contract), the branch code and the selling code.
- Once you have selected the appropriate branch codes, click Ok.
Often a Carrier will have multiple existing branch codes for an MGA, at the MGA level. This branch information is included in the legacy contracts that the Carrier loads into In-Trust. When the MGA invites a single legacy Corporation or Advisor under a particular branch and that Corporation or Advisor creates their APEXA profile, that Carrier branch code automatically gets created in APEXA - making it available to the MGA when contracting new advisors under that branch. It is a best practice for existing branch codes to be created in this manner.
Occasionally, however, an MGA has a new advisor ready to contract with existing business - and has not yet been able to onboard a legacy Corporation or Advisor under the necessary branch code. In those cases, the MGA may ask the Carrier to manually create the existing branch code. The following outlines the steps required to set up one existing branch code manually.
The first step is to make sure you have an MGA branch code contract package available under Assets - Packages. This is often an empty package - no banking information required, no agreements, no documents and no questions - where the MGA is the target party. For instructions on how to build a contracting package, see the Packages section under Digital Assets. Once that package exists, follow the steps below:
- Open an existing contract where the MGA is the target party.
- Select Related Contracts under the Contract Menu on the left side.
- Click the Add New Contract button on the right side of the Related Contracts section.
- Click Create on the Facilitating Partner Selection pop-up. This will create a new pending contract for the MGA.
- To create an MGA branch code, click the Add Contract button, just below the contract header information and between the Assign To and Send buttons.
- On the Package Selection pop-up, select the MGA branch code package and click Save.
- Click Send to send the contract to the MGA - where they will need to answer the one default question added to all contracts.
- Once the MGA returns the contract, select Branches under the Contract Menu on the left side and add the code.
- Click the Actions button and select Approve, to make the contract active.
Repeat steps 1-9 for each MGA branch code to be added.
Requesting a Contract
To facilitate related contracts, you may be required to request a new contract with an entity above you (see Related Contracts). To be eligible to send a contract request, you will need to meet some minimum requirements.
- Acceptance of Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
- Corporation Name
- One phone number
- 5 years of business address history
- Valid Resident Licence information is provided (or disclosure of no licence has been made)
- Appropriate and valid E&O is provided (or disclosure of no E&O has been made)
- Articles of incorporation have been provided
- Listed shareholders adds up to 100%
- Shareholders with ownership >20% have all been onboarded
- Select Contract Requests from the left-hand menu.
- Select New Request from the resulting sub-menu.
- Select “New Two-Party Contract” from the Request Type drop-down.
- Select the Corporation you wish to contract with from the Corporation drop-down.
- Select I Require Sponsorship or I am applying for E&O Coverage as applicable.
- Enter the name of the person you were Referred By.
- Enter any additional comments in the Comment field.
- Click Submit.
After you have submitted your contract request, you will see a new contract request added to the Request History screen, with a request ID, in “Pending” status. This contract request is now with the entity above you, and you will not be able to perform any action until they accept or deny the request.
Fulfilling Contract Requirements
After the entity above you has added a contracting package, they will send it back to you to complete (as you will do for the Advisor – see Establishing the Contract). You will want to create a trigger to ensure that you are notified when contract requests are awaiting your action (see Triggers). When the contract is returned to you, there may be requirements for you to complete on each of the requirements tabs.
Any tab that requires your input will display an
icon beside the tab title.
Questions Tab
This tab will display shows all the questions that were included in the package.
- Select the Questions tab on the contract.
- Click the Answer button next to the question you wish to answer.
- Answer the question, and provide details and/or upload supporting documents as required.
- Click Save.
Banking Information Tab
You may be required to provide banking information for this contract. If you wish to receive direct deposit, you will be required to select the account you wish to receive payments within. If you wish to receive a cheque by mail, you’ll need to indicate the name you would like the cheque to be made payable to, as well as the address you wish the cheque to be sent to.
Documents Tab
You may be required to “read and accept” a document, or your signature may be required. For completing the contract (including signing the contract as a representative of your organization), see Signing the Agreement.
You may be required to add a Carrier branch code to the contract (see Carrier Branch Codes). When you are ready to submit the contract, you will select the Send button below the contract header and select Submit from the resulting drop-down menu.
Rescinding a Contract Request
You can rescind a contract request at any time up until the contract request has been accepted. If the contract request has already been accepted, the party above you can deny the request (if contract is still in pending status), or terminate the contract (if the contract is in active status).
- Select Contract Request from the left-hand menu.
- Select Request History from the resulting sub-menu.
- Locate the contract request you wish to rescind and select Rescind.
- Enter a comment (if desired) and click Submit.