New exams online. What is worth improving for the future?
The last six months in the area of licensing exams have been the time of adaptation and work on new terms.
After years of using & nbsp; A temporary solution introduced to the time of the pandemic The moment of implementation of the target solution has come. This & nbsp; a great opportunity by & nbsp; eofwca.pl as a practice and market leader & nbsp; shared her observations
First, a small flashback:
On July 1, 2023, the epidemic threat was abolished. During its time, in many spheres of life and the branches of the market, solutions were developed to facilitate the functioning of society and organization. The condition that limited us to some extent initiated or accelerated the digitization of our lives. which we also experienced in the examination process.
Of course, we are talking about online examinations for applicants for agency activities, distribution activities of the insurance company and distribution activities of the reinsurance company.
The solution functioned and was adapted to market needs throughout the pandemic. After its completion, the decision was finally made to sanction the temporary and allow us to stay with us permanently.
currently, i.e. & nbsp; according to the latest regulations from September 1, 2023, we have the option of conducting license exams in any form: stationary, online and hybrid (at the examination room with computers adapted to the examination purposes).
What has changed in & nbsp; only online exams with the latest regulations?
⇒ 1:50, i.e. people responsible for the preparation and conduct of the exam.
The new regulation of the Ministry of Finance imposed the obligation to appoint at least one person responsible for the preparation and conduct of an examination for every 50 people joining him.
The main problem of using this provision in practice is the smooth list of people reported on the exam. most often with a tendency to decrease with the upcoming date.
The process is as follows: we set up access accounts for the nominated candidates taking the exam, most often with a 7-day advance and block the appropriate number of people responsible for this exam. Theoretically, it would be possible to submit the exam to the KNF, we are waiting for the last moment, i.e. for the 4 days before the set date. Thus, we save time and energy for the possible need to process in & nbsp; KNF & nbsp; application update applications. About & nbsp; what for a moment. The main reason is the shortening list of participants with the upcoming date. & nbsp; thus reducing the number of people required for it.
Why is waiting until the last moment so important?
After submitting the exam to the KNF, together with the list of candidates and those responsible, we block the latter, thus excluding the possibility of involving them in another exam. The only “flexibility” that remains is the change of the name of the person responsible in the event of the disease.
Bottom line: Every person responsible for the exam is currently in the organization of gold and the whole process requires a lot of logistics.
With limited human resources in & nbsp; organizations, accessibility for the examiners themselves suffered. The market began to introduce time limits for the implementation of the exam (instead of the whole day in & nbsp; pandemic now half of the day of the examination window), a limited number of people to be enrolled for a given exam.
The biggest loss in & nbsp; the process is to reduce the number of examiners in the last 4 days before the exam date. If at that time the number of participants of the exam decreases on & nbsp; only that one or more responsible persons will not be used, e.g. & nbsp; 110 49 people from the exam are approached by 49 people, two people could be used for another exam.
taking into account the mechanism of operation of modern systems allowing for the simultaneous accession of hundreds of people with security, identity verification and independence of work, puzzling There is a limitation to 1 person responsible for & nbsp; 50 candidates. In the draft of the act there was a proposal of one person on the 200 examiners and an additional one with each redundant 50. What was acceptable for the market, while maintaining the highest service standards, of course.
Justification: Human resources in organizations are divided according to the scope of duties. Work based on the division of competences and specialization is more effective in many respects. Considering the changes caused by the development of technology, we experience migration of competences to various areas in organizations or processes. Precision worker in the analysis of the examination documentation, working with the system and the algorithm will not necessarily cope with a telephone conversation with a stressed person before the examination, which should be calmed down and muted. In practice, there is no one person and a staff of people with every online exam, each responsible for something else on a different time period. Many activities take place before & nbsp; after the exam. system software Events, attaching the content of statements, preparing and extracting a list of people and its updating, connecting tests, surveillance over the course, service of the hotline, issuing post-examination documentation and & nbsp; reports, issuing and sending certificates, etc..
The current provisions of the regulation do not support organizations in effective management and the use of human resources adequate to online processes.
Assigning a certain number of people to the exams makes sense in stationary mode when in the room passes at the same time; The exam is a multiple of 50 people and this person is the only authority supervising the correctness of its course. In online mode, the safety and correctness of the examination are mainly controlled by technology and system tools. The process is, of course, a man. We called him the exam coordinator. Responsible for the whole: checks, controls, supervises the course. In our opinion, he is the right person and sufficient to sign the protocol. We have encountered such practices during the pandemic. For greater transparency, a list of people who are part of the team responsible for the preparation and handling of the exam can be added to the protocol. What is very important, it is important that the supporters can appear on the documents for several examination events (they support many exams within the allocated competences) carried out on one day
⇒ Submitting exams to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority
In the era of digitization so far, ubiquitous automation and advanced process handling after a fairly long wait for a solution, the market expected a systemic approach to submit exams, e.g. on the website of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. Instead, we were given the need to generate separate letters for each exam. numbered, with a qualified signature, sent by e-mail to & nbsp; KNF.
Why is it so complicated in & nbsp; service?
Not everyone who supports exam applications to KNF has a qualified signature. in & nbsp; some organizations are a limited group of people. Often managers, managers often during the day with limited availability. Multiple examination updates in & nbsp;.
Conclusion: the process of submitting the exams has become labor-intensive, more complicated, and what & nbsp; this generates additional service costs. In & nbsp; many societies were deliberately employed people whose only duty is to handle applications and updates of exams to the KNF.
A & nbsp; if we are to stay with e-mails, it is worth thinking about submitting exams in collective, tabular, e.g. & nbsp; for a given month with a marking Is it a new application or an update.
⇒ Notification system online.
The introduction of a remote examination for insurance agents on a permanent basis, as a form equivalent to stationary exams, should include the transformation of all areas associated with them. Meanwhile, the provision in the regulation requires a written notification of a failed exam. Unless the participant decides otherwise. The question is, why is a paper notification? After the exam, each participant is displayed a message on the screen. He knows if he passed the exam or not. Our 3 years of experience shows that people who have failed do not even want an electronic document, so why generate paper versions? The reactions so far after receiving the electronic version are as follows: “Why are you sending it to me? I know that I have failed and I have to take the exam again. So please try to imagine the reaction after receiving the advice note and the need to queue at the post office.
We apply for a record for notifications about a failure, the same as in the certificates of the sentence. That is, in the first place electronically. paper in & nbsp; both cases certificates and notifications on the examiner’s application.
⇒ removal of the participant from the online exam
In the result of the legal analysis, we come to the conclusion that a basis should be created that allows for the legal removal of a person from an online examination. The current records do not provide such a possibility. They allow for the removal of the participant only in & nbsp; in the case of stationary and hybrid exams. Digital service has a different specificity of what & nbsp; therefore requires different premises than for exams in the stationary and hybrid version, therefore we need separate provisions allowing on & nbsp; cancellation of the exam or interruption of it in & nbsp; if they are observed. One of them may be, for example, too fast pace of passing the exam.
Optimistic perspective of the future
It is clear that the process of creating new regulations takes time and verification of market practice. However, if the law is in contradiction to it, it can be said that we have a problem. The news of the abolition of temporality for online exams and giving them an equivalent weight for the stationary version was something on the market. There was a strong mobilization and industry consultations, which were devoted a lot of time and energy.
Everything is for the industry. Speech not only & nbsp; o & nbsp; insurance companies but & nbsp; and & nbsp; the examiners themselves, as well as external companies that support the process. such as eofwca.pl
We hope that we will soon be able to develop an update of the regulations along with the guidelines on the basis of which the practice of the 21st century will be compatible with the regulations and & nbsp; guidelines.
Agnieszka Jakuczek
President of the Management Board of Eofwca.pl
