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Agent Batch Filing Format v6.00

INTRODUCTION

This document is intended to describe the format for submissions to the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office. This format is intended to be as flexible as possible while still allowing for maximum data integrity.

Lists

• Eligible Surplus Lines Insurers
• Coverage Codes
• Valid State Codes

Sample Files

• Agent FSLSO Multi-state Batch File (SLX)
• Agent FSLSO Single-state Batch File (SLX)

The changes from the v5.10 to v6.00 .slx Agent format are:

1. The "Version" field in the [FSLSO] section should be 6.00
2. The addition of the Multi-state field in the [FSLSO] section
3. Elimination of all General Lines (GL) agent information in the [POLICY] section
4. Consolidation of Insured entity names into a single "Insured Name" field
5. The addition of the "Home State" field in the [POLICY] section for Multi-state policies
6. The addition of the [ALLOCATION] section(s) following the [TRANSACTION] section for Multi-state policies

GENERAL RULES

1. The data is to be presented for import in a format which is similar to a Microsoft Windows™ INI file.
2. This file must be an ASCII text file. Binary, EBCIDIC or other format files will be rejected.
3. This file may be given any Windows™ 9x/NT compatible file name. This name must end in '.slx'.
4. The submission file will be processed from top to bottom.
5. Fields must be in the listed order within a section. Section headers are distinguished by the use of brackets [ ].
6. All field names must be followed by an equal sign (=). All characters between the equal sign and the end-of-line character will be considered data.
7. Data should NOT be in fixed-length format (right-justified).
8. Optional Fields with no data should be removed completely. Do not put the Field Name and equal sign followed immediately by a return.
9. EOS (end of section) is indicated by the beginning of a new section or EOF (end of file). If, at EOS, any data is invalid or any required data is missing, the entire section will be considered invalid. A [Policy] section without at least one [Transaction] section will also be considered invalid.
10. All submission files generated not using the FSLSO Agent Software must be submitted via the FSLSO FTP Submit software. The submission file must be sent to FSLSO using the FSLSO FTP Submit tool v6.0 (available shortly prior to 7/1/2011).

REJECTION OF A SUBMISSION

The submission will be rejected if...

1. ...the [Contact] section is invalid. The entire submission will be rejected and you will NOT be notified!
2. ...the first section is not the [FSLSO] section.
3. ...a [Policy] or [Transaction] section appears before any of the following, or there are more than one of any of the following:
   • [FSLSO] section
   • [Agency] section
   • [Contact] section
   • [Billing Contact] section
   • [Surplus Lines Agent] section
4. Invalid data that does not conform to specific business rules as noted with a "" below.

For 2 and 3 above, we will do our best to notify you of the rejection, based on the Contact information provided.

TRANSACTIONS IN QUESTION

If a [Transaction] section or its related [Policy] section is deemed invalid, or if there is a missing or ineligible surplus lines insurer associated with a transaction, the section is considered a Transaction in Question (TIQ). TIQs will be processed manually by FSLSO. This may require contact with the Surplus Lines Agent or the Contact listed in the file.

THE FSLSO SECTION

The [FSLSO] section must be listed first in the export file. There may be only one [FSLSO] section per file. It contains information which indicates how this file is to be processed by the FSLSO data import system. It must contain the following fields:

Field Name	Description	Value
Version	The specification version to which this file complies. Files complying to the specifications outlined in this document should indicate a value of 6.00	6.00
Type	The type of data being submitted. For submissions of Surplus Lines Agent transactions, this field must be the word Agent.	Agent
CSV *	If you prefer your submission response as a csv (comma separated value) attachment, use this field. Otherwise, it is not necessary to include it.	Y/N
Multi State	If the filing contains only Multi-state transactions, this field should be 'Y'. If this filing contains only Single-state transactions, this field should be 'N'. You may NOT submit multi-state and single state transactions in the same file.	Y/N

* Optional.

THE AGENCY SECTION

The [Agency] section must be the second section of the file. It contains the following Agency related fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
FEIN	The agency's Federal Employer Identification Number (Tax ID)	9 characters
License	The agency's license number	7 characters
Name	The name of the agency.	75 characters
Address1	The agency's mailing address.	50 characters
Address2*	The agency's mailing address.	50 characters
City	The agency's city.	20 characters
State	The agency's state or province.	30 characters
Country*	The agency's country (can be omitted if U.S.).	30 character
Zip	The agency's ZIP or Postal Code	20 character

* Optional.

THE CONTACT SECTION

The [Contact] section lists information about the person who did or will do the ACTUAL submission of this file. It must be the third section in the file. It contains the following Contact related fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
First Name	The contact's first name.	20 characters
MI*	The contact's middle initial.	1 characters
Last Name	The contact's last name.	20 characters
Suffix*	The contact's name suffix (Jr., III, Ph.D., etc.)	5 characters
Address1	The contact's mailing address.	50 characters
Address2*	The contact's mailing address.	50 characters
City	The contact's city.	20 characters
State	The contact's state.	2 characters
Zip	The contact's ZIP code.	5-9 digits
Phone	The contact's phone number (including area code).	10 digits
Ext*	The contact's phone extension	5 digits
Fax	The contact's fax number (including area code).	10 digits
Email	The contact's email address.	75 characters required

* Optional.

THE BILLING CONTACT SECTION

The [Billing Contact] section lists information about the person who is responsible for receiving monthly/quarterly invoices and documentation pertaining to such items. It must be the fourth section in the file. It contains the following Billing Contact related fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
First Name	The contact's first name.	20 characters
MI*	The contact's middle initial.	1 characters
Last Name	The contact's last name.	20 characters
Suffix*	The contact's name suffix (Jr., III, Ph.D., etc.)	5 characters
Address1	The contact's mailing address.	50 characters
Address2*	The contact's mailing address.	50 characters
City	The contact's city.	20 characters
State	The contact's state.	2 characters
Zip	The contact's ZIP code.	5-9 digits
Phone	The contact's phone number (including area code).	10 digits
Ext*	The contact's phone extension	5 digits
Fax	The contact's fax number (including area code).	10 digits
Email	The billing contact's email address.	75 characters

* Optional.

THE SURPLUS LINES AGENT SECTION

The [Surplus Lines Agent] section lists information about the person who will be submitting these policies. It must be the fifth section of the file and contain the following fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
License	The agent's license number.	7 characters
First Name	The agent's first name.	20 characters
MI*	The agent's middle initial.	1 characters
Last Name	The agent's last name.	20 characters
Suffix*	The agent's name suffix (Jr., III, Ph.D., etc.)	5 characters
Address1	The agent's physical address.	50 characters
Address2*	The agent's physical address.	50 characters
City	The agent's city.	20 characters
State	The agent's state.	2 characters
ZIP	The agent's ZIP code.	5-9 digits
Mailing Address1*	The agent's mailing address.	50 characters
Mailing Address2*	The agent's mailing address.	50 characters
Mailing City*	The agent's mailing city.	20 characters
Mailing State*	The agent's mailing state.	2 characters
Mailing ZIP*	The agent's mailing ZIP code.	5-9 digits
Phone	The agent's phone number (including area code).	10 digits
Ext*	The agent's phone extension	5 digits
Fax	The agent's fax number (including area code).	10 digits
Email	The agent's email address.	75 characters required

*Optional. If omitted, mailing address information will be assumed to be the same as the physical address information. All mailing address fields must be included or omitted together.

THE POLICY SECTION(S)

There must be a [Policy] section for EACH policy being submitted. Each policy section should have the following fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
Policy Number	The policy number.	50 characters
Expiration	The term expiration date of the policy.	MM/DD/YYYY
ZIP	The primary Florida ZIP Code of risk for the policy.	5 or 9 digits
Home State	The home state of the policy	This must always be "FL". Required only for Multi-state filings.
County	The name of the Florida county of risk for the policy, or the words MULTIPLE COUNTIES if the FLorida portion of the risk is a multi-county risk. A list of valid county names is available here.	20 characters
Insured Name	The name of the insured (company or personal name).	75 characters
Comment *	Comments regarding your policy (i.e. internal reference number, invoice number, etc)	255 characters max

* Optional.

THE TRANSACTION SECTION(S)

This section lists a single transaction for a given policy. There must be at least one [Transaction] section following each [Policy] section. There may be more than one [Transaction] section per [Policy] section. Each Transaction will be assumed to apply to the previously listed Policy. Each Transaction section should contain the following fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
Coverage Code	The type of coverage being provided (list).	4 digits
Tax Status	0 = taxable 1 = non-taxable airport liability, aircraft hull liability 2 = non-taxable governmental 3 = non-taxable motor truck cargo, ocean marine, and ocean cargo	1 digit
NAIC*	The NAIC of the Insurer.	5 or 9 characters
UMR ‡	The policy's Unique Market Reference number if it is a Lloyd's	17 Characters
Transaction Type‡‡	1 = New business 2 = Additional premium 3 = Returned premium 4 = Cancellation 5 = Renewal 6 = Reinstatement 11 = Backout of New business 12 = Backout of Additional premium 13 = Backout of Returned premium 14 = Backout of Cancellation 15 = Backout of Renewal 16 = Backout of Reinstatement	1 - 2 digits
Effective Date	The effective date of the transaction.	MM/DD/YYYY
Issue Date***	The date an insurance company issues a policy or endorsement. This date may be different from the date the insurance becomes effective.	MM/DD/YYYY
‡‡ Net Premium	The amount charged/returned to the insured minus any fees. In the case of a multi-state risk, this amount must total the individual state's premium amounts in the subsequent [ALLOCATION] sections.	-999999999.99-999999999.99
‡‡ Policy Fees	Any fees charged/returned to the insured. In the case of a multi-state risk, this amount must total the individual state's policy fee amounts in the subsequent [ALLOCATION] sections.	-999999999.99-999999999.99
Late Exempt**	This field is used to declare a late exemption for a transaction being submitted greater than the required deadline.	Y/N
Late Reason**	This field is required if the Late Exempt field is set to "Y" B = Binder Replacement R = Retroactive Effective Date A = Audit Policy F = Flat Cancel Rewrite C = Correction I = Company Issue Date O = Other View an FAQ for descriptions of these values	1 character
Comment**	Comments regarding your transaction (i.e. internal reference number, invoice number, etc)	255 characters max

* If a transaction's insurer is not an eligible Florida surplus lines insurer, you must use "FSLSONAIC" as this field value. If this value is used, the transaction will automatically be questioned.
** Optional
***Optional, unless one of the following values is used for the 'Late Reason' field: B, R, A, F, I, O
^‡ The UMR will always begin with the letter 'B' followed immediately by 4 digits (signifying the Lloyd's broker), and contain up to 12 alphanumeric characters for a maximum of 17 characters. Separate transactions should be created in cases of multiple UMRs. For further information and examples, see this FAQ.
‡‡ For Transaction Type 1, 2, 5, and 6 these values must be positive. For Transaction Type 3, these values must be negative. For Transaction Type 4, these values must be negative or zero, and the policy's expiration date field must match the Cancellation's effective date.

Backout transactions are used ONLY to negate transactions that have already been submitted. For a backout transaction to be considered valid, it must be submitted with the EXACT policy and transaction information that the transaction you are trying to back out contains.

THE ALLOCATION SECTION(S)

This section lists a single state's premium and policy fee amounts for a given transaction. There must be at least one [ALLOCATION] section for a transaction when the file submitted is a Multi-state file (i.e. Multi-state is flagged as 'Y' in the [FSLSO] section). This section may not be used when the Multi-state field is flagged as 'N'. Each [ALLOCATION] section will be assumed to apply to the previously listed [TRANSACTION]. Each [ALLOCATION] section should contain the following fields:

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
State	The two character state code for which this transaction allocation applies. See Valid State Code List.	2 characters
‡‡ Premium	The amount charged/returned to the insured minus any fees - for which this transaction allocation applies.	-999999999.99-999999999.99
‡‡ Policy Fees	Any fees charged/returned to the insured - for which this transaction allocation applies.	-999999999.99-999999999.99

Business Rules for Reinstatement Transaction Type (Type 6)

• A reinstatement transaction can be submitted for a policy only when the last transaction (by effective date) was an active cancellation with exact same coverage code and Insurer.
• The effective date of a reinstatement transaction must be greater than the previous cancellation effective date.
• Note: For submissions prior to 8/1/2009, reinstatements were allowed to have effective dates equal to the prior cancellation's effective date. This is no longer true. If a policy is reinstated with an effective date equal to a previously submitted cancellation, you must use a transaction type 14 (backout of cancellation).
• No transactions can be submitted between a cancellation and a reinstatement
• A reinstatement transaction cannot be backed out if there are any subsequent transactions (by effective date)
• If a reinstatement transaction is backed out, then the policy expiration date must equal the previous cancellations' expiration date.

Fields that must match exactly for a backout to be considered valid are:
[SURPLUS LINES AGENT]

• License
• First Name
• MI (if used)
• Last Name
• Suffix (if used)

[POLICY]

• Policy Number

[TRANSACTION]

• Coverage Code
• Tax Status
• Transaction Type must be the proper backout (i.e. 14 backs out 4, 11 backs out 1)
• Effective Date
• Net Premium must be of the opposite sign of the original
• Policy Fees must be the opposite sign of the original

When using Transaction Type 14 (backout of a Cancellation), the [POLICY] section's 'Expiration Date' field must reflect the expiration date of the policy prior to submitting the original Cancellation (4). EXCEPTION: if a Transaction Type 4 (Cancellation) is submitted in the same [POLICY] section directly after a Transaction Type 14, correcting the originally submitted Transaction Type 4, the [POLICY] section's 'Expiration Date' must reflect the Cancellation's 'Effective Date' field.

If you submit an invalid Backout transaction, your entire file will be rejected.

Additionally, if this transaction is on a 200 type coverage code or Coverage Codes 1003 & 1006 (except 2013, 2014, or 2015), the following fields must be present:

‡‡

Field Name	Description	Data Length/Type
Primary Amount	Use coverage A (or Coverage C if Coverage Codes 2003 or 2005 are being used).	1.00-999999999.99
AOP Deduction	All Other Perils Deductible (deductible for damage from any peril named in the policy, other than hurricane).	1.00-999999999.99
WSP Eligible	Eligible for Windstorm Pool?	Y/N
WS Coverage	Windstorm Coverage provided?	Y/N
Hurricane Deductible	Required if Windstorm Coverage is provided (Must be converted to a dollar amount).	1.00-999999999.99

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