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In-Trust Portal (Client Organizations)

In-Trust Portal (Client Organizations)

Jul 15, 2024



The In-Trust Portal serves as a repository of legacy contracts and Advisor/Corporation information that is held “in trust” until the Advisor or Corporation representative consents to have this information pulled into the APEXA system. Once information is pulled into APEXA, it is still displayed in InTrust, but is not editable and no further action can be taken on that record.

The In-Trust portal allows Partner Organizations to invite Advisors and Corporations onto the system, and to attribute their existing data to their APEXA record.

Each Partner’s dataset contains their own contract and Advisor records. A Partner can edit their own information at any time, up until the record is imported into APEXA from the In-Trust database.

Any Partner above a party can send an invitation out to the parties below them, but the hierarchy must be built out in order for the lower parties to be onboarded. For example, in a Carrier > MGA > AGA > Advisor scenario, the MGA and AGA must both be onboarded prior to the Advisor invitation being available.

Accessing the In-Trust Portal

While the In-Trust portal is a separate, secure database, the In-Trust portal is accessed from within the APEXA portal. You can access In-Trust by logging into APEXA (see Logging into APEXA) and selecting In-Trust from the left-hand navigation menu.

Contracts

Carrier View

As a Carrier, you will only see your own contract records in In-Trust. Selecting Contract Search from the sub-menu below In-Trust will allow you to search for contracts within your In-Trust population. Within this view, the green check-marks () indicate that a party has been imported to APEXA, and the red “x” ()indicates they have not been imported, and therefor only reside within the In-Trust database. 

MGA View

As a partner organization (below a Carrier) you will see both your contract data and the corresponding contract records provided by the Carrier above you. For each record, you will see the selling code, Carrier, MGA, AGA, Corporation, Sub-Corporation, and Advisor implicated in the contract. Your record will appear in bold, on the bottom. If there is a matched Carrier record (see Data Matching below), that record will appear above your record (not bolded). Clicking on the Selling Code of a contract will bring you to your copy of that contract, and will allow you to edit the record (see Edit a Contract in In-Trust).


You can filter your results by entering search criteria in the search field. You can filter by the following criteria:

  • Advisor Name
  • MGA Name
  • AGA Name
  • Selling Code
  • Contract ID
  • Import Status

Clicking on the Selling Code of a contract will bring you to that contract record and allow you to edit the contract record. 

How To – Search for a Contract Record
  1. Select In-Trust from the left-hand navigation.
  2. Select Contract Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Use the search field to filter records (optional; see available criteria above).
  4. Click on any hyperlinked text to view the corresponding record.  
How To – Edit a Contract Record InTrust
  1. Select In-Trust from the left-hand navigation menu.
  2. Select Contract Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Use the search field to filter records (optional; see above for available criteria).
  4. Click on the Selling Code of the contract record you wish to edit.
  5. To edit the record, click the Edit button in the upper right-hand corner.
  6. Edit the field(s) you wish to update.
  7. Click Save.

Advisors

As a partner organization, you will also be able to view advisor records within your dataset.

You can filter your results by entering search criteria in the search field – you can filter by the following criteria:

  • Advisor Name
  • ID
  • Email Address
  • Import Status
  • Has Contract(s)
  • Data Source

Clicking on the Advisor’s Name will bring you to your copy of the advisor record, and allow you to edit the record. 

How To – Edit an Advisor Record in In-Trust
  1. Select In-Trust from the left-hand navigation menu.
  2. Select Advisor Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Use the search field to filter records (optional; see above for available criteria).
  4. Click on the Name of the advisor record you wish to edit (Note: the Edit button will only appear for records which have not been imported to the APEXA system).
  5. Select the appropriate field category from the Advisor Menu in the bottom-left of the screen, if necessary (e.g. select Phone Numbers to add or edit a home or business number associated with the profile).
  6. To edit the record, click the Edit button in the upper right-hand corner.
  7. Edit the field(s) you wish to update.
  8. Click Save.

Data Matching

Each partner’s data-set contains their own contract and advisor’s records, but in the case where a contract record involves more than one party (for example, an existing contractual relationship involves a Carrier, MGA and Advisor), this contract record will appear in both the Carrier and the MGA’s dataset. In order to correctly link these two records, the selling code (associated with the contract) is used as a common data point to match contracts.

For data matching purposes, the Carrier’s contract data will be assumed as correct and partner organizations below the Carrier will have to ensure that the key information in their data (e.g. Selling Code, parties in the contracting chain) match the Carrier’s record. If your information does not match the record provided by the Carrier, you will not be able to onboard the advisor.

Data Matching & Onboarding

In order for an Advisor or Corporation record with contracts to be eligible for onboarding, a matching record for that contract must exist in the Carrier’s dataset. You can see information about matches in your contract view (see Partner Organization View, above).

After the Advisor or Corporation accesses the invitation and sets up his/her APEXA profile, these contracts will be pulled into the APEXA system.

For all subsequent contracts (through other MGAs), the advisor will use a hyperlink contained in the invitation to associate those contracts with his/her existing APEXA profile.

Aliasing Carrier records (MGA Only)

As an MGA below a Carrier, you will need to map your version of the Carrier record (the record in your data-set) with the Carrier's version (from their dataset). You do this through aliasing, which lets APEXA know that the two records actually represent the same company. This must be done ONCE for each Carrier you included in your data-set. As an example, let's say there is a Carrier called BlueSun Life Insurance Company. You have them in your data-set as BlueSun Life. In order to indicate to APEXA that both records represent the same Carrier, the MGA links the two records together.

How To – “Alias” a Record

As in the example above, these steps will link the “BlueSun Life” record in the MGA's data-set with "BlueSun Life Insurance Company" in the Carrier's data-set.

  1. Select InTrust from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Advisor Search from the resulting sub-menu and search on your Carrier record (BlueSun Life)
  3. Click on the name to open the Corporate record.
  4. Select Alias from the lower left-hand Corporation Menu.
  5. Click the Add button from the right-hand corner.
  6. Click the Carrier checkbox to display only Carrier records.
  7. In the Alias Data Set Owner drop down, locate the Carrier (BlueSun Life Insurance Company) to which you wish to link your record (BlueSun Life).
  8. Click Save.


APEXA Invitations

Advisors and Corporations are invited to join APEXA by Partner Organizations – they are unable to register on the system any other way. 

Eligibility Requirements

To onboard an Advisor or Corporation, you must send them an invitation from the In-Trust portal. In order to do that, the following eligibility criteria must be met:

  • The Advisor or Corporation must have a record in the Advisor Search area under In-Trust
  • That record must include a valid email address where the invitation will be sent
  • If the Advisor or Corporation has legacy contracts in APEXA, all parties in the contracting chain of those contracts must be imported into APEXA in order (e.g. if a contract chain is Carrier > MGA > Corp > Advisor, the Corp must onboarded prior to inviting the Advisor)
  • All selling codes for any Carrier contracts associated with an Advisor or Corporation must be unique (e.g. the same selling code cannot be used for two different contracts with the same Carrier)
  • MGAs only: All the Carrier contracts within your data set must have a corresponding record in the Carrier’s data set


Best Practice Tips

Matching Carrier/MGA contract records (MGAs only)

  • For eligibility purposes, MGAs only have to match the contract records they have loaded with corresponding Carrier records. However, if a Carrier has loaded a contract record that the MGA does not have a match for, it is a best practice to correct that before sending the invitation to the Advisor or Corporation. This will ensure ALL the carrier contracts are imported during profile setup.

Corporation contracts

  • Before inviting a Corporation (whether they are an AGA, Corporation, Sub-Corp or a combination of those across different contracts), you should always ensure there is a contract specifically for that corporation with each Carrier with whom they work. For example, if a Corporation is part of Advisor contracts (Carrier > MGA > AGA > Advisor 1, Carrier > MGA > AGA > Advisor 2, etc.), ensure there is also a contract that looks like this: Carrier > MGA > AGA.


Adding Advisor Records

As mentioned above, Advisors must have a record in the Advisor Search area. If your company provides data files for your existing Advisors and Contracts, these will be loaded into In-Trust. If you need to manually add a record for a new Advisor, see the instructions below.

How To – Manually add an Advisor record
  1. Select InTrust from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Advisor Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click the Add button in the top right-hand corner.
  4. For Profile Type, select Advisor.
    • Enter the First Name, Last Name and Email Address. Since various advisor documents are verified against the profile name, it is a best practice to enter the advisor's legal name.
    • Advisor ID and Global Advisor ID are optional fields when manually adding records.
  5. Click Ok.
  6. The default language on a new record is English. If the Advisor is French:
    1. Click the Edit button at the top right.
    2. Scroll down to the Language field and select French.
    3. Click the Save button at the top right.


After you create the record, you have the option of adding additional information to the advisor record. This information will be pre-filled for the Advisor during profile setup in APEXA. This makes it easier and quicker for the Advisor to complete the profile setup process.

How To – Pre-populate Advisor Profile Information
  1. Click on the advisor's name to open the record you wish to add profile information to.
  2. On the left, under Advisor Menu select the area where you wish to add information.
    • Details: click Edit to enter a CIPR #, title (Miss, Mr, Mrs, Ms), date of birth, gender and/or preferred name
    • Addresses: click Add to enter business and/or residential addresses
    • Phone Numbers: click Add to enter business, home, toll-free and/or fax numbers
    • Licences: click Add to enter details for each provincial licence you wish to include and upload licence documents.** 
    • E&O Coverages: click Add to enter E&O details and upload E&O documents.**
  3. Click Save.

**Note: For Licences and E&O, you have the option to upload an electronic copy of the licence or certificate. If necessary, APEXA allows you to upload multiple documents for each item. After each upload, a new browser field will automatically appear.

Adding Corporation Records

APEXA allows to types of corporation invitations.

  • A Corporation-only invitation - to be used for corporations that have multiple advisors under them. The person receiving the invitation will only setup a corporate profile.
  • A Single Advisor Corporation - to be used for an independent advisor who is running their business through their own company. This will allow them to setup both their advisor and corporate profiles at the same time.

The default setting for Corporation records loaded through your company's data files is Corporation-only. 

Important Note: Before you can add or edit a Corporation record to be a Single Advisor Corporation, there must be a record for the Advisor in the Advisor Search area first. See How To – Manually add an Advisor record above.

How To – Manually add a Corporate record
  1. Select InTrust from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Advisor Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click the Add button in the top right-hand corner.
  4. For Profile Type, select Corporation.
    • Enter the Corporation Name
    • For Multiple Advisor Corporations: enter the Contact Name and Email Address.
    • For Single Advisor Corporations: select the Single Advisor Corporation checkbox and search for the Advisor in the Contact Name drop-down list. The Email field will automatically be pre-filled with the email address on the Advisor record.
    • Corporation ID and Corporation Global ID are optional fields.
  5. Click Ok.
  6. The default language on a new record is English. If the Corporation contact is French:
    1. Click the Edit button at the top right.
    2. Scroll down to the Language field and select French.
    3. Click the Save button at the top right.


After you create the record, you have the option of adding additional information to the corporation record. This information will be pre-filled for the corporation during profile setup in APEXA. This makes it easier and quicker to complete the profile setup process.

How To – Pre-populate Corporate Profile Information
  1. Click on the corporation's name to open the record you wish to add profile information to.
  2. On the left, under Corporation Menu select the area where you wish to add information.
    • Details: click Edit to enter a CIPR #, business/Quebec enterprise number, GST/HST/QST number and upload corporation registration documents.**
    • Owners (aka Shareholders):
      • It is not necessary to add owner information for a new corporation (that is being invited with no existing contracts).
      • Adding owner information to an existing corporation (that does legacy contracts) can impact that corporation's Shareholder Bypass status. See the Corporate Shareholders section for more information.
    • Addresses: click Add to enter business addresses.
    • Phone Numbers: click Add to enter business, toll-free and/or fax numbers.
    • Licences: click Add to enter details for each provincial licence you wish to include and upload licence documents.** 
    • E&O Coverages: click Add to enter E&O details and upload E&O documents.**
  3. Click Save.

** Note: For Corporation Registration Documents, Licences and E&O, you have the option to upload an electronic copy of the appropriate documentation. If necessary, APEXA allows you to upload multiple documents for each item. After each upload, a new browser field will automatically appear.

Adding Contract Records

You can also manually add contract records, if necessary.

How To – Manually add a contract record
  1. Select InTrust from the left-hand menu.
  2. Select Contract Search from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Click the Add button in the top right-hand corner.
  4. Enter a Contract ID and Selling Code - both of these fields should be unique from those used for other contract records.
    • Carriers: the system will not allow you to create a contract record with the same selling code as an existing contract record. 
    • MGAs: since it is possible to have the same selling code used by different carriers, the system will not prevent you from using the same selling code on multiple contract records. Please keep in mind the eligibility requirement described above (the same selling code cannot be used for two different contracts with the same Carrier).
  5. For each role within the contract, select the appropriate party from the drop down list. Search the list by typing the name into the input field.
    • These lists are populated from the corporate and advisor records in your organization's Advisor Search. So the party must have a record in the Advisor Search before you can add a contract involving them.
    • If the party has already been invited and they are the target party (final party) in the contract record you are creating, you will need to first create a new advisor or corporate record for them in Advisor Search to use in the contract.
  6. Once all the parties have been added, select Ok.
  7. The full contract record will open and you can add any other details, if needed:
    • Carriers: this is where you can add any contract branch code information.

Sending Invitations

How To – Send an APEXA Invitation
  1. Select In-Trust from the left-hand menu.
  2. Find the advisor or corporation you wish to invite under Advisor Search.
  3. Click on the advisor or corporation Name to open the record.
  4. Ensure that a valid email address is listed (use the Edit button in the top right if you wish to update the email address).
    • If this is a Single Advisor Corporation record, you will need to edit the email address on the advisor record.
  5. If the advisor or corporation has existing contracts in the Contract Search area, all eligibility requirements criteria listed above must be met.
  6. Click the Invite Advisor button near the top right.
  7. A preview of the invitation email to be sent will display. You should customize the text appropriately** and, when you are ready to send, click Send.

** Best practice: At a minimum, you should customize the subject line of the invitation email to include the name of your company (e.g. APEXA Invitation from Company Name)

If the following message is displayed when trying to invite an Advisor, it means the Advisor has been identified as the owner of a Single Advisor Corporation (see Adding Corporations Records for more information). To find the corporation the Advisor has been linked to, simply search on the Advisor's email address.

Advisor Profile Header (In-Trust)

When you click on the Advisor or Corporation’s name in In-Trust, you will be able to view the Advisor’s Profile header which serves as a summary of the Advisor’s information. Specifically, you can monitor the onboarding process after you invite the Corporation or the Advisor onboard via email or Call Centre.

Action

Description

Invited

If an invitation email has been sent

Imported

If the representative of the Corporation or the Advisor has at least begun profile setup.

A unique token that is specific to the Corporation or the Advisor appears in the Advisor Profile header. You can provide the token to the representative of a Corporation or the Advisor, so that they can input the token in their profile in order to bring all the associated data back to their profile.


Corporate Shareholders

When a corporation creates an APEXA profile, any person owning 20% or more is also required to complete an APEXA profile. (Companies, trusts, etc. owning 20% or more are not required to create profiles.) When those shareholder profiles are required to be setup, depends on how the Corporation was invited.

For legacy Corporations (those with existing contracts included in In-Trust), the default is for the Corporation to enter a state called Shareholder Bypass. This is described further below. Essentially, it means that shareholders will not be required to setup profiles immediately and the Corporation will still be consider to be "in good health".

For new Corporations (those invited without any existing contracts), APEXA will automatically send invitations to the appropriate shareholders after the corporate profile is setup. As shareholders complete their profiles, they will automatically be linked to the corporation. Until all shareholders owning 20% or more are onboarded, the corporation will be considered “in bad health” and will be unable to contract with other parties.

Shareholder Bypass

Shareholder Bypass is a temporary exemption allowing legacy corporations (with existing contracts) to be considered in good health (assuming no other issues), without onboarding shareholders owning 20% or more. In these situations, it is assumed that the MGA & Carriers have already done the necessary due diligence regarding screening the corporation.

How does Shareholder Bypass status get applied?

When an MGA invites a legacy corporation that has existing contracts, but does not include any owner information in the invitation, the corporation will onboard with a Shareholder Bypass status of yes.

During profile setup, the profile administrator will still be required to enter a complete list of shareholders, percentage of ownership, and email addresses for anyone owning 20% or more. Total ownership must equal 100%. The difference is that shareholders with 20% or more will not be invited and/or required to complete an APEXA profile at the time of setup.

If owner information is added to the invite (see How To - Add Owners to a Corporate record), then the Shareholder Bypass indicator will be set to no**. APEXA will check to see if any shareholders owning 20% or more already have APEXA profiles. This is done by checking the email address on the owner record against existing Advisor profiles in APEXA. If found, APEXA will automatically link those profiles to the corporation profile. If not found, APEXA will send invitations to the shareholders, requesting they create a profile – and will link the profile to the corporation once completed.

**The exception to this is when the corporation is already on APEXA and in a state of shareholder bypass. The bypass status that will remain in effect – and shareholders will not be invited and/or required to complete an APEXA profile at that time.


How to prevent Shareholder Bypass for legacy corporations

Within In-Trust, APEXA allows you to outline the ownership structure of a corporation record. This will pre-populate the owner information during corporation setup. To prevent Shareholder Bypass, you only need to add information for a single corporate owner. Note this is an optional step, and that the individual who is setting up the profile of the corporation will be able to review and edit any pre-populated owner information.

How To – Add Owners to a Corporate record
  1. In the Advisor Search area, ensure you have an Advisor record for the corporate owner(s) you wish to add to the Corporation record.
  2. Search for the Corporation.

  3. Click on the Name of the corporation record you wish to add Owners to.

  4. Click on the Owners sub-tab, within the Corporation Menu. 

  5. Click the +Add button within the Owners section to add an Owner.

  6. Within the Select Advisor drop-down, you will be able to select any advisor record within your In-Trust dataset.

    1. Note: if an individual record is implicated in contracts which make it ineligible to be invited, you will be unable to save the selection. Either correct what makes them ineligible or add a second Advisor record for that owner.

    2. If you are creating a second Advisor record for the individual, make the new record easily identifiable - e.g. put the first or last name in UPPERCASE. Use the same email address that is on the original Advisor record.

  7. (Optional) In the Ownership field, enter a percentage value that this individual owns.

  8. Click Save to add the Owner record.

  9. Repeat for each owner you wish to add. (Only one is necessary to prevent Shareholder Bypass) 


How does Shareholder Bypass status get removed?

Shareholder Bypass status indicator will be switched to no whenever any of the following events occur:

  • The corporation enters into a new contract where they are the bottom [target] party. This applies to any new contract – even a party with whom the corporation already has a relationship.
  • The corporation requests a contract transfer that gets accepted.
  • Any of the following shareholder information is changed:
    • A new owner is added
    • An existing owner is deleted
    • Any ownership percentages are changed.

Once shareholder bypass is removed the corporation’s health status will be red (serious issues), impacting their ability to enter into new contracts. APEXA will check to see if any shareholders owning 20% or more already have APEXA profiles. This is done by checking the email address on the owner record against existing accounts. If found, APEXA will automatically link those profiles to the corporation profile. If not found, APEXA will send invitations to the shareholders, requesting they complete a profile – and will link the profile to the corporation once completed. Once all shareholders have been onboarded and linked to the corporate profile, the corporation will again be in good health (assuming no other issues).

Bulk Onboarding

As a Partner Organization, you can invite groups of Advisors to APEXA in bulk. You must associate a Bulk Onboarding ID to each individual Advisor, indicating which onboarding group they belong to (this would be done as part of your data extract to APEXA, but can also be done on an ad hoc basis). You can pull these groups form the dataset and invite these Advisors at once. 

If an Advisor or Corporation is not eligible for onboarding, but is part of a bulk onboarding group, the invitation for that Advisor or Corporation will not be sent out. This will not prevent the remaining invitations from being sent. For more information about eligibility see APEXA Invitations.

How To – Bulk Onboard a Group of Advisors
  1. Select InTrust from the left-hand navigation menu.
  2. Select Bulk Onboard from the resulting sub-menu.
  3. Enter the Bulk Onboarding ID in the search field.
  4. Click Invite.
  5. Edit the invitation email (optional).
  6. Preview the invitation email (optional).
  7. Click Send.