Background

This document describes the integration between Ascend and BindHQ. This integration enables joint customers to easily invoice customers and reconcile their Accounts Receivable without leaving BindHQ.

Ascend's BindHQ is an automatic integration. It is triggered when a policy is bound in BindHQ, which means that all required fields should be completed before binding a policy.

Setting up Integration

To ensure a successful integration launch, please prepare the following data exports from BindHQ:

1. Export of carriers, including name, address, and BindHQ ID

2. Export of marketing companies, including name, address, and BindHQ ID

3. Export of coverage types, including name and BindHQ ID

4. Export of agencies including

   1. Name

   2. Address

   3. Phone number

   4. Primary contact name

   5. Primary contact email

How-to Guide

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Set up your receipt bank account in BindHQ:

   1. Navigate to Accounting -> G/L Account Admin -> Add A New Account

   2. Create the account called "Ascend FBO"

   3. Go to Settings -> Integrations -> Ascend -> View & edit integration configuration

   4. Add the Ascend FBO account to the "Receipt Bank Account" field

2. Navigate to Settings -> Integrations in the BindHQ platform.

3. Choose the Ascend option -> View & edit integration configuration.

4. Toggle "Enable Ascend Integration" ON

5. Share the following with your Ascend contact:

   1. API key

   2. BindHQ URL

   3. Client code

6. Share list of Coverage Types with your Ascend contact (including BindHQ codes)

7. Add list of retail agencies you work with in Ascend here.

8. Add list of marketing companies and carriers you work with in Ascend here.

Using the Integration

This integration consists of the following functionality:

1. Program/invoice creation (new policies)

2. Premium adding endorsement creation

3. Voids

4. Receipts

Program (invoice) Creation

1. Create a new application and policy in BindHQ. This will automatically create a new program in Ascend.

2. Navigate to your Ascend Dashboard to see the newly created program.

3. You can now send the Ascend payment link to the client.

Failed Imports

Your team can access failed imports from the Incomplete Quotes card on the Programs List page.

Clicking this will bring you to the BindHQ Imports page, where you can see all the imported records, and see the import failure reason by clicking into a failed record.

Required fields:

Insured

Name (insured.name )

Accounting Address

• insured.accounting_address.line1

• insured.accounting_address.city

• insured.accounting_address.state

• insured.accounting_address.postal_code

• insured.email

• insured.phone

If using insured type Corporation for Insured Direct Bill, first and last name for the insured's billing contact will need to be manually entered by clicking "Update the customer's contact details" to unblock premium financing.

Policy/Quote

• Policy type (policy.type )

• Carrier (policy.carrier )

• Policy number (policy.policy_number )

• Term

  • policy.effective_date

  • policy.expiration_date

• Premium, taxes, and fees (quote.line_items )

• Minimum earned rate (quote.minimum_earned_premium_percentage )

• Retailer/wholesaler commission (quote.agent_commission_per1centage )

Agency

• Name (agency.name )

• Email (agent.email )

• Phone Number (agency.phone )

• Mailing address (agency.mailing_address )

• Billing contact first name (agent.first_name )

• Billing contact last name (agent.last_name )

Premium Adding Endorsements

1. Create a new premium adding endorsement in BindHQ.

   1. If original policy exists in Ascend, this will create a premium-adding endorsement on that policy in Ascend.

   2. If original policy does not exist, this will create a new Ascend program

2. Navigate to your Ascend Dashboard to see the endorsement.

3. You can now send the Ascend payment link to the client.

Voids

If the policy or premium adding endorsement that was synced in steps #1 and #2 is voided in BindHQ, the corresponding program/endorsement will be archived in Ascend.

Customers will no longer receive emails to make payment for this invoice and the payment link will expire

Receipts

When the customer makes payment and Ascend sends funds to your bank account, a receipt will be created in BindHQ and applied to the invoice.

Field Mapping

Troubleshooting the Integration

If the sync to BindHQ fails, you can visit this page to attempt a manual resync: https://dashboard.useascend.com/settings/integrations/bindhq

• Select the failed import

• Review and resolve the error message (typically missing information, error messages detailed below)

• Click "Re-sync data" to attempt the sync again

Policy/Endorsement Level Failures:

• Unsupported billing type (supported types are agency_bill or direct_bill_insured)

• Premium is less than or equal to zero

• Surplus Lines is less than or equal to zero

Other Missing Info Failures

Partner Agency

• Name

• Email

• Phone

• Address (Street 1, city, state, zip code)

Insured

• Valid phone number (if present)

• Name

• Email

• Address (Street 1, city, state, zip code)

Account manager / Producer (MGA user)

• Email

• Valid phone (if present)

• First name

• Last name

Retail agent

• Email

• Valid phone (if present)

• First name

• Last name

FAQ

How are my Retail Agencies synced from BindHQ to Ascend?

• Your agencies are automatically synced to Ascend on an hourly basis.

• If the agency is missing in Ascend when creating the application, the integration will automatically create the agency in Ascend.

• Inactive agencies are excluded and will not be synced to Ascend.

How are my users synced from BindHQ to Ascend?

• When creating a policy in BindHQ, the user will automatically be created in the Ascend system if it does not yet exist.

How are reinstatements handled?

• Ascend is currently not integration with BindHQ for reinstatements. If a policy is reinstated in BindHQ, you should also reinstate it in Ascend. This could mean:

  • If a payment was made and the program is in "Canceled" status, click Actions > Reinstate

  • If no payment was made and the program is in "Archived" status, click "Un-archive"

Does the integration mark carrier payments as paid if Ascend is managing payables?

• No, currently BindHQ does not have APIs to update carrier payables. Once available we will look to build out this functionality.

Contact Us

Need more help? Contact us at [email protected] for more help.