Posted By Steve Ebner on 06/18/2008 7:19 PM
My advice is to use Excel to write your contents inventory and attach it as a document.
I agree with my friend Steve. I have done that for many years - but recently ran into a carrier with specific needs (see below).
Posted By Steve Ebner on 06/18/2008 7:19 PM
Can only speak for Xact 24 and earlier and assuming that Xact 25 is the same. Xactimate is designed to write an estimate on a structure. It is not designed to write a contents estimate.
As an Independent Adjuster doing daily claims at this time, my install of X-24 does not have the "contents module", so I thought Xactimate was pretty focused on structure damage other than cleaning and pack out of contents.
Recently I was doing some relief work for a staff adjuster in my area, and reporting to his manager. Hit a large commercial loss, and they asked me to input the contents inventory to Xactimate. Lots of very specific industrial and electronic parts that got soaked from upstairs water heater failure.
The large carrier I was reporting to was still using X-24, and so was I. They had the contents module, but I didn't. They sent me the Xactimate contents template, which is an Excel document. I had never heard of, or seen this thing before a couple months ago - yet learned that it resides on everyone's hard drive that has Xactimate installed on their local computer if you are running X-24 or X-25.
You follow this path, assuming your hard drive is C:
C:\Program files\Xactware Inc\Xactimate24\xm8
You are on X25 so the folder will be named differently. Poke around and you will find a file named XactContents Import Template.xls
As the name implies, it is an IMPORT TEMPLATE.
The claims examiner I was reporting to had me enter the damaged items to the Excel spreadsheet, Email that spreadsheet to him, he imported it to Xactimate (you have to have the contents module installed, and they charge extra for that). Xactimate will IMPORT the spreadsheet data, and give each content item it's own line. It takes the model # and description fields and spits out the info just like a building repair item.
Carriers that use this system really like it, it gives them something that prints out like an estimate and all the depreciation is noted. My loss involved some "property of others" in your care, for a Business Owner Policy, and that portion of the loss was ACV only. The person that imports it flags those items as ACV only, and the bottom line shows recoverable depreciation, etc.
The key feature for this contents thing is how Xactimate's contents module will "search out" replacement quotes, using JC Penny catalog, Amazon, and a variety of sources as they describe on the Xactimate web site. Follow that link to learn more. The staff guys that used to have to look up individual replacement items say it works well, and they like it.
As a worker bee in the field, I found the import template to be really strange because once I input the data I COULD NOT DO ANYTHING WITH IT. You cannot import the data to your version of Xactimate if you don't have the contents part of the program installed - I tried. You cannot simply import the spreadsheet like you are restoring an old estimate file.
You must import it to Xactimate to see the totals and adjustments. From my perspective, I was working with a spreadsheet that had a lot of "locked" areas aside from the data-entry fields. It would not let me see the usual results I would get with Excel, showing depreciation subtracted as I go, or being able to run a quick check of how much the items were adding up to compared to the policy limit. You are sort of blind until you import the data, and I didn't have the content module on my end. But the receiver of the data said it took less than a minute to do on their end, and they made no request for corrections. I was able to see a PDF of the completed "content estimate" and it is a nice, professional product.
I could have gotten the same result using an ordinary spreadsheet, and my loss involved oddball items that were industrial. But for a homeowner loss with typical furnishings and appliances, entertainment systems, etc., the lookup feature is supposed to be the big deal on this Xactimate contents module.