ACORD forms like 125 (Commercial Insurance Application), 126 (General Liability), and 140 (Property) contain crucial underwriting data about applicants, coverages, and exposure details.
However, they often arrive with incomplete fields, missing signatures, or outdated values. These inconsistencies slow down underwriting and introduce compliance risk.
Heron automates scrubbing for ACORD forms, reviewing parsed data for completeness, accuracy, and policy alignment. It identifies missing sections, invalid coverage values, stale dates, and formatting issues.
Once scrubbed, forms move downstream as “ready to underwrite,” while exceptions route to review or trigger missing-info requests automatically.
Use Cases
- Detect incomplete sections: Heron checks all key areas—Applicant Info, Coverages, Prior Carrier, and Limits—for missing or unreadable fields.
- Validate coverage consistency: It cross-verifies selected coverages with applicable limits and deductibles.
- Check for stale policy periods: The system flags expired effective dates or coverage gaps.
- Identify formatting issues: Scrubbing confirms numeric fields are in valid ranges and text fields use expected labels.
- Flag missing signatures: Unsigned or improperly dated forms are marked for correction.
- Route exceptions automatically: Incomplete or high-risk forms move to manual review queues for fast resolution.
Each case removes manual guesswork, speeds underwriting, and improves submission quality.
Operational Impact
Automated scrubbing creates predictable, clean data flow throughout the underwriting pipeline.
- Reduced manual review: Teams avoid manually checking dozens of pages per submission.
- Faster readiness: Forms a clear review and moves to underwriting faster.
- Fewer rework cycles: Errors and omissions are caught before they cause downstream issues.
- Improved broker communication: Specific, templated feedback replaces vague rejections.
- Audit-ready consistency: Every field is validated with traceable logs for compliance reviews.
Heron transforms scrubbing from a tedious checklist into a controlled, repeatable quality assurance process.
Scrubbing Logic and Methodology
Heron’s scrubbing system operates on structured data extracted during parsing and applies multiple layers of validation:
- Structural scrubs: Confirms required ACORD sections and field presence across forms.
- Data-type scrubs: Verifies that values match expected formats (e.g., numeric for limits, valid dates).
- Cross-form consistency: Ensures that ACORD 125 and 126, when submitted together, have matching applicant and coverage data.
- Policy compliance: Evaluates coverage selections and deductibles against underwriting rules and appetite thresholds.
- Completeness scoring: Assigns a readiness score to each submission, helping teams prioritize reviews.
- Signature and attestation checks: Detects missing or outdated signatures to maintain legal and audit compliance.
The result is a scrubbed packet where every field is trusted and underwriting can begin immediately.
Cross-System Workflow Integration
Scrubbed ACORD forms integrate seamlessly into the broader Heron workflow:
- Ready status tagging: Forms passing scrubbing automatically update to “Ready for Underwriting.”
- Write-back updates: Clean data populates the CRM record with confidence ratings and timestamps.
- Exception management: Low-confidence or incomplete forms route to exception queues.
- Broker follow-ups: Missing-info emails auto-generate using dynamic templates.
- Reporting dashboards: Managers see scrub rates, average times, and top exception reasons in real time.
This integration makes sure no submission stalls silently; every issue is surfaced, tracked, and resolved.
Quality and Compliance Controls
Scrubbing improves compliance posture by enforcing data integrity and process transparency.
- Field-level audit trails: Each correction or validation is logged with source, timestamp, and user ID.
- SOC 2 Type II alignment: All scrubbing operations occur under certified controls for security and data privacy.
- Access restrictions: Sensitive fields like SSNs or FEINs are masked for unauthorized roles.
- Retention compliance: Scrubbed files and logs follow retention policies for audit readiness.
- Error transparency: Users can review why a form failed scrubbing without exposing sensitive information.
These controls create confidence that data flowing through Heron is compliant and trustworthy.
Analytical and Business Insights
Scrubbed data feeds valuable insights for process improvement.
- Exception trend analysis: Tracks which fields fail most often, helping brokers improve form accuracy.
- Cycle time metrics: Monitors time between intake and ready-for-underwrite status.
- Quality benchmarks: Measures accuracy improvements across ACORD types over time.
- Program optimization: Identifies coverage areas or brokers frequently out of appetite.
- Training and feedback loops: Teams use insights to refine submission requirements and reduce error rates.
These analytics make scrubbing not just a quality gate but also a continuous improvement tool.
Business Outcomes
Scrubbing delivers measurable operational and financial benefits.
- Turnaround acceleration: Average intake-to-underwrite time drops by up to 70%.
- Error rate reduction: Incorrect data entries fall below 2%.
- FTE savings: Automation replaces hours of manual validation per submission.
- Higher broker satisfaction: Faster, clearer responses build stronger relationships.
- Data quality uplift: Consistent, accurate records enhance underwriting precision.
Each improvement compounds over time, turning scrubbing into a key profit lever rather than a cost center.
Best Practices for Implementation
- Start with the highest volume ACORDs: Focus on 125, 126, and 140 to generate early wins.
- Align with underwriting rules: Customize scrubbing logic to mirror policy appetite and program constraints.
- Train brokers with feedback reports: Share anonymized scrub summaries to reduce future errors.
- Review completeness thresholds quarterly: Adjust tolerance levels as data quality improves.
- Monitor scrub-to-ready ratio: Target 90% or higher readiness after scrubbing for optimal efficiency.
These practices maximize automation benefits and sustain long-term data quality gains.
Benefits of Using Heron for Scrubbing ACORD Forms
- Speed: Detects and fixes issues instantly without manual checks.
- Accuracy: Applies structured logic to identify and resolve field-level errors.
- Consistency: Enforces identical rules across all ACORD submissions.
- Scalability: Handles thousands of forms daily without bottlenecks.
- Compliance: Maintains clean audit trails and confidence-scored data.
Heron’s scrubbing automation creates a foundation of reliable, decision-ready information, essential for fast, accurate underwriting.
FAQs About Scrub for ACORD Forms
How does Heron scrub ACORD forms automatically?
Heron checks every parsed field for completeness, validity, and consistency. It applies structural, data-type, and cross-form checks, then flags or routes issues for resolution.
What happens if a form fails scrubbing?
Forms with missing sections or invalid data move to a review queue, and brokers automatically receive a missing-info request explaining what needs correction.
Can scrubbing rules be customized?
Yes. Heron’s scrubbing logic adapts to each funder or insurer’s appetite, allowing you to enforce program-specific thresholds for coverage, limits, or documentation.
How does scrubbing improve underwriting efficiency?
Scrubbed forms reach underwriting in a ready condition. Underwriters review data, not documents, cutting prep time and reducing back-and-forth with brokers.
Is scrubbing secure for sensitive client data?
Absolutely. Heron’s scrubbing workflow runs under SOC 2 Type II controls, with encryption, access logging, and data retention governance.
