Recognizing the need for a reliable bail agency management
program which has sufficient technical support and financial backing,
American Surety Company joined forces with two other industry leading
surety companies to develop what is now known as the BARS
Network. Since first rolling out BARS at the CBAA 2001 Fall Meeting
in South Lake Tahoe, American Surety has received a tremendous response
from its agents who have subscribed to BARS.
BARS is an internet-based application specifically designed for the bail
agent to effectively manage their entire book of business, specifically
power control, client records, agent commissions, forfeitures, accounts
receivable, surety reports etc. BARS is the first bail application to
be entirely maintained on the Internet, allowing its subscribers to access
their account from any Internet accessible computer.
Agents have been particularly pleased with the ability to receive their
power inventory electronically. At the time powers the surety issues replacement
powers, the corresponding power numbers are distributed directly to that
agents BARS account, eliminating the need for the bail agent to key those
same powers to the bail program upon receipt, saving time and money.
Following are some other key features of the BARS Network:
-
Inventory Reassignment
in the Bond/Power Module was created to effectively and easily issue and
track powers being assigned to subagents and employees. Reports were created
to generate listings of powers assigned to an agent's employees either
individually or as a group.
-
Quick Write was
created to streamline the data entry of each bond being written. This
graphic interface allows the user to enter information on the defendant,
cosigner, collateral and bond at one location. Once processed, the data
is then dispersed to create separate files for each category where additional
data can then be entered.
-
Accounts Receivable
- The need to extend credit has become commonplace in nearly every market
in the country. BARS subscribers expressed an urgent need to have an effective
user-friendly way to track their receivables. The BARS development team
spent many hours developing an A/R module, which addressed the needs of
the bail agents. The result was a comprehensive yet sensible extension
to BARS, which will compliment the bail agent's efforts to collect their
receivables, and with the BARS' internal user access limitations will
also reduce employee theft. Most importantly the detailed tracking of
accounts receivables through BARS A/R Module will increase your agency's
profitability, and that's the bottom line.
-
Batch Entry Reporting
Procedure - For those agents, who wish only to use BARS for the express
purpose of generating their surety report, the Batch Entry reporting procedure
is just for you. In literally minutes you can process a large number of
executed bonds into a Batch Entry spreadsheet before generating a surety
report.
Historical Data Capture
Efforts are underway to make
it possible for existing American Surety agents subscribing to BARS to
receive data regularly maintained by ASC. ASC will have the ability to
transfer all historical data to your BARS account. The information would
be limited to data appearing on a standard bond execution report.
Contact BARS directly for more information about how to become
a subscriber:
888.224.6431
www.barsnetwork.com