Key features of the WELIS calculation engines:

• They're fast. Calculation speeds have been optimized to meet the demands of large scale case design.
  
• Transaction based architecture allows for off-anniversary and even off-monthiversary processing of any type of transaction imaginable, including Face Amount changes, Premiums, and Disbursements. This architecture facilitates interaction with Inforce and Administrative systems.
  
• Full compliance with IRS code Sections 7702 and 7702A. The tax interpretations in Ascent are customized for each client, meaning you will not be stuck with any other carrier's interpretation.
  
• A variety of tax avoidance options that can restrain premiums, disbursements, or face amount changes as necessary to avoid taxable situations.
  
• Off-anniversary and off-monthiversary TAMRA and 7702 processing, to better represent the real world. This functionality allows proper tax treatment of inforce policies - without exclusion.
  Communicates with the driving outside marketing concept on a policy year to policy year basis when necessary. This constant communication allows the concept to design a policy to meet the most sophisticated benefit design requirements.
  
• Extensive use of shared code across product engines allows for faster & more cost effective code maintenance.
  
• Extensive solve capabilities including dual and triple nested solves.
  
• The ability to easily run illustrations under alternative assumptions (such as those required by the FINRA). The engine can also produce Historical Performance illustrations, assuming that all premiums were invested in an actual fund, using that fund's actual net returns or share prices since inception.
  
• Optional Pages exist to show the breakdowns of Policy Expenses, TAMRA testing, Guideline Premium testing, Death Benefit amounts and Monthly Values - allowing the user (or the analyst) to easily "look under the hood". If the user desires values that do not exist on a pre-made optional page, then new pages can be built on the fly using our Custom Pages feature.
  
• For variable products, the ability to specify different fund "buckets" for premium to be directed into, and then the ability to specify different interest rates (varying by duration) for each bucket. The user can also specify which funds that expenses, loans, and withdrawals will be taken from, and in what proportions (also can vary by duration). The engine then tracks account values for each bucket, and presents output reports for each fund separately, and for all funds together on a summary page. If this feature is not desired by the user, then Ascent can also calculate a single Net Crediting Rate based on premium allocation and calculate Ledger values in the traditional manner of illustrating variable insurance products. This functionality, along with the engine's transaction based architecture, is part of what makes Ascent viable as an administrative system.
  
• For variable products, the ability to illustrate Dollar Cost Averaging and periodic Fund Rebalancing on specified dates or at certain times of the policy year.
  
• For variable products, the ability to properly illustrate the Fixed Account within the variable illustration, including tracking a Fixed Account "bucket" account value with a guaranteed minimum and maximum interest rate.
  
• Life insurance illustrations can incorporate annuity illustrations, as seen in our "Life to Annuity" marketing concept.
  Text dumps of incremental policy values are available for analysts' use, if the desired values do not appear in pre-defined pages.
  
• Users become familiar with Ascent through a full-featured authoring package designed specifically for producing professional Help systems for Windows based applications.