bryce-bowles/gis-fingerprinting

GIS-Fingerprinting

Presentation Report

Italicized font are comments from Manager

Agent Licensing Legislation

In response to new agent licensing laws, agents currently licensed and those applying for a license are required to be fingerprinted. In addition, a new renewal process requires agents to renew their licenses based on their birth month/year. To enable these new laws, Bryce has been working with the Agent Regulation division since 2018 and continues today. Bryce used Microsoft Power BI to perform an analysis to determine (1) how far agents would need to travel to fingerprint locations (2) whether there would be enough locations in the state to handle fingerprinting and (3) could the locations identified handle a high volume of agents. He presented his analysis to the agent licensing section and the Deputy Commissioner of Agent Regulation. The data was used in the statement of work that was used to obtain a vendor for fingerprinting. Using Excel, Bryce performed a detail analysis to determine the volume of renewals (30 days versus 90 days). With his knowledge of the Sircon system and the data elements involved in his analysis, he was able to work with the Bureau’s vendor (Vertafore) to develop SQL to identify agent renewals based on their birth month/year. This was necessary for Vertafore to develop the communication method in the Sircon system. Beginning every month starting in January 2022, two communication methods are sent to agents regarding their renewal. One is through e-mail and the other through U.S. postal. Bryce reviewed and researched areas of the Invitation For Bid (IFB) that helped to determine the vendor used for mailing customized monthly and annual notices. These new processes have required Bryce to work with the Agent Regulation division, the Deputy Commissioner of that division, the SCC’s Office of the Commission Comptroller, the fingerprint vendor, the state police and the vendor used for paper mailings. The process has required Bryce to be meticulous with his analysis of ensuring the correct data (agent e-mail, birthdate and renewal date) is pulled from Sircon to enable this new renewal process.

I was the primary analyst lead (specifically for the fingerprinting, analytics and renewal notice processes) of the largest agent licensing project the BOI has undertaken in over 30 years. In 2018 the Bureau introduced legislation to: eliminate the CPCU/CLU licensing exam waiver/exemption; eliminate the continuing education (CE) waiver/exemption; require birth-month/year renewals; and require fingerprinting for resident applicants. I have been the primary lead for the fingerprinting portion, statistics for birth-month/year renewals and played a large role in setting up communication methods for renewal and termination notices. Legislation changes started in January of 2022, implementation is complete, procedures were created and shared and issues/maintenance are ongoing.

When the Bureau was selecting a fingerprint vendor, I conducted research on the overall fingerprint process, location, fees/cost, and administrative system for results tracking. To determine if the vendor fulfilled the location requirements, I used Microsoft Power BI to complete a comparison of ArcGIS geospatial analysis to determine if the fingerprint vendors had the capacity to fulfil requirements within the legislation for distance (no more than 50 miles from agents’ home addres to the fingerprint location as well as a comparrison to the distance of the nearest exam test center) and volume (analysis to compare census population and estimated renewals expected/month for locations). I made calculations to determine approximately 8,500-11,000 fingerprints will need to be taken per year. To determine renewal volume, data was extracted (via SQL), preprocessed/sliced/cleaned and visualized (histograms) to compare volume of each 30- and 90-day reminder notices (9,000-12,000 total will be sent per month including termination notices). The SQL script was then used as a dynamic source of data (ad hoc report) to determine shifts in volume as agents renew and is run as needed by the Chief of Agent Regulation. Analysis (MS Power BI dashboard analysis, Excel and PowerPoint) was presented to the Agent Licensing section and Deputy Commissioner of Agent Regulation to show analytics on demographic report of fingerprint vendor research. The SOW (statement of work) included this effort which ultimately led to vendor selection. Being the liaison, I implemented all physical, technical, and administrative security safeguards to meet the requirements of the Virginia State Police, FBI and the fingerprint vendor/system developer.

I then coordinated with Vertafore (vendor for Sircon system), the agent licensing section, the SCC’s Office of the Commission Comptroller and Data Integrators (our print/postal vendor) to setup email and mailing communication for multiple notice types. I reviewed and edited information within the SCC’s Invitation for Bid (IFB) to select a print vendor, directed implementation with the selected print vendor and am improving the process while creating internal procedures. Once the process was solidified, I trained Automated Systems’ staff on how to complete each month (until January 2024). Each month, careful facilitation is needed to generate, receive the files, confirm they are correct, provide to print vendor, validate letter proofs and follow up to confirm they have been sent. Mailings began, ongoing issues are assessed as needed (such as template configuration, SFTP move-it script changes, box.com setup for file transfer) and improvements of the process are underway.

Supporting References:

SB 1222 Insurance licensing, biennial; renewal for individuals and business entities, etc.

Legislation Proposal Presentation - background informaiton

Based on our estimates, it is anticipated that the Commission will experience a loss in 2021 (of approximately $1.1 million, which includes losses incurred in 2019, 2020, and 2021 combined), and an excess of revenue in 2022 (of approximately $1.4 million).