Issue 33 -Septem ber 2002

We'd like to use this forum to inform you of changes and enhancements we've made to our system as wecontinue to improve the processing of R², The Reinsurance Resolution.

R² Documentation Manual

The R² Documentation Manual has beenupdated. Finished this August, thedocumentation manualnow comprises fivehundred pages of newgraphics, information, andR² Windows systeminformation.

Also included (by populardemand) is a table of contents, an index foreach section, and an appendix containinglistings of the most utilized information in themanual. This consists ofstatus and transaction codes,manual overrides, hot keys,and rate table key codes.

The documentation manualremains in a three ringbinder format to assist withdocumentation updates. Inthe event that a section of

documentationneeds to beupdated, it willbe printed andsent to you. Youmay thenremove theoutdateddocumentation and insert the newdocumentation.

Each client company will receive one manualat no cost (if you have not already receivedyour manual, please be patient and watch your

mailbox). If your company requiresadditional manuals, they may bepurchased for $100 (USD) each.

If you have questions about yourdocumentation manual, or wouldlike to order another, please emailKim at Kimwalters@qsi-r2.com.

Manual Override T

Is it possible to pay severaldurations of a policy usinga premium trailer and thenswitch over to the ratescoded on the Plan Header? With all versions of thetransaction program

(Qsre01p.exe) prior to J.43j, this was notpossible. If a premium trailer was coded for apolicy, the trailer rates were used for allremaining durations. Now, with version J43j, amanual override T will allow the transactionprogram to change from using premiumtrailers to premiums coded in rate tables.

If a policyhas amanualoverride Tcoded inthe billingextract, R²willperform anOfftransaction

to the Change Date using the premium trailer. Then R² will reset the trailer indicator on theRider file (RI) and produce an E 1 message(0333). Next, R² will produce an Ontransaction forward to the proper paid-to-dateusing the premium rate table coded on the PHor TY. Finally, R² will set the Mark for Deletionflag on the premium trailer.

If a policy is set to renew andhas a Change Date of thepolicy anniversary it will usethe tabular premium rate forthe renewal transaction. Noother On-Off transactionswill be produced.

When billing and valuationhave completed, the parsing program(Qsre24p.exe) should be run to remove thetrailers that have been marked for deletion.

This process may be automatically run as partof your regular billing cycle or may need to berun separately.

When used with the Manual Override Subtype,the manual override may also be used to removeother types of trailers. Use of the manualoverride T will require several changes to yourextract layout as well as a program update. Ifyou are interested in using this new manualoverride, please contact your client liaison.

Electronic Output Viewing Package

Quasar*Systems supplies the Electronic OutputViewing Package software, documentation, andsupport to the reinsurers and/orretrocessionaires of our clients in order to helpthem utilize the reinsurance information theyreceive. This package is provided so thatreinsurers can decompress and view the QSIelectronic output.

The package includes programs that allow theuser to:• View R² electronic files. [Files that begin

with R2 followed by TX or VL to indicatewhether they contain transaction orvaluation (inforce) data. The extension onthese files identifies them as eithercompressed (qsi or tan) or text files (soa).]

• Convert compressed files (files that beginwith R2 and have extensions of qsi or tan)to the ASCII format recommended by theReinsurance Committee of the Society ofActuaries (which have the soa extension).

• Create ad-hoc reports on data in theelectronic files (qsi, tan, soa).

• View HP printer-ready reports on-screen. [HP printer-ready reports are identified bynames that begin with QS (or AN)followed by RE or VL to indicate whetherthey contain transaction or valuation data. These reports are named withtwo-character month and two-characteryear. The extension on printer-readyreports reflect the two-character code ofthe reinsurer/retrocessionaire.]

• Print the printer ready reports.

Example:

Ravenclaw Reinsurance receives QSI electronicoutput from Gryffindor Life. Rowena, ofRavenclaw Re, receives a zipped package fromGryffindor that she is told includes the August2002 transaction reports and electronic files. Having already installed the latest version ofthe Electronic Output Viewing Package, sheunzips Gryffindor's data into the Out folder ofthe R2SOA directory on her C drive. There,she sees two files: QSRE0802.rr andR2TXglrr.QSI.

Using the Electronic Output Viewing Package,Rowena is able to do the following: • View and Print out the August 2002

transaction reports (QSRE0802.rr);• Convert the August 2002 transaction

output (R2TXglrr.qsi) to the SOA layout(R2TXglrr.soa);

• Perform ad-hoc reports from the electronicoutput (both R2TXglrr.qsi and R2TXglrr.soa).

Rowena then provides the ASCII output to beloaded into her administrative system bytransferring the R2TXglrr.soa file to her ITdepartment.

* The latest version of the Electronic OutputViewing Package is 01u.

User Group 2002

Quasar*Systems Inc.presented its 2002 annualuser group meeting withcharacteristic flair. Thursday, HeadmasterDumbledore (DougSzper) presided over aneducational hands-onseminar in the setting ofJ.K Rowling's world ofHarry Potter.

Our illustrious guestswere first sorted into fourteams symbolic of thedormitories at Hogwarts

(Harry's boarding school). Each team waschallenged to consider themselves anindependent insurance company with adeadline to produce reinsurance reports (on R²,of course!) for two new products by 4pm onThursday. Every member of each team playeda critical role in implementing the newproducts. Their roles included actuaries,administrators, internal auditors, technicalstaff, and underwriters. The Headmaster alsodesignated a Prefect for each company, whoacted as a CEO for the mock company: JeanLane of Gryffindor Life, Ava Zils of HufflepuffAssurance, Cary McClelland of RavenclawReinsurance and Janet Godin of SlytherinReassurance.

Professors McGonagall (Laura Lowry), Sprout(Heather Huff), Flitwick (Darlene Kosonic) andSnape (Laura Mueller) were charged withguiding their respective teams through thenew product-coding.

It was a fast paced day in which attendeesfrom direct writing companies learned fromreinsurers, reinsurers learned from directwriters and everyone, including the Hogwart'sstaff, gained some insight into the entireprocess as it works in the real world. Oneattendee jokingly commented "This is harderthan I work in a normal day." Everyoneseemed to have fun trading the keyboard andmouse, exchanging ideas, and even snatchingjellybeans.

Hagrid (Jim Schoen) and his stowaway dragon,Norbert, kept lines of communication openbetween the teams and regulated debates overtreaty agreements. Arthur Weasley (DanGapinski), our very own representative fromthe Ministry of Magic, kept us entertained andspellbound even while monitoring facultativenegotiations.

User Group 2002

What began as a teamexercise in self-educationquickly became acompetition after lunch. Ravenclaw had thedistinction of completingthe product-coding first. Slytherin had the honor ofhosting this year's User ofthe Year, Janet Godin. However, when the finaltally was made of thepoints awarded to eachhouse, all the housesachieved a perfect tie! …alittle magic perhaps?

Thursday evening was a beautiful night inMilwaukee, perfect for a walk to the historicSwiss Turner's restaurant where we allenjoyed dinner and conversation. Fridaythere were seminars on New Features, theSOA package and naming conventions. Thehighlight of the day included the round-tablediscussions: an informal way to sharequestions, answers, ideas and information.

Topics included internal security, retentionmanagement, extract processing, manualintervention, and trends of reinsurance. Clientliaison meetings and farewells ended thisyear's event as we bid all a safe trip home. Wehope that those muggles found some magic oftheir own and succeeded in returning everyonesafely to their homes.

Information about next year’s User GroupMeeting will be available in the Decemberissue of Q². If you would like to obtain a copyof this year’s documentation, please contactKim at Kimwalters@qsi-r2.com.

Thank you for your continued support and suggestions. We appreciate and welcome all your commentsand questions. Please let us know if there are any topics you would like to see examined in greater detail.

For additional information on any option, you should first consult your documentation manual. We wouldbe delighted to answer any questions you might have. If you would like a back issue of Q² please send anemail to us at Q2@qsi-r2.com. The main topics of past issues were:

Issue 1 - Multiple Life Processing

Issue 2 - Retention

Management

Issue 3 - Trailers, Help

Screens

Producer

Issue 4 - Report Generator

and

Retention Schedules

Issue 5 - Transaction Processing

and Reinsurance

Overrides

Issue 6 - Input Extracts

Issue 7 - Schedule S

Issue 8 - Report Generator

Issue 9 - Year 2000

Issue 10 - Backups

Issue 11 - Viewing Inforce Files

Issue 12 - Extracting Test Data,

Status Codes, Transaction

Codes

Issue 13 - Trailers

Issue 14 - R² Windows

Issue 15 - What’s in a footer?

Issue 16 - Expanded Files

Issue 17 - Retention Management,

Reserves Q&A

Issue 18 - T$POSrt.Idx, Trailers

Q&A

Issue 19 - Sorting Files

Issue 20 - Testing Billing/Valuation

Samples

Issue 21 - Standards for Backup

Procedures

Issue 22 - Warnings and Errors

Issue 23 - Manual Overrides and

Conversions

Issue 24 - CF Flags and Resorting

Issue 25 - Parsing

Issue 26 - Manual Override O,

Qsxt19p

Issue 27 - Priors and Allocation

Issue 28 - Premium & Allowance

Information

Issue 29 - Command Line Ad-hoc,

qsre10p.exe

Issue 30 - Schedule S, Financial

Adjustments

Issue 31 - Hot Keys, Printing Files,

Electronic Files

Issue 32 - Event Extracts, How to

Rerun a Previous Cycle

Issue 33 - Electronic Output

Viewing Package,

Manual Override T

The current version of the Electronic Output Viewing Package is 01u.

Editor : Kimberly WaltersQuasar*Systems Inc.

8989 N. Port Washington Rd. - Suite 227Milwaukee Wisconsin USA 53217-1662

www.qsi-r2.comF Voice: [414] 228-8622 v fax : [414] 228-8857

J email Q2@qsi-r2.com

vDarleneKosonic@qsi-r2.com F[905] 304-8098 vDanGapinski@qsi-r2.com F[414] 540-2421 vvDougSzper@qsi-r2.com F[414] 228-9286 vHeatherHuff@qsi-r2.com F[414] 540-2423 vvJimSchoen@qsi-r2.com F[414] 540-2422 vLauraLowry@qsi-r2.com F[414] 540-2420 vvLauraMueller@qsi-r2.com[414] 228-8622 vKimWalters@qsi-r2.com F [414] 540-2427 v

mailto:�DanGapinski@qsi-r2.commailto:Kim.Walters@qsi-r2.commailto:Darlene.Kosonic@qsi-r2.commailto:Darlene.Kosonic@qsi-r2.com

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