Each data provider – either an insurer or an authorized third party entity (TPE) must submit a test file for approval before beginning to report production USR files electronically. Please review the guidelines below, and then contact the WCIRB Data Submission Analysts at [email protected] to arrange the test. Please note that before a TPE can submit policy data on behalf of an insurer, the insurer must enter into an indemnification agreement with the WCIRB. View the Using Third Parties page to learn more.
The purpose of the test is to check for WCSTAT format compliance and preprocessing errors and to review the unit statistical data in our test system so that major audit errors and reporting problems can be addressed before the data is officially submitted.
Testing is necessary under the following conditions:
Please take the following steps before beginning to test USR submission files:
Review the California Regulations. The California Insurance Commissioner's regulations for the reporting of unit statistical data can be found here: California Workers' Compensation Uniform Statistical Reporting Plan—1995 (USRP)
Review the WCIRB Data Reporting Handbook—Unit Statistical Reporting. The WCIRB Data Reporting Handbook—Unit Statistical Reporting incorporates all of the WCSTAT reporting requirements (referenced in item 3 below) and the California clarifications from the USRP into a single document. This “one-stop shop” handbook is a helpful resource designed to make it easier for users to access all of the California unit statistical reporting requirements in one document.
Review the reporting format specifications (WCSTAT). The specifications for electronic reporting of unit statistical data were developed by the WCIO (Workers Compensation Insurance Organizations) and are located on the WCIO website. The same WCSTAT specification is also available in a searchable database on the WCIO website. All WCSTAT reporting specifications for California are included in the WCIRB Data Reporting Handbook—Unit Statistical Reporting (referenced in item 2 above); however, for technical field attributes (position, field class, number of bytes), refer to the WCSTAT specification on the WCIO website.
Each USR submission must contain an Electronic Transmittal Record (ETR). The ETR is the required first record in every submission file, and some of WCIRB Connect’s USR preprocessing edits validate fields in the ETR. The ETR begins with the value “$!+WORKCOMP+!$” and includes identifying information about the submitter of the file and its data, such as Name of Data Provider Contact, Phone Number of Data Provider Contact, and Data Provider Type Code. The WCIO’s specifications for the ETR are not part of WCSTAT. Please refer to the Electronic Transmittal Record Specification on the WCIO website for the ETR fields and their attributes. All fields that are required for California should be reported in the ETR.
Even if your company uses a proprietary system for generating USR submission files, we recommend importing the source files into BEEP in order to validate the USRs and creating the submission file within BEEP for transmission to the WCIRB via CDX. Using BEEP’s validation features can reduce submission errors that may result in the file being rejected by the WCIRB.
This is the default contact for all issues related to USR data reporting. An insurer group may also designate a separate USR Submission Contact.
Recommended:
The test submission must follow these general requirements:
Once your test file is ready to be submitted to the WCIRB, please notify us by emailing the file name to the Data Submission Analysts at [email protected].