Insurance Research lets you research, quote and compare personal insurance directly inside Advice Designer. A scenario is worked through three tabs: Details, Quotes and Recommendations. This article covers the Details tab, where you confirm each life insured's personal details, record their existing cover and set up the cover you want to quote.
Insurance Research is available in Plan Authoring and, for Review SOA and Review ROA documents, in Review Authoring. The steps are the same in both.
💡Note: Insurance Research is a paid module that's added to your Advice Designer subscription. Only users with the module can create and work in scenarios. If you don't see the Add Insurance tab under Research, contact us to add the module.
Create an Insurance Research Scenario
You can create a scenario from the client record or from within a plan.
From the client record
Go to Clients and open the client.
Select the Research tab, then the Insurance tab.
Click Add Scenario.
In Create Scenario, enter a Scenario Name and select who it's For (for example, Client & Partner).
Click Save.
From a plan or review
Open the plan or review and click the Research chevron.
Select the Insurance tab and click Add Insurance Research.
The scenario opens on the Details tab. The scenario name and its status (for example, Active) show beside the client name at the top.
Tip: Scenarios created from the client record can be imported into a new plan. See
Plan Authoring: Insurance Research – View and Include Research in the Plan.
Open an Existing Scenario
From the client record or the plan's Research chevron, Insurance tab, click the vertical ellipsis (⋮) beside the scenario and select Edit.
The same menu also lets you Copy, Rename or Delete a scenario.
Confirm Personal Details
Personal Details are shown side by side for the client and partner. They're pre-filled from the client's Fact Find wherever possible. For example, State comes from the primary address, Annual income (ex super) from the client's income, and Occupation from their employment details.
Check and complete these fields for each life insured. They're used to run the quotes.
Occupation
Employment status (Employee, Sole Trader, Partnership, Business Owner, Home Duties, Retired, Pensioner, Unemployed or Student)
Date of birth
Gender
Smoker
Health discount – this isn't in the Fact Find, so always set it here
State
Annual income (ex super)
Loadings – click Edit to add any loadings
Note: Any field that couldn't be pre-filled is outlined in red (for example, Occupation is required). Complete it before you get quotes.
Check the occupation
The occupation is matched from the Fact Find to the closest occupation in the list. Most occupations match, but some won't, so always check it. The occupation sets the occupation class each insurer applies, which affects premiums and the products available.
If the occupation is blank or isn't the right match, select the correct occupation from the list.
Click the information icon (ⓘ) beside Occupation to see how each insurer rates that occupation across Life, Trauma, TPD and IP.
Tip: If you change personal details after quoting, click Requote on the Quotes tab so the results reflect the change.
Record the Current Situation
The Current Situation table lists the client's existing policies, with super and non-super premiums and an Action for each policy. Existing policies are imported from the Fact Find and start as Not Considered.
Refresh from Fact Find
Click Refresh from Fact Find to pull the latest existing cover from the client's Fact Find.
Add existing cover manually
Click Add Existing Cover.
Select the Life Insured and search for the Provider.
Enter a Policy Description.
Under Premium Details, enter the Premium, Stamp Duty and Frequency for super and non-super.
Under Cover Details, enter the Sum Insured and cover settings for each cover type (Life, TPD, Trauma, Income Protection, Business Expenses, Severity Based Illness, Child Cover and Needlestick). This includes Premium Style, Ownership (Super, Non-Super or SMSF), Definition, Waiting Period and Benefit Period.
Click Save.
Tip: Scroll right in Cover Details to see all columns, including Add. Death Cover.
View or edit an existing policy
Click the arrow beside a policy to expand it and see each cover, its owner, life insured and benefit amount.
Click ⋮ beside the policy and select Edit to update premiums or cover details.
Note: Imported cover is brought in as completely as possible, but always check it. In particular, check the TPD Definition (for example, Any or Own occupation). If it's blank, select the definition, otherwise it shows as blank in the advice document.
Change the owner
Select a different Owner from the drop-down in the expanded policy, or use Add Owner to enter a custom owner name. The owner shows in your advice document.
Super-linked policies
A super-linked policy is split into two items: the cover held inside super and the cover held outside super.
Link an Existing Policy to a Product
Linking an existing policy to its product brings in the product's research. This lets you compare it with new products (Like for Like) and complete a replacement analysis.
Change the policy's Action from Not Considered to Review. Select supplier and products opens.
Check the Supplier. If the supplier couldn't be matched automatically, a warning shows. Select the correct supplier.
Select the PDS issue date that matches the client's policy.
Under Covers, check the covers selected (for example, Life and Income Protection). Change them if they don't match the policy. For each cover, set the ownership and choose the matching product.
Click Save.
The policy shows a Linked tag. You can also link a policy at any time by clicking ⋮ beside it and selecting Link.
Note: Only products in the research library can be linked. If you can't find the client's product (for example, a very old product), it can't be linked. See Insurance Research: Can't Find an Existing Product to Link.
Remove an existing policy
Click ⋮ beside the policy and select Remove.
Set Up Cover Selection
The Cover Selection table lists the quotes you've set up for this scenario, with the life insured, covers and the date quoted.
Click Add Quote to build a new quote in the Needs Editor. See Plan Authoring: Insurance Research – Build a Quote and Needs Analysis.
Click ⋮ beside a quote to Edit, Copy or Delete it.
When you're ready, click Get Quotes to retrieve quotes, or Next to move to the Quotes tab.
Note: Get Quotes is available once at least one quote has been added. You can also open the Needs Analysis from this tab by clicking Launch Needs Analysis.