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Training 1: Newton Interface Overview Training 2: Setting Up Your Agency Training 3: Entering Policy Information Training 4: ACORD Forms Training 5: Email, Diary, Activity, Client Notes & Memo Writer Training 6: Accounting Training 7: Management

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Visit: My Newton Campus - Getting Started

Part 1: Dashboard

Part 2: Client Tabs

Login

Security

To begin using Newton, double-click the Newton icon on the desktop. You will login using your initials and a password. This is for three purposes:

• Security controls who has access to things like accounting data and management reports.
• The Activity log will date- and time-stamp each action by the user, making it easy to see who did what, when.
• And this allows setting up your personal profile in Newton for your Dashboard, e-mail, contact information, and adding your signature electronically to Acord forms.

Test login

During training, we will create a login for each user in your agency. To get started you can use the test login of Agency 99, operator DCS, and password EMPYRE. It’s case-sensitive so make sure to check caps lock.

Dashboard

The Dashboard screen

The first thing you see when you login to Newton is your Dashboard. The Newton Dashboard screen consolidates all of your active tasks in one location. This includes open follow-up items (Submissions and Diaries); active and expiring policies; active clients; as well as information on e-mails, activity, and attachments.

Click any of the columns to sort the list—for example by client or date. Past-due items appear in red. Select an item to view information in the preview pane.

Click the plus sign next to any section to expand that section, or minus to collapse it. You can click the columns in any of these bands to sort the list; for example, to sort policies by premium, or clients by source of business. You can right click any band and Copy List, then paste the information into a notepad or spreadsheet.

Diaries

A Diary is a simple follow-up item; for example, a telephone message. A Diary includes a suspense-date for follow-up, description, and notes.

Click on any Diary description to open the Diary. Click in any of the fields to change or add information, or click your name to assign the Diary to a different operator. Only open items will appear on your Dashboard by default. When the item is complete, click “Close Item” to change the status to “Closed.”

For more information on diaries, see Training 5: Email, Diary, Activity, Client Notes & Memo Writer.

Submissions

A Submission is a follow-up item that is attached to the task of marketing or writing a specific policy or quote. A Submission allows you to attach company-specific applications, loss runs, renewal apps, etc. to a quote or policy. Comments you add to a submission are permanent, and cannot be changed or erased, and all changes to description, suspense dates, etc. are recorded in activity.

We’ll look further into Submissions in later training sessions.

Expiring Policies

Next your Dashboard shows Expiring Policies. Click the plus sign to expand this section. You can see policies expiring in the next 30, 60, or 90 days, as well as recently expired policies. You can click a Policy to open the Policy Express window, or right click to open the client. You can work your expiration list directly from the dashboard; as policies are renewed , replaced, or marked non-renewed, they will be removed from the list.

Active Policies

Next you can see Active Policies—any active policy for which you are the assigned producer or CSR. You can click a policy to open the Policy Express window. The invoiced total of all the policies is shown here.

You can right click to Include Quotes or to open the client.

Active Clients

Active Clients shows clients for whom you are the assigned producer or CSR. You can click a client to load that client. You can right-click to edit the client or include prospects.

Emails

Emails shows e-mails you have sent from Newton. You can click an e-mail to read it. You can right-click to open the client.

Activity

Activity shows your recent actions. You can click on an item to read more information. You can right-click to choose whether to show only correspondence, notes, or all items.

Attachments

Attachments shows the files you have attached to clients, policies, and submissions. You can click any item to open and view the attachment.

Options

You can click the columns in any of these bands to sort the list; for example, to sort policies by premium, or clients by source of business.

You can right click any band and Copy List, then paste the information into a notepad or spreadsheet.

• Click the flashlight to search for a word or words on the Dashboard.
• Click Select Operator to choose from a list of available operators and view another operator’s list.
• Click Send Email to send an E-mail to a client, company, producer, or policy interest.
• Click Client Search to search for a client.
• Click Policy Search to search for a client or policy by policy number.
• Click the Preview Pane button to toggle the Preview Pane on/off.

Client Explorer

Client Tabs

After the Dashboard tab are four tabs for browsing clients. Having four client tabs allows you to work on multiple clients at once, so you can leave one client open to look up another without losing your place.

The client’s Basic tab shows:

• Address and phone information
• Default producer and CSR
• Contacts
• Client notes
• Open Diaries and Submissions
• Active policies
• Drivers, Vehicles, Equipment, & Properties
• E-mails
• Attachments, such as photographs and PDFs.

Client Search by Keyword

Client Keyword Search

Click the Search button to search for a client. Client search allows you to find clients by:

• Name
• Address
• Phone number
• E-mail address

A drop-down box displays suggested matches as you type. You can exclude inactive clients. The search includes client contacts as well as drivers.

Client search can find partial matches, including incomplete telephone numbers. The last four digits of a phone number alone are almost always enough to narrow it to a single client.

Client search will locate common aliases, such as Bob or Robert, and abbreviations such as first or 1st.

Client Search by Policy

Enhanced Policy Keyword Search

You can also search for clients by policy number. Like the client search, the policy-number search displays possible matches while you type and can even locate partial policy numbers and close matches.

Create a Client

To enter a new client or prospect into Newton, you should always search existing clients first to avoid creating duplicates. Remember to include inactive clients. Click New Client. Enter the client’s name and address. Enter the zip code and Newton will fill in the city and state.

Select commercial or personal lines. You can also select Broker-Billed type for outside agents who write through your agency. This does not restrict the type of policies and forms the client can have. It is strictly for your information. If you select commercial, “Home” and “Work” numbers change to “Phone” and “Fax.”

Specify the default producer and CSR for this client. It is important to specify the producer because when you add an invoice for this client, this is the default who will receive producer commission unless you change it on the invoice.

Click Save to record your changes.

Details Tab

On the Details tab you can choose:

• Prospect or client
• Active status
• Website
• User defined fields

You can set up User defined fields under the Profiles menu, and use them later for reports.

Contacts Tab

Select the Contacts tab and click Add to add a contact. You can set contact-specific phone and extension, and add an e-mail address. Remember that client search can be used with e-mail addresses, so this is useful for pulling up a contact when you receive an e-mail from them. Enter a contact’s date of birth to use for reports, such as birthday mailings and age-group-targeted marketing. Select Primary to mark this as the primary contact, or Accounting to mark them as the accounting contact. These two will appear first in the list of contacts on the client’s Basic tab.

Client Maintenance

On the client’s Basic tab you can click Add Contact in the client-information bar on the left side to add a contact, or Edit to edit one. To edit the client’s information, click Edit Client.

To change a prospect to a client, for example, click Edit Client, select the Details tab, and change Client Status from “Prospect” to “Client.” When a client is no longer active, edit the client, select the Details tab, and change Client is Active? to “No.” You should always mark old clients as inactive rather than deleting them, to retain accounting and other data.

Basic Tab

When you search for and load a client, you will see the client’s Basic tab.

Open Diaries, highlighted client notes, and active policies will show up by default. All other information, including active Submissions, is collapsed, or hidden, and you must click the plus-signs next to the respective bands to see the information. Hover over a diary or note to read more text. Click any of the columns to sort the list—for example by class or date. Past-due items appear in red. Click the plus- or minus-signs to expand and collapse the sections or to see more information on a policy. You can right-click any band and Copy List, then paste the information into a notepad or spreadsheet.

Client Notes

Client notes are used for permanent notes about a client. Highlighted client notes will show up by default. Click for more notes to see notes that aren’t highlighted.

Click Create Note to add a client note. You can choose whether to highlight your note. The text you enter is permanent, and can’t be changed once you save. You _can_ highlight and un-highlight it. Check Popup Notice only for showstopper items. It will pop up a window every time anyone loads the client.

Client notes aren’t indexed for searching, so they’re useful for things you would want to remember about a client but wouldn’t necessarily search for.

Diaries

Diaries, as discussed in the Dashboard overview, are simple follow-up or to-do items. Click a Diary to open it. Click in any of the fields to change or add information or modify the designee. When you update a Diary, don’t forget to update the suspense date to show it is up-to-date. You can also suspend items to future dates for later follow-up.

You can create a client Diary from the Basic tab. You can also create a Diary that is attached to a policy from Policy Express.

Activity

Activity - Automatic and Permanent

Activity shows recent activity on this client. You can hover or click on an item to read more information. You can right-click to choose whether to show only correspondence, notes, or all items. Click Activity Search to search all activity items for a word or phrase. Use the Activity search to easily find e-mails, attachments, updates to suspense items, and more.

Click Clear to clear the search filter.

Submissions

Click the plus sign next to Active Submissions to see Submissions. Remember that unlike Diaries and policies, active Submissions do not display automatically when you load the client’s Basic tab.

A Submission is a follow-up item that is attached to the task of marketing or writing a specific policy or quote. A Submission allows you to attach company-specific applications, loss runs, renewal apps, et cetera to a quote or policy. Comments you add to a submission are permanent, and cannot be changed or erased, and all changes to description, suspense dates, etc. are recorded in activity.

We’ll look further into Submissions in later training sessions.

Active Policies

Next you can see Active Policies—any policy or quote with an expiration date of today, or future day is displayed. Quotes appear in green, cancelled policies still in force display in red. You can click a policy to open the Policy Express window. The premium and invoice totals of all the policies are shown here. Selecting the Premium, Invoiced, or Est Annual Prem amount for any policy record will open Express Billing.

Transaction, Class, and Company columns will only display the code. Holding the mouse pointer over each code will display the full name.

The details band can be expanded by selecting the (+) at the beginning of each policy record. Additional Right-Click menu options are also available.

A row below all active items will display the number of records, and the totals for each of the columns; Premium, Invoiced, and Estimated Annual Premium.

If the mouse pointer is held over the policy count, or each column total, a numeric break-down by Policy, Quote, and Binder will display.

Recently Expired Policies are listed below the last record with a details band for each. Expired quotes are not listed. (For policies expired more than three years, see the bottom policy tab.)

Policy Express

Click a policy number to open the Policy Express window. The Policy Express window is divided into three main ideas: Create Item, View Existing Items, and Automated Procedures, such as renewal. The central area displays downloaded risk information from the carrier.

Create Item

The Create Item menu:

• Acord form
• Certificate
• Auto ID card
• Claim
• Diaries creates a Diary attached to the policy.
• Memo creates a Memo attached to the policy. You will set up your library of memos, or letters, later in training.
• Activity
• Email allows you to send an e-mail and select recipients from clients, companies, producers, or policy interests. You can also choose recipients from your Microsoft Outlook address book.
• Payment
• Attachment
• Invoice
• Policy Interest
• Policy View takes you directly to a carrier’s website to look up policy data online in seconds.

View Existing Items

Click View Existing Items to pull up:

• Acord forms
• Claims
• Accounting
• Policy Transactions
• Policy Activity
• Memos
• E-mails
• Attachments
• Diaries
• Policy Interests
• Downloaded Risk information

Automated Procedures

Automated Procedures are labor-saving shortcuts for common tasks.

• Batch Print allows you to select letters, invoices, Acord forms, and policy attachments and print, fax, or e-mail them in a single batch.
• Endorse, renew, and cancel policies easily with updated effective dates and activity.
• Change Policy Number
• Move to New Client - Move the policy. If the option is not available, it means the policy has already been invoiced, and you must correct the accounting data before moving the policy.
• Charge Fee - Launch the fee wizard.
• Convert Quote/Binder - Convert a quote or binder into a policy.

Expired Policies

Click the plus sign next to Expired Policies to expand this section and see expired policies.

Claims

Click the plus sign next to Active Claims to see Claims. To create a claim, open a policy and create the claim from Policy Express.

Drivers, Equipment, Vehicles, and Properties

One reason it is so easy to create and manage forms in Newton is that information like Drivers, Vehicles, and Properties are stored into schedules that can be imported into any form. These schedules are automatically created by download, or you can add and update them by hand. Thus the information is entered only once, rather than being retyped into every applicable form, and can easily be seen from the client’s Basic screen.

Memos

Memos are word-processing documents. They can range from expiration notices to marketing campaigns. You will set up your library of memo templates later in training.

Emails

Click Emails to show e-mails you have sent to the client. Click to show all Emails to show e-mails you have attached to the client by dragging and dropping them from Outlook. To attach an e-mail to a client, drag and drop it from Outlook first onto your desktop, then onto the client’s Basic tab. To attach an e-mail to a policy, drag and drop it onto the Policy Express window.

Attachments

Click the plus sign next to Attachments to see attachments to the client and policies. Click Add Attachment to add an attachment from your computer or scan an image. Or, like an e-mail, just drag and drop a file or photo et cetera from your computer, onto a client’s Basic tab to attach to a client; or to attach to a policy, drag and drop a file onto the Policy Express window.

Company Tab

Part 3: Company Tab

Load a Company

To the right of the Client tabs and the Dashboard tab is the Company tab. To search for a company, click the name of the current company at the high-top left. If you have never searched for a company before, this will say All Companies. From here on out, it will display the name of the last company you were on.

Company Information

The information bar at the top left displays the company’s address, phone number, and website. Click Edit Company to edit the company information, including default commission rates and web information. You can enter a company website here for Newton to use for Policy View, and set up your username and password.

Contacts

Beneath the company information is the contact information. You can edit or add a contact. Set contact-specific phone and extension, and enter an e-mail address. The e-mail address is searchable later on when sending company e-mails from Newton.

Attachments, E-mails, and Memos

The next section displays Attachments, E-mails, and Memos. You can drag and drop an attachment or e-mail from your computer onto this tab, or Create a new Memo, Email, or Attachment.

Active Policies

Click the plus sign to see Active Policies for this company. Click a policy to open the Policy Express window, or click the plus sign next to a policy to see more information.

Active Submissions and Diaries

You can also see active Submissions and Diaries. Click an item to open or edit it. Past-due items appear in red. You can see closed Submissions beneath active Submissions.

Company Notes

Click the plus sign to see company notes. Click a note to open and highlight/un-highlight it, or Create to create one.

Using the Company Tab

Click any of the columns to sort the band. Click the plus and minus signs to expand and collapse the sections. Click the flashlight icon to search for a word or words on the tab. Click New to create a new company. Click Search to select from companies.

Management Tab and the Rest of the Tabs

Part 4: Other Tabs

This overview will review the remaining tabs in the Client Explorer. We’ve already seen the Basic tab; now we will look at the other tabs that display information on a client. We’ll also look at the Management tab, which provides quick-access information for agency managers.

Basic Tab and More

When you load a client, the Basic tab is displayed. At the bottom of the screen are 13 tabs for browsing more in-depth information about a client, including closed and expired items. Most of the time, the Basic tab is all you will need, but if you need to look up archival information you may need to go to these tabs. For example, active policies and recently expired ones are displayed on the Basic tab, but to look up information on policies that are more than 3 years expired, you would consult the Policy tab.

Account Tab and Invoice Tab

The Account tab displays all accounting information for the client. By default only items with a balance are displayed; to see all items, click Options and check Include zero balances.

The invoice tab shows all invoices regardless of paid status. You can double-click a line to open the Express Billing window. We will cover Express Billing and invoicing more in later training sessions.

Activity, Claims, Forms, Attachments, and Memo Tabs

The Activity tab shows client activity. This is the same as the Activity on the Basic tab but without the filter to show only correspondence or notes; so you see all items.

The Claims, Attachments, and Memo tabs display the same information that can be found in the corresponding bands on the Basic tab.

The Forms tab displays forms for all policies like the information shown for a particular policy in Policy Express. Policy, Quote,

Policy, Quote, Diary, and Submissions Tabs

The Policy tab is useful for finding old, expired, or replaced policies. If you cannot locate a policy on the Basic tab, but you are sure it is in the system, this is where you would look. Click Options to choose the cut-off date for showing old policies, and you can check Show Replaced Policies.

The Quote tab functions the same way.

The Diary and Submissions tabs are also useful for looking up old, closed items. You can click Options to filter the page; for example, to show only Submissions on a particular policy number, or class code. Check Use filter to use the options.

DL Risk Tab

The DL Risk tab displays downloaded risk information about the client. This is the same information that appears in the Policy Express window, but for all polices. The important thing to remember about the DL Risk tab is that this shows all of the raw information sent by the carrier. This is exactly what they sent, unmodified and unparsed.

Management Tab

See Management Tab for additional details. 

The Management tab provides several instant reports for agency managers, including a book of business that can easily be broken down by policy or line of business, and a bar graph of income and expense over time. The Management Tab is available only to operators with sufficient security to see the Balance Sheet.

Operator Tab

When you select the Management tab, you will first see the Operator sub-tab. Click a producer for a list of all his active policies. Click the plus-sign next to his name for his personal information.

Click All Summary for a breakdown of all policies by operator.

Company Tab

On the Company tab, you can click a company for a breakdown of policies and attachments for that company. You can click a policy to open Policy Express, or click the plus-sign for more information.

Click All Summary for a breakdown of all policies by company, or click All Details for a complete book of business list.

Right-click and select Copy List to copy the information shown, then paste it into a spreadsheet or word-processing document.

Class Tab

On the Class tab you can click a class for a breakdown of policies in that line of business. Click All Summary for a breakdown of policies by class.

Management Summary Tab

Click Management Summary for a breakdown of current, past, and future Cash, Invoice, Receivable, Payable, and Commission data. Select the drop-downs on the right for current balances of Cash in Banks, Client Receivables, Company Receivables, Company Payables, and Producer Payables.

Reporting Tab

The reporting tab displays bar graphs of Client Receivables, Company Receivables, Cash Flow, and Income vs Expense. You can see history for the past 6, 12, or 24 months.

Related Wiki Pages

New Features Released July 2013