Universal Map

Introduction

Distributors and Carriers in the industry need to tag and map each field on each form for an application packet, resulting in hundreds of tags. In addition, they must duplicate that effort across multiple order entry platforms. Tagging and managing forms can be time consuming and require an understanding of the AFFIRM specific MACRO language used to define when each field applies (Applies When) and where to get the data (XPath). Although some tags, such as the annuitant’s first/last name, primary agent’s first/last name, owner signature fields, are commonly used across multiple organizations, each organization must invest effort in defining and managing those tags. Also, if a carrier has a PDF form that they use on multiple platforms, they sometimes need to support multiple versions of the PDF to allow different tag names for each field to match the platform that PDF will be uploaded to.

A global form mapping solution will allow carriers and distributors to standardize their common tags and to pull from a list of already established tags, thus reducing costs and effort to create and maintain business forms and lessen the time-to-market for forms.

Access

When a carrier or distributor enables Universal Map configuration, a BA user can utilize the new functionality of the feature once logged in through the Forms Management application.

Universal Map Tab

A new tab will be added in the Forms Management application called Universal Map. When the user selects this tab, they will navigate to the Active tab and user will be displayed the current version of the published Universal Map. The external view is for user reference.

• Access to the Universal Map is view only. The external user does not have permissions to update the Universal Map.
• Description: Name of the Universal Map file.
• Mode: Published
• Trans Exe Date: Date and time the Universal Map was mark to be published.
• Last Activity: Date and time the Universal Map was published.

All Tags

From the Universal Tab Dashboard, a user can select the view icon on a Published Universal Map and will be brough to the All Tags tab. The All Tags screen will display and allow the user to search the current listing of Universal Map Tags Names, with their corresponding Applicable Formula (Applies When), Mapping Expression (Xpath), Data Type, and Tag Alias, Page and Scenario.

The only action the user can take on a Tag Name that is in Publish mode is to View.

• Tag Name – Universal Tag that can be used as the tag name for a field on a form PDF without having to define the Applicable Formula (Applies When) or Mapping Expression (Xpath) in the users Common Map. If the process matches a form PDF tag to a Universal Tag, the values defined in the Universal Map will automatically apply. Note: when a form is uploaded with an existing Universal tag, the Universal tag will not be added to the Common Map.
• Page – The search drop down list is a list of order entry pages where data is typically entered.  Narrows the search to tags associated to the associated page.  The page will be displayed in the tag values returned on screen. The Scenario search drop-down is a dynamic drop-down list based on  previously defined page.  Further narrows down search to tags specific to that page scenario. (i.e. Owner, Annuitant, etc.).  Scenario does not display on screen in the tag values returned.
• that page. (i.e. Participants)
• Order Data Eval Results: If the user has Order Data uploaded in their Development Common Map, the user will be able to see the evaluation results of for the Universal Map tags that apply. (Note this is display only. The user does not have the ability to search on Order Eval Data).
• Applicable Formula
• Mapping Expression
• Data Type
• Tag Alias – alternate Tag Name to the Universal Tag name. The Tag Alias can be used as the tag name for a field on a form PDF without having to define the Applicable Formula (Applies When) or Mapping Expression (Xpath) in the user’s Common Map. If the process matches a form PDF tag to a Universal Tag Alias, the values defined in the Universal Map will automatically apply.
  • Note: when a form is uploaded with an existing Universal tag, the Universal tag will not be added to their Common Map.
  • Note: The internal process to assign a Tag Alias to a Universal Tag has not been defined.

View Tag Details

Within the Universal Map All Tags view, the user can select view on any tag to view the details of that tag.

View Forms

When viewing a Universal Tag, the user can also navigate to the Forms Tab to see if any of their forms are using the Universal Tag or Tag Alias as a tag on their PDF. From the forms tab, the user will be able to perform the following action with the form:

• PDF-download the physical PDF
• XML-download the forms definition
• Promote-Promote the forms instance.
• Deactivate-Deactivate the form instance.
• Copy-Copy the form instance to Development Mode
• Recycle-Copy the form instance to Development Mode and automatically promote the form instance to in-Pilot mode.

Download

From the Universal Tab Dashboard, a user can select the view icon on a Published Universal Map and will be brough to the All Tags tab. The user can then navigate to the Download tab. From the Download tab, the user can select the Download Universal Map button and be presented with a Confirmation pop-up- warning them that depending on the file size it may take a few seconds before the download is ready. Once the user acknowledges, the process to download the Universal Map XML will begin and when complete, the Published version will be available in their computer’s download file. The downloaded file name will begin with ‘Universal_Map’

When opening the downloaded file in excel, there are five new fields added, ‘Tag Alias’, ‘Line of Business’, Page, Scenario and Additional Filter present. See “Internal Universal Map, Development Mode, Edit Universal Tag’ section for what these fields represent.