CITS Overview

The Canadian Insurance Transaction Standardization (CITS) initiative, which began in 2005, is a cooperative effort between CLIEDIS member carriers, distributors and vendors to develop implementation guidelines acceptable to all key industry players. A reasonable scope, with participants working together putting needs of the group ahead of individual needs for a common goal, have led to the success of this initiative.

To date, implementation guides have been developed for Pending Case Transmittals, Inforce, Product Descriptions, Commissions, Broker Updates and Electronic Document Transfer. These guides are available to CLIEDIS members on the CLIEDIS website and on CLIEDIS' automated implementation resource tool, CAIR.

The guides include file naming conventions, which include the use of the ACORD vendor codes for the initiator and recipient. A list of CLIEDIS member vendor codes is available on CAIR (under Discussion Threads --> category Implementation Support). Non-CLIEDIS members can contact ACORD directly to get a vendor code assigned.

CLIEDIS has developed an approval process for members to ensure that electronic data files meet the requirements in the implementation guidelines. Click on CITS Approval Process for more detailed information on the process (members only). To find out who has been received CITS Approval, click on Approved Companies.