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Dear RSGuru
By Eric White and Tom Debates, Account Managers, Atlanta, GA
Dear RSGuru,
I love the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray lives the same day over and over, but I have the same dilemma when it comes to our reports. Every month, my boss wants to see a list of claims that closed in the previous month. I know that Sigma EncoreSM Reports has a Scheduling and Distribution section so that reports will repeat automatically, but how do I get it to dynamically change the criteria to pick just last month’s closing dates? —Punxsutawney Phil
Dear Punxsutawney,
All you need to do is apply a little smarts to the problem and you can break free from your personal groundhog day. Ask your RSG consultant to show you how to use the Smart Date search option in Sigma EncoreSM Reports. This powerful feature allows you to pick any number of date-based items to be automatically calculated, producing the correct search criteria based on the scheduled run dates. Claims closed in the prior month? No problem! Accident date in the prior quarter? Easy as pie!
Dear RSGuru,
Have you ever seen one of those movies where the kids are running around like they are possessed and making the parents go crazy? Then all of a sudden, through the miracle of movie magic, the parents figure out the trick to getting things back in control and the family is running smoothly again. Well, that’s how I feel about locations. Last year, Maryland was in the South Region and now it’s in the East Region. Bill retired and Janice is now overseeing both the West and the South Regions. Also, we closed six old locations and opened 10 new ones. I need one of those movie miracles right about now. —Movie Madness
Dear Movie Madness,
Let me tell you a secret. That movie magic was really a wizard on the set! Anyway, keeping track of locations can be a difficult trick even in the best of circumstances, but RSG’s Sigma EncoreSM Locations Module is the right magic for you (without all of the expensive special effects). Using the Edit function, you can position on a Location or Region and update several data points with a single click. You can enter a closing date, change the address or pick a new parent code for the location to roll-up to, and those changes will be instantly reflected in your Sigma EncoreSM Reports and Oracle® Discoverer workbooks. If you have new locations, you can enter them quite rapidly using the Location Entry function. The Locations module gets the thumbs up from the clients who use it, so contact your RSG account manager to see if your organization can benefit from this Academy Award-worthy software.
Dear RSGuru,
I know you know about claims, reports and data, but what about other topics? How about a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies? —Cookie Monster, 123456789-10-11-12 Sesame Street
Dear Cookie Monster,
Of course I have a great recipe! Just because I am the RSGuru does not mean I’m not a well-rounded guru.
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar from cane
3/4 cup molasses-soaked sugar
1 cup churned butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2-1/4 cups chaff-free flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large ostrich egg
2 cups chocolate chips from cocoa
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugar, butter and egg in a large bowl by hand. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Then stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Let cool for 1 minute, then remove from cookie sheet and place on wire rack to finish cooling.
While these cookies are baking, it is important to note that there are a lot of similarities between these cookies and your RMIS. With your RMIS, the ingredients are all of the things you mix into your database: claim information, adjuster notes, payments or financial information, location data, exposures, etc. All of this is blended together to make reports or graphs (or cookies!) that are distributed, shared and enjoyed by others.
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