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Underwriting Assistant iconAI Agent

Underwriting Assistant

Copilot that summarizes risk, checks policy and drafts decisions

The challenge

Underwriters spend more time rekeying schedules and loss runs than assessing risk, so submissions sit in a queue and brokers place the business elsewhere. Appetite is applied inconsistently across the team, referrals arrive without a stated reason, and the basis for a decision is hard to reconstruct.

The outcome

Azure AI Document Intelligence turns schedules, surveys and loss runs into structured exposure data, Azure AI Search tests it against appetite and policy wordings, and Azure OpenAI drafts the risk summary and pricing rationale. A licensed underwriter still prices, agrees terms and binds every risk.

At a glance

Type
ai copilot

Next step

Move from solution to engagement.

Build This Solution

01 — Architecture

End-to-end architecture

A submission arrives from a broker, is read by Document Intelligence into structured exposure and loss data, and enriched with prior claims history. The Foundry agent tests the risk against appetite, limits and exclusions and drafts the terms — but a licensed underwriter prices, agrees and binds every risk.

BROKERBroker /Applicantsubmission intakeSUBMISSIONAzure Logic Appsmailbox & portalAzure BlobStoragesubmission packEXTRACTIONAI DocumentIntelligenceschedules & surveysAzure Functionsnormalise & enrichAI & ASSESSMENTMicrosoft FoundryAgentassess & draftAzure OpenAImodelsrisk narrativeAzure AI Searchappetite & wordingsAzure AI ContentSafetyfairness guardrailsDATA & RECORDSAzure SQLrisks & decisionsAzure Cosmos DBsubmission stateAzure Key Vaultpolicy system keysDECISION & INSIGHTUnderwriterdecisionprice & termsCommunicationServicesquote & referralPower BI / Fabrichit rate & appetiteDEVOPS & DELIVERYGitHubsource control & CIDockercontainer buildContainer Registryversioned imagesCopilot releasedeploy with rollback
Figure 1 — End-to-end reference architecture for an underwriting copilot on the Microsoft stack.
  • Broker: Broker / Applicant
  • Submission: Azure Logic Apps, Azure Blob Storage
  • Extraction: AI Document Intelligence, Azure Functions
  • AI & assessment: Microsoft Foundry Agent, Azure OpenAI models, Azure AI Search, Azure AI Content Safety
  • Data & records: Azure SQL, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure Key Vault
  • Decision & insight: Underwriter decision, Communication Services, Power BI / Fabric

02 — Workflow

Process & decision workflow

How a submission becomes a decision-ready risk — extract, enrich, assess and draft, then branch. Risks inside appetite and inside authority get a drafted quote ready for release, while anything outside goes to an underwriter with the risk summary and the referral reason.

1ReceiveSubmission arrives by email, portal orbroker feed2ExtractSchedules, surveys and loss runs turnedinto data3EnrichExposure, perils and prior claimshistory attached4AssessRisk tested against appetite, limits andexclusions5DraftRisk summary, terms and pricingrationale prepared6ReferReferral reasons and evidence packagedfor reviewIn appetite& in authority?Path 1 · in appetite and authorityDraft quote for releaseTerms and pricing prepared for issuePath 2 · outside appetite or limitUnderwriter decidesRisk summary, evidence and referralreasonDecision recordedTerms, rationale and underwriterstoredBroker updatedQuote, terms or decline reasonsentCloserisk bound
Figure 2 — Receive → extract → enrich → assess → draft → appetite branch → draft quote or underwriter.
  1. Receive: Submission arrives by email, portal or broker feed
  2. Extract: Schedules, surveys and loss runs turned into data
  3. Enrich: Exposure, perils and prior claims history attached
  4. Assess: Risk tested against appetite, limits and exclusions
  5. Draft: Risk summary, terms and pricing rationale prepared
  6. Refer: Referral reasons and evidence packaged for review
  7. Path 1 · in appetite and authorityDraft quote for release: Terms and pricing prepared for issue
  8. Path 2 · outside appetite or limitUnderwriter decides: Risk summary, evidence and referral reason

03 — Components

Key Microsoft components

Underwriting is judgement supported by evidence — extraction, enrichment, appetite testing and audit all stay on the Microsoft stack.

  • Azure Logic Apps iconAzure Logic AppsSubmission intake, triage, chasing and referral routing.
  • Azure AI Document Intelligence iconAzure AI Document IntelligenceReads schedules, surveys, valuations and loss runs.
  • Azure Functions iconAzure FunctionsNormalisation, exposure enrichment and rating inputs.
  • Microsoft Foundry Agent Service iconMicrosoft Foundry Agent ServiceAppetite testing, referral and drafting orchestration.
  • Azure OpenAI models iconAzure OpenAI modelsRisk narrative, pricing rationale and referral reasoning.
  • Azure AI Search iconAzure AI SearchRetrieval over appetite guides, wordings and precedent.
  • Azure AI Content Safety iconAzure AI Content SafetyGuardrails on excluded factors and unsupported statements.
  • Azure API Management iconAzure API ManagementSecure gateway for policy, rating and broker platform APIs.
  • Azure SQL iconAzure SQLRisks, quotes, decisions and referral records.
  • Azure Cosmos DB iconAzure Cosmos DBSubmission state, versions and assessment history.
  • Azure Blob Storage iconAzure Blob StorageSubmission packs, surveys and evidence artefacts.
  • Azure Key Vault iconAzure Key VaultPolicy system credentials and integration secrets.
  • Azure Communication Services iconAzure Communication ServicesQuote, referral and decline notifications to brokers.
  • Power BI / Microsoft Fabric iconPower BI / Microsoft FabricHit rate, appetite drift and portfolio dashboards.

04 — AI

What the agent consumes

The capabilities the copilot applies to every submission, and the line it does not cross.

AI capabilities embedded in the agent

  • Document extraction
  • Schedule and loss-run parsing
  • Exposure enrichment
  • Appetite matching
  • Limit and exclusion checks
  • Retrieval-augmented generation
  • Risk summarisation
  • Pricing rationale drafting
  • Referral reason generation
  • Fairness monitoring
  • Portfolio analytics
  • Workflow orchestration

AI responsibility boundaries

The copilot summarises, checks and drafts; a licensed underwriter prices, agrees terms and binds every risk. It does not decline a risk on its own, apply loadings outside the rating rules, or use factors excluded by policy or regulation. Each draft carries the extracted evidence, the appetite rule applied and the referral reason.

05 — Personalization

Personalization & evolving process

The same methodology applies to every agent in the catalog. Tune the line of business, the submission template, the appetite rules and the value model — the page structure stays identical.

Line & appetite profile

Define the lines of business, territories, limits, exclusions and the target portfolio mix. The personas are the broker, the underwriter, the referral authority and the portfolio manager.

06 — Impact

Key outcomes & business impact

Starting targets for the value case — validate each one against the customer baseline during discovery.

  • Time to quote−50%Submissions arrive decision-ready rather than as paperwork.
  • Submission capacityMore risks assessed without adding underwriting headcount.
  • Referral qualityEvidencedEvery referral states its reason and attaches the evidence.
  • Decision traceability100%Each decision stores the rule, rationale and underwriter.

Illustrative improvement index

Manual baseline = 100. Illustrative targets, not a commitment — confirm against the customer baseline.

10050Time to quote10025Manual data entry10045Referral reworkManual baselineAI-assisted target
  • Time to quote: manual baseline 100, AI-assisted target 50
  • Manual data entry: manual baseline 100, AI-assisted target 25
  • Referral rework: manual baseline 100, AI-assisted target 45

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