PolicyCenter on Guidewire Cloud, without dragging ten years of Gosu customizations with it.
Many carriers run an older on-premises InsuranceSuite or Duck Creek release with years of custom rating, forms and integrations. We plan and run the move to the vendor's cloud, upgrade what stays, rebuild integrations and staff the roles your team can't hire.
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in short·15-second read
Insurance platforms are the core systems property and casualty carriers use for policy administration, billing and claims.
Mostly that means Guidewire InsuranceSuite (PolicyCenter, BillingCenter, ClaimCenter) or Duck Creek Policy, Billing and Claims. Cohash implements and upgrades these platforms and moves on-premises installs to Guidewire Cloud or Duck Creek OnDemand. We build the integrations with rating, documents and data. And we staff certified Guidewire and Duck Creek engineers.
you probably need this if
InsuranceSuite is several versions behind and every upgrade estimate says multi-year.
Filing a new rate takes months, since each rating change waits on a developer and a release cycle.
Nobody can list every integration touching PolicyCenter or what breaks if one changes.
From the first call to a setup your own team can run.
Here's what usually prompts a call about your Insurance Platforms, what we do about it and in which order, and where you end up.
01 · where it hurts02 · what we change03 · how it runs04 · where you end up
incident board · insurance platforms3 open
openInsuranceSuite is several versions behind and every upgrade estimate says multi-year.
recurringFiling a new rate takes months, since each rating change waits on a developer and a release cycle.
blockedNobody can list every integration touching PolicyCenter or what breaks if one changes.
exposure
Guidewire Cloud migrationGuidewire upgrades and release…Duck Creek configuration and…Integrations around the coreData migration and conversionCertified Guidewire and Duck…
startrehearsehandover
Customization inventory
Target design
Build and convert
Cut over and stabilize
we are here
ready to hand over
Rating moves to the cloud, and product teams maintain it in the rating engine themselves.
Rehearsal reports group differences into known categories.
Rate tables update on their own cycle with regression checks.
Customization inventory with keep, replace or drop decisions
chapter 01 · where it hurts
Why teams reach out
InsuranceSuite is several versions behind and every upgrade estimate says multi-year.
Filing a new rate takes months, since each rating change waits on a developer and a release cycle.
Nobody can list every integration touching PolicyCenter or what breaks if one changes.
chapter 02 · what we change
How we solve it
Guidewire Cloud migration
Guidewire upgrades and release adoption
Duck Creek configuration and OnDemand moves
Integrations around the core
Data migration and conversion
Certified Guidewire and Duck Creek staffing
chapter 03 · how it runs
Our approach
Customization inventory
Target design
Build and convert
Cut over and stabilize
chapter 04 · where you end up
What changes
Rating moves to the cloud, and product teams maintain it in the rating engine themselves.
Rehearsal reports group differences into known categories.
Rate tables update on their own cycle with regression checks.
Customization inventory with keep, replace or drop decisions
what we do
Where we spend the hours
6 areas of work, each one done by an engineer who has run it in production.
Moving on-premises InsuranceSuite to Guidewire Cloud Platform, starting with an inventory of Gosu customizations, UI changes and plugins, and a decision on each: keep, replace with base product, or drop.
Several named Guidewire Cloud releases come out each year. Decide which ones to take. Run regression on the product model and the integrations. Keep configuration near base so every upgrade stays small.
Duck Creek Policy, Rating, Billing and Claims configuration, including product and rating changes, and moves from self-hosted installs to Duck Creek OnDemand.
Rating engines, document generation, payments, reinsurance, third-party data such as MVR and property data, and agent portals, built on the vendor's integration framework and your API gateway.
Policy, billing and claims history converted from the legacy system with reconciliation reports per line of business, and a decision up front on how much history to convert versus archive.
Configuration developers, integration developers, business analysts and upgrade leads on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms, onsite, nearshore or offshore.
capability 01 / 06in production
Guidewire Cloud migration
Moving on-premises InsuranceSuite to Guidewire Cloud Platform, starting with an inventory of Gosu customizations, UI changes and plugins, and a decision on each: keep, replace with base product, or drop.
Several named Guidewire Cloud releases come out each year. Decide which ones to take. Run regression on the product model and the integrations. Keep configuration near base so every upgrade stays small.
Duck Creek Policy, Rating, Billing and Claims configuration, including product and rating changes, and moves from self-hosted installs to Duck Creek OnDemand.
Rating engines, document generation, payments, reinsurance, third-party data such as MVR and property data, and agent portals, built on the vendor's integration framework and your API gateway.
Policy, billing and claims history converted from the legacy system with reconciliation reports per line of business, and a decision up front on how much history to convert versus archive.
Configuration developers, integration developers, business analysts and upgrade leads on contract, contract-to-hire or permanent terms, onsite, nearshore or offshore.
We pieced these together from Insurance Platforms situations that come up a lot. They're patterns. You won't find a specific client in them.
case file 01
PolicyCenter rating written in custom Gosu, with Guidewire Cloud due next year
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
Personal auto and homeowners both run on PolicyCenter on premises. Their rating sits in custom Gosu classes instead of the rating engine. The move to Guidewire Cloud has been approved for next year.
What we dothe work
List the custom rating code and map each routine to a base rating feature. As a pilot, rebuild one state's homeowners rates in the base rating engine and compare the output with a year of production quotes. Plan the other states from there.
Afterwhere you end up
Rating moves to the cloud, and product teams maintain it in the rating engine themselves. The pilot comparison is the basis for the state-by-state plan.
case file 02
A claims conversion where reserves won't reconcile
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
A ClaimCenter conversion from a legacy claims system keeps failing rehearsal. Open reserves and paid totals don't match finance's figures by line, and there's no agreement on which system is right.
What we dothe work
Reconcile one line of business claim by claim. Sort each difference as a mapping error, a legacy data problem or a timing issue. Before the next rehearsal, finance signs off on how each category is treated.
Afterwhere you end up
Rehearsal reports group differences into known categories. Finance has signed off on the conversion rules, so the cutover call is made on numbers everyone has agreed.
case file 03
Every Duck Creek rate change needs a full release
composite · not a client story
Beforethe situation
A carrier runs a self-hosted Duck Creek install where any rate change means a full release. Product managers wait months in the queue and end up filing late.
What we dothe work
Handle rate table changes separately from product logic changes. Build a tested promotion path for table-only updates, and run regression tests on sample policies for each state before every promotion.
Afterwhere you end up
Rate tables update on their own cycle with regression checks. A full release is only needed when the logic actually changes.
Where Guidewire or Duck Creek sits in a carrier's estate
Agents and policyholders reach the core through portals and CRM. Policy, billing and claims run on Guidewire or Duck Creek, which call rating, document and third-party data services through an integration layer and feed the data platform for reporting.
Guidewire InsuranceSuite → Data platform: CDC extracts
Guidewire InsuranceSuite → Support desk: incidents
how it runs
A typical engagement
We don't start a step until the last one has produced something you can check.
step 01
Customization inventory
Catalog every customization in the current product model, rules, Gosu code and integrations, with how often each is used and which line of business depends on it.
step 02
Target design
Decide what moves to base product, what stays custom and which integrations get rebuilt, then agree a line-of-business rollout order.
step 03
Build and convert
Configure and integrate in releases, with conversion rehearsals that reconcile premium, billing and claim reserves against the legacy system.
step 04
Cut over and stabilize
Line-of-business cutovers with parallel runs where regulators or finance need them, then hypercare and handover to your platform team.
you keep
What you're left with
We write these for your Insurance Platforms setup, and they're working documents. Your team should be able to keep things running from them long after we've gone.
inventory01
Customization inventory with keep, replace or drop decisions
yours to keep
inventory02
Integration catalog with owner, protocol and rebuild plan
yours to keep
inventory03
Conversion mapping and reconciliation reports per line of business
yours to keep
tests04
Regression test suite for product model and rating
yours to keep
runbook05
Cutover runbook with rehearsal results
yours to keep
plan06
Upgrade cadence plan for future Guidewire Cloud releases
Some clients want a project team, some want a couple of engineers on theirs. Either works. Onsite, nearshore or offshore, with handovers across time zones that keep things moving.
Put these to anyone bidding on your Insurance Platforms work. The ones who've done it answer differently from the ones who've read about it.
Q1
How will you measure our customizations before estimating the cloud move?
Gosu code, UI changes, plugins and custom entities drive most of the cost. A partner who estimates before inventorying them is guessing.
Q2
Which Guidewire Cloud releases would you plan for us to take, and how?
Guidewire Cloud ships named releases on a regular cadence. Skip too many and you're back to the big upgrade problem.
Q3
How will you reconcile converted premium, billing and reserves?
Conversion failures usually show up as numbers finance won't accept. Ask how reconciliation is done per line and who signs off.
Q4
Which integrations would you rebuild, and which would you keep?
Some legacy integrations can go once base product features cover them. Others exist for regulators and have to work on the first day.
Q5
Who on the team has done a Guidewire Cloud migration before?
Cloud delivery changes build and release management, and environment management with them. Ask for engineers who have worked through that. On-premises experience on its own falls short.
01Should we move to Guidewire Cloud or stay on-premises?
It depends on your current version, how heavily you've customized, your hosting contracts and how often you want new releases. Guidewire publishes its named releases for Guidewire Cloud Platform, so staying on-premises means planning your own upgrade path. The customization inventory usually decides how hard the move will be.
02How long does a Guidewire or Duck Creek implementation take?
It depends on the number of products and lines of business, states, integrations and how much history you convert. A single line on a mostly base configuration is far shorter than a multi-line replacement. We size it after the customization and integration inventory.
03What drives the cost?
Integration count, product model complexity, data conversion scope and the number of states or jurisdictions. Custom rating and forms add the most surprise effort, so we measure them first.
04Do you work on Duck Creek and Guidewire?
Yes. We also work on the systems around them, including CRM for agents and policyholders, data platforms for reporting, and ITSM for support.
05Can you staff just a few Guidewire developers?
Yes. We place certified Guidewire configuration and integration developers through our staffing practice. Contract, contract-to-hire or permanent.
06What Guidewire certifications do your engineers hold?
Guidewire runs a developer certification program with Associate and Ace levels, including Associate – InsuranceSuite Developer and Ace – Cloud Integration. We match certified engineers to the product and track your project needs.
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