Risk Management Information Systems (RMIS) can help riskmanagers better analyze endless streams of data, benchmark theirwork against their peers, improve the collection of andintelligence around claims data—and even reduce premium costs byenabling companies to submit more detailed program information thatcan yield discounts at renewal time.

PC360-NU spoke with the developers of three leadingRMIS programs—and the clients who use them—to learn more about howthese tools can be of high value in the challenging business ofmitigating risk.

TRACK STAR

Launched in 2001, Aon's RiskConsole has hadmore than 100,000 users in 40-plus countries, who employ the systemto collect and organize data on claims; identify and monitorexposures; and facilitate the sharing of data from myriad locationsthroughout the globe.

“One of a risk manager's biggest challenges ise-mailing and tracking information among all of his contacts,” saysGlenn Peake, marketing manager for Aon eSolutions. “It amazes methat most businesses still collect all their risk-management datain spreadsheet form. Consider what that means for aFortune 500 company with 300 U.S. locations—each of whichmust update Liability & Casualty figures and claimshistories.”

Any organizational source approved by the client worldwide canenter data into the system, and that information can be representedin foreign currencies that are aggregated into the currency of theclient's central location.

Aon's RMIS integrates administrative, analytical and reportingfunctions in more than 20 standard modules that can be addedaccording to client need, including ones devoted to risk financing,incident reporting, litigation management, insurer ratings, productrecall, logistics management and environmental liability.

But the key element in Aon's software, says Tom Wimberly, vicepresident of product management and product marketing at AoneSolutions, is its flexibility. A specialist will work with anaccount closely throughout the implementation process.

“Most of our clients come to us because [managing risk] is socomplex,” says Wimberly. “Our staffers have postgraduate degrees orhave worked as claims managers and can guide individuals throughthe installation process.”

Aon's team stays with the client past the initial implementationphase, assigning an expert staffer to maintain knowledge of thecompany's business requirements and the areas with which they needcontinued assistance, such as report writing, data conversion,business analysis or project management.

“The result of this approach is that each aspect of your projectis placed in the hands of a group of individuals who have deep,daily client experience producing similar solutions in a specificaspect of delivery,” says Wimberly.

One of Aon's RiskConsole clients is Mosaic Co., a leadingproducer and distributor of concentrated phosphate and potash cropnutrients.

“Our Environmental, Health and Safety Group needed to replace alegacy system they used to track safety incidents,” explains MikeBishop, Mosaic's director of risk management. “We consideredbuilding an in-house tool but ultimately selected Risk Console totrack 14 types of incidents that the group analyzes. It has alsobecome a tool used by our operations group at our plants, helpingto document incidents and root out causes of safety issues.”

Mosaic also uses RiskConsole to automate its data-gathering andexposure-analysis processes. The company's risk-management teamused to manually gather renewals data from 49 globallocations—almost half the corporate total—a process that took eightweeks to complete. By using RiskConsole, it has trimmed six weeksfrom the process—and it has experienced significantsavings.

“This has been a big win for us in that we were able to cutcosts and turnaround time in gathering broader underwriting datafrom over 100 locations in eight countries,” says Bishop. “Thishelped to reduce department and broker costs while expanding thedata available to underwriters, driving down insurance-premiumcosts.”

Indeed, the more-detailed data the tool has helped deliverenabled Mosaic to earn a 10.7 percent reduction in Excess Liabilitypremium from its carrier.

Aon's RMIS also helped craft Mosaic's general ERM strategy bygenerating reports on employee, automobile and fleet data,hazardous chemical accountability, factory profiles and cargorisks.

Going forward, Bishop's team is considering using RiskConsolefor its debt-compliance reporting, property loss control and assetmanagement.

BENCHMARKING STAR

Clients of Stars Enterprise,the RMIS offering from CS Stars, a business unit of Marsh, canmeasure their performance against their peers via a database of 14million Liability, Property and Workers' Compensation claim recordsfrom about 500 organizations across a variety of industries (thedatabase is updated quarterly). CS Stars' data experts processinformation for more than 800 client organizations and from mostmajor carriers and third-party administrators (TPAs).

Enterprise clients can compare their organization against othersby selecting company attributes such as revenue, size, industry andgeography. Users also can select and filter data based on claimattributes including loss date range, coverage and state.

Customized screens and dashboard alerts helpclaims-handlers uphold regulatory compliance by providing a libraryof updated injury-reporting forms from all 50 states, and thesystem can translate claims data into the reporting formats ofvarious unbundled policies maintained by a TPA.

It ensures that claim forms are filled out on schedule andalerts the user if there has been a filing delay. If the tardyfiler is a TPA, the risk manager can automatically request thatcompliance managers hold payments to the company until thecertificates are completed.

Its arsenal of claims tools includes an indemnity-benefitscalculator; a lost-time tracker; and medical-bill-reviewintegration.

The program also boasts a geospatial analysis feature, calledRisk Goggles, to monitor weather and geological events againstasset locations using real-time feeds on weather and catastrophesthat could affect them. Risk Goggles also provides a visual chartof the claims metrics, safety, compliance data and otherperformance indicators of each of a company's locations.

And Risk Goggles provides a set of intelligence tools like asummary of Key Performance Indicator data that measure an asset'sprogress toward risk, safety and compliance goals, and it evenidentifies variables like news of civil unrest in the area of abusiness location.

Enterprise monitors how the client's assets and liabilities canaffect its risk profile viaConstruction/Occupancy/Protection/Exposure (COPE) property analysisand loss-control information; and it tracks exposure data usingtemplates, allowing users to drill down to the finest financialdetail.

When it's time for an organization's exposure values to becollected, Enterprise sends surveys to those responsible forreporting the data at each location. Those surveys help compare theorganization's exposure to prior-year values; it also asks forcomment if the annual difference in exposure value exceeds acertain set threshold (for example, 10 percent).

Packaging-manufacturer Bemis Co. purchased Stars Enterprise sixyears ago after a recommendation from its broker. Bemis'four-person risk staff uses the system and has extended it toinclude information input from end users at its various factories.It uses the data to provide dashboard reports at regular board andofficer meetings.

“At first we were looking for claims-capture and reportinginformation,” says Brent Pickens, Bemis' director of enterpriserisk management. “What we were ultimately hoping and able to dowith the Stars team was to leverage [the software] into anempowerment tool that adds value to our business process.

“Many would think of claims procedure as a [cost] control, butit also has the ability to get the fastest medical treatment to anemployee, assure that care is being administered, and shows theexecutive team that they are getting the desired result,” he adds.

GOOD CARMA

Whether risk managers are insured orself-insured, or have bundled or unbundled programs, Travelers'RMIS system, known as e-CARMA, can help clientsmanage loss costs.

The tool allows users to submit claims online and monitor theirprogress from filing to resolution; it aids in Occupational Health& Safety Administration recordkeeping by automaticallypopulating all OSHA forms online using user data; it allows onlineaccess to policy details such as coverage and endorsements; itrecords detailed information on payment activity; provides accessto white papers on risk control; and its “My Diary” option allowsusers to create and track all their risk-management activities.

e-CARMA offers a number of customizable dashboards, includingthe Performance dashboard with which clients can measure theirorganizational results against current Travelers customers withintheir own industry; they can also review claim-outcome trends,conduct frequency/severity analyses and access“company-at-a-glance” financials.

The e-CARMA Risk Analyzer enhancement, introduced lastyear, utilizes drop-down menus that are customized around theclient's organization and allow for easy drill-down to investigate,for example, the rate of injuries—as specific as back sprains amonga company's employees.

Risk managers also can use the system to keep an eye on emergingtrends such as an aging workforce or the rate of accidents amongnew employees, allowing them to consider solutions, says MichaelStrietelmeier, vice president of risk-management informationservices at Travelers and one of e-CARMA's originaldevelopers.